+Primitive Person Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I'm due my mobile phone upgrade next month, and those nice people at T-Mobile are going to do me a good(ish) deal on an MDA Vario III, aka the HTC TyTN II. This is a Windows Mobile 6 machine with built-in GPS, among other things. I currently use an old XDA IIs as a PDA, and I have GPXSonar on it. I usually have several Pocket Queries loaded into it, and I'll manually tap in GPS co-ords to get GPXSonar to sort by distance when I'm out caching. So, the big question is...can GPXSonar read from the TyTN II's built-in GPS and sort caches by distance automatically? Also, does the TyTN II work with Memory Map, and show you where you are on OS maps while you're out and about? That would be Very Cool Indeed. Any other users of this device out there? Any good for caching or not? And what software are you running on it? Lee Quote Link to comment
+rutson Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 The Vario III is a fairly new device, one I haven't got my hands on (yet... 4 month until contract due up) but I have the Vario II (v.similar without GPS) which I've recently upgraded to WM6. I don't use Sonar either, but MM works fine with external GPS via BT I would be VERY surprised if it didn't work with the built-in one. On a general note, I love my Vario II, the keyboard makes it a very serviceable mobile web access device. I use cachemate on it for GC records. Quote Link to comment
+Primitive Person Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 The Vario III is a fairly new device, one I haven't got my hands on (yet... 4 month until contract due up) but I have the Vario II (v.similar without GPS) which I've recently upgraded to WM6. I don't use Sonar either, but MM works fine with external GPS via BT I would be VERY surprised if it didn't work with the built-in one. On a general note, I love my Vario II, the keyboard makes it a very serviceable mobile web access device. I use cachemate on it for GC records. Sounds pretty hopeful! I'm looking forward to getting it, and I'm sure I can get software that will do all the stuff I want. Is battery life any good? I suspect it may not be brilliant, so I won't part with my trusty little Geko 201 just yet. Lee Quote Link to comment
Nediam Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 The Vario III is a fairly new device, one I haven't got my hands on (yet... 4 month until contract due up) but I have the Vario II (v.similar without GPS) which I've recently upgraded to WM6. I don't use Sonar either, but MM works fine with external GPS via BT I would be VERY surprised if it didn't work with the built-in one. On a general note, I love my Vario II, the keyboard makes it a very serviceable mobile web access device. I use cachemate on it for GC records. Sounds pretty hopeful! I'm looking forward to getting it, and I'm sure I can get software that will do all the stuff I want. Is battery life any good? I suspect it may not be brilliant, so I won't part with my trusty little Geko 201 just yet. Lee There's a good review on CoolSmartPhone.com According to Orange the talk time is about 7 hours and standby is 15 days - much better than the Nokia N95's stated 2 hours talk and 1 day standby! Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 (edited) As 12th night has come and gone, having an xmas av' is bad luck now, of course Weird. This wasn't the thread I posted this to! Edited January 7, 2008 by Simply Paul Quote Link to comment
+Matrix Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Cachemate is available for WM6 now as well Cachemate WM6 Quote Link to comment
+rutson Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 That's cachemate for WM6 FOR SMARTPHONE. The Tytns use "normal" PPC Cachemate! Quote Link to comment
+rodz Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 It was only a year ago that I persuaded Terminalsump to get the HP 6915, which I already had. We both thought it was the biz. He then threw his in the canal whilst WTFing - a work phone - phew. He got the Kaiser (I can never spell its other name) which is the biz plus plus. Much better camera (3M) which you can easily hack to put GPS coords in jpeg data. Not long after I had to upgrade too. I got the MDA Vario 3 (Kaiser/HTC TyTN II with Tmob branding) from Tmobile with Web 'n' Walk plus - excellent speeds on internet. Makes Google maps work a dream and the internal GPSr will put you on the map. I don't use GPXsonar (I'd be very surprised if it didn't work) but Cachmate is excellent now that the new PPC version doesn't lock up on WM6. It works with the internal GPSr, so you can find your nearest cache in the database. I also use MM which is sooo quick now - the GPSr locks on in seconds. I have used it to find caches no problem (although I do carry a 60csx too). MM icons with links to HTML and cachemate make easy work of cache pages. No need for Spoilersync with always on internet. I sometimes think it is cheating as it is so good...but not very often.... Battery life is the one downer! Continual GPSr use with see it dead in under 3 hours. But if you switch it off some of the time it will last 5 hours of caching. I have a 3000ma battery pack from Proporta which works well and it quite slim (plugs into the USB). I also charge it in the car but you need a slightly different FAST charger or it will trickle charge. A 6 GB micro SD holds plenty of MM maps and anything else you may need - I believe you can get 8 GB (soon to be followed by 16 GB and then 32GB - so that's ll be the whole of the UK OS at 25K) Tomtom works well with the internal GPSr too. No need for GPSgate either. It handles Skype, Slingbox - you name it, it does it. And in case you hadn't already realised, I am a real fan of them. Quote Link to comment
