[Mihai]

Well, I guess if you live in Luxembourg, you can just take a short walk and reach the border

I don't like mobile phones, mainly because I see so many people talking and talking on them, just for the sake of talking on a mobile phone. But they have their practical use, can get you out of a jam quite often actually.

[Hervé]

hehe.. you're right I could actually walk... hehe.. but to go where..? I only feel good near my Maxwell..

[b-kandor]

One funny thing about gps use in general is that you don't learn how to get where your going in the same way.

For me I use it when I'm going to meeting in unfamiliar parts of Toronto's sprawl. But if I've used my gps to get there I can pretty much gaurentee I need my gps to go back (at least the first few times). So a dependency is created.

One other great use is driving at night in the country - the tomtom maps have every little dirt track/trail in them. So it's great because it gives you a heads-up of when your turn is coming - since where I live the country road have no lights - there are lots of trees etc and it's easy to whiz by your turn.

(btw: Eddie Izzard has a tomtom voice on his website)

[Mihai]

(btw: Eddie Izzard has a tomtom voice on his website)

hmmm.....makes me get a Tomtom just for that

[JCAddy]

All this talk makes me want one and I don't even really need one!

They seem like they could be a blast and help you find new places even around areas you thought you were familiar with.

[Mihai]

I've decided against the N100, simply because it has a locked Windows CE base, so it's use is purely for GPS. Instead I've seen now there are PDA's with built in gps antennas, and with Windows Mobile 5, you have a lot more features and possibilities.

For example the Mio P550 is a full PDA, with GPS antenna, it also has Wi-fi and Bluetooth. So you can go any free wi-fi area and talk either on skype for free, or surf. There is also now google maps for pda's, that's really cool! You can see your position on the maps, even satellite maps. There are only maps available for 8 countries for now though.

I had no idea there were so many different options, a million gazillion PDAs, PDAs with GPS, GPS only handhelds, GPS specifically for cars, GPS for trekking.....

I've also looked at different mapping solutions and it seems the new i-Go software is really nice.

[Leonardo]

last time I check the roads in Uzbjeckiazutjenikitzistan were pretty traigh forward... why do you need one?

[ivox3]

Info overload going on .....

So, ...Mihai .....how much are these things going for ... ? the hi-lo range? I know most cell phones have GPS tracking , ...mine does, ....but it doesn't help me -- just another piece of gear to help out Big Brother .... oh I suppose if I'm buried in an avalanche it might help, ....but beyond the tragic and dramatic , ..I benefit --- not.


ps. If I'm buried in an avalanche, ....what if they don't know my number ? ....I'm pretty sure they don't -- .....gheez, ..that would suck.

[JCAddy]

If he's worried about it cutting out going through a tunnel I highly doubt they'd be able to find you covered by an avalanche.

[Mihai]

Well the Mio P550 is about €300 here. There is also the P350 for about €50 less which doesn't have Wi-fi or Bluetooth, which is kind of bad because I imagine it can be quite useful to be able to browse the internet, send emails, chat, use google earth, wherever you find free wi-fi networks

There are sites which catalog where you can find a wi-fi network. I also read that by winter 2007, Paris intends to install about 400 wi-fi transmitters, so you will basically be able to have free internet almost everywhere you go in the city. The network will only be working during office hours though. The PDA has a microphone for voice recording, but ofcourse with a wi-fi network present you can use it as a VoIP phone. I imagine calling via Skype (even if you call to a regular phone or cell phone) is a lot cheaper than calling from your regular mobile

[ivox3]

wow .... What can I say, ... ? .... don't leave home without it !

[Pietro Spampatti]

http://www.garmin.com

P.

[NicoR44]

http://www.garmin.com

P.

In an aircraft Garmin is the best! but not on the ground

[ricardo]

I have this:

http://www.miogps.com/US/products_c310xfeatures.htm

Works fine, recalculates in some 5 seconds, what is great on the road...

And saved hours of my life driving around Sao Paulo - an insane place to drive.

Ricardo