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SteveRogers Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jul 06, 2005 Posts: 1
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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My Globalsat GPS Bluetooth BT-318 came with no documentation, just a car charger..no box even. As it is to be used in a plane (higher than 12 volts DC) I needed to charge from house supply (240 volt AC in Australia)main so chose a 12 volt 1amp DC power supply (such as run toys, etc) as the car charger presumed to run on 12 volt DC as that is what the power socket delivers. Guy in electrical shop set polarity (as is reversible). Later found that GPS, according to Internet, has battery that is 5v!
Now dead. Supplier says my fault.
Has anyone else had a similar experience or been supplied without documentation?
Any ideas on a workaround? |
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EasyD2 Regular Visitor
Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 137
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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I think your main problem is not the lack of documentation but rather that you didn't get a mains charger with the device.
We ship the BT318 with car charger and mains charger which is the standard.
You really should have had a mains charger in the package.. .unless of course the mains charger wasn't included in the reseller's price.
Always make sure you know what's in the package when something looks too cheap. _________________ www.easydevices.co.uk
Tel: 0871 7000 156
Globalsat UK Distributor |
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AlanK Regular Visitor
Joined: Mar 17, 2005 Posts: 248 Location: Edinburgh
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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Need to buy a new GPS and its either one of these of the new TT MkII
Having used the TT I liked the size of it but as I posed on the main forum can anyone actually compare the two as its hard to tell from the pics here.
I assume that they will both work the same (time etc)
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iankb Frequent Visitor
Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 283 Location: Reading, UK
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:12 am Post subject: |
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I used a Rikaline 6030 GPS with CoPilot on an iPaq and had loads of problems with it. It could take 10 minutes to get its first fix, and sometimes never. It didn't like having no external aerial, and seemed to be very choosy about when it would accept a Bluetooth connection. I could waste 5 minutes at the start of each trip, rebooting the iPaq, etc, until I got a guaranteed Bluetooth connection.
I threw out the Rikaline and bought a BT338. I now have 100% reliability, with very fast connection, and more satellites used that can handle overhead trees, etc. I have never been happier with a purchase.
Having only had two GPS units, I can't say whether this a recommendation for the Globalsat, or a warning against the Rikaline. But you can't argue with 100% reliability.
I don't know what the TT uses, but I think that the reason that the Globalsat is so much better is its use of the Sirf III chipset. It is a major improvement. _________________ Ian
iPaq 2210
Globalsat BT-338
Seidio G2500 Amplified Vent Mount
CoPilot 6, GPS Tuner 4.2, Navio 3.01
BMW 330ci Sport |
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ckenway Occasional Visitor
Joined: Sep 30, 2005 Posts: 10
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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lbendlin wrote: | The documentation for the SiRF III chipset mentions SBAS. However the BT-338 rejects any SiRF commands to set the SBAS source. Ergo - while SBAS is possible, it's not implemented in the current firmware.
On the bright side this receiver is good enough to not actually need SBAS. |
I am interested in this and the Holux GR236 and can't quite make up my mind. They both are suppose to be SBAS compliant although talking GlobalSat they tell me that the original firmware of the BT338 did not actually support SBAS and that only shipments from late August work in this mode. What I want to know is has anyone ever got one to work? I see from the review of the GR236 that they couldn't get that to work either, any thoughts? |
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lbendlin Pocket GPS Staff
Joined: 02/11/2002 22:41:59 Posts: 11878 Location: Massachusetts, USA
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 3:10 am Post subject: |
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The firmware 3.1.1 is now supporting SBAS. I'll have to place my BT-338 in a favorable position (facing south) and check if it gets a differential fix.
Anyhow you shouldn't base your purchasing decision on that - SBAS is useless for street navigation. _________________ Lutz
Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ |
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ckenway Occasional Visitor
Joined: Sep 30, 2005 Posts: 10
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:35 am Post subject: |
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lbendlin wrote: | Anyhow you shouldn't base your purchasing decision on that - SBAS is useless for street navigation. |
Why? |
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lbendlin Pocket GPS Staff
Joined: 02/11/2002 22:41:59 Posts: 11878 Location: Massachusetts, USA
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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Because you are driving all the time, and cannot position the receiver to point south (where the SBAS sats are) while driving.
SBAS only makes sense for clear sky view (planes for example) or for stationary geolocation (geocaching etc) _________________ Lutz
Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ |
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ckenway Occasional Visitor
Joined: Sep 30, 2005 Posts: 10
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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Hang on a minute this does not make sense. If what you said about pointing south is true then that means aircraft can only travel north to south or south to north or does somebody go and turn the arial round depending which direct they want to fly?