Nediam Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I received my TyTN II on Thursday. I've been busy over the weekend so I've only just had a chance to try out the GPS on it. At the moment it's sat on my desk at work; 3ft from a window; and has a lock on 6 satellites. Using Google Maps Mobile and the satellite images it's showing me sat in correct spot The initial connect time was very quick, it uses QuickGPS which "downloads Ephemeris data from a Web server" and I think the nice people at Orange have already downloaded the latest data for it. Once I get some Geocaching apps running on it, I'll have a caching trip and report how it goes Quote Link to comment
+Primitive Person Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 I received my TyTN II on Thursday. I've been busy over the weekend so I've only just had a chance to try out the GPS on it. At the moment it's sat on my desk at work; 3ft from a window; and has a lock on 6 satellites. Using Google Maps Mobile and the satellite images it's showing me sat in correct spot The initial connect time was very quick, it uses QuickGPS which "downloads Ephemeris data from a Web server" and I think the nice people at Orange have already downloaded the latest data for it. Once I get some Geocaching apps running on it, I'll have a caching trip and report how it goes I've had mine for nearly a month now, so I've had the chance to really put it through its paces. I now use Memory Map and CacheMate, and I've found them both to be very good for cache hunting. I use GSAK to plot cache locations on MM as well. Only serious downer is the battery life, which is pretty poor to be honest, but it is a lovely, lovely little machine, which I love to bits. However, my simple little Geko 201 GPSr is still the biz for certain things, and I still take it with me whenever I'm out and about. Recently it happily ran all night recording my trip on the sleeper train from London to Edinburgh... Lee Quote Link to comment
+Primitive Person Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 It was only a year ago that I persuaded Terminalsump to get the HP 6915, which I already had. We both thought it was the biz. He then threw his in the canal whilst WTFing - a work phone - phew. He got the Kaiser (I can never spell its other name) which is the biz plus plus. Much better camera (3M) which you can easily hack to put GPS coords in jpeg data. I've just done the hack to get geotagged photos myself, which is brilliant, but I came across a bizarre problem when I uploaded the pics to Flickr. I was on Wimbledon Common, west of the Greenwich Meridian, but for some reason, Flickr read the geotag information wrong, and placed me the same distance east of the Meridian, in Dartford. Any ideas why this might be the case, and whether it's the phone or Flickr that's at fault? Any fixes? Lee Quote Link to comment
+rodz Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Interesting. I've looked through some of my old photos and found the same thing happens occasionally. Not sure when though. It maybe that it takes a bit longer to get this information cos it looks as though pictures taken when I have already got the GPSr enabled (with MM or whatever) seem to carry the correct information more often - just a vague theory. If you want to change the EXIF information there are a wealth of EXIF editors, some freeware. Quick EXIF is a bit clunky but does the job or Opanda IExif which is freeware to an extent - you can right click on image to check information but you need to pay for the pro version to change some of the information (you can change N to S but not E to W). Quote Link to comment
+Primitive Person Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Interesting. I've looked through some of my old photos and found the same thing happens occasionally. Not sure when though. It maybe that it takes a bit longer to get this information cos it looks as though pictures taken when I have already got the GPSr enabled (with MM or whatever) seem to carry the correct information more often - just a vague theory. If you want to change the EXIF information there are a wealth of EXIF editors, some freeware. Quick EXIF is a bit clunky but does the job or Opanda IExif which is freeware to an extent - you can right click on image to check information but you need to pay for the pro version to change some of the information (you can change N to S but not E to W). I've just downloaded Quick EXIF. Not a nice user interface, but I've got the hang of it now. I successfully swapped the E for a W, which thankfully you can do on multiple photos at once, and Flickr has them showing in the right place now. Thanks for the pointer! Lee Quote Link to comment
