Emtac BTGPS v Jacket

[paulmk]

I am trying to decide which of the above to buy to compliment my 3970. I will use the device primarily for auto navigation but also intend to use it for hiking.



The issue concerning me is battery life while hiking, will a gps jacket reduce battery life. How long can i expect the ipaq with jacket to last if permanently and would it need to be permanently on. I assume with the BT the solution the GPS can be left permanently on and should last for 6+ hours and you would just switch on the ipaq and pair them each time you want to read the map.



Is my grasp of how these would function in reality correct?

[MikeB]

Paul,



Yes you seem to have a pretty good grasp of the way it works, except that you dont need to pair the BT everytime you switch the PDA on. I havent had a 3970 but assuming that it has the same BT functionality as the 3870 then when you switch the PDA on and select a GPS app the connection will be automatically remade. No messing around waiting for a fix.



Baterylife on the 3970 is supposed to be better than the 3870, and I could get over 4 hours continious useage from the 3870 with BT whilst hiking. Using a NavMan 3000 jacket I was lucky to get about 2.



One thing about using the GPS for outdoor activities is that if you want to record your tracks then you need to leave both PDA and GPS on all the time.
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Mike Barrett

[paulmk]

Cheers for the reply Mike, it has been of great help.

[TimB]

If you compared the EmtacBT and a stand alone 3970 with a 3970, a Compaq CF expansion jacket with its own battery and a CF GPS(e.g. the new SysOnChip reviewed recently) how would overall bettery life compare then?



I already have a 3970 and emtacBT (all works excellently) but was wondering about buying a CF expansion jacket with battery.



Yours

TimB

[MikeB]

Tim,



When I had my 3870 I found that the battery life was extended by about 1.5 to 2 hours giving me around about 5.5 to six hours. Enough for a full days hiking (for us lesser mortals anyway).



If you have a 5450 then having the external CF has no effect unless the PDA is switched off as the battery in the CF sleeve is used to power the CF device, or trickle charge the pda when switched off.
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Mike Barrett

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