Ahrr! Just tell me what to buy! (click on image)

This is one of our favorite Pocket-PC PDAs at the moment because it has great features at a very good price. There are several models available from Dell, but the Axim X5 is one of the least expensive and it still works really well.

The display is very nice on this PDA, easy to read even outside. It has a Compact Flash socket and an SD socket which gives you many options for expansion.

You can get full specs about these PDAs at the Dell site (click here).

You have three options for connecting an Axim X5 to a GPS receiver. First, you can use a standard serial port based GPS receiver (such as a Garmin 35 or or Holux 210) and use the serial connector at the bottom of the Axim to connect to the GPS receiver, like we do with Palm based PDAs. This leaves the Compact Flash and SD slots available for other uses.

Here is a picture of the serial cable you need. It also has a cigarette adapter that you can use to power the PDA, which saves the batteries. You can get this cable from our favorite cable supply source, The Supply Net. Click here for a link right to the page where you can order this cable.

The second option uses a serial port adapter to add a high speed serial port to the PDA. The adapter plugs into the slot at the top of the Axim X5 and a cable plugs into the adapter. The cable can then be connected to a wide variety of devices including GPS receivers. You would use this option if you want to use the standard serial port on the Axim for other uses.

These adapters work very well. The connector to the adapter isn’t as sturdy as you might like, but with a little care it should last. Click here for more information about the adapters we’ve used, made by Socket Inc..

The third option is to use a GPS receiver that plugs into the Compact Flash connector at the top of the Axim. At least two models (Holux 270 CF, and Haicom 303E) has a connector for an external antenna which is necessary to collect the best possible travel time data. This option uses the CF slot, but frees up the serial port for other uses. Note: If you use Jamar Trax counters than you can use your PDA with or without GPS to retrieve and validate your traffic data. (Click here for more details).

If you are buying a new PDA and are considering a Pocket-PC model, then we suggest you take a very close look at the Dell Axim X5. We like it a lot. It is part of one of our recommended systems (click here).

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