HI-302E Have I made a terrible mistake??

Mattd · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 16, 2003 Posts: 3

Guys,

I am now really really worried...

I read the PocketGPS review of the HI-302E, and finally thought, "That's it I'm buying a GPS"

Previously I had thought of getting the Pretec, but the Pocket GPS review had such great praise for the Haicom, I went for it.

Stupidly I didn't look in teh forum before I bought the following:

HI-302E
External Ant
TomTom Version 2

(I have an Ipaq 3870, Car Housing and charger already)

So AFTER I buy the unit, I look in these forums to find that everyone is having terrible problems with the unit "crapping out" after 2 weeks!!

I read that the Evermore chipset is crap, and that TomTom has no support for it, and if I pick "Haicom" it will send the wrong info too the card and it will stop working.

I feel gutted! Why the hell didn't the review mention this? Is there any fix? What should I do? Is there any chance it might work for me?

Man I am down now.

Dave · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 7:37 pm Post subject:

Well firstly Matt we reviewed the 302 CF not the 302-E. The E denotes Evermore where as the standard 302 CF didn't use Evermore chipset. Yes, I do agree, the Evermore chipset is considered a lower grade chipset compared to SiRF IIe/LP.

So...."Why the hell didn't the review mention this?", we didn't review the 302-E! The TTFF's on the 302-CF were very good though and we can only report on our experiences, we can't report on hypotheticals that might happen but we haven't seen or experienced. Sorry, just not possible, can't and won't happen! If we did report on hypotheticals, every product would be doomed from existence! "This product is good, but on the other hand because it has electrical current running through it, it could explode in your face and scar you for life". Hmmmm Rolling Eyes

The primary application we were using was TomTom Navigator 2 using NMEA 4800 selecting the Haicom sub driver, and TomTom worked very well on the 302 CF.

The 302-E you are testing does have Evermore chipset in, and I suspect this is where your problem lies.

However, you may find you are experiencing one of the following problems:-
1. You may have the CF card configured incorrectly, you may want to check that you are using the above settings.
2. You may have a faulty CF card.

The 302 CF is no longer widely available, but the 302-E is. Personally I would stay away from Evermore chipsets (just my opinion), but others here will also tell you problems with the evermore chipsets.

Mattd · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 16, 2003 Posts: 3

Dave · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 2:13 pm Post subject:

I haven't used the evermore chipset version yet, but will try to get my hands on one for review.

The Pretec is good, the only thing that does put you off is that it is quite bulky. Beware, do not go for the LP version, otherwise you will seriously regret it!

omaruk · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2003 9:23 pm Post subject:

Matt,

I have a Haicom with Evermore, indeed the 1st one did expire after 2 weeks! I was sent a replacement and this one has performed flawlessly for 6 months+ now. I regularly get 8-11 sat fixes and to be honest have not had any issues.

MrMrMr · Regular Visitor Joined: Jan 24, 2004 Posts: 83

I have just bought one of these off ebay, and am waiting for it now, did you send it back, or what comments have you got now, Have I bought a turkey? hope not

cheers
LOC

DavidW · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 6:28 am Post subject:

As Dave indicates, we've had several strange problems with Evermore chipset GPSes mentioned previously in the forums.

At one point I tried (with a little behind the scenes support from Dave) to get hold of a sample Evermore unit to see if I could reproduce the faults on my otherwise perfectly stable setup. Unfortunately the retailer I tried (who I think is the largest seller of Evermore based units in the UK) turned me down for any loan gear - though they did note my concerns and the appropriate forum threads on this subject.

I'm afraid there's no clear conclusion to be drawn. Clearly for some the Evermore units work fine, otherwise the forums would be littered with stories of woe. However, they do seem more prone than SiRF based GPSes to occasional malfunction.

The important thing is to select "NMEA 0183v2 4800" if you're using the TomTom GPS application with an Evermore chipset GPS, and not "Haicom GPS". The "Haicom GPS" setting will probably try to send SiRF configuration commands to the GPS. This isn't the greatest idea as Evermore chipset GPSes have their own binary protocol rather than implementing the SiRF one, which means those commands may turn out to have unwanted side-effects.

David

Dave · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 10:36 am Post subject:

David, I now have a 303E. I find the Evermore chipset of the 303E consume power a lot more than the SiRF equivalent. Using the 303E in the Haicom BT Slipper renders 8 hours of use on the Slipper battery, but the Haicom MMF (SiRF IIe/LP) gets around 14 hours of use, so the Evermore is very power hungry. I've also experienced a lesser signal in some cases. I think Evermore has come along nicely like SiRF has, but SiRF chipsets are still better in most cases.

It's interesting to note that many more manufacturers "claim" to be bringing out their own chipsets, certainly San Jose are another one with their BT-48 which I am currently reviewing.

DavidW · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 11:38 am Post subject:

I noticed the power consumption figures - look at the picture in your HI-401 review. The HI-303E says it draws 120mA - whereas the SiRF based units draw 90mA according to the label.

Personally I'd pay a little premium for a SiRF chipset as things stand currently - but everyone has to make their own decision as to whether the extra is worth it for them.

David

Dave · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 12:42 pm Post subject:

Personally although I really don't use SiRF all that often, I'd still like to have the ability to switch to SiRF Binary where possible, so I'd pay the little extra for a SiRF chipset, and you know that SiRF has been through a number of successful reincarnations and works well. Evermore is certainly getting there, Lutz has many horror stories to tell from the original Evermore chipsets which has put him off Evermore for life. I think Evermore will get there and be close to SiRF if not better one day, but until now SiRF works better and has better power ratings over Evermore which in my book makes the difference.

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