Are bluetooth set ups *really* reliable?

tanz

Hi everyone,

Just joing the forums today as I've decided I'm going to splash out on a GPS system for my PDA. Anyway I've read tons and tons of postings, reviews, descriptions etc... on the various solutions available and the one that is standing out at the moment is the Tom Tom 3 bundle (with Tom Tom bluetooth receiver). This will be used in conjunction with my HP Ipaq 4150.

What I'm wondering is whether the bluetooth connection between receiver on the dashboard and PDA in a holder somewhere in the car is actually 100% reliable? As a user of bluetooth on my mobile phone and on my PC at home I know it can be quite flakey at times. Lost connections, random behaviour.

I'm hoping I've just been unlucky with my current bluetooth experiences but can anyone give any ideas of how their bluetooth set up is working and whether I'm just being a bit pessamistic thinking the bluetooth connection will remain over a long journey.

Any thoughts/experiences greatly appreciated!

Cheers :D

Mark

bigfatjohn · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 11:01 pm Post subject:

I don't think you are being pessimistic.

My own experience of bluetooth is the same as yours, namely that it a flakey technology. Having said that, some is better than others and my Haicom performs adequately whereas my TomTom receiver was unusable.

My advice would be to look at how you are going to use your satnav and unless you actually need bluetooth, then go for a wired or CF solution.

My solution is a Haicom 303MMF in the CF socket when I use it on my bike and the same receiver in the BT401 slipper in my car (heated screen)

kartracer · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 11:28 pm Post subject:

My Navman 4410 BT GPS and STPro V2 running on an iPaq 5550 has been rock solid ever since I got it in January. I switched the software to CoPilot a couple of weeks ago and it still seems absolutely reliable so far. The BT receiver lives in an enclosed compartment top centre of the dash.

This BT set up has been much more reliable for me than either of the Navman or Emtac sleeves I previously used with an iPaq 3870.
_________________
Kam

icsys · Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:17 am Post subject:

Hi,
I also have the 4100 bluetooth receiver (aka 4410) and have also experienced reliability with the bluetooth connection.

Earlier TomTom BT receivers had problems but I believe the current ones are OK.

I think you are more likely to lose a sat fix rather than the BT connection.
_________________
Ian.
iPAQ 2210 | Navman 4100 BT Receiver
Navman iCN 635
TomTom GO
Anquet OS mapping

Talkingbollox · Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:41 pm Post subject:

I used my Navman 4100 with an iPaq 3870 on a bus in Italy last week and although it took a long time to get a fix on the bus, once acquired it was 100% reliable.

Good job too as it help us to pinpoint where we needed to get off on the return journey.

Andy_Hill · Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:05 pm Post subject:

Put it this way, I have been away for two and a half weeks in France driving every day, on 5 of those days virtually all day and have not had a single drop out.

HP2210 TT3 With TT BT.

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