I have a time share in Cabo San Lucas reserved for this October (Bisbee tournament week). Rather than fly down as I've done in the past I want to drive my F250 diesel 4x4. How much time should I allow for a comfortable drive - no night driving.

Thanks for the advice, David. I'll do the 3 or 4 day trip. My next choice is to decide on whether to put a camper on the F250 or stay in hotels along the way. I am not picky about my accomodations. I can do 500 miles on one tank of diesel and if my AAA map of Baja is up to date there are adequate diesel fuel stops along the way. If I go off road I use Fugawi digital maps and software with notebook PC and GPS.

Tony,

I am interested in learning about the notebook and GPS. Can you take just a moment and talk about what you have and how it works.
I have a Garmin StreetPilot that I use in my vehicle and on my Motorcycle and I have a laptop. How do you ues the two....OR I think I just realised what you have. A GPS in your laptop!
Anyway, if you have just a bit of info in the subject, that would be appreciated.
ALSO, good luck on you trip.

Tom McBride
Long Beach, CA.

Thanks,

Tom McBride

Radio Shack USED TO have a similar unit to this for only $100 bucks, but I couldn't find it on their webpage..

Here is the Fugawi Mapping software, and the receiver, but it's $265!!
Link for "Mighty GPS" Laptop Units





They also have a PCMCIA version:



If I can find that USB GPS for Laptops that RS had, I'll get you a link.

I'm in the engineering stage of using a 12 volt motherboard hooked directly to the vehicles battery, and use a mini monitor for the dash - this way, I'll have MP3, DVD, CD, GPS, and Internet on my dash... Its based on using a simple USB GPS receiver.. When I get it done, I'll probably make them available to the public.

Using a Laptop or Computer is by far the BEST way to navigate - those little screens on GPS units will drive you nuts.. I've driven in circles SEVERAL times trying to follow my "breadcrumbs". Almost worthless, and I would rather depend on my eyes and a AAA map!

PS - Internet is through a Sprint PCS "Vision" phone, that doesn't work in baja.... yet

[This message was edited by BajaBronco on September 09, 2003 at 04:43 PM.]


Found the $100 unit, but its not at radio shack, and doesn't include the baja maps either:
http://www.deluo.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DE&Product_Code=GPSU&Category_Code=GR



[This message was edited by BajaBronco on September 09, 2003 at 04:50 PM.]

[This message was edited by BajaBronco on September 09, 2003 at 04:51 PM.]

Tom...

I use Delorme GPS receivers (Tripmate & Earthmate) connected to a Toshiba notebook running Windows XP Pro. Get a notebook with a large hard drive(30 to 80 Gb's)and fast processor(1+ GHz). You will want to load all maps from the CD onto the hard drive for faster access.
I have Delorme's latest GPS receiver, the Earthmate, which uses a USB cable connection to notebook computer. It has acted a little quirky at times. Takes too long to acquire a fix or sometimes will not "see" any satellites at all. Don't know if it's a problem with the USB Earthmate, the Delorme maps or my Toshiba notebook. All I know is that when I switch out the USB Earthmate for the older Delorme serial cable Earthmate I get a fix very fast.
As far as Baja maps or for that matter any maps of Mexico, the choices are few. I bought the Northern Mexico/Baja map CD from Fugawi but these are aeronautical flight planning charts - not true road maps or topo charts. So I scanned the AAA road map of Baja in 8 sections from Tijuana to Cabo. Using Fugawi software I took each scanned map and calibrated them for latitute, longitude and map scale. Fugawi does not support the Delorme Earthmate GPS receiver. But Fugawi does support Garmin GPS units. I use the cheapies - eTrex and eTrex Summit. They work very well with the notebook serial port. All I need to do now is hit the road to Cabo and test the scanned AAA maps for accuracy.
You can go to these web sites for product info and prices:
www.delorme.com
www.fugawi.com

Keep in touch and if you need one on one instructions on how to use this stuff, I live reasonably close by in La Habra Heights.

Tony Cassens
2669 Ardsheal Drive
La Habra Heights, CA 90631
phone: 562-694-1327
email: aacassens@adelphia.net