Related
Can anybody recommend what I would need in order to use my XDA-II as a satellite navigation system for my car? I believe I would need a GPS receiver, but unsure of which are the better options. I would be hoping to do this for under £100 if possible. Can anybody recommend anything or give me a link to some reviews?
Thanks,
Allan
PLEASE do a search around this forum before asking such a question.
YES we're ere to help each other
BUT
YES there is load of info allready available.
I have had a search through the forum but all the relevant posts are over 6 months old, and there are no indication of price.
Does anybody have any advice?
Thanks
Allan
I dont think last months discusions on carkits are > 6 months old.
The pricing info is still valid.
Carkits were introduced between may and july this year.
Good carkits are from Expansys (iMate / XDAII carkit), T-Mobile (MDA II carkit), Qtek (Qtek2020 carkit), Yeti.
All have specific (dis)advantages.
Decent cradle is from Carcomm and maybe Seidio.
If i say more, I can just as weel copy the other threads in.
allanmb
I'm new to this too, so I researched the subject as well as I could and this is what I've found since I unwrapped my 'surprise' (!) GPS package at Christmas...
First of all, the package itself. I (sorry, Santa) went for a PDAMods bundle (sixth one down on http://www.pdamods.com/products.asp?cat=104) of Rikaline X7 Bluetooth GPS, TomTom 3 and the Silver Shield powered mount with built-in speaker. Let's look at these one at a time.
Rikaline X7 I was attracted to this model by its replaceable battery, long battery life and no on/off switch. I upgraded my O2 XdaII to the 1.72 ROM from the O2 website before trying to bond it (so cannot comment on different brands or earlier ROMs), but when I did so it bonded immediately. You simply hold a button down for 5 seconds + to activate Bluetooth discoverable mode, pair with the XdaII in the normal manner and that's it. I also use a Jabra BT250 headset in the car, and have tested it with an incoming call whilst in TomTom nav mode - whilst admittedly I don't yet know whether the voice prompts still work during a call (because I was on a straight when the call came in), all that was necessary after hanging up was to close the phone app and there was the map again, bang on as usual. Accuracy is - well, phenomenal, I would guess within 5 metres most of the time, and I see little or no lag, except (slightly) on the heading in turns at junctions. All that is necessary to activate the Rikaline is to start TomTom on the XdaII; likewise, it reverts to 'sleep' mode when you exit TomTom at the end of the journey. There is really no need to turn off Bluetooth on the XdaII, so no chance of you missing calls on your headset because you forgot to turn it back on later.
TomTom 3 My software is v.3.03. I have downloaded the upgrade to v 3.07 to my home PC, but I have not yet installed it on the XdaII because I haven't yet encountered any problems - call it 'on-condition maintenance', or 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. There are some new roads in my area that are not shown, and some of the TomTom-provided POIs are slightly misplaced - although if you were really in the middle of nowhere and looking to fill up a petrol can I can't see you going too far wrong! Personally I find the 3D map presentation very useful - tried the 2D version today and didn't find it anywhere near as intuitive.
Silver Shield Mount The XdaII really needs to be powered whilst you nav. Obviously, the Rikaline looks after itself (I'm already convinced that only on really long runs or stints away from home would the in-car charging lead need to be taken along), but you'll flatten the battery on the XdaII much earlier then your GPS dies if you set it to keep the screen backlight on all the time on the internal battery. The Silver Shield mount also includes a built-in speaker, but as you will know from your searches on these fora the XdaII can only pump out phone audio through the bottom connector - so this enhanced audio facility requires a silly little coiled lead to be connected from the XdaII's headphone socket (bottom right) to the appropriate socket on the mount (top left). I have found that the right-angled jack plug on the provided lead prevents a snug fit on the mount and can cause an intermittent connection which can lose you your backlighting/charging at critical moments. For the mean time, I have stopped using the external speaker, and have found the volume on the XdaII speaker to be adequate for speeds up to 60mph; I will be trying motorway speeds tomorrow on a long run (Oxford - Kent). I think that the problem might well be solved anyway by shaving the offending corner off the moulded jack plug.
All in all, I'm very impressed and enjoying using my new system. I recommend it.
Cheers
Gadget :roll:
I would suggest going to www.ebay.co.uk and search either xda or navigation. There are many low priced systems on offer.
Silly little coiled lead
Hi all
Did Oxfordshire - Bluewater and back yesterday, including a full circuit of the M25, and found the Xda II's built-in speaker quite adequate in my convertible (roof up). Have now decided that I don't really need the silly little coiled lead, although I'm still going to trim the corner off for use in the summer when the roof is down.