Nediam Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) Hi PP, wondered if you could help me a little? I've now installed Memory-Map and GPXSonar and both are working great. Satellite lock is very quick and it's locked on 6 of 'em even though I'm inside at "work" Only problem I have is that Memory-Map uses the full screen and I can't get the Windows taskbar to pop up at the top. On my old PDA I just pressed one of the buttons, I've tried on the TyTN, but the only one that seems to do anything is the Internet Explorer button. Is that the one you use or is there another way? Cheers Edit:- I've just noticed I can tap "Menu" and then "Today Screen" so that seems to be the answer Forgot to mention how much better the Memory-Map looks on the TyTN compared to my old iPaq 2210. Mind you, that is now 4 years old and wasn't the latest model when I bought it Edited February 12, 2008 by Nediam Quote Link to comment
+rutson Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 The Vario III is a fairly new device, one I haven't got my hands on (yet... 4 month until contract due up) ... YEAH!!! T-mobile called this evening, early upgrade for me :-) Vario III being delivered in the morning :-) Quote Link to comment
+Primitive Person Posted February 29, 2008 Author Share Posted February 29, 2008 The Vario III is a fairly new device, one I haven't got my hands on (yet... 4 month until contract due up) ... YEAH!!! T-mobile called this evening, early upgrade for me :-) Vario III being delivered in the morning :-) Coool! I got mine a month early, and I've had it nearly two months now. Enjoy. Only issue I've had is a tendency for Memory Map to crash when I try transferring data from the Vario III to the PC. Any ideas, anyone? Lee Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I've just ordered one of these to replace my faithful Mio a701 that I've been using for 2 years. Looks like it is a pretty good device, comes well recommended. Will let you know how I get on with it. Quote Link to comment
Nediam Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 Only issue I've had is a tendency for Memory Map to crash when I try transferring data from the Vario III to the PC. Any ideas, anyone? Lee Sorry, no But I very rarely import the data from my PDA to my PC. Is the info saved onto the TyTn or the SD card? If it's the card you could try transferring it via a card reader Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I've just ordered one of these to replace my faithful Mio a701 that I've been using for 2 years. Looks like it is a pretty good device, comes well recommended. Will let you know how I get on with it. Well it's everything I hoped for and more. If you can afford one, then buy one. There is no better device currently in existance. Quote Link to comment
+SidAndBob Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Has anyone proved that this device works with Wherigo? I'm on the verge of taking the plunge, but just want to check this first. Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I've not checked, but as long as it runs on Windows Mobile 6, then it will work. Quote Link to comment
+SidAndBob Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 It works like a dream. What a fantastic device. Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Yep. I better change my signature somethime I think Quote Link to comment
bradweather Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 The Vario III is a fairly new device, one I haven't got my hands on (yet... 4 month until contract due up) but I have the Vario II (v.similar without GPS) which I've recently upgraded to WM6. I don't use Sonar either, but MM works fine with external GPS via BT I would be VERY surprised if it didn't work with the built-in one. On a general note, I love my Vario II, the keyboard makes it a very serviceable mobile web access device. I use cachemate on it for GC records. Sounds pretty hopeful! I'm looking forward to getting it, and I'm sure I can get software that will do all the stuff I want. Is battery life any good? I suspect it may not be brilliant, so I won't part with my trusty little Geko 201 just yet. Lee No. Battery life is very bad. The GPS will run the battery down completely in less than two hours. Don't get me wrong, I love mine. It's the best phone and the best PDA that I've ever owned (I've owned A LOT of phones and PDAs) and I'm spoiled on its features, but the GPS radio drains the battery very quickly. You'll get great use out of it if you plug it in as often as possible. When I take mine out GCing I give it a full charge first, plug it in whilst in the car between caches, and then while in the field I turn it off when I'm not using it. I've spent a full day GCing using this method and not run out of juice. On the other hand, it ran out of juice when I left it running on a two hour motorcycle ride. GPS sucks the juice. Quote Link to comment
