Wow! All I can say is Wow! Global Positioning Systems (GPS) rule!
This is such a cool piece of technology!
In all these years of photographing weddings, I have been lucky to make it to every wedding without a problem. But what would happen if I got lost one day going to one? Yikes! So I thought that it would be worth investing in a GPS unit for my car to minimize the possibility of that happening. Sure, a lot of new cars have these things built-in, but my vehicle doesn't have one built-in.
Rather than purchasing a dedicated GPS unit, I decided to get a bluetooth capable unit that would instead work in conjunction with a new handheld PDA (Personal Digital Assistant.) My older Hewlett Packard PDA doesn't compare to the new units and with all the appointments and weddings going on in a year, I need to keep well organized. It just made sense to upgrade this piece of electronics as well.
The Dell Axim x51 is a Pocket PC unit running the new Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system (OS). Along with Office Suite programs like Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint, I can even store MP3's on the PDA and use it as an MP3 Player or video player! An Apple iPod would be better of course, but this is an all-in-one solution for more than just music and video.
For the price of the PDA and GPS unit, I could have purchased a dedicated GPS unit. But it would not be able to do all the things I can do with the PDA. This is a great solution for doing multiple things!
Investing in all these extra items may not seem necessary for doing my job as a wedding photographer. But to me, it's worth it to guarantee my clients the best service they deserve. And arriving on time without getting lost is a very important thing in my opinion.
Edit Note: 10-09-06 The GPS has paid off on the last couple of weddings already! At the last few weddings, the limo drivers left me behind (I often follow the limo to the reception or other photo locations) and I used the GPS to find where I needed to go! Without it, I would have had a terrible time finding the locations. GPS is incredible!
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