Posts Tagged ‘GPS Handheld’

GPS Units in fact

Executive summary by Chelsea Aubin

GPS units have many usages for both personal as well as professional automobile users. There some of the benefits that you can enjoy by having GPS units in your car:

1. Convenient and time saving
   Apart from saving your time by not letting you go far away from your destination, it saves you from the inconvenience of being lost also by directing you to your destination
2. Money saver
   By directing you to your destination and reducing the miles driven, it saves you fuel costs and potentially even more from less frequent servicing, fewer oil and tire changes.
3. Safety
   You won’t need to ask strangers for the right direction by stopping your car in an unsafe area. This will obviously save you from being a victim of car hacking or random crimes.
4. Tracking
   Vehicles that come equipped with certain GPS units can be easily Tracked helping police if the vehicle is stolen or helping business track Orders and shipments.

auto gps units

It is clear that the technology for Portable GPS Units has come a long way. The top two uses for Portable GPS Units are for business and for emergencies. Portable GPS Units specifically, are used by businesses such as road and land surveyors. Of course, getting to the location initially is also quite easy thanks to the capabilities of these portable GPS Units.

Since portable GPS Units can be hooked into laptops and PDAs, data from your GPS can be sent to your PDA and laptop for use later. Emergency workers who may cover a big area can find the quickest, most effective routes to locations thanks to portable GPS Units. You do not have to use a GPS Unit for business. The use for your portable GPS Unit really is limitless.

There are so many features and models of GPS in the market that it is difficult to decide which one will actually fulfill your needs. Following points to considered:

1. Do you enjoy outdoor activities a lot; Then a portable GPS will suit your needs. PDA/GPS hybrid also comes in the same category.
2. Accuracy.How much accuracy you want in pinpointing your position, will decide which GPS you should buy. Generally contemporary GPS systems have 6-8 meters of accuracy. But in certain special designs with WAAS capability, this accuracy is 3-4 meters.
3. Certain GPS units equipped with the new SIRF Star III chip set can be best choice for you, if you love to move around in deep woodlands. For this purpose GPS devices with external powered antennas will also be ideal.
4. GPS devices with integrated rechargeable batteries would be ideal for you if you are not very aware of time.
5. Durability is another important consideration while buying a GPS unit. See that your GPS unit can withstand reverberation and adverse weather conditions

So, you just need to make sure you purchase the right GPS Unit to suit your needs and usage purposes.

See also other GPS units guide on GPS handheld, GPS receiver and Bluetooth GPS.

A GPS Handheld Devices in Your Pocket

A GPS handheld unit can give people the freedom to explore the wilderness areas that they have not attempted before. These GPS Handheld units have a small screen which shows an icon representing your current location and pre-plotted locations. Consumer grade handheld GPS units need to receive signals from at least three of these satellites to calculate your “XY” or map coordinated position.

Waypoints, routes, and tracks are the three principal categories of locations that are fixed by a hiker in a handheld GPS unit. An understanding of these three basic categories gives the hiker insight into how a handheld GPS unit can help one navigate and explore safely while hiking in the wilderness.

garmin handheld gps

Popular GPS Handheld Models

The Garmin eTrex GPS is the either one of most popular GPS handheld devices. Garmin’s claims of one handed usage are for real; it is easy to navigate the interface with the solid buttons on the unit. The Garmin GPS is rubberized and is water resistant. If you aim to wade or swim on your journey, you could rely on this to come through. Like most modern hand-held units, the eTrex generates its own map of your movements as a visual tracklog or ‘breadcrumb trail’.

The other well known GPS handheld is the Magellan eXplorist XL. This GPS handheld is features a 3.5 inch color screen which can still be viewable when subjected to sunlight.

Magellan also releases the other product of GPS handheld that called Magellan SporTrak Map. Magellan SporTrak Map as a GPS handheld mapping device has an accuracy of about 3 meters and highlights a 2 MB European mapping database. Besides of being a GPS handheld mapping device, the Magellan SporTrak Map contains seven huge graphical navigation displays for the adventure junkie to fully and clearly view all the details stored in such GPS handheld mapping device.

Getting New GPS Maps for Your GPS Handheld Units

A lightweight and handheld General Positioning Satellite (GPS) device with the highest number of GPS maps installed is always helpful. GPS maps for portable GPS devices are available at many repositories. You first stop should be the Internet where you can download a lot of free GPS maps ready to be installed in your handheld GPS device.

Portable GPS and handheld GPS equipments make use of the same maps although their size is different because of the actual size of their respective monitors. GPS maps mobile units are used for several purposes especially in aviation.

Modern handheld GPS units have full databases with easy updating using a plug-in chip or PC. Other handheld devices provide outstanding features such as the location awareness, electronic mapping, address lookup, automatic route generation, turn-by-turn directions with voice guidance, trip computer, tracklog, route avoidance, and Contact Locator^TM.

GPS maps portable units have drastically changed the aviation industry. The GPS handheld is a top avionics product.

See also the other guide on Car GPS