As I mentioned in an earlier article, Sammarye Lewis, co-author of the new book Tour de France for Dummies asked me how to make her H-P iPAQ h6315 work smoothly with a Garmin GPS 10 Deluxe or another handheld GPS, so that she can get directions to places along the Tour de France stage routes.
I did some research on this, and here is a summary of my findings so far. I’m breaking the results down into two categories: what may work and what probably won’t work:
- What May Work
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Garmin GPS 10 Deluxe with Bluetooth and Garmin Que Pocket PC Software: This maybe the easiest solution to get working straight out of the box if it meets your needs. The bundle includes the GPS unit, Que software for Pocket PC, corresponding software for a Windows PC, and a CitySelect North America CD containing map data. The entire package is reviewed in considerable depth on PocketNow.com.
The concern I have with this solution is that it doesn’t provide maps of France out of the box. Maybe there is a bundle available that contains a Europe rather than North America CD?
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CoPilot Live Pocket PC 5 from ALK Technologies: There are three separate North American offerings priced between $299 and $349. I know that there is also a European version with the same options, but the European site directs potential customers to authorized dealers.
According to ALK’s European site, the European map CD is available for £100. I don’t know what the price is if you buy it in the USA.
PocketGPSWorld.co.uk has a great review of CoPilot Live PPC 5 (which is continued in Part 2) that makes it look like a very good candidate for this job.
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- What Probably Won’t Work
- Microsoft Pocket Streets 2005 plus a handheld GPS: This looked like a good solution at first, but if you read the feature set carefully, Pocket Streets does not support route planning.
I’m going to add information to this story if I find other solutions or further information about the solutions already mentioned.
If you have any suggestions that I haven’t mentioned, feel free to post a comment and I will take a look at it.