Duel mode GPS (Sirf & Xtrac) £40

Ipaq · Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 3:40 pm Post subject: Duel mode GPS (Sirf & Xtrac) £40

Hello,

I have just won an auction on Ebay (UK) for a mouse type GPS receiver which they are quoting to have duel sirf & xtrac modes with auto switching. Now I dont know massive amounts about GPS things but I do know that this is a fairly recent thing (Xtrac) so I am assuming this is a good price?

There seems to be plenty on there Ebay (UK) if anybodys looking, below is the title of the item.

HP IPAQ/AXIM X5/X3/X30/XDA 2/MITAC GPS RECEIVER NEW

Thanks in advance. Thumbs Up

Ipaq · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 9:09 pm Post subject:

I have been told by reply that the item is a diastar 9200.

Anybody have any info on this?

Thanks in advance.

Ipaq · Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 8:04 am Post subject:

A bit of a 1 way conversation this!

I have now taken receipt of the GPS & would like to know if there is any way of checking if it is Xtrac as there are no instructions or markings on the device or cable.

Cheers

Dave · Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 5:18 pm Post subject:

There is no easy way of checking unless you check the bios version when you do a cold restart but you need to know what you're looking for. What software do they provide with the GPS, I've never seen one before.

Ipaq · Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 6:03 pm Post subject:

Hello Dave,

There was no software or instructions! but it did come wth a Rikaline charge & link cable.

Dave · Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 4:30 pm Post subject:

In that case it's probably a Rikaline, otherwise they wouldn't have put the Rikaline cables with it.

Check out the following article and perform a cold start, watch the development screen when you do a cold start and check the first screen of text, you may get a BIOS version and some other info out of that. If you don't, try a factory restart, but make sure you do give it 12.5 mins view of the sky to get a fix, otherwise you may have to wait longer next time you go and use the GPS.

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/winfastnavigatorppc.php

franticAxim · Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:40 pm Post subject:

Hi, I think I bought from the same guy on EBay, although my GPS unit is working fine with my Axim its not working at its best. The EBay fella says its a diastar 9200 and indeed it does come with a Rikaline connector cable, however it definately isn't a Rikaline GPS unit.

Any idea who Diastar are?? Do they have a website, cos I sure as hell cant find anything?

A spec sheet would be useful, or drivers for TomTom for PPC. If you can help, great if not, I'll bite my tongue and make do with the weak signal.

Thanks,
franticAxim

SteveW · Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 1:21 am Post subject:

What setting are you using on the GPS screen?

Steve.

Dave · Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 9:59 am Post subject:

pdarnett · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 5

I've got the same one, dark blue(almost purple) case and comes with a rikaline 6017 car adaptor which also powers my axim x3. Bought if off ebay (probably same guy!) and he told me to set it up as tomtom gps on COM1. Performance is abysmal at the moment! Up to 10MINS! for first fix and when it loses it, it can lose it for up to 10 mins again. I am trying everything to get this better, just spent 45mins sat in my car in the drive as i believe it is not getting (or storing) the almanac data, testing it with winfast but none of the settings apart from baud have any effect, cold hot or factory dont seem to restart it at all, unless its just me doing something wrong. Whats the best way to force the almanac data to be disgarded and re retreived?

Many thanks if anyone can assist

Dave · Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 9:56 am Post subject:

Rikaline's people do seem to be experiencing a lot of problems with. I guess it's the age old 'you get what you pay for'.

What happens when you place the antenna outside the car, does it fix quicker ?

When you get a fix, how many sats are you seeing in WinFast Navigator ?

pdarnett · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 5

In answer, I get the same response whether the antenna is outside or inside the car, and when i get a fix i have about 4 sats in green and about another 10 in red.
But maybe had a breakthru after last nights late night session in the car (god knows what my neighbours think I'm doing). This morning I got my first fix in about 55s and then after about an hour i did a hot start and got a fix in about 14s. So maybe I was right about the Almanac, I'm on the road all day today so I'm going to test it out to see if it was just a fluke or who knows I might have fixed it!

SteveW · Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 1:46 am Post subject:

I have just purchased one of these on e-bay for my second car as I needed a cheap alternative. I e-mailed Rikaline and the reply was that they did not make them, and didn't know who did. Not very helpful, just kept asking "what was I trying to do...?"

Not looking forward to it arriving now.

Steve

Dave · Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 1:33 pm Post subject:

I know eBay can be used to pick up a 'quick bargain' but when it comes down to technology, I'd much prefer buying a reputable product that has a ton of good reviews behind it from various sites like ours, and a reputable dealer/retailer (pref in the same country) so if a fault develops you at least have somewhere to send it back to and can flex your muscles on the Distance Selling Laws (if you don't like it when it arrives for whatever reason, you can send it back within 7 days for a full money back guarantee). Obviously this excludes perishable items, food and CD's, but gives you much more buying power.

You may pay a little more going this route, but I'd much prefer pay the extra £20 or £50 and have this level of insurance.

pdarnett · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 5

Well after a full day and a half of testing, I can say vast improvement, still not fantastic but cold start fix in under a minute and hot starts or re fixes between 9 and 30s so not bad really. If it gets any worse I'll let you all know (or buy a proper tomtom kit!, or both). In conclusion if you've just bought one of these, set it up as tomtom gps on Com1 with a clear view of the sky i.e. no trees houses stc and leave it on for 30mins-45mins the FIRST time you power it up and your fix times should improve greatly.

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