http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/ Engadget Comments for Satmap's Active 10 handheld GPS / mapping system http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/Jun 1st 2007 12:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/
However, packing extra features like an audio player aren't neccesary...
One could always just get an advanced phone and use, like verizons map-stuff, etc...

But still, its a nice device...]]>Jun 1st 2007 12:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/

photoshop photo.
]]>Jun 1st 2007 1:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/hah.]]>Jun 1st 2007 1:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/Jun 1st 2007 2:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/
These combination devices seems to be the way things are going, yes you can do pocketpc with the same maps, but the battery life sucks, and the normal raster maps on gps devices are really only suitable for the road.
When you add the maps to this it looks a bit expensive though, I'll think I'll wait for competition to bring things down a bit.]]>Jun 1st 2007 2:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.delorme.com/pn-20.]]>Jun 1st 2007 7:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/
Yes that image is probably a render... but tell me, how many other products do you see on the web and in print that use a render to show them off ??? MANY off them. Also its not available just yet so the final built device is not there to photograph ;-)

As for one handed use, you can set it up for left or right handed people and the buttons look to be soft buttons so are configurable. Look at some of the pics on the website / PDF's - you'll see what I mean.

The Delorme product looks great... if your an American ;-) Some of us live in the UK so I prefer UK maps - LOL. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there appears to be no UK mapping for this unit.

The prototype satmap unit I held felt very nice in the hand.

Comes with a GPS and electronic compass. GPS only compasses are great if your moving quickly (car, bike etc), pretty useless when your standing still. So there is both on board.

No affiliation with satmap at all... just very keen to get one of these units as it looks the biz as well as has 90% of what I need in a device for walking, off road driving use.]]>Jun 1st 2007 8:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/
Awesome, huge market for this, nice job guys.

I have to say though, that I hate the proliferation of GPS programs and hardware that don't work well if you're not on a street. Streets are easy to navigate with a map, the outdoors isn't.]]>Jun 1st 2007 12:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/
Read the specs.... a tad better than yer average PDA. Contains real OS maps (de-facto the best in the UK). Thats why there are dedicated pieces of hardware out there.

If you use a PDA, Garmin or other with just a GPS based compass in the forest, you will get very frustrated - or lost ;-)

Drop your precious PDA in a puddle or use it in the rain and then decide that you made a mistake when it dies... horses for course mate - donkeys for the beach, thoroughbreds for the race course ;-)]]>Jun 1st 2007 4:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/
I use a Fujitsu Siemens N520 with inbuilt SirFstar GPS. I use Tomtom and Destinator. Tomtom is THE application for navigating public roads. For offroad PDA software there is Anquet http://www.anquet.co.uk/ or Memory Map http://www.memory-map.co.uk/. Both use Ordinance Survey Maps. Memory Map supply some European mapping software too. I know they have the French Alps available. You can also have a custom map made of the area of your choice within the UK. PDA's also support aviation and marine charting software.

The two weaknesses of a PDA based solution are 1) battery life (you could buy a spare battery or use a solar charger) 2) Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5 can be very slow and sometimes hangs when trying to get these applications running. This might have been due to the integration of the GPS into a WM5 device, but I have experienced other problems with my devices, such as the web browser taking forever.

I had an ASUS A636 prior to my Pocket Loox N520. Both of these were/are a bit tardy when it comes to getting the GPS to find a signal. The Asus was hopeless, so I got a refund and bought the Loox. The Loox fairs better, but i'm not over the moon with this aspect of WM5.

When you are out in the wilds and you need to know where you are, a device that is reliable and works as soon as you turn it on is very appealing. (My Asus took an hour to find a location when we arrived at Munich a couple of years back. An hour later, as we approached the Austrian border, it thought we were winging our way through a field Surrey!

My humble recommendation would be to opt for the dedicated device as it's engineered for that purpose alone. ]]>Jun 19th 2007 5:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/satmaps-active-10-handheld-gps-mapping-system/
A dedicated device will generally always be better and suited to the purpose it was designed for. Also they tend to be pretty rugged and water resistant - whereas your average PDA is not and will cost about the same too ;-)
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