Laptop in Vehicle Navigation

ian-and-penny · Post by **ian-and-penny** » 17 February 05 10:09 am

Hi All,

I am considering using my laptop (running oziexplorer) in my 4WD as a navigation/caching aid. Having used OzieCE on a PDA in the past, I find the screen (and memory) size too restrictive.

I tried the laptop on DJ's History Mystery event by having the navigator hold it in her lap on a stable table, but this wasn't too successful because:
* It's a PITA to get in and out of the vehicle.
* It restricts passenger movement.
* It's not secure when leaving the vehicle.
* The laptop froze on 2 occasions (Due to the heat or the bumps, I'm not quite sure??)

Do other cachers use a laptop for navigation?

If yes how do you go about it?

Regards

Ian

2KsAway · Post by **2KsAway** » 17 February 05 10:37 am

We also use a laptop. i was holding it on my lap for a long time till Kerry decided he will make one. Its slides onto the grab rail easy to put in and take out but reallllllllly ugly.

Kylie

Team Red Roo · Post by **Team Red Roo** » 17 February 05 12:32 pm

Iv'e heard of a guy who makes in car laptop stands that also swivel. I'll get a bit more information for you before replying again<p>Wayne

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 17 February 05 1:15 pm

One of the people on the 4WD club has a 'lilliput' tft screen that he purchased on ebay, it has 12 DC input, touch screen (plugs into the mouse port) and monitor in. He has it mounted on a swivel bracket attached to the floor behind the center console and connects to a laptop running Ozi that sits on the floor in the back.
The touch screen gives him control without using the keyboard or mouse.

EcoTeam · Post by **EcoTeam** » 17 February 05 6:34 pm

I don't know why anyone would bother with laptop navigation in the car, very fiddly as everyone has found out. A few seconds and a quick glance at the street directory is much easier and less fiddly. Never crashes either, no boot time, and 1 / 100th the cost.

If I was going to do in car GPS navigation I'd go for a proper fixed in-car GPS unit that just sits there and works, and has all that nice turn-by-turn navigation stuff.

EcoDave - Keep'n it practical!

[/i]

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 17 February 05 7:32 pm

EcoTeam wrote:I don't know why anyone would bother with laptop navigation in the car, very fiddly as everyone has found out. A few seconds and a quick glance at the street directory is much easier and less fiddly. Never crashes either, no boot time, and 1 / 100th the cost.

If I was going to do in car GPS navigation I'd go for a proper fixed in-car GPS unit that just sits there and works, and has all that nice turn-by-turn navigation stuff.

EcoDave - Keep'n it practical! [/i]

Some people go where the street directory and the in car GPS navigation with street maps doesn't.

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 17 February 05 10:12 pm

I've used moving map in Ozi a lot when I lived back in NSW while 4WDing. 1:25000 topo maps and knowing where you are is very useful when all the side tracks look the same.

Not quite as useful here with not that many tracks to drive on. But I still like it. Unluckily the current laptop seems to have issues with the USB/serial adaptor that causes frequent blue screens of death while running moving map. Maybe after the reformat this weekend it will get better.

EcoTeam · Post by **EcoTeam** » 18 February 05 7:53 am

riblit wrote:
EcoTeam wrote:I don't know why anyone would bother with laptop navigation in the car, very fiddly as everyone has found out. A few seconds and a quick glance at the street directory is much easier and less fiddly. Never crashes either, no boot time, and 1 / 100th the cost.

If I was going to do in car GPS navigation I'd go for a proper fixed in-car GPS unit that just sits there and works, and has all that nice turn-by-turn navigation stuff.

EcoDave - Keep'n it practical! [/i]
Some people go where the street directory and the in car GPS navigation with street maps doesn't.

Sure, but 99% of the time people they don't. And in many (most?) cases where it's off the map there is only one road/firetrail/track anyway, so a moving map is of little benefit surely?
Purely speaking from my experience around Sydney though, other areas may vary.

EcoDave

ian-and-penny · Post by **ian-and-penny** » 18 February 05 8:50 am

EcoTeam wrote:I don't know why anyone would bother with laptop navigation in the car, very fiddly as everyone has found out. A few seconds and a quick glance at the street directory is much easier and less fiddly. Never crashes either, no boot time, and 1 / 100th the cost.

If I was going to do in car GPS navigation I'd go for a proper fixed in-car GPS unit that just sits there and works, and has all that nice turn-by-turn navigation stuff.

EcoDave - Keep'n it practical! [/i]

It's my choice to go down this path. It's your choice not to!

Can we keep this thread on track please. It's main purpose is to seek solutions from those who people who do use laptops for in-car navigation, not to seek comment or debate from those who haven't or don't want to.

EcoTeam · Post by **EcoTeam** » 18 February 05 4:32 pm

ian-and-penny wrote:
EcoTeam wrote:I don't know why anyone would bother with laptop navigation in the car, very fiddly as everyone has found out. A few seconds and a quick glance at the street directory is much easier and less fiddly. Never crashes either, no boot time, and 1 / 100th the cost.

