49G, a step backwards?

[Dave, surveyor]

Greetings to the the forum. As a Land Surveyor I have used the 41, 48sx and gx series of calculators to run my data collection in the field. The other day I spoke with one of the major manufacturers of the data collection industry and their efforts are now being directed to the new 49G. Sounds reasonable, but in the past with the 48 series, we had one port for the program card and the other to expand the memory. Wonder how they are going to handle this issue? Will we have to buy a "pre programmed" calc from these guys, or perhaps download the actual programs that used to reside on the rom card via the PC? Furthermore, my Ashtech GPS system that uses a rom card in the 48gx to send and receive information via the infra red port now appears to be obsolete. After 2 months. Comments anybody? Personally, I think they should pursue the "24 hour sandals".

[Steve Kersey]

Hi Dave, I do see an up side to the 49G with it's MB of ROM for user's applications. A software developer could update and add features without the expense of burning you a new card. I'd like to see a data card in a 49GX that was Windows oompatable like ATA compact flash, but I'd like applications delivered to me as a PC program that re-flashes the 49G. Trimble does this in their Survey Controller data collector, but alas it's not a system that is open to user programs.