Database Users

tomtom? do i need an external GPS device?

This seems like a silly question even while i am the one asking it. but by the looks of things i need to buy a bluetooth GPS to get my tomtom working.
is this correct..
thanks jay

Yes I'm afraid so - Unless your Pocket PC has a built in GPS (but as far as I know none of the HTC models do).

you could also use a SDIO GPS, but BT is a more elegant solution.

by bt you mean like the bt phone company?

jamiehutber said:
by bt you mean like the bt phone company?
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Bluetooth GPS Receiver, from £50 inc vat. - http://www.gpsw.co.uk/cats/cl3_209.html?OrderBy=Price&

ye sounds good. i was looking on ebay they have solo panel bt one. any preference on the number that they have. the one you pointed to is a "36". whats that mean?! :lol:
cheers for the help

Ill recommend you the Holux GPSlim 236 Bluetooth GPS with SIRF Star III chipset, imho the best you can get for your money right now.

How about the Solar GPS reciever
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Solar-Bluet...9709303933QQcategoryZ4668QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I have heard of people using this one with the universal.
Anyone have any info about that one?

My advice is don't waste time on gimmicks.
The priority is to get a SIRF III chipset inside as beachmeat suggests.
Solar panels do not stop you having to charge the device, they merely slow down the rate of discharge, providing it's day time, in the winter evenings and at night, you'll probably find they have less battery power then a non-solar panelled device. The guys over at Pocketgpsworld.com did not rate solar panel recievers very well and took time to recover from the piece of advice on the instructions which say "Contains sensitive electronic parts, keep out of direct sunlight"
Another excelent device is the Globalsat BT-338, or the Holux that was recommended earlier.

another Vote for either the Holux 236 works really well with the Exec

well i took your advise even though the solar panel did have the new chipset... i ended up getting a Globalsat BT-338 for £70.. so when i get it i'll let everybody how it goes and works

other options
being 3g the universal is able to run telco programs which help u with traffic like tomtom, even better they can give you more personalized information because the telco can feed u life information.
I live in Australia and Telstra is currently testing a live road map system through 3g, optus does this also.
hope that helps

I might be talking rubbish, but I recently read somewhere that there is a GPS receiver built into the Universal or something like that. From what I remember it was called the 911 GPS and is used to give position information to the emergency services when they are contacted. I heard somewhere it was possible to integrate this to work with navigator software, but would like to know whether or not this is actually correct.
Thanks
Euan

Best Map Program OR GPS?

Does anyone know of the best mapping software that i can use while on the road, so I don't have to connect to the internet or gprs.
Also is the cingular 8125 GPS compatible, what service does it use?
Thanks guys,
JW

No onboard GPS...
As far as an installed app I use PocketStreets.
If I have Inet Access I just use Google www.google.com/gmm/

i use copilot 6 for ppc for onroad satnav and memorymap for off road gps guidance
both require a gps reciever which you are best off getting as a bluetooth one.
but im in the UK, might not be the best options for your country

i use iguidance by inav. Did a lot of research on bluetooth recievers as well and settled on the Globalsat BT 338. (Sirf III)
The mapping software is excellent and accurate. I also looked at Copilot but it was $170 instead of $100 for iguidance. Also, it could use a bit more processing power. The inav software is one of the smallest footprint gps software but still very full featured.
I'm very happy with it.