+Primitive Person Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 No. Battery life is very bad. The GPS will run the battery down completely in less than two hours. Don't get me wrong, I love mine. It's the best phone and the best PDA that I've ever owned (I've owned A LOT of phones and PDAs) and I'm spoiled on its features, but the GPS radio drains the battery very quickly. You'll get great use out of it if you plug it in as often as possible. When I take mine out GCing I give it a full charge first, plug it in whilst in the car between caches, and then while in the field I turn it off when I'm not using it. I've spent a full day GCing using this method and not run out of juice. On the other hand, it ran out of juice when I left it running on a two hour motorcycle ride. GPS sucks the juice. Yup, I've found that. I always keep it charged up as much as possible, and take care to keep GPS off when I'm not using it. If I'm a long way from a cache, I'll get the Geko 201 out and use that instead. I only use the MDA with Memory Map when I'm close to a cache. I'm also a bit scared to use it in bad weather, and the Geko 201 is much more robust to use in rainy conditions. Battery life aside, the Vario III is, as you say, an amazing PDA, and I love it a lot. Lee Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I'm also a bit scared to use it in bad weather, and the Geko 201 is much more robust to use in rainy conditions. Get yourself one of these then... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aquapac-Pro-Sports-C...1QQcmdZViewItem It's a snug fit, but the Kaiser does go in it nicely with some minor manipulation of the plastic. Believe it or not, I put my Mio a701 through the washing machine in one of these and it ws still on and working when i fished it out of my jacket pocket after the spin cycle! Quote Link to comment
Icarus. Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Has anyone proved that this device works with Wherigo? I'm on the verge of taking the plunge, but just want to check this first. Yep, it definitely works with Wherigo, however I do find that the GPS signal "appears" to drop out a lot in the player and the bars go red - but when I tried it, it was heavily overcast and raining. Although Memory-Map doesn't show the same problem. I tend to pair mine with a bluetooth GPS when I'm out caching. It's an excellent device - Google Maps is brilliant when you've got a good data connection - it'll attempt to triangulate your position from the mobile phone system while it's initialising the GPS connection. All the software I had on my old Ipaq 6915 works a treat - and faster. I've had no issues with battery life - I was out for a couple of hours dry running my Wherigo cartridge and the battery hadn't gone down at all. Quote Link to comment
+SidAndBob Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Is battery life any good? Battery extenders are a cheap solution, especially as most of us have loads of rechargeable AA batteries anyway. I saw a neat single battery model the other day. Quote Link to comment
+jennie.m Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Just found this thread, I bought a tytn ii this week, and I love it! I was wondering if anyone had found a static navigation patch for it? I presume it will have the same kind of jumpy arrow/distance indicator that my p350 did before I patched that. Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Just found this thread, I bought a tytn ii this week, and I love it! I was wondering if anyone had found a static navigation patch for it? I presume it will have the same kind of jumpy arrow/distance indicator that my p350 did before I patched that. As far as I'm aware, the static nav can't be disabled on the Qualcomm chipset. Until someone figures out how to do it, you will just have to learn to walk quickly like I do. Quote Link to comment
+jennie.m Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Just found this thread, I bought a tytn ii this week, and I love it! I was wondering if anyone had found a static navigation patch for it? I presume it will have the same kind of jumpy arrow/distance indicator that my p350 did before I patched that. As far as I'm aware, the static nav can't be disabled on the Qualcomm chipset. Until someone figures out how to do it, you will just have to learn to walk quickly like I do. Went for a test walk yesterday and didn't have any real trouble with jumpy static navigation type probs, but did have strange behaviour on memorymap, it found my position nice and fast with a lock on 7 sats, but as I walked my position kept jumping back to where I had started walking. I looked at the satellites window, which was showing no sats at all. I opened the set-up window, which had lost my settings. I re-entered the settings (nmea, com 4 , 4800baud) and it started to work fine. Any ideas anyone? (Do you have the "manage gps automatically" box ticked in windows? I didn't on my old mio, but if I untick it on the tytn then route66 can't find the gps.) Any suggestions welcome Quote Link to comment
+jennie.m Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 (edited) sorry, double post Edited February 16, 2009 by jennie.m Quote Link to comment
