TomTom BT Out of Car

[MrT]

One of the reasons I chose the BT version of the TomTom2 package was so that I could use it out of the car as well as in it.

Now this may seem a silly question, but what do other people do with the BT unit when using it out of car?

I have tried putting it in my pocket but my body shields it from some of the satellites and as you turn it can lose signal. My kids suggested sticking it to my bald patch on top of my head.

Has anyone come up with any ingenious methods for out of car use?

[Dave]

Usually having it in your top shirt pocket with the antenna (top of GPS) facing away from your body works. Although the Emtac/Socket is much better with receiving signal. The other alternative I've thought about is to stitch a small square of velcro to the shoulder of your coat and use a sticky back piece of velcro on the underside of the GPS which will give a good view of the sky.

People might start the parrot jokes though

[R1chard]

I specifically chose BT because I wanted to be able to use it when cycling through foreign cities - something I do quite often. I have found that most cities in northern Europe provide very poor signposting and I invariably end up lost in the middle of a residential area - and there's never anyone around to ask when you really need them. In fact when planning I tend to build in an extra half hour or so to travelling times if I know I have to go through a city as I'm almost bound to get lost.

My next trip, and first with the GPS, is coming up in a few months so I'll report back how I get on. In the meantime I am preparing by fixing a PDA mount on the handlebar and the BT TomTom will sit in the top of a handlebar bag which has a clear top section for map-reading.

I realise power might be an issue. Although I can often find power points in campsites to charge it up overnight I know from experience that it isn't always practical to do this i.e. I don't want to leave expensive kit lying around in washrooms, so I'm experimenting with a combined solar panel and battery pack to assist with charging.

I'd be grateful for any advice if anyone has experience with solar power.

Richard

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