GTIMANiac said:
No onboard GPS...
As far as an installed app I use PocketStreets.
If I have Inet Access I just use Google www.google.com/gmm/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
isn't there a program that I can download that install maps by state or the USA, because i never know when I'll need it. I don't want to just search small maps using pocketstreets...

i have a program, called GIS RUssa. it is very handy, but expensive. may be someone has a keygen for it?

http://nanika.net/metro - it`s a software that features almost any city in the world giving complete direction on how to reach from Street A to Building Z. Try it out. It`s free
Regards,
NRGY

unfortunately that metro prog is only for the bus system but is there another program out there that actually does from point a to point b like mapquest or something like that

I agree with IdeaDirect that the iNav iGuidance software is a winner. I have the Belkin variant of this software with a Belkin GPS (rebadged Fortuna Clip-on), but I haven't installed the software on the MDA yet. It has been installed on my Ipaq h2215 for two years and works very well. This software is rebadged by many resellers, including iNav, PrymeNav, and is used in numerous automotive applications.
But the version I have (1.1) is supposedly not compatible with WM5, according to iNav anyway, and reportedly only 2.1.3 or higher will work. When I approached iNav they suggested waiting until late June or early July, as a new version (v3) will be introduced. Since there is a 30-day window for free upgrades, buying now would require a paid upgrade to v3. This is the route I am going to take, as I can do without the GPS for six more weeks.

I agree with IdeaDirect that the iNav iGuidance software is a winner. I have the Belkin variant of this software with a Belkin GPS (rebadged Fortuna Clip-on), but I haven't installed the software on the MDA yet. It has been installed on my Ipaq h2215 for two years and works very well. This software is rebadged by many resellers, including iNav, PrymeNav, and is used in numerous automotive applications.
But the version I have (1.1) is supposedly not compatible with WM5, according to iNav anyway, and reportedly only 2.1.3 or higher will work. When I approached iNav they suggested waiting until late June or early July, as a new version (v3) will be introduced. Since there is a 30-day window for free upgrades, buying now would require a paid upgrade to v3. This is the route I am going to take, as I can do without the GPS for six more weeks.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Tom Tom. I've been using it on a Palm device and now just moved over to the MDA Vario and it works great on the Vario. I've only done approx 45,000 miles using Tom Tom over the last 19 months, and it has not once got me lost. To me it has been worth every penny. I use a Holux GPSlim 236 BT receiver which is excellent.

Im new to this gps things. So i need some type of bluetooth receiver to hook up to my wizard? Also when I get this software and device do I need to pay for satellite fees or anythign or is this map stuff free when I make the initial purchase?
Thanks
JW

[email protected] said:
Im new to this gps things. So i need some type of bluetooth receiver to hook up to my wizard? Also when I get this software and device do I need to pay for satellite fees or anythign or is this map stuff free when I make the initial purchase?
Thanks
JW
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Yes, you need a Bluetooth GPS receiver. One of the best is Holux GPSlim236 or Globalstat BT338. I have the Holux & can highly recommend it.
If you buy for example Tom Tom, which again I highly recommend, you get the maps as well, but depending on the package, you can buy it with Tom Tom's Bluetooth receiver which is also very good.
There are no other fees. Unless you want to upgrade your maps at a later date. No map from ANY sat nav supplier will ever be 100% accurate.
The wizard does not work with wired GPS devices. But will work with a bluetooth headset/carkit as well as a bluetooth GPS receiver at the same time.
Take a look at these sites:
www.pocketgpsworld.com
www.tomtom.com