+tsiolkovsky Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I've had a TyTN II for nearly a year now on Three. so far not tried using any geocaching style apps on it. I do have tomtom on it nd I do use that for getting me close to caches and then go to the proper gps for the final approach. It would be interesting if I could get the gps to be a bit more useful. Right onto the device itself. Pros: Good user interface, the flip up screen is pretty resilient and the keyboard is pretty useable. 3G internet access - it is amazing to log cache finds actually there in the field. cons: battery life - the provided battery is not brilliant. In fact I am currently on my third battery. I eventuallywent for a high capacity battery. When used as a phone it's okay but anything else runs the battery right down. The worst offender for this is when using the GPS. If you do get one, you may want to invest in a car charger for it. occasional instability - especially when finishing phone calls. I'm due my mobile phone upgrade next month, and those nice people at T-Mobile are going to do me a good(ish) deal on an MDA Vario III, aka the HTC TyTN II. This is a Windows Mobile 6 machine with built-in GPS, among other things. I currently use an old XDA IIs as a PDA, and I have GPXSonar on it. I usually have several Pocket Queries loaded into it, and I'll manually tap in GPS co-ords to get GPXSonar to sort by distance when I'm out caching. So, the big question is...can GPXSonar read from the TyTN II's built-in GPS and sort caches by distance automatically? Also, does the TyTN II work with Memory Map, and show you where you are on OS maps while you're out and about? That would be Very Cool Indeed. Any other users of this device out there? Any good for caching or not? And what software are you running on it? Lee Quote Link to comment
+drdick&vick Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 HAve recently got a new contract phone with Vodafone, a Samsung Omnia on which I run Memory Map. Just for test purposes I opened MMap (fully charged) at 6.35 and left it open with GPS logging my location and have just checked it and it still has half of it's charge showing. I have also used it out in the field with MMap running permantly in the background and it was still showing half charge after 3 hours of wandering around. Nice unit as well. Quote Link to comment
+drdick&vick Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Just driven back from the Oxford and ran the Omnia (not connected to the charger) and had memory map running with the GPS tracking my journey,I reckon it took me a little over two hours and I started with a full charge and still had a half charge left. I also had the bluetooth activated and connected as well so I reckon there is no question about how good the Omnia is on battery with the GPS working. Nice unit as well. Quote Link to comment
+Amberel Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Just driven back from the Oxford and ran the Omnia (not connected to the charger) and had memory map running with the GPS tracking my journey,I reckon it took me a little over two hours and I started with a full charge and still had a half charge left. I also had the bluetooth activated and connected as well so I reckon there is no question about how good the Omnia is on battery with the GPS working. Nice unit as well. I have an Asus P750 phone with WM 6.1. Battery lasts 11 hours running MemoryMap and CacheMate (and phone) continuously. SiRF chipset on which it is easy to semi-permanently disable the static navigation filter (only has to be done again after a hard reset, which should never be necessary). The GPSr performance is very nearly as good as my Vista HCx. Only drawback is that it has only 64MB RAM. And some people might find the 2.6" screen a bit small, though that doesn't bother me. Rgds, Andy Quote Link to comment
+drdick&vick Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Just driven back from the Oxford and ran the Omnia (not connected to the charger) and had memory map running with the GPS tracking my journey,I reckon it took me a little over two hours and I started with a full charge and still had a half charge left. I also had the bluetooth activated and connected as well so I reckon there is no question about how good the Omnia is on battery with the GPS working. Nice unit as well. I have an Asus P750 phone with WM 6.1. Battery lasts 11 hours running MemoryMap and CacheMate (and phone) continuously. SiRF chipset on which it is easy to semi-permanently disable the static navigation filter (only has to be done again after a hard reset, which should never be necessary). The GPSr performance is very nearly as good as my Vista HCx. Only drawback is that it has only 64MB RAM. And some people might find the 2.6" screen a bit small, though that doesn't bother me. Rgds, Andy The omnia has 8Gb memory onboard and the facilty to fit a Micro SD card I have a 4Gb fitted so it takes everything I need, plus as I keep saying I dont need CacheMate loaded as I just use Text Files of the cache notes etc. and my copy of Geocache Log does it all for me and the files are all linked to Memory Map (with LordElphs icons) by the GL program so no need for a 3rd party package. Quote Link to comment
