GPS dongle on a Laptop for SatNav

[leelive]

I still have a daft-phone. I cannot justify £30+ per month for a smart one.
The only thing I would use just a thing for is for SatNav in the car.

So I have just bought a Globalsat BU-353 receiver for £30 off ebay. (It had the best reviews on Amazon but was £40 from them).

Does anyone else use a GPS dongle on a Laptop as a SatNav?

What software do you recommend?

Many thanks

[yourdj]

Is this for car and walking? so are you going to have your laptop mounted to your dash?
i can understand it with an ipad but cant with a laptop?

i bought Navmi which has all the maps built in - iphone 3gs only costs about £90 now.
I actually have one for sale.

[leelive]

Yes, for the car.
Will plug it into a Toshiba 10inch netbook that I bought for £30.
Lee

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I'm probably missing something here, but why not just buy a stand alone sat nav - you can get decent ones for less than £100 these days.

[Excalibur]

I'm probably missing something here, but why not just buy a stand alone sat nav - you can get decent ones for less than £100 these days.

I'd agree with you totally there, although if I'm not mistaken, one of our highly regarded members has a 10" sat nav for ease of viewing, by doing something similar with the tablet that's never far from his side!

[leelive]

I'm probably missing something here, but why not just buy a stand alone sat nav - you can get decent ones for less than £100 these days.

I got the car valet cleaned earlier in the year and the cigar lighter rusted with all the condensation so can't use that to power a SatNav. Hence looking at other options.

[Pe7e]

Why not just replace the cigar lighter, it can't be that big a job, can it?

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Parts are less than a tenner, so it can't be that much to pay someone to do it.

[DazzyD]

A GPS dongle paired with a laptop or notebook just to emulate SatNav seems like you're taking a big sledgehammer to crack a nut. As you mentioned, I use a smartphone for SatNav purposes, which is ideal as it's compact and easy to use and goes in my pocket when it's not in use, but I'd need bigger pockets if I was going to use your method, Lee!

[leelive]

Thanks.
I think you have made me see sense.
Lee