Develop Bugs

GPS receiver

I am looking into buying a good GPS receiver with a mount. I already have the tom tom 5 software. Just need the mount and GPS now.
I have been reading reviews a lot and still undecided on what to get.
Do I get a wired one? Do I get a Bluetooth one?
Which ones are best in the market. There are loads and I cant decide.
Someone recommended the TOMTOM mount with a fuzion wired receiver.
Any recommendations? Where can I buy them?

http://www.buygpsnow.com/item.aspx?itemid=404
I used them - they are great - you get a free mount too!
BT338 is an excellent receiver - I would say best on the market.

also recommend the Globalsat BT-338, forget a wired solution, that's so last year, i'd advise buying a cheap £45 bluetooth adaptor over the wired solution but if your after quality get the Globalsat BT-338 as advised above, for reviews on BT GPS adaptors check here.
also, i've got this mount which attatches to the windscreen with minimum shake...got it after 2 of them flex arm style ones broke on me.
this is the mount i use for my MDA3, it charges and connects to my GPS receiver to charge that as well although you have to order the correct lead for your adaptor to do this.

Doesnt the BT gps take time to load up on start? I heard it takes at least 5 minutes to get the lights blinking.
Furthermore, any problems with using a BT gps and a BT headset at the same time?
If I get a call on the road while using my GPS, would I be able to receive the call too ?
Anyone experience any problems with this?

hmm, i've no experience in using a bluetooth headset with a GPS receiver, i would suspect there are issues but have no experience on this...i dont even have a simcard in my MDA3, it's purely used for Satnav.
my guess is that the phone cannot make multiple Blutooth connections simultaneously but will test the theory today at some point and report back if successful.....obviously this would be a good reason to go for a wired GPS solution in which case you should get a bargain as they're bound to be cheap now.

decoy7 said:
hmm, i've no experience in using a bluetooth headset with a GPS receiver, i would suspect there are issues but have no experience on this...i dont even have a simcard in my MDA3, it's purely used for Satnav.
my guess is that the phone cannot make multiple Blutooth connections simultaneously but will test the theory today at some point and report back if successful.....obviously this would be a good reason to go for a wired GPS solution in which case you should get a bargain as they're bound to be cheap now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My XDA IIi can make simultaneous connections. I regularly use my TomTom MK2 BT Device and my Jabra BT250 headset together, getting the directions straight into the ear-piece.

coolio, good looking out on that reply MaskedMarauder.
thats solves that one then....i'd get a Bluetooth GPS unit.

Directions straight to the BT headset? Thats ****ing awesome.
How do you do it?
Can you still receive phone calls while on GPS ?

The way I see it you have one of two choices.
These are the latest GPS receivers on the market and have literally just come out in the last 3-4 weeks.
Holux GR-213 (cabled)
Holux GPSlim236 (Bluetooth)
They are both based on the newest SiRF Star III chip.
Personally I went for the cabled version as I hate batteries and having to charge the thing. Plug in a cable and go. Also excludes any bluetooth hassles. It works fine on WM5.0 on my Himalaya (SPV M1000) and TomTom 5. No problems.
Hope this is of help.
Bought mine in UK from http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/product_details.php?id=1266

I have the Hollux gpslim 236, and it's cheaper than the globalsat and works fine...
And about the 5min startup, all gps are the same, and it depends on your line of sight.. Normally a cold start take 45sec both the hollux and the globalsat use the same sirf 3 chipset..

the Holux GPS Bluetooth looks good as it has the same chipset as the Globalsat but i noticed it comes with an 850mAh battery giving 10 hours operation while the Globalsat battery is 1700mAh providing 17 hours continued use...if they're both the same device technically i would advise paying the extra couple of £'s for the almost double battery performance alone.
also, on the gpsforless site the Holux Bluetooth is advertised at £104.99 and the Globalsat @ £114.99.....however i got mine at pdamods.com where it's now priced at £99.86(a whole £15 cheaper), best thing would be to check reviews done on the devices where possible...everyone has their own experience and different requirements.
all prices quoted include VAT but not postage.

Hi alitech,
Did you purchase one in the end if so which one? Also does your bluetooth headset kit work in conjunction with the GPS so you can make or receive calls while the GPS is connected via bluetooth?
Thanks
Msuk

Hi alitech,
Did you purchase one in the end if so which one? Also does your bluetooth headset kit work in conjunction with the GPS so you can make or receive calls while the GPS is connected via bluetooth?
Thanks
Msuk

Which Bluetooth GPS receiver?

Hello all,
Which bluetooth GPS receiver works best with the Exec? I'm looking at ebay but there are so many....I just want one that doesn't cause pairing trouble.......
Cheers
HPJ

I use Globalsat BT-335 and I'm very happy with it. No problems pairing with the XDA Exec, works fine with TomTom 5.1, great battery life, leather pouch, small, auto power off, Sirf III (works pretty much anywhere - inside, under the dashboard). Available on ebay for £90 delivered in the UK.
If you do go with something else, make sure it's Sirf III and you should still get good reception indoors and anywhere in the car.