+Amberel Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) The omnia has 8Gb memory onboard and the facilty to fit a Micro SD card I have a 4Gb fitted so it takes everything I need, plus as I keep saying I dont need CacheMate loaded as I just use Text Files of the cache notes etc. and my copy of Geocache Log does it all for me and the files are all linked to Memory Map (with LordElphs icons) by the GL program so no need for a 3rd party package.When I said it had only 64MB I was referring to RAM, not flash. I've got 16GB of flash on the Asus, for storing programs, maps, caches, eBooks, videos, MP3s and so on, and there is plenty of room left for more. The RAM is working memory rather than storage memory, and by the time I've got Memory Map, CacheMate, email, Internet Explorer, MS Reader and Media Player all running at the same time, the working memory is getting a bit tight! The Omnia has 128MB, and the Asus really could do with the same. I did look very hard at the Omnia, but one of the thing that ruled it out for me was the lack of anywhere to store the stylus! Also I had difficulty finding out which GPSr chipset it used. There was some indication it was the QualComm device, which unfortunately, in my reasonably comprehensive experience, is by far the worst chipset on the market . If anyone knows for certain which chipset the Omnia has, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know. Rgds, Andy Edited February 19, 2009 by Amberel Quote Link to comment
+drdick&vick Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Hi Andy My mistake and it looks like you are right about the chip set but I must admit that mine locks on to my location within 1 min, even sat inside the caravan. Must admit that I only have it as a back up to the Mio PDA. Cheers Quote Link to comment
+Amberel Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Hi Andy My mistake and it looks like you are right about the chip set but I must admit that mine locks on to my location within 1 min, even sat inside the caravan. Must admit that I only have it as a back up to the Mio PDA. Hi Richard, I don't have any first hand experience of the Omnia. My view of the QualComm chipset is based on an XDA Orbit 2, a brace of XDA Stellars and a Sony Experia X1. It wasn't that they took too long to get a lock, but in every case they saw fewer satellites and had significantly lower signal levels when compared side by side with a Garmin Vista HCx and a SiRF equipped receiver. They all lost sync much too easily under tree cover, and often delayed their position update even in moderate conditions. It's possible that all these phones just had poor antennas and that the fault does not lie with the chipset, but if so, it's a bit of a coicidence that they were all of similar performance. I'm always on the lookout for my "perfect" PDA/phone, and I haven't found it yet. It's got to be compact, have good battery life, have a very good GPSr, a screen that's visible in bright sunlight, a decent amount of memory and a plain rocker switch control rather than these fancy gadgets that some modern ones have. The Asus comes close, let down by the memory, a screen that you can't see when it's too bright and a slightly awkward joystick control. Rgds, Andy Quote Link to comment
+Amberel Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Hi Andy My mistake and it looks like you are right about the chip set but I must admit that mine locks on to my location within 1 min, even sat inside the caravan. Must admit that I only have it as a back up to the Mio PDA. Hi Richard, I don't have any first hand experience of the Omnia. My view of the QualComm chipset is based on an XDA Orbit 2, a brace of XDA Stellars and a Sony Experia X1. It wasn't that they took too long to get a lock, but in every case they saw fewer satellites and had significantly lower signal levels when compared side by side with a Garmin Vista HCx and a SiRF equipped receiver. They all lost sync much too easily under tree cover, and often delayed their position update even in moderate conditions. It's possible that all these phones just had poor antennas and that the fault does not lie with the chipset, but if so, it's a bit of a coicidence that they were all of similar performance. I'm always on the lookout for my "perfect" PDA/phone, and I haven't found it yet. It's got to be compact, have good battery life, have a very good GPSr, a screen that's visible in bright sunlight, a decent amount of memory and a plain rocker switch control rather than these fancy gadgets that some modern ones have. The Asus comes close, let down by the memory, a screen that you can't see when it's too bright and a slightly awkward joystick control. Rgds, Andy Quote Link to comment
