SKYMAP 2000 GPS - PCMCIA V1.0 SINGLE 1-DOC $75 rebate-NOTE~early buyers~pricematch yourself w/onvia

[Groch]

Onvia has both Serial and PCMCIA in stock now for $85 and change with free shipping, no shipping rebate hassles. This is an awesome deal!!

 

[pete777]

tried to buy at Staples, but is out of stock.
a bunch of people must have called them. I just gave the name of the product and they knew that was out of stock ( could not have the time to check on the computer ). Too bad with the 25 out of 75, could even made a few dollars

 

[lex]

THANKS! Im requesting a price guarantee with onvia (they have a 30 day policy), so they should refund the difference, and I have already sent in the rebate to make my total price like $15! thats a HOT DEAL!

 

[cmv]

emaij: the problem is with Microsoft - perhaps they will support this older NMEA standard if enough people request it. Have you tried contacting them?

deja.com search for "etak streets trips"

Read the posts that the search finds - apparently MS supported the Etak in an earlier version of Streets and Trips. Someone said there is a patch to fix this on microsoft.com (I didn't find one). Again, I would contact MS and ask them. They supported this piece of hardware at one point in time - why don't they support it now?

deja.com search for "etak gps microsoft"

Catch the last post at the bottom. Perhaps you should fire up HyperTerm and see if changing the etak's baud rate will let it talk to MS Streets & Trips.

Cannot Use Certain GPS Receivers with Automap/Expedia

The PCMCIA card receiver can be switched into NMEA-0183 output mode from Etak output mode. It may be possible to use this receiver with other software, though Etak cannot troubleshoot problems with this configuration.

Moving along I found another post when searching deja.com with "etak nmea" that had this to say:
"The Sony/Etak PCMCIA card GPS receiver is available in the U.S., bundled with Sony/Etak's SkyMap 2000 mapping software for Win9x machines. It is a bit pricey at around $200. It can be setup to output in NMEA protocol or ETAK proprietary. Some have reported that it's NMEA mode does not output a full complement of sentences, but it is adequate for many purposes. In ETAK mode, it receives and passes on to the host, commands from the infrared remote control, that is included with the package.

So perhaps the NMEA output of the etak is not 100% to the standard and is thus choking up MS Streets and Trips.

last thing (for now)

I read that the only difference between NMEA 2.0 and the version the etak supports is that 2.0 has support for altitude. So Streets & Trips should not require NMEA 2.0.

Also try setting the port speeds to 4800 and 9600 and different settings for the N/I, etc. (or search for the NMEA standard and see what they are supposed to be set to).

I also emailed one guy who mentioned the Microsoft patch. I'll post his reply.

 

[emaij]

Thanks for the info re Etak & Streets 2001. I will contact Microsoft on Monday... If that doesn't work I'll look for streets 98 or the Rand McNally software. If anyone locates that patch, please post!

 

[barebottoms]

Wow! That is at $200 worth of MS tech support there.
Of course all of this is Under Windows 98/95 to have drivers for the PCMCIA version act as a com port. !??!? yeah.. I think so.

 

[cmv]

Hehe... Ok, here is the response:

-----------------------------------------------------------------
These are the emails I received regarding the MS patch.

I have not tried this and cannot take any responsibility for the
outcome!!

If the suggested method or the patch works, pls let me know.

Good luck and best regards,

Adrian

****************************************************************

email #1:

Adrian,

Just in case you don't know, Microsoft have posted a patch on their
Autoroute site under support which I think fixes a conflict with the
infra-red port. Try it - I'm not entirely sure if it fixed it - or if
I've stumbled on something by accident........

Still doesn't show up the PC Card position, but after a bit of fiddling,
I have finally got it to work.

Once you know which port its allocated - I ejected mine and got the
wrist slap message which told me Com 2 , I then had a bit of trouble
getting it to work in Autoroute - this is where it gets a bit strange -
I ejected the PC Card, fired up Autoroute and let it settle down then
opened up the GPS bit, set it to Comm 2 - THEN slammed in the card and
tried "track position" - and voilin! Up popped the track spot and the
co-ordinates panel !

****************************************************************

email #2:

Adrian - to save you the trouble - here's the patch for the IR - I had
forgotten I kept it before opening it.

Try my other cure first though !

****************************************************************
----------------------------------------------------------------------

and the file he attached (a .reg so it modifies your registery) is here:
-------------------
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\irlapfrm.vxd]

-------------------

Just copy that and paste that into a text document and save it as "irsolver.reg". To insert it into your registry simple double click on the new file and say "yes". You'll then have to reboot to activate the change.

Hrm... anyone want to comment on that? Hopefully this works. Note the person in the email exchange happens to be talking about autoroute but this likely applies to any maping software.

