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Bluetooth Gps

The Mars Bars

By The Mars Bars
in United Kingdom and Ireland

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Moote

+Moote

Posted
Posted

I use a GlobalSat BT 338, it is really good, I can be sat in the middle of my house and still get reception! Cost is about £100 with 20 battery life. It is really good in an urban canyon or thick tree cover. Also works in the glove compartment of a car.

 

Milton (aka Moote)

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Happy Humphrey

+Happy Humphrey

Posted
Posted

With a small modification, the bluetooth GPSr could be used with a PDA as the main geocaching device rather than limited to just in-car navigation. The chipset will give an advantage where signal strength is poor.

 

But this could be an interesting development;

 

Garmin Chooses SiRF as Supplier on Selected New Garmin Devices

 

...perhaps we'll get waterproof, robust hand-held GPS units which actually work in the middle of thick forests (at last)!

<_<

HH

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JackiePenn

JackiePenn

Posted
Posted (edited)
Cheers,

 

Just ordered a Globalsat BT338 as recommended by Milton.

 

Got it for £89.28 in the end inc delivery.

 

Thanks for the advice again.

 

Dave

That's more than I paid for my Ipaq (2ndhand) :lol:

But it is a very good GPSr, so is worth the money ;)

It's the SiRFstar III chipset it uses which makes these gps outstanding.

 

I have a HOLUX 236, which also use the SiRFstar III chipset, amazing performance.

 

Pretty much locked on within 15 seconds (less than 60 sec for cold start), indoor reception, geocaching with it in my pocket and just holding pda. Excellent reception though heat reflective windscreens which my Magellan Meridian Platinum totally fails to be able to do. Over 10 hours usable battery life (bluetooth distance degrades beyond that).

 

If I had to buy one again I would pay more for one with built in data logging as a funky feature I would have some use for.

Edited by stonefisk
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Teasel

+Teasel

Posted
Posted
I have a HOLUX 236, which also use the SiRFstar III chipset, amazing performance.

I'm looking for a bluetooth GPS which I can leave permanently on in the car boot, which rules out the BT338 as i) it has a software power switch and ii) it powers down after a few minutes if it loses the bluetooth connection.

 

Do you think the Holux 236 would be suitable, or does it have annoying habits of automatically switching off if it feels lonely? Have you ever needed to switch it off and on again due to a lock-up?

 

Basically, I'm looking for something with the robustness of a wired GPS, but which I can grab and stick in a rucksac when I leave the car. Any suggestions?

 

Cheers,

Ian

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JackiePenn

JackiePenn

Posted
Posted
I have a HOLUX 236, which also use the SiRFstar III chipset, amazing performance.

I'm looking for a bluetooth GPS which I can leave permanently on in the car boot, which rules out the BT338 as i) it has a software power switch and ii) it powers down after a few minutes if it loses the bluetooth connection.

 

Do you think the Holux 236 would be suitable, or does it have annoying habits of automatically switching off if it feels lonely? Have you ever needed to switch it off and on again due to a lock-up?

 

Basically, I'm looking for something with the robustness of a wired GPS, but which I can grab and stick in a rucksac when I leave the car. Any suggestions?

 

Cheers,

Ianmin

The "switching off" sounds like power saving mode feature.

 

I believe power saving mode is OFF by default in the Holux 236 (mine is off). BUT you can set it on or off yourself easily with either the utility software (GpsViewer from holux or the better SIRFstar Demo) same way as you can toggle the WAAS settings. So no, the unit will no switch off regardless of bluetooth connectivity.

 

The holux 236 does has a physical power switch on the unit.

 

The only "locks-ups" I have experienced with the connection have been all PDA side, where I have had to turn on and off the PDA's bluetooth connect to reconnect to the GPS. So the the answer is no, I do not recall having to toggle the holux power to clear a lock-up.

 

"Permanently" on in the car boot ? okay... but it is a battery unit, to be permanently on it would require an alternative source of power of course via its cable. I would remove the 'cigar lighter' plug from the provided cable and wire it to a fused constant feed from the car battery. But I guess you have something in mind there already.