GoldLantern bluetooth GPS
I bought a GoldLantern bluetooth GPS receiver, it came with a download of "free" Mapopolis software - but thats where they get ya - the software is free but the maps definitely are not. However for a hundred bucks the maps seem to be pretty detailed. I have been using the demo version of the maps that expire after some number of days because my travel habits simply aren't that repetitive but I may eventually buy the subscription to all the North American maps.
Costs? Well, the MDA naturally which was about $370 with AZ taxes. $149 for the GPS receiver at Fry's Electronics (i paid too much but had to have it "now"). about $70 for a mini-SD 1GB card (also too much but had to have it "now") to store the maps. I haven't bought the maps yet and the GPS receiver is not "tied" to the application you use to navigate, I still might do TomTom but actually sorta like Mapopolis...
Performance is reasonably good provided Mapopolis is the only thing running. It takes the GPS receiver a minute or two to get a fix on your position.
I've used it in Phoenix, San Diego/Orange/LA counties in CA, and Seattle. In Phoenix its more of a convenience than anything else since I live here and don't necessarily need a GPS to navigate all the time, but it made business travel an absolute joy. No more trying to decipher the under-detailed rent-a-car map they give you along with the blank look when you ask if they know where your nationally known name brand hotel is.
In Seattle it was an absolute joy to use, I went on citysearch and figured out what kind of food I was going to eat that evening without any regard to navigational concerns. I had the mapping layers for King and Pierce counties loaded and Mapopolis even "knew" the names of some non-chain locally owned places that I'd been to in the past but hadn't a clue how to get to. The directions were accurate although the machine pronunciation of some of the street names was a little hilarious and it told me about turns in a timely fashion.
In Southern California I bumped into some limitations, probably becaue my usage pattern was a little different on those trips. I had LA/OC/SD counties loaded in memory the whole time so that could also have impacted performance and I was doing enough driving that I was also using my XM Roady2 for music and traffic updates. The XM (or Sirius) might be a relevant factor because the frequency band used by XM/Sirius is fairly close to Bluetooth, or 802.11b for that matter. All I can say is this: listening to XM and occasionally talking on my bluetooth headset at the same time, Mapopolis occasionally did NOT keep up with turns. At one point along I-5 south of San Diego it got confused and thought I was on surface streets which made for some interesting, if rapid, verbal directions from it. I think the factor was more the use of the bluetooth headset at the same time because once i ended the phone conversation mapopolis perked right back up performance-wise.
The battery life running mapopolis and bluetooth constantly - as well as the constant fascination with wanting to see my speed and direction causing the screen backlight to be on, caused the battery to drain very quickly - like 3 hours of usage had the battery almost 75 percent drained.
It's a good combination, but for the less technically inclined (and god help someone non-techie who buys a t-mobile mda...) the $500 garmin dashboard wart will do the GPS bit equally well without a steep learning curve. The learning curve to get this set up was near vertical but well worth it if you have the patience to fiddle with it. I.E. if you struggle a bit with your MDA, bluetooth GPS is not for you! Its also not something to learn how to use ON a trip, you definitely want to get the hang of it in your own local area before you put your complete trust in it in an unfamiliar place.

Is there Soft GPS on MDA

Hi,
Have a T-Mobile MDA/HTC Wizard.
Is there some GPS software which can connect via Wifi/T-Zones or Internet and do the same routing/function such as a GPS Device?
I dont want to spend $600 to buy a GPS device and then connect it to my MDA. Rather buy some GPS software which can work on the MDA by itself.
Thanks.
--

No GPS software is going to work properly without a GPS receiver from which to extrapolate your current position.

If you want GPS capability of any kind at all, you will need to get a receiver, period. There's nothing GPS related on the phone except for a settings applet that is disabled by default and only lets you set the port of a bonded receiver. There's also no way a network connection is going to be able to determine your position and software that attempts to do so using cell towers are only accurate to within a few miles, if it works at all. There's a bunch of receivers available on ebay (and elsewhere) for cheap...I got a Holux GPSlim236 for a little over $100 and it works great with the wizard via bluetooth. They are your options....getting a receiver or forgetting about it.

Or try Navizon. It was created to do exactly what you want. http://www.navizon.com
Used to be free, now you have to pay for it. But theres a 14 day trial i believe.
B

nextbond said:
I dont want to spend $600 to buy a GPS device and then connect it to my MDA.
--
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I saw some bluetooth GPS receivers as low as $80. And you can use your GPS receiver anywhere.

If I have the tomtom software, do I have to get the tomtom gps receiver or can I use another brand?

I have TomTom 5.21 and use a non TomTom bluetooth GPs reciever.

