Hey all, I gotta tell ya I'm dazed and confused as to all this technomagicery 'stuff'.  I jumped on the computer bandwagon super late as I thought it was 'just a fad'  and now I'm paying the price.  I've looked at mobile GPS's, then netbooks, then APRS, then GPS's, then maps, then more netooks, and right now I can't see straight.

So, please help me out and list what you got, why, and hopefully a pic.

Many thanks, Tom.

PS: I'd tell you what I'm looking for and want, but I don't know

I have the same problem, so I haven't settled on an actual GPS yet.  I want one that is easy to read on a motorcycle. How awesome would it be to have a group of enduro riders on a mountain trail ride all with Overland Navigator; I could look at the screen and see us all moving along. That would be great, although I'm not quite sure that's workable yet.

Here's what I do now in my truck; see wether or not it will be useful for what you need.

The Laptop Option:

For what I use it for, we tried a few GPS units and none of them worked as well as the laptop with MicroSoft Streets & Trips, so we returned them all. (One Garmin Nuvvi 600 series had me driving straight across the water to get to the other side of Lake Watcom).

I have to chase building permits for job leads so atleast 3 days a week I go out to check on those jobsitesall over Whatcom, Skagit, and Island counties. I've been using my laptop in my truck with a wire less card (anywhere I get cell phone coverage, I  therefore get internet, although you don't need internet to run Streets & Trips).  I use MicroSoft Streets & Trips that comes with a GPS antenna that suction cups to the interior of a window.

I cut and paste permit addresses into the route planner of Streets & Trips, press "Optimize Route" and voila, I have an efficient map that shows me where I am on the route at all times, gives written directions, and navigates for me if I so choose (with voice or with text only). I've enterred over 25 addresses for a route from Bellingham to Clinton, near the bottom of Whidbey Island and it works great.

I seatbelt the laptop into the passenger seat. I need to get a seperate smaller monitor that I can install on the windshiled, but its not that big of a problem really.

This works for me because I need to have my laptop open often thruout the day in my truck anyway (so i can check into MWOS!)  I also have it hooked to a printer so I can print bids right then and there. I've acquired two different 350 watt inverters from freinds for free that were upgrading. Work laptop (free), (1) HP Laser Jet 1020 printer for my home office ($20 Craigslist) and a 2nd HP1020 printer for the truck ($10 CL), I think Jen paid $90 for Streets and Trips 2010.

All I need for it now is Overland Naviagator.

No, the laptop option is not for everyone.

So...according to Garmin, I'm not a very gnarly off roader.

Todd is right about needing to understand the purpose before folks can make suggestions.  I'll take the opposite approach and describe what I use for each purpose. 

Street Navigation:  Google Android has built in driving directions.  In the past I've used other free/built-in products on the other smart phones I've owned.  If I wanted a stand alone device (not a phone) then I'd buy a Garmin Nuvi.

Hiking: Garmin 60CSx.  Small, lightweight, rugged.  Poor user interface (like all handheld GPS units).  Supports NMEA input/output so it is technically possible to display others APRS positions with a Kenwood D710. It isn't ideal though because the screen is so small that it quickly gets cluttered with others positions.  The small screen is enough to see if you are still following a track (line showing a trail) or to determine where you are.  It is not big enough to plan a route as you can't see enough of the map, and if you zoom out you lose the detailed road data.

Offroad Navigation:  I use my software Overland Navigator.  Prior to deciding to write Overland Navigator I've tried DeLorme Topo, National Geographic Topo, Ozi Explorer, and numerous other packages.  If you go the computer hardware/software route it sounds like it would be a good fit.  The latest version I have running on my desktop supports basic APRS via a single cable to a Kenwood D7/D700/D710a. 

When offroad, I run Overland Navigator on a semi-ruggedized tablet PC that has a 7" sunlight visible screen.  7" is a good size as it is big enough to permit you to see a fair amount of the map.  The sunlight visibility isn't absolutely necessary in an SUV but it makes it easier to read if the sun comes in at an angle (no glare).  I have a MightyGPS weatherproof GPS that permately mounts to the roof for a factory looking install.

I'd recommend a convertible tablet netbook for your purpose.  In tablet mode it takes up very little room in the cabin (Overland Navigator is touchscreen friendly).  When in laptop mode it can be used to  check email via wifi at a rest area, surf the web, or other tasks that require typing.  Oh, and there are numerous touchscreen friendly on-road navigation programs also available for the netbook.  The Lenovo S10-3t looks like it might be a good unit.

There are a variety of different in-vehicle hardware setups shown on the spatialminds.com website in the testimonials section.  http://spatialminds.com/content/Testimonials.htm  It needs to be updated to show some more recent hardware but it will give you an idea as to what some people are doing.

A couple of Overland Navigator screenshots:

Satellite Imagery when zoomed out.  Position shown on Rubicon trail near Lake Tahoe

Dialog for selecting a waypoint symbol

Following a GPX track (blue line) while zoomed in.

Craig, am I accurate when I think that multiple Overland Navigator users will all show up on the screen simultaneously?

For APRS?  Yes.  As will any other APRS user if you have your HAM radio tuned to the common APRS frequency.  If it is just NWOS on the trail we can tune our radios to an uncommon APRS frequency and only have our group show up.  Future versions will include the ability to setup filters (by callsign or symbol) so, for example, you can stay on the common APRS frequency but only have your buddies and repeaters show up.

Craig

Andy,

Actually the setup of Overland Navigator is one of it's strengths that I rarely promote but that I'm very proud of.

The software and Map-packs come with installers that do *all* of the heavy lifting. My target "user" was my Dad, a retired Fisheries biologist who hunts and pecks while typing, and who had most pieces of software installed by an IT Admin throughout his career.

Installing Overland Navigator consists of inserting the setup disk and clicking "Next" on each dialog until it is installed. There are no mandatory installer options required besides which directory to install it to (which has as default). The only mandatory pre-run setup option is to specify which COM port / baud rate your GPS is plugged into. This is set via a "Settings Utility" that has built in documentation so you don't have to read a manual to understand what it is asking.

It does little things for you that many other products don't. For example, if you install Washington, then Oregon, then later decided to uninstall Washington what happens to the maps that share a border between Washington and Oregon? With Overland Navigator they are managed for you and everything "just works". With several of the other desktop mapping programs you have to manually copy the maps into place during installation and if you decide later you don't want Washington installed you have to figure out which of the 1500+ topos out of the 3000+ topos installed you need to remove. This sort of stuff doesn't show up on a feature comparison chart but is the difference between annoying software and software and software that is user friendly.
 

I've attached the User Guide that has complete installation instructions with a screenshot for every single step.  I should make a video showing how easy this is to do.

Craig
 

The downside of Overland Navigator is that it doesn't have the ability to create tracks *yet*.  I use redtrails.org, Google Earth, or other desktop software to create my tracks but I fully recognize that it is a needed feature and one that I fully intend to add to the software.  Note that in the field the Garmin GPS doesn't have the ability to create a track either.  It requires Mapsource on the desktop to create a track.