Thanks Dave, I'll certainly get a Sirf III now I know.......
C'mon the rest of you, what do you use?!
HPJ

I'm in the north, and I have yet to see a GPS unit maintain a lock more than a foot inside my windows. Simply putting a unit on the windowsill will not allow me to get a lock. I have heard this same report on each new Bluetooth GPS that comes out, I have yet to see one that it actually works on.
Perhaps it doesn't really matter, I have yet to be lost in my home.
I have used a EMTAC, CoPilot, and a Belkin F8T051. All seem to work equally well, IMHO.

daveb1976 said:
I use Globalsat BT-335 and I'm very happy with it. No problems pairing with the XDA Exec, works fine with TomTom 5.1, great battery life, leather pouch, small, auto power off, Sirf III (works pretty much anywhere - inside, under the dashboard). Available on ebay for £90 delivered in the UK.
If you do go with something else, make sure it's Sirf III and you should still get good reception indoors and anywhere in the car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you mean BT 338 I also have one and thoroughly recommend it !! its awesome compared to the Sirf 2 receiver I had before it,

it might be because I live in norfolk (no hills yay!) but I use a GlobalSat BT338 and have it in the center console under the front of the dash and have never lost signal lock, these SIRF-III GPS devices are amazing.
Flubster

Bluetooth GPS Receiver
I use a BT-338 receiver with Destinator 3 and am extremely happy with it. It has never lost a lock and usually tracks between 10 and 12 satellites at a time. I've used it in Ireland, France, Spain and Florida and it has always performed brilliantly.

Interesting thread, so out of these contenders which should I go for to provide good reception in and outdoors?
http://www.handtec.co.uk/section.php?xSec=27&jssCart=6c3f7b52db5d6fb7599db63e12c51fe6

how about haicom-405????

Original question
The original question was which units maintain good connection with the Exec. Not having one myself makes it difficult to comment, but most current (ie Sirf III) BT units should be fine.
Personally I too recommend the GlobalSat BT-338. For excellent commentary and reviews I suggest you look at the forums over at www.gpspassion.com.
Hope this helps!

Well, I went for the Leadtek 9553 in the end, its a TINY little unit, got a spare battery free, it locks on in no time, and tracks up to 20 sources, so WELL pleased! Highly recommend.

BT GPS with BT car kit
I am thinking of getting a GPS receiver but am concerned that there will be conflict with my Sony Ericsson HCB300 (a bluetooth hands free car kit)
Does anyone have a similar set up? If so, are there conflicts?

Globalsat gps338
Sorry folks put wrong post in bluetooth headset.I have the gps338 which works well with gpstuner and teletype which is slow to update on the universal but it shows in the north west indoor nine satellites \pretty good I would say but it has the sirfIII which is best at the moment .The only problem with it is the priogram gpsinfo does not work with the universal,any one had this problem ,any fix .Thanks.

Holux GPSlim-236. Its tiny, yet boasts of SIRFstar III chipset. Works pretty well and has a good battery life. As all GPS units, comes with a car-charger, so battery life shouldn't be that much of a concern. Pretty cheap IMO too.

Another vote for the holux [edit: I mean the GPSlim 236]. As far as I could see when I bought mine, it was the cheapest SirfIII device available in the UK, as well as having good battery life etc. I got it for £65 ex VAT from a UK dealer to avoid possible warranty issues.
It's also tiny and nice to look at!
My only gripe with it is that it doesn't indicate BT 'lock' (the "I am ready to connect" and "I am connected" indication states are the same) although this is not much of an issue since it is often out sight anyway! If I leave it on my dining table on the bottom floor of a 3 storey house 2-3 meters from a window it still picks up several satellites.

@Mike,
As you mentioned the BT blinking thing really isn't an issue because you will be able to see if you are connected to the receiver or not on your PDA

GPS Receiver

All,
I have a MDA III and considering to purchase a Bluetooth GPS receiver and have narrowed it down to two devices
1)Holux 236
2)Rikaline 6033
Does anyone have experience of using any of these devices and how well do they work?
Thanks
Msuk

any reason why the BT 338 isn't on that list?
IIRC, the Holux will not be able to connect serially to the BA for lack of a proper cable.....
and the BT 338 is amazing,has great battery life and it works quite well with the BA. I have been using it with TomTom and so far,its been great!
Kaz

Either of those two are good solutions. My favourite is the Holux GPSLim236, as it has a hardware ON/OFF switch.
It's a better performer than the Globalsat BT338, more sensitive.
The USB-Serial Cable is available from HoluxUK should you ever want to use it as a GPS Mouse although why you'd want to I don't know!

comment +
kazmi said:
any reason why the BT 338 isn't on that list?
IIRC, the Holux will not be able to connect serially to the BA for lack of a proper cable.....
and the BT 338 is amazing,has great battery life and it works quite well with the BA. I have been using it with TomTom and so far,its been great!
Kaz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep! My pda2k work just fine together with BT-338! Very good device!