Hi all,
Thanks for the responses. Seems I will need a GPS device. If thats the case, why bother with a PDA? Should just buying a Gavin or TomTom GPS device be enough?
--

Depends on what you want. If you have the phone already, $100 for a GPS unit and maybe $100 for decent mapping software is a whole lot cheaper than $500-$800 for a decent Garmin unit. Plus you get a phone and a PDA out of the deal. I went on vacation a few weeks ago and the mapping software plotted a route and told me how to get there. Once there, I used slingplayer to watch my home cable channels while sitting on the beach, I used the camera to take pictures of the beach and whatnot, the network connection to upload those pictures to a phlog, IM with friends and coworkers and check the weather and news with IE. Oh yeah...and it rang when I got a phone call or text message. Then it plotted a route back home (presumably the same way backwards but I didn't really check) and told me how to get there. Depends on what you want.
TomTom can work with other bluetooth receivers. Works with my Holux, at least.

I'm interested in buying a bluetooth gps receiver I found a few on amazon but this one caught my attention because of the price
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...6698/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-8138642-5399340?ie=UTF8
is that one any good?

I strongly advise you to check the type of GPS chip used in the receiver. The best one for the moment seems to be the Sirf star 3.
It's not as much of a detail as you may think : older chips can take a very long time to get fixed (which means that you might wait for dozens of minutes before even getting a GPS position), and are usually more power consuming.

How the GPS works for the wizard

I was curious as to how to get GPS working on my wizard. I see some people purchasing a GPS device of some type, but can't the wizard just act as the gps itself? Why the need for a device?
Maybe im just missing something here. If someone could post up to me how it is I can get one running on my MDA i'd appreciate it as that'd be a great help for me when traveling.
T.c.

veritas17 said:
I was curious as to how to get GPS working on my wizard. I see some people purchasing a GPS device of some type, but can't the wizard just act as the gps itself? Why the need for a device?
Maybe im just missing something here. If someone could post up to me how it is I can get one running on my MDA i'd appreciate it as that'd be a great help for me when traveling.
T.c.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well congrats this is the 1000000 thread regarding the GPS topic. Ok sorry to be sarcastic but people need to learn to use the search button. As to your question, the MDA does nto have a built in GPS chip. You need a GPS device and software in order to use it like a gps unit such as a tomtom car unit.

... Ya know I did look that up by the way. All the topics I found spoke about the tomtom6, tomtom5, or isomethingmap and people BUYING the device but no one saying WHY they were purchasing it. No need to come into the topic and flame me I did search, I always search and it wasn't like I placed a bunch of half thought out questions in my post either.
T.c.

What you need is a Navigator program (eg. TOMTOM) installed on your Wizard and a satilite receiver (GPS - Wire or Bluetooth (better)). Link your device with GPS via bluetooth or wire, open Navigator program and you are now up and running. It is that simple.

Thank you WLove. That's all I was wanting to know was why people had to have a secular device to have it running (the satilte receiver). Now I see i'm going to need to pick up that 2.gig mini sd chip.
T.c.

I just started using my navman 4410 GPS with iguidance v3 and they work like a charm!

while we are on the topic, anyone have any reccomendations on some bluetooth GPS receivers?

Just thought I;d point out that it may be slightly easier to get confused as to whether the Wizard has GPS or not, as when I rang O2 for my upgrade I explicitly asked 3 or 4 times if it had built in GPS and they said yes. I also stressed it was GPS not GPRS I was asking about. They still said yes. And also I believe one of the chips in the Wizard has some kind of gps related capability, even though it is not a gps receiver, so maybe someone read that also. I know I have somewhere on this forum.
Thirdly, the search function is useless here.

Magor said:
while we are on the topic, anyone have any reccomendations on some bluetooth GPS receivers?
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Just google for Bluetooth GPS receivers. You'll find loads. I bought the cheapest at about £35. Works a treat. I think it's a generic model sold by many sites. Has a pic of a satellite on it!

