GPS in the FJ
Wouldn't it be nice to have a built in, on screen GPS display for the FJ that pops out of the dash with the simple push of a button? Yes it would, but so far, that is not to be.
There are several options available as work-arounds.
Some have installed Garmin Street Pilot C340's in some very serviceable locations. Another solution is the Garmin 2820 which also offers XM capability. Others are waiting for the factory GPS to be released in "Summer of 2006." The factory unit is reported to mount in the "2nd glove compartment," located on top of the dash, in front of the driver under the lid that pops up. Might be hard to see where one is going that way......?
Both Garmin and Lowrance offer a wide range of solutions for customers seeking automotive GPS products.
In the interim, the solution here is to use my laptop loaded with either Street Atlas, USA or TOPO USA and mount it in the passenger seat.
The "desk" mounted on the passenger seat is secured by the seatbelt. A Garmin WAAS enabled receiver can be seen flat on the dash board, placed against the windshield.
Pros: Large screen, easily read
Computer Hard
Drive stores lots of data
FJ has 115VAC
to charge laptop
Cons: Driver has to turn head or pull over
to use
A panic stop
toasts the Laptop
Not
"passenger friendly"
Coolness:
Tracking the Vehicle VIA the WWW in real time. On the
XM page, there was a picture of both a XM and GPS antenna on the roof of the
FJ. That GPS antenna is configured to a
Kenwood TM-D700A 2M and 70CM transceiver.
Besides providing a location in Lat/Lon to the vehicle operator, licensed amateur radio operators enjoy voice communications with an additional TM-D700A feature, it enables the vehicle to be tracked with GPS accuracy on the WWW VIA a system called APRS.
In fact, you can track my vehicle right now by simply clicking on this link. Note that my location is displayed in 3 formats:
Map
Terra-Server Satellite Picture
NWS Weather Radar Overlay