+jennie.m Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Still having some teething troubles with the tytn ii, the position doesn't seem to update very frequently when using memorymap, and it has lost sattelites a couple of times using route66. I went for a walk today, and as I was passing a cache which I have found before, thought it would be a good test of the tytn. Memorymap was behaving pretty well, but when I was right next to the cache, it was still showing it being 80 yards or so further on. Having stood around for a couple of minutes whilst checking the cache was well hidden, the tytn was showing it as 9feet away (spot on, I reckon). Whilst driving home, route66 was running, and when we negotiated a roundabout, it lost gps, then got it back about 30secs later. At the next roundabout, it did the same thing. It could be coincidence that this only happened at the roundabouts (as we live in the middle of nowhere, these were the only junctions on the 20 mile journey!) but I was wondering if it was a problem with the processor being able to cope with the extra processes involved. Anyone having similar issues? And can anyone let me know their settings? mine are: on windows: program port COM4, hardware port NONE, baud rate 4800, manage gps automatically box checked. and on memorymap : manufacturer NMEA, Port COM4, Baud 4800 Route66 has no options, but finds its settings automatically Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Your settings are correct, read my post above ^^post #30^^ that is the only answer to your problems I'm afraid. Quote Link to comment
+Amberel Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 (edited) Still having some teething troubles with the tytn ii ...Sorry, but I agree with melmur, that sounds exactly like a normal TyTn II (and any of the other devices I've used that have the QualComm chipset) and it's why mine has been sitting on the desk effectively unused ever since I bought it. I should try selling it, really, it's no use to me, but I wouldn't sell it to another cacher. Rgds, Andy Edited February 22, 2009 by Amberel Quote Link to comment
+drdick&vick Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Using my Samsung Omnia which has the same chipset (as far as I can make out) I tracked myself from all the way back from Oxford to Horsham and the Omnia never lost track of where I was over the whole journey. MMap settings are Generic NMEA and com port 3 and Pocket Maps also uses com 3, as I said before it locks on to my location within 60 secs and holds it ok. Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I tracked myself from all the way back from Oxford to Horsham and the Omnia never lost track of where I was over the whole journey. Did you walk? If so then you would have seen the problem. Go and find a geocache with it and then tell us it's fine. In fact, go hide a geocache using it to give you the coords and see if you can use the Qualcomm GPS to get back to it. Quote Link to comment
+drdick&vick Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) I only speak as I find, I don't use it to find caches I only use it as a PDA to follow paths and track where I am. I still use a Garmin GPS to actually do the finding. Mind you with that attitude I can't be bothered to go out and try what you have said. Edited February 23, 2009 by DrDick&Vick Quote Link to comment
+melmur Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I didn't mean to rub you up the wrong way, I was just trying to point out that no one doubts that the chipset works fine whilst moving quickly, which you just confirmed. Personally I do use mine for finding caches, but have had to dig out the Garmin on rare occasions when the cache location is not obvious. I would never post a cache using the coords from a GPS that you can't disable static nav on, that's for sure. Quote Link to comment
+jennie.m Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I suppose it all comes down to how you want to play the game as to how good you think the tytn ii is for caching. I mean, for a good long while my Mum was successfully caching by printing out a 1:50000 os map with the cache marked on it, and not using a gps at all! Even when she started using one, she was just running memorymap with the cache waypointed and didn't use the goto arrow and distance windows. When her position marker was roughly on the cache waypoint she would look for a pile of geosticks etc. So there's no reason why you can't find a cache with the tytn, but the search may be a little more challenging than with a sirfIII chipset gpsr. I will definitely be keeping my mio p350 and would use that when placing caches, but I am glad I bought the tytn. I wanted something that would take the place of the phone, camera and gpsr/pda that I always carry with me, and also give me mobile internet access. The tytn does all that, but just as I would take my proper camera if I was going out specifically to take photos, I will take my mio gpsr/pda if I am going specifically to cache. Still, I would like to know why route 66 is misbehaving! Maybe I will try the trial version of tomtom that came bundled. Trouble is, it only gives you one free city map, and it's a long way to the nearest city to be able to try it! Quote Link to comment
+Jake Bullit Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 If you`re having trouble turning SN off try using APLsirf.It is a lot easier than Sirtech which I tried, but then lost my GPS altogether ,so had to disconnect the battery overnight to get it to reset.It worked for me on my Asus P550. As always use at you`re own risk. http://www.pdaclub.pl/getit.php?id=849 Quote Link to comment
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