Magor said:
while we are on the topic, anyone have any reccomendations on some bluetooth GPS receivers?
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Click to collapse
Buy a receiver with SiRFIII chip: quicker, more accurate and better reception than any other chip available on the consumer market. If you want to spend a little less (say about $/€ 50) you could buy a SiRFII receiver. Don't blindly believe claims like "supports up to 20 satellites". In most situations you are lucky to receive 10 satellites or more! Even with as little as 4 or 5 satellites calculating your location is accurate enough for road navigation.
If the software supports TMC (traffic updates free of charge by RDS on certain radio channels; not sure if this exists in the US) you could buy a GPS/TMC combined receiver. Unfortunately TomTom does not support TMC as it has its own paid traffic service.

In regards to the GPS units with the SiRF chipsets, can anyone vouch for the cheap $50 on eBay that are solar/battery powered with linking via Bluetooth or wire? I am getting a T-mobile MDA to unlock for my personal usage and I am highly thinking about getting one, just I wanted to know if anyone had any good things to say about them.
Here's a link for an example: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Solar-Bluet...34QQihZ016QQcategoryZ4668QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I have never ONCE seen "GPS" listed as a feature for any Wizard... I can't grasp why people would ever think it has a feature that is never listed any where :? :roll:

Rutter said:
Magor said:
while we are on the topic, anyone have any reccomendations on some bluetooth GPS receivers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just google for Bluetooth GPS receivers. You'll find loads. I bought the cheapest at about £35. Works a treat. I think it's a generic model sold by many sites. Has a pic of a satellite on it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what I've been doing, but I'm new to the GPS stuff so I wasn't sure what to get 8)
Thanks to AgentSmith for the info, something like this should do the job for me http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/holux-gpslim-236-bluetooth-receiver-reviewed/

Agreed, the Holux 236 is the one to go for. Has the added advantage of using the same in-car charger as the O2 XDA Mini (i.e. a USB style one).
Don't get Holox (cheap rip off), get Holux.
Get SiRF III, not II.
Don't be fooled by lots of channels, 20 is plenty.
And you don't need a 2GB card. A 512MB with high transfer speeds from a decent manufacturer will be far better than a cheapo no-name 2GB one. I have a 512MB with TomTom 6, full UK maps and speed cam database and it only takes up about 250MB.

I've used an Belkin BT GPS (rebadged Fortuna Clip-On upgraded to Xtrak2) on my Ipaq, both over two years old, which worked well with Belkin's version of iGuidance v1.1. So when I upgraded to the TMo MDA (US version) I kept the Belkin and purchased iGuidance v3, which has worked well.
A friend who also owns an MDA wanted a GPS, but since Belkin quit selling this GPS 18 months ago I started researching, and like others here have noted the Holux GPSlim 236 looked like a winner. I'll know for sure next week when she gets the unit, but I expect it to work fine.

That Holux model seems very good, but you can actually find cheaper SiRFIII receivers (less than 100 bucks).
The needed storage space for maps depends on your personal wishes. If you travel internationally often, you might want a 1GB memory chip for borderless maps like Western or Central Europe. Such maps often occupy 900 MB or more. Otherwise a much smaller card for just one or two countries or regions is indeed enough.

AgentSmith said:
That Holux model seems very good, but you can actually find cheaper SiRFIII receivers (less than 100 bucks).
The needed storage space for maps depends on your personal wishes. If you travel internationally often, you might want a 1GB memory chip for borderless maps like Western or Central Europe. Such maps often occupy 900 MB or more. Otherwise a much smaller card for just one or two countries or regions is indeed enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Holux one I found for $90
I also already have a 2GB card and TomTom so once I get the receiver I'm good to go

I don't see the point of using the MDA as a GPS without having a powered car mount, since you could run out of battery quite easily. Go to semsons.com and find what's the best for you. I got mine there along with the M3.itrek+itrek mount for MDA+iGuidance3.0 for around $200 (but you can surely mix&match what you need). It really worths. I mean if you can get a phone with so many functionalities for such a cheap price (mine is USD $250, sounds expensive, but try to search and compare the price with PPC phones from other countries then you know what I meant), why not having it does the most for you at the least cost. You might not use the GPS all the time, but will definitely love it when needed.