Still b****y impressed.
Gadget :roll:
Allanmb
I have gps working on my Jam. If you need further help please E mail me.
Feel free to ask what you like if you can't find what you want in SEARCH, I don't mind helping out!!!
I'm loving destinator 3 on the xda II never crashes and has been updated some 50 times since it had an algorithm problem,
you can take calls and flick back to another screen with no problem. I got the Destinator whole of europe a XDA2 power supply / serial GPS 256MB Ram all for 160 + VAT and very happy since I got badly lost just before it arrived.
have fun
Hi, i have a question for y'all that have GPS working on your xdaII. I have a Bluetooth GPS receiver that does not "communicate" the position to my Qtek 2020 (it seems like it does not find any satellite)! Could it be because of the software i use (Mapsonic)? The receiver uses the NMEA standard 2.2, while the software requires a receiver that requires 2.0 (it's more advanced the one of the receiver...so why should i have problems...?)! Do you think i should find another software? Which one? My receiver is this:
http://www.acte.no/techstuff/gps/BT-R500.htm
In case anybody has this receiver, plesae tell me what software you are using.
thanks in advance
Hi all
Has anyone any experience of the O2 Car Kit like this one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=57252&item=6382293875
I'm well past the stage where I should have installed and be using one, (the car is a Diesel L/R Disovery Tdi, and not exactly quiet), but I'd like any opinions on the best to use, or any problems that might arise.
Althogh I have a BT GPS Unit, I dont use any Route Planning S'Ware, cause few have any usefull maps of Northern Ireland, so its the call audio I'm really interested in.
TIA for any opinions
Based on the pictures this carkit is the same as the QTek2020 / T-Mobile MDAII carkit.
It is said to be of very good quality.
BUT: It is also said that when using ie TomTom Navigator (or the like) your car-audio will be muted permanently.
This carkit was sold in Germany for approx 170 euro (about 110 gbp). So I would say the current auction price is rather high . . . .
I was not aware that O2 sold this carkit. I am using the XDAII carkit that is/was sold by ie. Expansys. The quality of that thing is not as good. Especially the mic sound is horrible for 'the other side'
BTW there are many threads on this (all approx 1 yr old)
Car Kit Query
Hi Ed
>>Based on the pictures this carkit is the same as the QTek2020 / T-Mobile MDAII carkit. It is said to be of very good quality.
Yes I agree, part of what drew me towards this one is the look of it.
>>BUT: It is also said that when using ie TomTom Navigator (or the like) your car-audio will be muted permanently.
I have considered this, and I'm not sure when or if I would use anything other than 'Pocket Streets', (and its maps of this area aren't that good either).
Most of the mapping I have been able to view provide street level detail, only in Larger Built up areas, and main routes connecting these.
Fortunately I already know my way between Belfast and other towns, As a result I dont know if TT or indeed any of the others would be of any real use. As a result, I really am more curious about the Call audio from the Speaker and Mic, during calls.
>>This carkit was sold in Germany for approx 170 euro (about 110 gbp). So I would say the current auction price is rather high . . . .
yes I found it on the T'mobile (D) site still on sale,
fully agree re the price but .... if it works ... then ... maybe ..
>>BTW there are many threads on this (all approx 1 yr old)
Yes and I think I managed to read most of them, I was sorta looking to see if someone else has lived with one of these for while, and have a experienced opinion on the it, any Rom Upgrades needed etc ...
I'm not sure how much more stress I am prepared to endure to get various aspects of this great unit to work as I hoped it would, (can't afford to be pulling on my hair much more these days)
I have yesterday just bought this car kit from the company advertising it on ebay, first of all the compnay are absolutly brilliant to deal with and would recommend them highly.
As for the car kit i have found three little niggles:
1) it isn't as easy as other car phone kits to place the xda2 into the holder, this is probably the case for most xda2 car kits due to the body of the xda2 itself.
2) any sound from the pda will mute the car radio, this so far hasn't been too much of an issue, but you can always just disconnect the car radio mute lead, but side effect of course is that you would have to turn the radio down when you recieve a call, however it is nice that the tomtom directions etc come out the car phone speaker loud and clear.
3) now this one may not be the car kit itself and maybe just that i haven't managed to find optimal settings or have missed a setting up procedure (if there is one). Basically there is a lot of background noise through the microphone, speech can be heard ok but i haven't experienced this amount of noise from any other kit, however i am going to try and relocate the mic to the middle of the car instead of up the windscreen frame near the driver door, this may solve this.
Apart from that it is a very easy kit to install (would recommend a professional install due to problems of bodged installs and car air bags!), it is of a very good physical quality and have seen it advertised for over £150 in the UK.
