BT GPS receiver

gamichea · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:19 pm Post subject: BT GPS receiver

My preferred navigation device is my Nexus 7 tablet. The only shortcoming I am experiencing is loss of GPS signal in difficult situations such as mountainous regions where the road clings to the valley side or is in a narrow valley and frequent successive tunnels such as are found on certain Italian motorways. My Nexus 4 smartphone is better but not perfect.

I use them mounted on a Brodit proclip mounted in the centre of the dashboard between the air vents in portrait orientation.

I would like to try and improve matters by pairing the Nexus 7 with a separate BT GPS sited on top of the dash board. Any advice on suitable high performance receivers would be much appreciated.

TIA

washman · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 30, 2006 Posts: 75

Hi

Any GPS is only going to work if it has clear view of satellites . It will not work in tunnels or if mountain sides block its view of satellites.

Washman
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gamichea · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 1:49 pm Post subject:

JockTamsonsBairn · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:05 pm Post subject:

That takes me back a few years!!

Google suggests that it's possible but I'm guessing that any of the models of BT GPS that the "old hands" used with our PDAs wouldn't be available any more, unless you can pick one up on a well known auction site. Despite what I said in 2006, I did get a Holux GPSlim 236. If you can find one of those, it has the advantage of using a Nokia phone battery (BL-5C from memory) which I imagine you would be able to find a replacement for.
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TomTom Go 940 LIVE (9.510, Europe v915.5074 on SD & 8.371, WCE v875.3613 on board)

gamichea · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:01 pm Post subject:

Thanks Jock. Your post takes me back a few years because I used to use a GPSlim to drive TomTom on a Dell PDA which unfortunately went belly up on me. I had rather assumed that things would have marched on a bit and there ought to be a choice of higher performers available now, not least because there are more satellites up above now.

I'll dig it out, pair it up and see if the GPS Status app can assess its performance.
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Nexus 7 (2013) & Nexus 4/Sygic/CamerAlert
In Brodit passive mounts on Moveclip/Proclip

JockTamsonsBairn · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 11:54 pm Post subject:

Definitely give it a go and see what type of results you get! When I looked earlier on, I saw 66 channel devices. From memory, the GPSlim is 20 channel, but it worked fine for me!
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Jock

TomTom Go 940 LIVE (9.510, Europe v915.5074 on SD & 8.371, WCE v875.3613 on board)

gamichea · Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 5:06 pm Post subject:

Well Jock, no problem using the GPSlim. It required no more than the usual 0000 to pair with the Nexus 7. An app is needed to bypass the Android device onboard GPS and use of Mock Locations must be enabled in the Android developer options. I used an app called Bluetooth GPS, free from the Google Play Store. It seems to work a treat, subject to some on road testing.

Interestingly the GPSlim seems to be seeing/fixing marginally fewer satellites than the Nexus 7. I guess this may be because the GPS chips in phones & tablets seem to be A(ssisted)GPS devices which harvest data from WiFi and cellular signals to augment GPS data. Those sources fall by the wayside in remoter locations where the WAAS/EGNOS capabilty of the GPSlim may help.

Ultimately, I suspect improved GPS reception in the situations I described will largely boil down to how much better (if at all) the aerial in the GPSlim is at hanging onto and re establishing reception. I too have seen 66 channel devices on offer. I have also seen it argued that 20 is more than adequate to see all the satellites potentially available from any location and have few spare for listening out for satellites the GPS knows to be just out of view.

Thanks for your interest & help,

Mike
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Nexus 7 (2013) & Nexus 4/Sygic/CamerAlert
In Brodit passive mounts on Moveclip/Proclip

gamichea · Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 10:11 pm Post subject:

Thought I should round off this thread by posting this years experience in Europe. Using the GPSlim to supply GPS info to the Nexus 7 I had absolutely zero issues with loss of GPS signal. Our European jaunt in September included all the motorway tunnels along the A8 behind the French riviera and into Italy, around Genova and on until they finally petered out. We retraced that route as far as Genova on the return, before turning north. The following day we headed for the Mont Blanc tunnel up the Aosta valley with its dozens of tunnels, some of which are separated from their successor by what is a very short distance at autostrada speeds. The performance of the GPSlim was exemplary. Even after passing through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, easily the longest of the trip, it refixed without any intervention.

Whilst travelling in Tuscany I tried using the Nexus 7 on its own. It was fine until I passed through some inconsequential tunnels heading south towards Grossetto when it just lost GPS signal and gave up.

I use the Nexus 7 in portrait mode mounted on a Brodit Pro-clip in the centre of the dash beneath the windscreen. That said I have been unable to discover where on its perimeter the GPS aerial is situated. The GPSlim sits on a sticky pad on top of the dash, a few inches from the Nexus.

I'm now looking to buy a second GPSlim as backup should the one I have fail, along with some spare batteries.
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Nexus 7 (2013) & Nexus 4/Sygic/CamerAlert
In Brodit passive mounts on Moveclip/Proclip

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