Reader Review - Haicom 305n CF GPS and BT Slipper

nulusios · Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:02 am Post subject:

Just got the HI-305III I wanted in the first place (sent back the 303).

I didn't do any supertests or anything, I'll just tell you one thing I did.

In my (dense) city, in my building roof, installed the 305 for the first time from Taiwan (where they tested it before sending), on the other side of the planet.

It took a MERE 1 minute (one real not therotical minute) to make a nice clear and stable fix (coming from the closest thing to a cold reset), with NINE SATS!

I think it got the first two in the first 2-5 seconds (!) and then it had 5 for the next few and finally the LED blinked one minute after inserting the CF with NINE.

I rest my case. :P
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NLS

tchart · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:43 am Post subject:

Nick, thanks for reviewing this unit.

I have a question for you...

You mentioned drivers in your review. Are these for the PDA or laptop only? Why I ask is that I know a couple of people with older MIPS PDA's. I am trying to confirm whether the drivers are required for the SD slot to work on a PDA. If there are drivers are they for Pocket PC 2002 and above (ie ARM only) or Pocket PC 2000 as well (ie MIPS & SH3 processors too).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Trevor

nulusios · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:25 pm Post subject:

There are drivers for the PC and drivers for the PDA.

The drivers for the PDA, concern the SD slot. The GPS part works without any drivers.

I am not sure if in the PDA setup, there is any MIPS compiled CAB.

Better email Haicom directly (they will answer for sure).

In any case as I said the GPS "side" will work anyway. Or you should buy the 303 variation (no SD) and not bother at all.
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NLS

tchart · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 11:09 pm Post subject:

Nick, thanks for the response I will email Haicom. The issue with the particular device is that it only has a CF slot and 16mb of memory. With the CF slot occupied by the GPS there isnt much room for maps etc on the device so the SD slot is important to these users.

Thanks again

Trevor

lslarry1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 5

Also posted in the Haicom GPS Hardware forum

nulusios · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:27 am Post subject:

you don't seem to be doing something wrong
yes the driver is just for the SD and irrelevant to anything else

the normal thing is for the GPS LED to stay off if nobody has "switched on" access to its COM port

if you are sure about the COM number (check with the others) also make sure that you are in NMEA mode and 4800 baud
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NLS

lslarry1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 5

Thanks for the reply, Nick. I am sure about the COM number, as when the GPS isn't in the PDA there is no COM4 showing up, and when I plug it in COM4 appears and has the right name (as per my previous post). The baud rate is 4800. The GPS Info program from Haicom doesn't have any mention of NMEA, but I presume being from the manufacturer it's already in the right mode! Furthermore, when I try using TomTom, I select "Other NMEA" sensor, give it a baud rare of 4800, and the program still tells me "No GPS Sensor".
Is it strange then that with the drivers installed and an SD card in the slot the sensor is already active - i.e. the LED is on - from the moment I plug it into the PDA? If I plug the sensor in without the SD card, but with the drivers for the sd slot installed, the sensor does as you say: the LED stays off until I click "Start GPS" in GPS Info. After it's been on for 40 seconds or so it starts to blink, but I still get no data from it showing up on the screen.

nulusios · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject:

I think this is normal (I don't remember, because I use a GPS COM sharing solution so my GPS is "always on" when I plug it).

But of course not getting any data is NOT normal.

BTW, the Haicom utility never worked correctly for me (it freezes when I move to the second tab). ALL other "generic" GPS utilities (some found in here) work fine.
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NLS

lslarry1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 5

Hmmm... the plot thickens. I tried using a different utility as you suggested: Winfast Navigator. I tell Navigator the right COM port and baud rate, and tell it to connect. It just says "Connecting..." at the bottom of the screen, but doesn't seem to actually connect as no data appears on the screen. I know the PDA is actually communicating with the sensor because if I uninstall the SD driver and use the sensor without anSD card in it the LED stays off until I tell Navigator to connect. When I tell it to connect, the LED comes on, fixed, then starts flashing, but still no data appears on screen. If I tell Navigator to disconnect, the LED switches off. I have emailed Haicom with the problem, and they just said that the combination SHOULD work, and suggested I try the GPS in another PDA. I'll seee if I can do that today, but I'm coming to the end of my options!

lslarry1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 5

Well, I finally ran out of things to try, and sent back the GPS sensor. It was indeed faulty, and SuperEtrader replaced it with another identical one, which works brilliantly straight out of the box. Interestingly, despite some other reports that CompactFlash GPS devices are not supported by TomTom 5, mine work fine together. Great!

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