O2 car kit query
see now thats what I was hoping for.
thanks macca
I'm just about convinced
now just need to know where my wife hid my c'card ???
macca: Just a tip for the mic: Make sure the airstream from then vents does not reach the mic. I read several threads on background noise and most of them appeared to be created by the airstream blowing over the mic.
thanks edsub, i'll investigate that furthur, i maybe moving over to a orange m2000 soon as i have been offered an upgrade, unfortunatly it won't fit in my car kit, so i may have to sell it and get a xda2i instead. xda2 is great, i just miss the wlan.
david young, glad to have helped.
Brodit kits
I wonder if anyone has any experience of these Brodit Car Kits at pdahut? I do like the idea of ProClip Brodit have so you don't have to drill holes anywhere in your car. Any other suggestion?
http://www.pdahut.com/store/home.php?cat=378
I have Brodit and Carcomm cradles installed and they are both excellent. At the moment I have my XDAII in a Carcomm cradle which is powered and has a serial input cable to which you can connect a GPS Mouse or charge a BT GPS.
The Brodit cradles also have the option of an amplified speaker, in the photos you'll see my 2210 on the right of the steering wheel is connected to this type.
In the UK TotalPDA sell Carcomm and Handnav are the appointed Brodit resellers.
See here for images of the cradles in my car.
I too liked the idea of not drilling in my (leasecar) dashboard.
Afaik there are two options then:
Brodit Procip (plastic)
MTU dashmount (metal)
I opted for the MTU and decided to imitate it myself from a metal plate strip. Its quite easy from the MTU specifications:
http://www.mtu.no/english/DashMount/DM_pdf/70224.pdf
I managed the get the cables through the airvent that is now blocked by the carkit.
Now did I get a bargain or did I get a bargain.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5196552992&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1
So long as you want it for an XDA rather than an XDAII then yes.
I have my 2i in a Brodit kit connected to the cigarette lighter and then a bluetooth Motorola HS810...works a treat. Luckily the 2i fits perfect as I got the cradle originally for the XDA2.
I've also got my TomTom wireless BT receiver on the dash...all work nicely (other than ongoing issues with phone mast transfers causing TT lockups)
Aww hell, I'll just take a picture and show you...my only wish is that on the Mini the holder was locked in a bit higher to show off when people drive past
A
PS - yes that IS a Care Bear...that my girlfriend puts there to "watch over me". I have one of those little dog things that Clintons Cards do (the ones with the big heads and little bodies) in the other cup holder. Thought I'd get that in now to avoid the "errr....is that a care bear?" questions!!
griffog said:
See here for images of the cradles in my car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Errr....just how many PDAs and phones do you want in your car?? Hehe...
They're not all used all of the time but I need them when performin comparison testing
Actually I tend to use TT Mobile 5 on a C500 most of the time now!
Griffog, yes it is for xda however I had an official car kit, the original I think for xda in the past and that would take an xda 2 quite happily although I never tried it out in the car it charged the xda 2 on the bench ok, what are the issues, is there a wiring difference preventing it working?
I am trying to find a cradle for my xda2s that will allow me to plug in a GPS reciever and use the phone functions as well. The spotty oiks I have asked in various shops can't help and email help at various websites isn't particularly knowledgeable. I already have a nokia kit in my car from the previous owner and intend using the wiring from that if possible. I particularly like this one:
http://www.pdamods.com/proddetail.asp?prod=A11XDA2SMNT&cat=113
but the details are scant on the site.
Anyone out there recommend anything to me???
GPS cradle
I've been looking for a similar thing and came across this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HOLUX-CR100-G...QitemZ5826433844QQcategoryZ4668QQcmdZViewItem
I don't think you're obliged to buy it on eBay, but it's a start. What I'm wary about is that the microphone on the M2000 is on the bottom of the unit, so by plugging in as suggested in the picture on eBay would cover the microphone, and from memory the cradle uses the mic in the m2000. I haven't had the time to research this any further, but I hope this may help.
FYI
I am after a XDA Orbit Brodit Active Mount, I spoke to the helpful chap at www.dsldevelopments.com he explained the HTC P3300 active brodit mount does not fit the Orbit as the usb port is about 3mm offset compared to the HTC P3300. He said Brodit are addressing this and may have the Orbit Bodit Active mounts available in a few weeks.
Nick
I spoke to Dave at DSL Developments on 7th January. He said that Brodit currently had an Orbit, were now designing a holder, and hoped to get one into test by end of January, possibly to market in February. He said he'd get back to me by email when it's available (he's developing an email list of people awaiting one!).
