GPS, Wx for Tablet PC

[Wiz]

Hi, all:

I have a great little Fujitsu touchscreen tablet-type PC and a
Bluetooth GPS receiver. I'm considering acquiring software to use the
tablet as a moving map and Wx device, just buying a Garmin 396 or 496,
or using Flightmaster and Copilot on my Palm Treo and doing without
weather. I've seen a couple of posts on various software packages,
but nothing too recent.

Anyone have any experience with the current versions of Anywhere Map
or Flight Cheetah? Anyone using Flightmaster? I'm interested in your
impressions, and what factors affected your choice.

Thanks in advance.

Wiz

[John Theune]

Wiz wrote:
> Hi, all:
>
> I have a great little Fujitsu touchscreen tablet-type PC and a
> Bluetooth GPS receiver. I'm considering acquiring software to use the
> tablet as a moving map and Wx device, just buying a Garmin 396 or 496,
> or using Flightmaster and Copilot on my Palm Treo and doing without
> weather. I've seen a couple of posts on various software packages,
> but nothing too recent.
>
> Anyone have any experience with the current versions of Anywhere Map
> or Flight Cheetah? Anyone using Flightmaster? I'm interested in your
> impressions, and what factors affected your choice.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Wiz
>
I've been wondering about this. Why do all the GPS packages require a
separate GPS receiver when there is one built in to phone? All cell
phones built in the last 2 or 3 years have required GPS location built
in so why does the flight package simply use that receiver instead of
needing a external one?

[Wiz]

On May 24, 8:29 am, John Theune > wrote:
> Wiz wrote:
> > Hi, all:
>
> > I have a great little Fujitsu touchscreen tablet-type PC and a
> > Bluetooth GPS receiver. I'm considering acquiring software to use the
> > tablet as a moving map and Wx device, just buying a Garmin 396 or 496,
> > or using Flightmaster and Copilot on my Palm Treo and doing without
> > weather. I've seen a couple of posts on various software packages,
> > but nothing too recent.
>
> > Anyone have any experience with the current versions of Anywhere Map
> > or Flight Cheetah? Anyone using Flightmaster? I'm interested in your
> > impressions, and what factors affected your choice.
>
> > Thanks in advance.
>
> > Wiz
>
> I've been wondering about this. Why do all the GPS packages require a
> separate GPS receiver when there is one built in to phone? All cell
> phones built in the last 2 or 3 years have required GPS location built
> in so why does the flight package simply use that receiver instead of
> needing a external one?

Hi, John:

Well, at least in my instance, it's not - The Treo has Bluetooth, but
not GPS. Ditto with the tablet PC.

FYI - I'm looking to get this on board before my next VPONX - VPOOP
ADIZ exit - as a DC pilot, I'm sure you can sympathize.

Regards,
Wiz

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, John Theune > said:
>I've been wondering about this. Why do all the GPS packages require a
>separate GPS receiver when there is one built in to phone? All cell
>phones built in the last 2 or 3 years have required GPS location built
>in so why does the flight package simply use that receiver instead of
>needing a external one?

That's not true. All cell phones built to do E911 have to have some way
to determine their location, but most of them don't use a GPS, they use
triangulation from the cell towers. Just look at the FCC certification
documents for the Apple iPhone, and you will see no GPS in it.

--
Paul Tomblin > http://blog.xcski.com/
Ahhh, the permie offer. The "Please sign up with us clueless fsckwits
so you can spend all your time digging us out at a pittance" offer.
-- Dan Holdsworth

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article . com>,
Wiz > wrote:
> I have a great little Fujitsu touchscreen tablet-type PC and a
> Bluetooth GPS receiver. I'm considering acquiring software to use the
> tablet as a moving map and Wx device, just buying a Garmin 396 or 496,
> or using Flightmaster and Copilot on my Palm Treo and doing without
> weather. I've seen a couple of posts on various software packages,
> but nothing too recent.
>
> Anyone have any experience with the current versions of Anywhere Map
> or Flight Cheetah? Anyone using Flightmaster? I'm interested in your
> impressions, and what factors affected your choice.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Wiz

I'm not sure that you can purchase the standalone Flight Cheetah
software for use on your own hardware, or at least your own display
device, but I could be mistaken.

I wasn't too pleased with Anywhere Map for my sole portable GPS unit,
due primarily to bugs and inaccuracies in the software itself, combined
with all of the Windows-related problems. However, the product does
have features not found in some other packages, and has constantly
evolved (though slowly) over the years, often sporting innovative
features (usually with bugs attached) before others. If you have a
panel-mount GPS and just want geo-referenced plates and weather, and are
willing to live with the glitches of Windows, AWM may not be a bad
solution for you. There are probably more polished options on the
market, but AWM is perhaps a value-leader, and that's why they are so
successful. I will caution you, though, that "customer service" appears
to be a distant concept to the AWM folks, especially after the first 30
days.



JKG