I have just received a Qstarz BT 8080 (rebadged Rikalin 6033 I think) and it works flawlessly with my TT5 and only took a couple of goes to set up as "other Bluetooth device". The reason I changed from the supplied tomtom GPS unit is that the Qstarz automatically detects 12v line in and powers up; and then powers-off when the voltage drops. I can now hard-wire the GPS into my car ignition circuit and not have to press any buttons, so can hide it.

I've just bought an APOSsite Solutions GPS626 wireless receiver.
You can see it here: http://www.apos-tec.com
I was gonna get a Holux but the man in the shop warned me that he has had several faulty ones returned. He could have said nothing and made more money off me (because the Holux costs more than the APOS one) but the fact that he didn't spoke volumes to me!
I'm using it with Tomtom 3 (until I get a copy of Tomtom 5) and it all seems fine. Nice and quick to start up, too.

I have the BT338 and it is awesome.

I have a Holux GPSLim236, I've owned a couple of different bluetooth recievers and the holux is just ace, hard to think how you would improve on it.
I you can afford it ,it really is the best.

Not Another GPS Question...

2 Actually...
Question 1:
My wife currently has the Nokia N80 and is drooling (and I thought only guys did that) over the new N95 that is due to come out soon.
At the same time, she was looking for a Parrot Car kit because she needs a hands free kit in the car.
I was looking on line and seen the Parrot 3400 LS-GPS - Colour
Now since her next phone will have GPS in in and mine (HTC P3300) already has it, I thought it would be a good thing to get.
Anybody have any experience with the Parrot 3400 LS-GPS - Colour
---
Question 2:
When I outside walking around, it takes me a very long time to get a lock on a GPS satellite - anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes.
Now when I am in the car, I get one within 2 minutes.
- Yes I use Quick GPS -
Since I ride a motorcycle and have a hard time getting a connection when I am not in a car, I have come to the conclusion that I need to get an external antenna for it.
What would be a good, external antenna to get with the HTC P3300?

i might be completely wrong (my head is exploding cause of stupid co-workers), but isnt this parrot for PDAs/phones without GPS receiver? if both yours and your wife's phones have a GPS receiver, why would you need another one?
i think the Parrot 3400 LS-GPS - Colour is a GPS receiver for PDAs/phones which can run a map software but dont have a built-in GPS receiver. basically, it seems to be a standard bluetooth gps adapter (with additional handsfree functions).
or maybe i just completely misunderstood what you are telling us

That's what i understood from the description. As a GPS Antenna and Hands Free Kit it provides PDAs/Smartphones with GPS Data and a hands-free service. I agree with soardiac and would say, that this is just a bluetooth Hands-Free Kit with built-in GPS Receiver and a fancy display which shows phonebook and Call ID Pictures. I would suggest you to save your money and get a normal Parrot Car-Kit, just used mine again today and it's working flawlessy and with high quality

Non BT gps receiver & mount

Hi After searching for days now I've finally succumbed to asking for help! I'm looking for a non-bluetooth (the bt ones give me a headache) gps reciever to connect to an XDA2 running Tomtom nav 6. I'd like to use it in the car so a powered mount would be great, but I also want to use it out of the car with Memory Map so it has to work without power too! Am I looking for something that just doesn't exist? What do people think is the best quality/ value car mount? I bougt a powered gps mount from PDAMods, but its crap, the speaker is quieter than the XDAs!, the mount falls off etc.
Thanks for any help, SM

Dude, I feel you're pain. However I don't think you're going to manage it. If you had a CF slot you could have a CF GPS unit.
I use MM too, and what I've found is by using a HolOx BT321 (the copy, not the infamous one) it has an aerial socket so you can use it out walking or in the car.
In the car you attach it to the aerial and out walking or whatever then have it in your backpack top pocket or something. I'm sure you can be resourceful
It doesn't need to be in the open, it can "see" the satellites through plastic. It manages through my works file and a thick wad of tachographs' on my dash so should be ok
Good luck

As for the mount, I went and got a Brodit one. GPS for less, I think, in Wolverhampton did a decent deal. It's lasted me for over 6 months now which on my ardous lifestyle is quite long

Cheers for that.

Right, well, I've had a chance to test this theory. If you mount the GPS or aerial high up, ie on the top of your backpack or something then it will get enough coverage.
However, to be honest, it might be worth waiting until you can upgrade to a PDA with built in GPS, such as the Tytn 2. But that's not always feasible, so we'll try and help you in whatever path you choose.
Are you in the UK? I am, and use software such as Navigon Navigator 5, Memory Map and GPS Dash on the PDA, and it works quite well. I am sure there is other software, but for the time being this seems to cope with me quite well.
If you have any other issues, then you know we'll try and help if we can
Cheers, Elwyn