Most handheld GPS equipped with a Memory card like SD will work.
On the Secure Digital card (SD) you can have the road map for Canada and the
US.
Some of the Handheld GPS come with the basic Nautical charts and you can
load more detailed charts. As for roadmaps they have to be updated more
often than the Nautical charts. That could cost you about $99.00 USD
The largest screen on Handheld GPS is about 1 3/4" X 2 1/4" and has a night
light.
This size work fine on a boat. However, when I was driving at 65+ MPH in
heavy traffic on Hwy 95 south after dark and the wiper running at full speed
navigating to get into the City of New York the situation was different.
My concentration was on road coping with heavy traffic and hydro planning.
My conclusion is"
I have problems using a GPS when driving a car in heavy road traffic moving
at high speed.
A much larger screen would facilitate visual check on the GPS, when driving
on land especially to get into highly populated cities.
When sailing on water most GPS is easy to read.

BTW, when using the same GPS for when your are in your car or boat you have
to program your set up for either land or nautical.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 12:27:24 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:
Wayne: I've been thinking of taking my older laptop out on Yo-Ho and
using it with a NAV program and a cheap USB GPS receiver. Do you think
the little receivers DeLorme and others sell are sensitive to pick up a
decent signal through a fiberglass cabin, or would I be better off to
roofmount a more traditional GPS receiver to feed into the laptop?

I use the Delorme GPS in both my truck, car and boats all the time and
it works fine, just put it somewhere near the windshield. That said,
a rooftop unit will always be more sensitive but for casual use it
probably doesn't matter 99% of the time. On the big boat I have an
external antenna driving the Furuno chart plotter, with the Delorme
GPS driving the laptop for backup and a wide angle view.

I still cannot figure out why I can buy a good-quality, complete laptop
computer for under $1000 with a 14" screen, and a GPS chartplotter with
a 10" screen fetches $2000.

A lot of it is supply and demand. There are many more laptops
manufactured than marine chart plotters, and the competition for
laptops a lot more intense. Of course the better quality marine units
are totally waterproof, have much better screen brightness and
dedicated panel functionality. My Furuno 10 inch Navnet unit is
superb in my opinion, and everone who comes on the boat ooohs and
ahhhs over it. Get the optional ARP functions for the RADAR if you
want a real crowd pleaser. Even Mrs B likes it and she is not easily
impressed by marine electronics.

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 19:13:29 GMT, "Denis Marier"
wrote:

My concentration was on road coping with heavy traffic and hydro planning.

====================

As well it should have been.

One nice feature of the Delorme Street Map package on a laptop is that
it taks to you when a turn or critical juncture is coming up. It does
a surprisingly reasonable job for an inexpensive package, even telling
you what lane to be in for an exit.

The talking feature is very nice.
I have learned that it does not warn you fast enough to make a right of left
turn to exit a busy Parkway/Turnpike. This feature does not take into
account the traffic lane on your left of right.
My instructions to go to Mamaroneck NY from New Haven Conn. were to drive
south on HWY 95 and to take exist 19. When I saw exit 19 I took it. Then
all the instructions were erroneous. I stop at the Connecticut tourism
office. There I learned that I took the wrong exit. They told me that I
should have taken exist 19 in the State of New York just a few miles south
after exist 19 in the State of Connecticut. Anyway I am learning the ropes.


"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 19:13:29 GMT, "Denis Marier"
wrote:

My concentration was on road coping with heavy traffic and hydro
planning.

====================

As well it should have been.

One nice feature of the Delorme Street Map package on a laptop is that
it taks to you when a turn or critical juncture is coming up. It does
a surprisingly reasonable job for an inexpensive package, even telling
you what lane to be in for an exit.

I used to live near that exit. There is another problem in that there
is an exit 18A and 18B if my memory is correct. The difference is
whether you go north or south on Mamaroneck Avenue.

Of course as Bob Dylan once said: "If you don't know where you are
going, any direction will do".

:-)

Right, I did not know the area, I should have known better:-(
As for exit 18A and 18B we used the paper map and made the right turn.
If you do not have any local road knowledge. It is a good thing to make sure
that you have a current update of the maps into your GPS. A paper map gives
me a more global vision of where I am going.

wrote in message
ups.com...
I used to live near that exit. There is another problem in that there
is an exit 18A and 18B if my memory is correct. The difference is
whether you go north or south on Mamaroneck Avenue.

Of course as Bob Dylan once said: "If you don't know where you are
going, any direction will do".

:-)