TomTom: Worth it?

I still use my old XDA 1 (Himilaya) for sat nav (running TomTom5 - haven't upgraded to 6 yet) with a wired GPS mouse, so both the GPS receiver and XDA are always charging when the ignition is on/engine running. I leave all that kit in the car all the time. I've also got an MDA Pro (Universal) and am thinking of using that for TomTom instead because:
a) Take advantage of the data tariff on it and subscribe to Traffic Plus (or whatever TomTom call it)
b) I also intend to get a Parrot CK bluetooth add on for the car (allow the car speakers to be part of a speakerphone) so I can make/receive calls and also listen to WMAs whilst driving (I hate all headphones)
So, questions.
1) TomTom5 works really well on the original XDA 1 (no crashes, smooth scrolling, very responsive, etc). Will it work just as well on my Universal?
2) If using the traffic service (over GPRS/UMTS), will voice calls still come through OK? T Mobile UK
3) Would pretty much any BT GPS unit off ebay be OK?
4) How long do the batteries last before needing a charge on these BT units?
5) Are there any wired solutions, so I don't need batteries and the Universal could also be on charge? I'd much prefer that.
6) Is the traffic service good? I mean, does it warn/reroute you sufficiently in advance? Does it know, for instance, that some roads are always slow and avoid them?
7) Anything in TomTom6 worth the ugprade over 5?
Or should I forget the traffic (and still rely on the radio) and just stick to the satus quo, or maybe still get the BT thing for MP3/WMAs? Anyone got any experience of a similar setup to report? TomTom5 on the XDA is one of very few tech products with which I'm completely and utterly happy.

Can no one help on any of the questions?

Hi Xiasma,
I sell a Car Kit for £40, which sounds like it should do what you want.
http://www.mdapro.co.uk/shop/xcart/T-Mobile-MDA-PRO-Handsfree-Custom-Car-Kit-with-speaker-pr-36.html
It'll charge your phone and GPS at the same time, amplify the voice, etc. and comes with 3 different mounts to attach to your car. I haven't sold many and one person is complaining about people not hearing him when he makes recieves a call, although we've proved that the microphone is working correctly. See this thread for an in depth discussion on pro's, con's, etc.
http://www.mdapro.co.uk/phpBB-2.0.18/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=275
I have no experiance of other solutions, but I think that as you have problems with loudspeaker, you'll have the same trouble as the guy in the thread. The thread goes on a bit, but I think you'll find it usefull.
Any bluetooth GPS reciever should work well with your phone, but I'd advise going for one with a Sirf III chipset, people seem to find them much better than sirf II. I have some new ones due in next week around the £50 mark, which sound a better deal than any others I sell at the minute.
HTH
Dave

That's great, Dave, thanks. It's got a built in microphone, but does it have line out so I could have the sound going through my car speakers (ie for MP3 and the like)? That would be perfect. Well, almost, I'd prefer to mount the MDA Pro open with the keyboard underneath - I guess this won't allow that, will it?
How many hours use does a good BT GPS unit last between charges?

Hi Xiasma,
unfortunately it doesn't have a line out, but I've seen Y-adapters around for a few pence which could well serve the purpose you require.
As you wish to plug it into your stereo anyway, you don't neccessarily need an amplified mount. Herbert Richter make several suitable mounts and a body which will hold your device with the keyboard open. (Laptop Style) It has cutouts for most buttons, sockets, etc. So you could easily plug your phone in to charge and connect it to your stereo.
Heres a good GPS reciever, the manufacturer claims the battery will last 11 hours. I honestly haven't tested one myself, so I don't know how accurate this info is.
http://www.mdapro.co.uk/shop/xcart/GlobalSat-359S-Sirf-III-Bluetooth-GPS-Receiver-pr-42.html
HTH
Dave