The way I understand it is there RIMS (Range and Integraty Monitoring Stations) that are at fixed locations around Europe, in fact there are 34 of them. They then send the signals to MCC's (Master Control Centres) that calculate the error and then uploaded to the EGNOS sats that then broadcast it. So all that is broadcast is the actual error and nothing else. Without the GPS satellites nothing would work. This will then give a garanteed error of only 2M. If I have misunderstood or got any of this wrong then please correct me. |
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iankb Frequent Visitor
Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 283 Location: Reading, UK
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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It's not the ability to point south that's important. It's the ability to see satellites to the south that is important. As your car turns, you are likely to lose satellites to the south and gain ones to the north. The direction of the aerial, and it's placement within the car, means that you are unlikely to be able to see all GPS satellites at the same time. Also, because the EGNOS satellites are relatively low in the sky, they are far more likely to be obscured by buildings, etc.
You may be able to see EGNOS satellites for part of the time, but you may well lose that ability while you are driving for long periods in the 'wrong' direction, and in between buildings. What's the point of using it if you can't depend on it. _________________ Ian
iPaq 2210
Globalsat BT-338
Seidio G2500 Amplified Vent Mount
CoPilot 6, GPS Tuner 4.2, Navio 3.01
BMW 330ci Sport |
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ckenway Occasional Visitor
Joined: Sep 30, 2005 Posts: 10
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:03 am Post subject: |
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Actually the more I ask questions the more I answer them myself by looking through the web. What you have just said is utter and total rubbish, I would strongly recommend that you look at http://www.esa.int/esaNA/index.html and http://www.essp.be/ before you start making these comments. My question has been answered in as much as I will buy a receiver that works with this system and if anyone wants accuracy I would recommend that they do the same. The more I read the more I realise that some people here just don't know what they are talking about when it comes to state of the art technology. |
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lbendlin Pocket GPS Staff
Joined: 02/11/2002 22:41:59 Posts: 11878 Location: Massachusetts, USA
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:27 am Post subject: |
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ckenway wrote: | The more I read the more I realise that some people here just don't know what they are talking about when it comes to state of the art technology. |
self critique is the first step to improvements. _________________ Lutz
Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ |
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iankb Frequent Visitor
Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 283 Location: Reading, UK
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:46 am Post subject: |
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ckenway wrote: | ... I will buy a receiver that works with this system and if anyone wants accuracy I would recommend that they do the same. | If you can find one. Also, I've never ever been notified that I'm travelling on the wrong road, so why would I need this so-called better (and, to me, erratically-enabled) accuracy? _________________ Ian
iPaq 2210
Globalsat BT-338
Seidio G2500 Amplified Vent Mount
CoPilot 6, GPS Tuner 4.2, Navio 3.01
BMW 330ci Sport |
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ckenway Occasional Visitor
Joined: Sep 30, 2005 Posts: 10
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:14 am Post subject: |
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iankb wrote: | ckenway wrote: | ... I will buy a receiver that works with this system and if anyone wants accuracy I would recommend that they do the same. | If you can find one. Also, I've never ever been notified that I'm travelling on the wrong road, so why would I need this so-called better (and, to me, erratically-enabled) accuracy? |
Well these people have reviewed at least two products that are capable of working.
You have assumed that people only want to use GPS for driving on roads, many also want to use them for walking and to be up to 20M out half way up a mountain could create a problem. This system will be approved in 2007 for use in the European aircraft industry. I would imagine that if what you have said is true then we will have planes landing everywhere other than at airfields and crashing all over the place.
As for the quality of the reviews well look at the review ratings system and I quote
"Pocket PC GPS Hardware
For the Hardware Rating below, we add up each of the 4 items and divide by the maximum they can achieve which is 40. So we take 8+9+0+9/40=64%
Rating
Durability
Windscreen Suction Mount Strength
Air Vent Mount Strength Not Supplied
Car Power Cable Quality
Overall Rating 65%
The the guy uses it for a day and gives it a rating of not less that 95 althoug in most cases it's 96,97,98. Well it does rather speak for it's self as another forum member has pointed out in another thread (I think it was in the Foruna thread). I got the impression that if he (a global statement) switchs it on and it gets him to the office then it's bloody good kit and worth a high ranking. Ask a reviewer to make a choice between two products and it's well yes, may be, possibly followed by buy that it's cheaper as if cheaper means it's a better bit of kit. I don't suppose they want to upset the manufactures otherwise they will have to go out and actually buy stuff.
So for anyone wanting to know about EGNOS go and have a look at the website URL's I posted a couple of posts back, it will tell you all you want to know and its factual, not made up. |
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nfh Occasional Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2005 Posts: 20 Location: Portugal
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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Does this unit feature an external antena connector, as the Holux 236? |
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