 

This holux unit would seem to meet you needs.

 

There is one gripe I have with the model, the battery cover sucks, they could have made it a lot better, just looking at it makes it want to fall off. I have a pad of Velcro attached to it to mount on counterpart Velcro pad on dashboard/windscreen/hat/pda case and it easily pulls off the battery cover. Okay easily fixed with a bit of tape but that beside the point.

 

In the early days I would have said a belt clip would have been a big bonus too... but I have finally got my head around that the unit does indeed actually work well inside my pocket!

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Moote

+Moote

Posted
Posted
I'm looking for a bluetooth GPS which I can leave permanently on in the car boot, which rules out the BT338 as i) it has a software power switch and ii) it powers down after a few minutes if it loses the bluetooth connection.

 

Do you think the Holux 236 would be suitable, or does it have annoying habits of automatically switching off if it feels lonely? Have you ever needed to switch it off and on again due to a lock-up?

 

Basically, I'm looking for something with the robustness of a wired GPS, but which I can grab and stick in a rucksac when I leave the car. Any suggestions?

 

Cheers,

Ian

I have never had an issue with this, I clip my BT338 to my belt so I always have a BlueTooth connection; therefore I can view my position when out of a car.

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John Stead

+John Stead

Posted
Posted

I have been very happy with my Fortuna BT Clipon for some time. I have yet to run out of battery so don't know its life and its is tough - I left it on my car roof and fortunately saw it bounce off in my mirror as I went over a sleeping policeman at 20 mph or so. The winking blue light made it easier to find in the gutter when I went back! As for reception it once tracked me on to the train at Euston, main line not underground!

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Manncubs

+Manncubs

Posted
Posted

I've just bought myself an Acer N30.

Great PDA for the price (£130 ish).

I've bought the lead which connects my garmin Legend to it.

All works fine but I'm already sick of the trailing wires.

 

So how do you guys use these BT GPS units?

 

Is it a case of put it in your pocket (or glovebox in the car) and wait for the PDA to lock on to it?

Is the reception really as good as that?

 

If its yes and yes then I'm going to have to get santa to get me one.

Any more recommendations?

Needs to be well under the £100 mark if poss.

 

Cheers

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Nellies Knackers

+Nellies Knackers

Posted
Posted (edited)

Ok, Now own a Holux 236 and have a bluetooth pc card in the laptop (win XP) how do I get the two to talk to each other??

Have installed drivers for BT card and appear to have bluetooth serial client at com8 and bt serial host at com9, have tried the scan option with gps viewer and no sign.

Help!!!!(Please)

 

Edit...Wrong com number.

Edited by Nellies Knackers
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Moote

+Moote

Posted
Posted (edited)
Ok, Now own a Holux 236 and have a bluetooth pc card in the laptop (win XP) how do I get the two to talk to each other??

Have installed drivers for BT card and appear to have bluetooth serial client at com8 and bt serial host at com9, have tried the scan option with gps viewer and no sign.

Help!!!!(Please)

 

Edit...Wrong com number.

OK this is off the top of my head as my PC here does not have Bluetooth but I have done it at work (Not in till the 9th now) but I think it is the Com 8 port which you use also you need to set the Baud rate up as the GPSr dictates in the instructions, you also need to create a Partnership between the PC and GPSr, again this is sketchy but I think the tool on XP is called Bluetooth manager. Also you need to set the application up to use the same protocol used by the GPSr, this is usually NMEA.

Edited by Moote
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Moote

+Moote

Posted
Posted
Three BT GPSr. I'm gonna buy one of them but need a little more advice:

 

One

Two

Three

 

Any ideas about the variation in price?

 

Which would you choose and why?

Not used any of them but it has to have a SiRF Star III chipset as they are the best, so one or three

 

But I would also consider Option Four they are very good, even gets a signal / position in the middle of my house with little trouble.

 

Milton

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