 

[emaij]

CMV: Thank you so much! I got it to work after installing that patch. It says it's for Windows 95 but it works with 98 also. The key seems to be NOT "configuring GPS" when you begin tracking. I'm not sure if it was the patch that worked or just not doing the "configure GPS".

 

[cmv]

emaij: good to know. I ordered one of the PCMCIA kits too so I'm looking forward to playing with it. I'll try and see if I can get it to work without the patch...

Click here to download "irsolver.reg" (off of my server, it is only a tiny text file as seen above)

 

[barebottoms]

CompUSA as Microsoft Streets for $4.99 (USD) after rebates this week.

 

[Carnivore99]

This is getting a little confusing so I hope maybe someone can answer the following...

Is the PCMCIA version better than the serial version for some reason? The serial version should work on a laptop, shouldn't it?

Doesn't this thing come bundled with its own software? Is there a good reason to want to use it with MS Streets or Rand McNally software instead, or is it just personal preference?

 

[halik]

Is is compatible with windows CE (even thou the original software wont work)?
Just the device and some win CE app for it?

 

[Uconn411]

Is the $75 rebate good anymore? On the Netbate site, it says "At the request of the manufacturer, this promotion is no longer available."
Netbate

 

[cmv]

I got my box today. I don't have a laptop to put it in (yet!) so I'll be playing with it at work soon. Nice to get that rebate going...

Thanks for posting the deal and also thanks to those who caught it when the price dropped.

 

[cejay]

Did anyone print out this rebate.. or have a PICTURE OF IT.. in
the browser cache or something?
I browsed it today.. and would like to use the rebate
as I BOUGHT the correct Serial version of Skymap 2000 pro gps..
and I know the rebate is valid till 10/31.
sigh..
I would like to possibly have someone MAIL me a copy, or fax me
a copy..I would be grateful.
cj

 

[Zero]

Onvia no longer has them in stock.
[brag]I'm glad I ordered mine. On it's way via UPS.[/brag]

Zero

 

[ghostz]

Could somebody scan a copy of the rebate form and instructions on where to send it? I ordered the item this morning but was running late for classes and when I came back home they took down rebate down. Thanks in advance.

 

[cmv]

Hey all... I got a scan of the form. Email me and I'll zip it out to you. I would put it on a web page but too many people would just print it out with the URL on there - I don't have time to go setup a geocities account for this...

But email me and I'll send you the scan (~ 100 Kb).

cvig@raw-io.com

 

[Rab]

Download the rebate here

Someone was kind enough to post it on another messageboard, take advantage of it while you can.

-Rab

 

[RobsTV]

Got my unit yesterday, and yes it works fine with MS Street & Trips 2001.

The problem with MS Streets lies in the configure GPS.
First, install Sony software, then the card.
Test it to make sure it works and you get decent reception.
Look in device manager, and confirm GPS is using a "standard com port and
IRQ", preferably Com 3 and IRQ4.
If all looks good, install MS Streets.

Flip switch on GPS card to NMEA (you do not need to remove card at this time).
You will need to tell MS Streets which com port the GPS is using, so go to configure
GPS, and select the port you used above. But, when you do this, MS Streets will screw
up the GPS in device manager, making it temporarily non usable. It will still configure
MS streets to use the correct com port that you chose. To fix the GPS in device manager,
stop use on the PC Card (GPS), then remove it and reinsert it again. Device manager will
then correctly set it up using the com port it used before. GPS will now fully work.

Do not use GPS configurator again, as you will need to reinsert card each time.
You can switch between the Sony and MS software simply by flipping the switch.
This worked on 2 laptops here, but of course YMMV, and other methods may work as well.

 

[Uconn411]

Both the serial & pcmcia version of Skymap seemed to be sold out everywhere. Anyone had any luck?

 

[ygreenkitty]

bump

 

[cejay]

Ordered from onvia while INSTOCK..
got this in email:

This is an update regarding Onvia.com order #SKYMAP 2000 GPS V1.0 SINGLE
1-DOC.

We regret to inform you that the ###### is no longer
available for shipment. The manufacturer is not able to provide us with
a guaranteed date for this item to come back into stock, so this part of
your order has been scheduled for cancellation. Please accept our
apologies for this inconvenience.

Any additional items included in this order will be processed normally.
Only the item listed above will be cancelled.

This is crap.. I have tried to order from these people
in the past.. and have NEVER gotten my product..
even when its in stock.
cj

 

[AgGolfer]

Yep, I got the same f@*king email

 

[navap]

Haven't got mine yet. Three days now since I placed an order, yet I'm still not be able to track the order. bad sign huh?