Emtac mini-S3 bluetooth GPS receiver review

MikeB · Last edited by MikeB on Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:55 am; edited 1 time in total

The first Bluetooth GPS receiver that I reviewed was the original Emtac Bluetooth GPS way back in 2002. At the time this was the first Bluetooth GPS and it stood the test of time. Transplant introduced this GPS receiver in the USA.

Over the years the Emtac brand has changed hands and is now distributed worldwide by Transplant. In that time a number of BT GPS receivers have been released. The most recent and the subject of this review is the Emtac Mini S3 Bluetooth Receiver.

The Emtac mini-S3 is the smallest of the Emtac Bluetooth GPS receivers to date, but does its size affect it's performance?

Click here to read the full review.
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Mike Barrett

phantom · Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:31 pm Post subject:

I am using an original Emtac Bluetooth GPS with an iPac and Destinator PN. The original is still operating well but at £70 (not bank breaking) I wonder if I should buy a new one. What improvements should I expect, I gather from your review that I will get a fast fix at new starting points, that must be good since I,ve just come back from Switzerland/Italy/France alpine area and often had to stop for a new fix when passing from country to country through long tunnels.

Would the new Emtac be more accurate for positioning compared with the original. In Paris, foe example, the tight grouping of parallel roads around the Peripherique would cause the navigator to assume we were on the correct road when in fact we had moved over by one or sometimes two roads.

Battery life looks right on the new unit, are there any other advantages?

Thank you.

MikeB · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:05 pm Post subject:

There will be a vast difference between the 2 receivers. The original Emtac used the SirfStarII chipset, and the new one uses the SirfStarIII. This has had a number of years development and is much more sensitive and less power hungry.

As to the differences it will make in real life in Paris: you should find there are less drop outs due to lack of signal, but the positioning on close roads can still suffer for a number of reasons, not just the accuracy of the signal/receiver, but also the accuracy of the maps.
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Mike Barrett

mrg2003 · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:31 am Post subject: Smallest BT GPS

What currently is the smallest retail BT GPS. I saw one in a pendrive last week, but don't speak japanese.

Darren · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:48 am Post subject:

It's difficult to measure as we'd need to know the 'volume' to compare a pendrive agaianst a more common format device.

I have a Navicore package here with a tiny BT 30g GPS receiver that measures 6.4 x 2.2 x 1.5cm.

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Darren Griffin

lem · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 12, 2007 Posts: 1

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your excellent review of the Emtac Mini-S3!! It was very helpful!!

I have two questions that i've been trying hard to find the answers to, could you help me out?

If I buy the cheaper version of the device from Transplant's website, can I apply the same software patch that you used to enable the WAAS on it?

How does the mini-S3 compare with the GlobalSat 359 ?

Thanks for your help

tomthompson · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:07 pm Post subject:

Darren how is the navicore bluetooth gps

Read somewhere that it can be used as a wired GPS using the usb cable as well as bluetooth

And somewhere is selling them cheeeap

might be worth as a backup as mine is a few years old now
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