REVIEW COMMENTS: TomTom BT GPS!

[oisky]

Can you use it out of the car? If you can I'd be really interested in getting one?

[Dave]

The only difference I've seen really between the two is the power on process and power off process. From a signal strength, although I only have one BT iPAQ here, rnuning one, then running the other within a few mins of each other gives the same performance in signal strength.



The Power On/Off process is a little annoying at first, but you get used to it, you just need to check that the lights have gone out after you've powered it off as I've left it on for about an hour without realising. With the Emtac/Socket you can just power it off and not have to worry about checking the lights.

[Eirik]

Now that you have tested the new TomTom Bluetooth GPS would you recommend this GPS above the Socket/Emtac Bluetooth GPS, or are they equal ?

[Dave]

You certainly can Steve. The BTGPS will work without the docking station on battery, and will also accept a direct charge from the mains or accessory socket in-car, so for most, I think the docking station won't be used.



The docking station I believe is really only needed if you plan to hard wire it into the car using the new power lead. I've charged the BT GPS on it's own and also through the docking station, and it seems quite happy with both, so the docking station probably won't be used much. I can see it being used more in the office or at home, where you have a permanent cable plugged into it like you would with your Pocket PC cradle.

[oisky]

Looking at TomTom's site it seems that the docking station can either power the reciever or charge it for 5 hours use! If it didn't have a charging function you would (it seems to me) be replacing the lead from the rceiver to the pocket pc with a lead to constantly power the bluetooth reviever...ie it would be pointless No?

[theendisnye]

Can you power the GPS unit without the docking station?
_________________
Steve

[Dave]

Earlier in March 2003 we announced that Leadtek had created a new Bluetooth GPS Receiver and showed photos of this. In early May we also brought you ground breaking news that TomTom were soon to release a Bluetooth GPS Receiver. It's now the beginning of June, one month later and we're glad to say we have the full TomTom Bluetooth GPS Review and before it's released! An exclusive!



The full review is available here

[Ewok]

Ahhh. You learn something every day!



I have seen the TomTom at the same price as the Emtec in one or two places now - AND they have stock. As it's my Birthday next week I think it's going to be the TomTom - As I'm going to be able to get one too. :o))



I'll report back as to how I get on.



Eric.

[Ewok]

Well its four months on now and still getting on very well with the TomTom GPS. The extended TTFF times I was experiencing have now ceased since I now recharge the unit immediately after use and store it with a full battery.

Spent a couple of weeks in the Lake District with it earlier in the year and was VERY impressed with its performance. Both in the car with TomTom Navigator 2, and out walking using the Fugawi software. Even under prolonged heavy foliage it never lost a fix – this with the unit living in the glove box in the car (Vectra). I have now seen two or three 12 satellite fixes in use in the car too.

Overall VERY happy. Very good unit.

[MrT]

I am also happy with the TomTom2 bluetooth setup although if I was not a techie I would have had a few issues:

I had startup issues, lockups, disappearing buttons, ipaq power down problems, TomTom GPS 2.08 taking exclusive use of COM8 and finally lockups with POI Warner. I was fortunate in that I already had a Morpheous Geodesy in the car and had installed a re-radiating antenna as my car has a heat reflective windscreen. This antenna provides loads of power for the GPS.

I fixed the sole use of COM8 by uninstalling the "TomTom~GPS" from remove progams, I only had this "GPS" installed as I started with 2.08, but on removing it, I still had a TomTom~GPS installed and this now seemed to work fine.

The registry edit for the bluetooth manager made starting TomTom a one click affair.

Upgrading the bluetooth driver on the Ipaq fixed the lockup, powerdown and slow startup problems.

[Ewok]

Which bluetooth driver upgrade did you use?

[MrT]

I used the HP ROM upgrade 1.00.17 which includes the Bluetooth driver 1.4.1.58. I had to set the Ipaq to USA region before the upgrade then back to UK afterwards.

[JamesB]

I'm trying to hard wire my TTBT reciever into my car, out of site and connect it to an external antenna so that it can still get a fix. The only problem is that no one in the UK seems to supply antennas or connectors that fit the MC connection on the TT reciever.

Tom Tom customer services have been extremely unhelpful and couldn't offer any decent advice.

MY experiences with Tom Tom recently have been really disappointing as the product is so good in every other respect.

Can any of you suggest where I can find an antenna or an adapter to fit the TTBT device... If not I strongly suggest that people who want a hard wired GPS device don't get a TomTom Blue Tooth one!

[JamesB]

Following on from my last post...

Tom Tom customer support still sucks... but the product is fantastic!

I finally realised today that I could hide my reciever in the central arm rest compartment and still fix between 4-6 satellites - almost no performance drop from sitting it on the dash board!

I wish I'd checked all that before buying various antennas and having to send them back because they didn't fit the connector!

Great product!

[Justin-case]

meisenstadt

The two red light scenario I have experienced a couple of times mainly after I run the power out of my TT BT receiver

But after reinserting the charger the lights revert back to normal after a few seconds.


JC

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!