Tomtom for Treo or Stand alone unit

[Medicineman]

My wife wants to get me a Tomtom stand alone unit for Christmas. I am thinking I want the software instead, for my Treo 650.

I have Delorme receiver and their street atlas maps. But I have to route on my desktop and download to my treo's card. I want the ability to have all the maps on my card and start the software and go.

Some of you may have stand alone gps units while others have Treo's with recievers. I am asking for some pro's and con's so we can make the right decision.

You guys are always the best of help, so don't let me down!

[RichC]

Although I use the TomTom Palm GPS unit on my Palm 700p regularly and don't want to be seen anti-Treo GPS, I think most people would be happier with a stand alone unit for the car with a bigger touch screen and faster aquisition. (someone mentioned it needs to be a SiRF StarIII GPS chip?)

[TazUk]

Originally Posted by RichC

(someone mentioned it needs to be a SiRF StarIII GPS chip?)

Yep they're the preferred choice, which both TomTom's and the Palm branded GPS receiver use

I like the convenience of having it on my Treo rather than having to take something else around with me and have an extra charger. The GPS receiver lives in the glove box

[RichC]

Well then this brings up more issues. I have used GPS units since my first Garmin 75 marine GPS. When the GPS 18 came out for my USB port on my notebook computer since at the time I had my computer mounted in my car and running on an inverter. It worked well as long as I was booted up and running the iRoute software.

For aviation I like the Garmin 296, but have the TomTom/Palm GPS running on my 700p. I like it for its simplicity and ease of use BUT ... it acquires slowly, has a difficult time with BT pairing and bugs out when I receive a phone call. I've semi-figured out how to restart (again slowly) after calling someone back because the BT Jawbone will not work well when paired to the Palm GPS.

Personally speaking, if you drive and use other Treo apps and the phone, you will get frustrated when leaving the GPS running. Restarting and repairing isn't a picnic on my 700p. YMMV.