I would love to see their Molex adapter to use for something USEFUL like AUDIO OUT. So everybody could use the Orbit/Artemis for connecting to car stereo AUX IN.
Sorry but I have to disagree with the assumption that this mount will not work with the orbit as I am using it on my Orbit.
Yes at first it did not work so I used a bit of gentle pressure to align it and it works really well.
Not really an issue in my opinion.
Brodit orbit active holder finally here
Just for information noticed this morning that the orbit active holder has finally appeared on the brodit website!
Does anyone know any uk based shops where these will be available soon?
Joel_Croft said:
Just for information noticed this morning that the orbit active holder has finally appeared on the brodit website!
Does anyone know any uk based shops where these will be available soon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
We are please to announce that the holder range for the XDA Orbit has just been released, stock is due into the UK in 5-7 working days so to order and get one allocated to you, please follow the link,
If you have any questions do please get in touch,
Many Thanks,
Bryson
http://www.dsldevelopments.com/brodit/new_holder/o2+XDA Orbit-Brodit-Holder.asp
Can anyone tell me how to mount the brodit holder for Artemis in your car?
There are 3 holes for screws, but I don't want to damage my car interior when installing the PocketPC car holder.
The documentation included does not say anything about how to install it
You will need a Pro-Clip to suit your vehicle, the holder will attach to that via screws, or Brodit Move-it Clip (which is a better solution as it makes it easier to remove from the vehicle) it also leaves less evidence of a mount in the car when removed - Mike
Thanks for the quick reply! I didn't knew that
Brodit Mount
Have at long last received my XDA Orbit mount from Brodit courtesy of DslDevelopments, its a peice of cake to install (you need car specific proclip to mount it onto!) the Orbit fits nicely and feels very secure, I got the active version so phone is always being charged in the car - recommended even if it did take brodit 2 months to produce it!
Philby
esackbauer said:
I would love to see their Molex adapter to use for something USEFUL like AUDIO OUT. So everybody could use the Orbit/Artemis for connecting to car stereo AUX IN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is there any solution for this issue by now?
i fancy that brodit active holder but it would have to be capable of connecting the device to the power supply as well as my car stereo AUX IN.
could get this sorted out with a self-built solution but i prefer having just one single cable visible in my car....
...any suggestions?
You will need to use the Passive (non powered mount) and a 3 in 1 addapter like this one http://www.easydevices.co.uk/pp/HTC_Accessories/HTC_P3300/HTC_P3300_3_IN_1_USB_ADAPTER.html
It does work very well and allows you to charge the device up, use the supplied ear phones and use the 3,5MM socket to feed the Aux input on the car.
It does not pass the earphones through as an aerial though, so you cannot use the Artemis radio when using the addapter, I have one and use it in this exact same way in the car, your other alternative is to change the stereo to one that supports Bluetooth and stream the audio to the car deck using A2DP - this works very well, but it is also very costly for a stereo that can do this - Mike
bluetooth is no good to me as i dont wanna change my car deck due to design reasons
reckon i'll actually get this sorted exactly the way you described it as brodit's active holder concept seems to be no good for audio throughput, which is a shame if you ask me
anyways, cheers for your replay mate..
My solutions
I bought a Sony MEX-BT2500 for £90 on ebay - bluetooth streaming, brilliant!
However, there are other things I've done too...
Got the standard universal PDA holder that O2 ship sometimes, or for a fiver on ebay... it's one with sliding 'feet' at the bottom of it... then put your usb connector (either straight power or a 3-way if needed,) into your device,and slide the feet to hold it tight. With this done, gently remove the device, holding the connector in place, and stategically place a couple of drops of superglue to hold the usb connector to the feet... job done.
I then fastened my holder to a bolt-free bracket for my Passatt (another ebay find) for a perfect solution...
NickR said:
FYI
I am after a XDA Orbit Brodit Active Mount, I spoke to the helpful chap at www.dsldevelopments.com he explained the HTC P3300 active brodit mount does not fit the Orbit as the usb port is about 3mm offset compared to the HTC P3300. He said Brodit are addressing this and may have the Orbit Bodit Active mounts available in a few weeks.
Nick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look here for active holders for XDA:
Brodit XDA Orbit Car Holders.
Cheap prices and good service.
Just replaced my XDA2i with an orbit and am trying to find a lead that will allow the orbit to work with the O2 speaker kit thingy. Looks like it's made by Ora / safe2talk and that they are standard things but you then buy an end cable to suit your phone. I have the Brodit mount, and the mic is wired behind the upholstery, so this seems the best solution, but if there is a better one I'd be grateful to know
Thanks
Mike