What is the best for me, is it a PDA or SAT NAV. Please advise ?

Question

I dont own a car, but I rent one once or twice a month. I ride my bike a lot within London, and I do a lot of walking.
When driving I tend to get lost a lot, but because I dont own a car I would like the SAT NAV or PDA to be cost effective and very portable. Please advise on what the best one would be for me for ease of use, cost effective but with some features

Thank you in advance for any comments received.

P

Answer 1

I've used both a dedicated sat nav handheld, and sat nav on PDA, and I have to say that the PDA is *much* better. More convenient too, as the receiver is bluetooth, so my husband and I both installed the software on our PDAs, and now either of us can use it.

My husband has a Dell Axim v51 and I have an XDA Exec PDA phone, but pretty much any medium range PDA will run TomTom Navigator 5 for PDA, and bluetooth receivers are getting cheaper all the time. We got ours on eBay for £20, but there are much cheaper ones on the market.

Answer 2

A PDA would probably be better. A Sat Nav system is simply that, sat nav and nothing else, so if you also use a mobile phone, diary etc etc your pockets will be bulging with various machines. I have an 02 xda Orbit, this incorporates bluetooth TomTom Sat Nav so I can use it in the car or when walking around, its fast and pinpoint accurate. It is also my mobile phone, diary, internet on the move and a lot more. I would be lost without it but also it can slip into my shirt pocket.
A decent Sat Nav system is around £200-£300. The Orbit is around £250 so you get a whole lot more for your money

Answer 3

I use a Palm PDA with added TomTom satNav. This works in driving and walking modes, and is easily portable between vehicles. When you're not travelling you have the benefits of the PDA.

It's not the cheapest option (a small, dedicated satNav is quite cheap now), but I believe this approach is the best value for money.

Answer 4

Hmm, the trouble with Sat Navs is they will not say "Do a left here if you want to be beaten up and mugged on the roughest road in town".

Answer 5

I use a PDA and downloaded the satnav software.Best of both worlds a: find where I'm going b: email,surf whereever I am

Answer 6

take a look at o2 orbit sorts everything into one package
sat nav reciecer built in full pda functionality and phone .camera radio only needs one pocket look at
www.o2.co.uk

Answer 7

fujitsu siemens loox is a pda, phone and sat nav all in one.