If I was going to do in car GPS navigation I'd go for a proper fixed in-car GPS unit that just sits there and works, and has all that nice turn-by-turn navigation stuff.

EcoDave - Keep'n it practical! [/i]
It's my choice to go down this path. It's your choice not to!

Can we keep this thread on track please. It's main purpose is to seek solutions from those who people who do use laptops for in-car navigation, not to seek comment or debate from those who haven't or don't want to.

Sorry to hijack your thread with comments I felt were useful, esp after you listed all the negative points about the laptop

Just to prove I'm not a complete thread hijacker I'll post some hopefully ON TOPIC comment:

It's a PITA to get in and out of the vehicle.
* It restricts passenger movement.
* It's not secure when leaving the vehicle.
* The laptop froze on 2 occasions (Due to the heat or the bumps, I'm not quite sure??)

If you are using your only laptop (i.e. your expensive home notebook that you have to continually disconnect and reconnect etc) then I can't see how it would be possible to avoid those points you mentioned.
In this case I would consider getting a cheap second hand laptop from eBay. A cheap 200MHz Pentium 1 or something would set you back maybe $100 or so. Older class notebooks will usually run cooler and be more tolerant of temperature extremes than the latest notebooks.
Run Windows 98 and have it permanately wired into your vehicle. Although you'd have to keep it out of site when parked otherwise you'll get morons breaking in thinking it's real expensive!
Get one of those "GPS mouse" things to and stick it permanately under the window. Would be a bit annoying having to plug your caching GPS each time you get in and out.

If you are technical minded then go for a custom solution with just the flat panel solution as someone else mentioned.

If you can afford the room in the glove box then perhaps you could manufacture some sort of slide out shelf that held the notebook. Open the glovebox, slide out the shelf, open notebook and she's ready to go. Store away just as easy.

EcoDave

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 18 February 05 6:56 pm

I have 1 750Mhz p3 with 192MB ram, 15" screen and 20GB of hard drive. It is connected to an old emap that is more or less permanently mounted in the vehicle.

Speed wise, its not the fastest booting up but will run Ozi quite well, along with GSAK etc. If I am by myself I sit it on the passenger seat so I can glance at the screen. (the distance means its in focus for me). If I have a passenger, then they sometimes get to hold it, or I'll put it on the back seat as it is usually pretty easy to stop on a track, lift the lid and see where the red arrow is if I have come to a fork in the track. ( If I know an advance where I am going i'll upload some waypoints of the track junctions to the emap and use it to find turn points)

while Dave's suggestion of a p1 etc is viable, from speaking to people who have them, the major criticism is the limited hard drive space available to hold maps - of course this depends on how many maps you intend to carry, and the slow response in moving map mode - it can take some time to 'catch up' at turns.

Dave's other point about keeping it out of sight while the vehicle is unattended is worth keeping in mind, the morons who pinch these have no idea of the value, they just see the case and pinch it.

I'm thinking of a lockable case in the back for when I am away for extended periods.

xf king · Post by **xf king** » 18 February 05 8:39 pm

I have just recently bought a data cable for my Etrex GPS. Wow I never expected everything to become so easy.. No more uploading Co ordinates manually, everything is just a click away in mapsource.

I have a P 166 laptop which I sometimes bring with me.. Even though the batteries are dead I have rigged the battery for use in the cig lighter. It works wonders.. It can track you around.. and keep the vehicle on screen. And when stuck you can check out a different road to try. And everything is large so your not fighting to look at such a small screen jabbed against the windscreen while on windy roads.

I'm thinking of building a mini computer that runs off 12 volts in the near future.. But the only problem I have is the screen.. Does anyone know of a small LCD screen.. Say Max 10inches that would fit on dash and have a good readability.. The mini computer will be stuck under a car seat and it will have a mini keyboard and ball mouse next to the gearstick so I can use the computer. If anyone else wants to build a mini computer make sure the hard drive is a laptop hard disk, as it can deal with any thumps..

I would prefer a LCD screen that can be unplugged easily, so I can hide it when it is parked.

Webguy · Post by **Webguy** » 18 February 05 9:45 pm

OK, I'll jump off topic for a tic to answer the above post. 12 volt car pc's already exist, with bloody good specs, they take up a standard car radio slot.

You can then get a touch screen that also fits in a car radio slot, it is motorised so it can hide away when not in use, these car pc's have dvd's so you can watch movies, plug your gps in whatever ya wanna do.

Or, there are also 12 volt car pc's that are basically a small shoebox (Smaller really) that you can mount anywhere you feel like.

Back on topic.

Dooghan · Post by **Dooghan** » 18 February 05 10:06 pm

If it was me I would mount the laptop in the boot on it side not flat. If you have the harddrive flat the heads in the drive can smash into the platters and destroy the drive. I would get a touch screen and GPS mouse to hook up to it. My 2 cents

Dooghan

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 18 February 05 10:07 pm

I mentioned an LCD screen that works well with Ozi in the fourth post in this thread. it has the advantage of not requiring a keyboard and mouse.