SeV Navigator

[BamBamm]

co-operate with i.e. TomTom Navigator to produce a SeV with an integrated GPS receiver, which is powered by the solar panel and communicate by Bluetooth to a pocketPC. The pocketPC can also be powered by the solar panel. TomTom provides good city maps among other - they have voice, so that the pocketPC remains in a pocket while the user gets navigation instructions via headset (earplug)

BamBamm

[Gadgetmaster]

You can do this youself, now. I use Delorme Pocket Street Atlas on the road, and Topo in the rough.

[Endr]

I tend to side with Gadgetmaster on this one;
As much as I really like the idea, I suspect it would be more useful as an aftermarket sort of end-user assembled thing.

For the needs of the civilian world, this suggestion is just fine, except for personal privacy freaks (me) or people with excessive tactical paranoia (also me) who don't like the idea of a GPS receiver built into their clothes. But on the other hand, I can see the military Spec-Ops/Recon types making extensive use of such a product for low key urban sneek, peek, and mapping, provided it interfaced with their existing recon gear. And that's the real catch; making it match up with their gear and still be rugged enough to handle whatever these guys need to do. Probably better to allow them to use their trimble GPS (or whatever they use these days; it seems to change every 5 seconds, and vary by unit as well) stashed in a pocket and connected to a digital camera via bluetooth (they make those, too... can anyone say American Tourist?) and a hard module (maybe a mini-laptop) that allows them to upload GPS and compass accurate pictures to a Surveillance & Reconnaissance post somewhere in the rear via Tactical Chat over the military HF radios. See all the offboard stuff there?
Of course, for the civvie market, that's not nearly an issue, but, still; people have their preferences for gear. I don't seem to have a lot of luck with windows mobile, and TomTom probably wouldn't be my first choice, either.
Whatever did happen to the SeV solar panels, anyway? I haven't seen those in a little bit. Or am I just not paying enough attention, these days? I'd give real money if SeV had solar panels that didn't stick out as much as the old ones I remember... for me, blending in is a crucial aspect of my work.

Endr
Tactical Geek Extraordinaire

[SeV_EDC]

I tend to stay on the simpler side with gear (simpler does not necessarily mean less!), and something "built in" (i.e. GPS) will always be a less flexible solution than something that you stow in your pocket. The problem with mission-specific gear is that it is... well, mission-specific. Hard to transfer over to the civilian market (which drives up costs) and hard to keep it from printing as anything other than (again)... mission-specific gear. I'd take a flexible solution any day (hence the development of the modular MOLLE system) over being hard-wired to my gear.

Back in the early 2000s I saw some flexible fabric with a screen built in wired to a GPS. It was a prototype jacket for bike messengers with a screen in the sleeve so they could see where to go. The tech was pretty primitive back then, but it's possible now... not sure I would buy into it, though.

We no longer sell the solar panel jackets. I think as technology continues to improve someone will come out with a solar collector that looks like ordinary cloth. For now, though, we're focusing on other innovations like ClearTouch fabric....

SeV_EDC

[Endr]

SeV_EDC:

Thank you for illustrating my point far more eloquently than I managed to do; perhaps I should work on that. The end-user assembled solution will always be far more effective and custom tailored than the factory designed solution. Which was exactly my point; SeV would be far better off designing a solution that effectively conceals all the offboard gear I initially mentioned. It still allows all the same functionality (may already exist; I haven't tried it, as recon isn't my gig; are there any Force Recon folks in the house?), with far less limitations, and still allows the civilian/non-GOV user to use whatever solution they deem appropriate. Much applause, SeV-EDC.

-Endr
Tactical Geek Extraordinaire

[SeV_EDC]

Thanks! We get comments all the time from operators who use our gear, and they always have some good stories and feedback. Some have even modified their SeV further (a loop here, a slit there) to meet their needs... and some of those ideas find their way into new products. Scottevests are multi-taskers, just like the folks who use them.

SeV_EDC