I notice a lot of you seem to prefer a tablet vs a laptop. Is there a reason that it seems you prefer the tablet? I have a Panasonic Toughbook with car dock and a roof mount Globalsat MR350P GPS receiver I plan to use. At the moment I am using it with Microsoft Streets and Trips. Obviously the large size of a laptop can be a pain though I could downsize to a netbook style PC or am seriously considering the Microsoft Surface Pro when it comes out if it is compatible. Are the tablets more reliable as far as coverage and accuracy?
My tablet is fully solid state unlike most laptops which will have hard drives. Fwiw, my past solution was an inexpensive netbook which used an SSD but the keyboard required frequent cleaning due to the amount of dust generated when used off road. Plus the weight of the netbook on its mount was far from ideal.
Yeah the mount could have been better but coupled with the other issues, I felt a netbook was not the best solution and decided to cut my losses and switch.
Here's my tablet mounted in my rig.
I no longer need the Dual xgps-150 bluetooth GPS unit (box with round red circle) because I've recently upgraded to an ipad with an internally integrated gps receiver. I still have the Dual GPS though should I need it in the future. I also carry a handheld Garmin as well as basic compass and maps (boy scout moto: Be Prepared right?).
IMHO there are several key advantages of a tablet versus a laptop/netbook solution...
- cost of a rugged laptop
- the simplicity of a touch interface over a standard mousepad and keyboard for off road use is far superior
- easy to use tablet based Topo/navigation software is also very reasonable when compared to PC equivalents
- all things being equal a tablet weighs significantly less which makes for easier and likely less expensive mounting solution
- the total cost of the solution (device, software, mounting hardware, power conversion, etc) is superior when compared to a laptop that's as rugged using both a solid state hard drive with touch screen interface.