A $40 GPS for your travels
 

Through 19 June 2007, Fry's Electronics is offering the DeLorme Earthmate LT-20 GPS receiver bundled with their Street Atlas USA 2008 for $59.99 with two $10 rebates (one of which requires proof of ownership of another mapping program). So for $40 or $50, you have all the hardware you need to run Microsoft AutoRoute, which offers country- to street-level routing and navigation with voice directions all over Europe on your laptop. AutoRoute can be found on eBay for a very few dollars.

Or I could buy a map.
Sorry Robespierre, I know you live for this stuff. I just don't.

Why the attack posture? You don't know anything.

I live for my family, music, literature, golf, and flying. The fact that you use paper instead of silicon says far more about you than it does me.

these have been getting cheaper and that's the best deal I've seen. thanks

portables are dropping fast as well.

how good is the MS mapping software?

while I am not very savy with electronic gadgets of sorts, there have been times when a GPS would've worked wonders. Try reading a map at night and you're lost. I am going straight to DH with this one. Thanks Robes!

Microsoft mapping software (<i>Streets &amp; Trips</i> for U.S. and <i>AutoRoute</i> for Europe) works as well as any I've seen. It has all the best features, such as autocompute if you have to deviate from a planned route, and voice prompts.

<i>p.s.</i> in order to make the LT-20 play nice with software other than DeLorme's, it is necessary to install their Serial Emulator.

delorme.com/support/SupportTemplate.aspx?id=319

TTT

flies with honey or vinegar?

Sorry that you took that as an attack Robespierre. It was not meant as one.
My job is programming, but I do not own a cell phone and I use maps. So, yes that says a lot about me.

Does the European mapping include small towns and rural roads?

Robespierre - with Autoroute, can you load that on a Pocket PC with on onboard GPS receiver or do you have to load it on a pc and download routes/maps to the PPC? I am looking for an inexpensive European navigation program that will effectively turn the PPC into a handheld GPS.

Packed - absolutely. See microsoft.com/autoroute

Ripit - no, AutoRoute doesn't run on a PPC, and it hasn't made downloadable maps since MS stopped marketing Pocket Streets in 2006.

But to make a PPC into a handheld GPS, you might look at tinyurl.com/2ztexj