Does anyone use bluetooth GPS receivers?

ummagawd · 05-30-2005, 04:04 PM

Did a search... only found stuff on people talking about whether or not to buy the bluetooth version.

Pros and cons?

CdRsKuLL · 05-30-2005, 05:17 PM

I have just bought one.. well ok two.. lol I ordered one of the brandnew sirf III chipset bluetooth ones off ebay.. its ment to be loads better than any other gps unit on the market.. says it should even work in doors !.. anyway I went to a computer fair at the weekend, I picked up a Dell Navtek bluetooth unit, that even came with the gps software / charger / holder for the pda and everything for £80.. I'm sure I could get more than this on ebay for it, but as I already have a dell pda I thought it might come in handy anyway.

As for using.. well I have had to upgrade my drivers on my dell laptop (yep laptop install in the car) to widcomm. .but it seems to be working fine now. It auto connects when needed and it doesnt seem to have any probs with hibernation. The startup time is great.. If you hold fire for a week I will do a quick review on this new gps unit that i'm getting..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ay_Pr3_PcY_BIN

as for pro / cons.. hmm

cons.
- Bluetooth normally requires a charge lead and if like me you will be installing it in your car, then the only problem with this, if your lazy like me and wouldnt remove it from its position at night.. when parked up you would see its lights until its battery went dead, so would need painting black or something so not to draw attention.
- Increases the chance of problems as your including a extra connection via bluetooth

pros
- portability handy to use on pc / laptop / pda / phone (main reason I went BT)
- normally I have found a better signal from these devices

cant think of anything else.. but there prob loads of other reasons

CdR

ummagawd · 05-31-2005, 01:26 AM

you mentioned "until the battery went dead"

do the bluetooth units have a battery? It's not wired into the computer/car?

meaning i'd have to replace batteries every so often?

moahdib · 05-31-2005, 02:11 AM

I have a rikaline bluetooth GPS and it has worked great for the last 6 months. THe battery is rechargeable. The unit came with both a car charger and AC adapter, so I just leave it plugged in. The only problem I had was that sometimes when I hibernate my laptop, the GPS receiver would "hang" and constantly stay on. It is supposed to stay on ONLY if it there is an active bluetooth device you previously paired with requesting data. So I would have to remove the battery completelly to reset the GPS.
THis hasn't happen many times, I would say maybe once a month or even that.

It works great with my Treo 650 as well, which was primarily the reason I wanted a bluetooth one.
THe battery life on the Rikaline unit is awesome.. 10+ hours of continuous usage.

tdevil · 05-31-2005, 02:33 AM

any USB sirf III GPS recievers.. i am lazy as heck and dont want to charge the thing.

CdRsKuLL · 05-31-2005, 05:26 AM

ok.. update.. I just recieved my new Sirf III unit.. well what can I say AWESOME :-)

I unpacked it.. it comes with a usb lead which it charges from and a mains plug with a usb socket on it, so it can be also charged from the house. The battery life on this unit is crap to be honest.. they say 3 hours. but as the main reason for this unit is to connect it to my laptop in the car then this wont really effect me. Yes most bluetooth units comes with batterys.. but there rechargable. As stated above you just leave it plugged in.

ok.. to test it I just turned it on. It has a red led saying its charging. I assume this will go off once a full charge is reached. It also has a nice blue circle that confirms the BT is connected. I myself use hibernation, so I have just coded into FreeDrive to disconnect the BT device before it goes into hibernation, and also reconnect it once it resumes out of it.. (untested as yet) As for the signal, I'm well chuffed with it, its about 2 meters away from the window at the moment in the house and its locked and picking up 5 sats, so would expect alot more than this once in the car near a window.

Unsure if there is currently any sirfIII usb gps units out on the market at the mo. I could only find 2 bluetooth ones.. both on ebay. The one I bought was the leadtek one, but the other (only found AFTER I bought this one) works out about £60 rather than the £100 I spent, looks a bit bigger but has a much longer battery life.

anyway i'm happy which is what matters, and would defo recommend this BT unit to anyone.. the only downfall is the price. Saying this, I think its worth the extra £50 to save mounting it outside the car and also having the portability of it so I can use it with my mobile phone and pda..

cheers

CdR

zPilott · 05-31-2005, 12:34 PM

I have a DeLorme Earthmate BlueLogger. I got it because I wanted to use it with my PDA when I am out of town (not that I have, but I wanted the option

).

I have to turn it on manually every time I use it (more than 8 hours apart, because that is about the battery life on it) because I have it charging from switched power. Also, I have to restart the communication from the nav software when coming back from hibernate, but I am hoping I can fix that with one or more of latest WIDCOMM, xport, or some useable GPS Software.

ummagawd · 05-31-2005, 12:59 PM

okay cool... so the rikaline and sirfIII units are looking to be good.

I was hoping I could get away with having to plug the thing to my carPC... but it seems that it might be worth it to keep it charged.

The other reason why i wanted a BT unit was becaue I'm having a hard time getting signals from inside my car. I was hoping the newer technology would allow me to get signal from within. Otherwise.... mount it somewhere outside the cabin (it being wire free).

ccblanket · 05-31-2005, 04:51 PM

I have a Holux GPSlim236 (w/ SirfStar III chipset). It has a crappy battery life, BUT, I have it connected to the computer via usb cable (for only power purpose, not data) so I don't care if it has good or bad battery life. It's always on (has an on/off switch). Just as cdrskull says; it locks pretty well even with weak signals.

It is ~ $145 + shipping on eBay. Is it worth? I guess yes. Especially if you live in a downtown area w/ buildings, it is the way to go.

--hikmet

ummagawd · 05-31-2005, 07:40 PM

CCBLANKET.

where do you have yours mounted? Think mine will work well in the front dash right under the window? I don't suppose it'll work on tinted windows will it?

ccblanket · 05-31-2005, 07:50 PM

umma, what's your car?

On mine, it is in the third brake light in front of the rear window. It's not tinted so I don't know. But hey, rear windshield tint is not good anyways; you can't see the cop cars

ummagawd · 06-01-2005, 11:39 AM

i've got a lexus sc300 and my rear windows are tinted (and i can spot cop cars from far away haha)

the only place i can think of is somewhere on my front dash. Or if the new chipsets are as good as everyone says they are... i'll put it in my glovebox because it's only plastic and vinyl (no metal or electronics) above that area.

Now if i can only make a decision what GPS unit to buy... the rikaline, the holux, or the globalstat.

ccblanket · 06-01-2005, 11:49 AM

holux is good because it has an on-off switch.

re:cops
spotting is an issue at night. and clear is better

but my rear tint was kinda hazy. I might get it tinted again because of the reflection on the lcd.

ummagawd · 06-01-2005, 11:54 AM

my friend had the holux gm-210 and he has the same exact car as me and it wouldn't work for him even on the front windshield. It had to be mounted on the roof in order for it to work...

thats the only reason why i'm hesitant about getting another holux... then again this is supposedly a new and better chipset right.

CDRskull.... hows the leadtek one going for ya?

Anyone have any info on the Globalstat one?

ummagawd · 06-23-2005, 07:08 PM

any updates on which is better? or are all the sirf star iii chipsets the same?