BT 16 Channel - 20 hour

dununda · Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 1:31 am Post subject: BT 16 Channel - 20 hour

This 16 Channel BT GPS appears to made by Cheng Holin in Taiwan and is sold under various brand names:
ITrek
BuyGpsNow AVL
Arkon
Teletype
GoFree

It key feature is I believe, the Nemerix Chip (from Switzerland) giving it a 20 hour battery life.
I cannot see any user reviews or feedback on this unit here on Pocketgps, but there may be because it has so many different names. If there is review on it already can someone point me to it.

Surely there must be quite a few of these units in use because of the multiple brand names and low price..
I bought one form BuyGPSNow about a week ago and here are my thoughs so far:
*Battery life seems pretty much as advertised.
*Battery is what appears to be a 850mAh Nokia type
*Have seen up to 10 satellites in use (never 16)
*It was a sinch to pair with by Palm T3.
*Seems to work OK in the car sitting with it sitting on the dash.
*I just took it from Australia to Japan and back and found that it would acquire an initial fix in just under two minutes after the move between locations. This was Provided that I kept the unit stationery. Different story if I tried to get an initial fix with it in motion in a bus. It would not play. After the intitial fix it was of course much quicker.

I would be interested to hear what other users of this device have to say about it. Perhaps PocketGSP moderators might consider reviewing it and adding it to the list of BT devices?

Here is a picture of its innards.

dununda · Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:37 am Post subject:

I should also add that this unit is widely available on Ebay under all sorts of brand names. Search for "16 channel bt gps"
The offical model designator at Cheng Holin is the BT77

iancjc · Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:44 am Post subject:

I just got one of these units from ebay - chipset appears to be very good - fast fix to 10 stas with no problem BUT the unit I have appears to have some BT issues with my 2210 (which I do not have using the haicom slipper / cf combo)..

Looks like this is a relaiviely common problem - bt drop outs every few minutes - the suggested fix from a gpspassion forum was to fully charge the unit then pull the battery for half an hour - this looks like it has solved the proble for me today.

Battery life is very good so far its been running from 7 pm last night through to 10.30 am this morning and its still goping strong.

one question I have is that it gives a signal of nmea0183 v3 whereas all the options in tomtom gps only give v2 drivers (seams to work but whats v3 got over the v2?)

Cheers

Ian
_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
TyTn II (WM6.1) / tomtom one v2
TTN6.03 tomtom 7.xx (one)

dununda · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:34 am Post subject:

Interesting what you say about the dropouts. I have found my BT77 to be rock solid with my Palm T3. I do not recall a single BT dropout yet. If you continue to get dropouts it may be worth pairing it with something else such as a laptop to see if the issue is caused by the GPS or the PDA.

Cant answer your NMEA questions but it may well be in this FAQ

iancjc · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject:

The drop outs came back yesterday - to the point where it would only hold a connection for a minute - moving back to my haicom unit returned the pda/gps/tomtom combo to perfect order.

I pulled the battery again yesterday - left it out all night - and this morning I have completed approx 100 miles of driving without one lockup. I moved my maps to a clean cf card and wondered if this helped but on my return trip I ran the maps from my original sd card without a problem.

I think its my ipaq (2210) rather than the gps but why one gps should work and the other not I don't know - tomorrow I'll set it up with my laptop and leave it all day and see whats happening.

When it works this unit is my preferred option.

Ian
_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
TyTn II (WM6.1) / tomtom one v2
TTN6.03 tomtom 7.xx (one)

iancjc · Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 3:25 pm Post subject:

Well in a further 24 hours of tests I no longer have any BT dropouts - I guess unplugging the battery (the battery was installed when I received it) finally reset the unit and it's now working very well.

I have basically left it on for the whole time with my ipaq powered (including overnight) and the connection has been constant - well as far as I'm aware its been on when I'm looking and was connected ok when I got out of bed this morning.

2 points I can confirm - the battery really does last approx 16 - 20 hours and the sensitivity is also excllent.

The unit is currently on my desk, 6 feet from a window in a steel factory unit and it is currently showing 7 red bars (each 70 - 90%) and 1 grey bar (50%) in tomtom 3.07.

Not sure how this will compare with ssIII but for £60 this unit is looking an absolute bargain.

Ian
_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
TyTn II (WM6.1) / tomtom one v2
TTN6.03 tomtom 7.xx (one)

Darren · Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 3:37 pm Post subject:

I have one in for review at the moment from Easydevices, it's known as the Purplegrid K2.

Aside from the cheap feel to the casing it works fine, battery life is excellent as already stated but I haven't seen any improvement in TTFF over 12 channel receivers so the 16 Channel advertising blurb is someathing of a gimmick.
_________________
Darren Griffin

DavidW · Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:50 pm Post subject:

I have very rarely seen a 12 satellite fix on a SiRFstar IIe/LP based receiver, which is 12 channels.

I can think of very few cases where having the ability to track 16 satellites simultaneously will help any - it's very rare for there to be 12 satellites sufficiently far above the horizon to be usable, let alone more than 12!

David

dununda · Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2005 1:12 am Post subject:

iancjc
As per the instructions with mine - I charged the battery for a full 8 hours before turning it on when I first got it. Just wondering if you did similar? Perhaps they require this full first charge to work correctly? Anyway glad yours is working fine now.
The jury is out still out on wether you really need to do a long first charge with Li Ion batteries. I was happy to just follow the instructions Smile

valerebel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 4

I am interested in buying one of these to go with my SPV E200 and TomTom Mobile (v4).

Can anyone tell me if they have successfully used this combo?

Also I unerstand that it uses a Nokia phone battery, does anybody know which one?

Any feedback welcome.

valerebel

iancjc · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 3:47 pm Post subject:

I think the battery is the same as the nokia 6230 one.

I don't have a nokia phone so can't be 100% sure.

Ian
_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
TyTn II (WM6.1) / tomtom one v2
TTN6.03 tomtom 7.xx (one)

grexy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 9

Am I right in thinking that the SAT LED should blink when its locked on to a Sat?

I got one off ebay, but have found that it doesn't seem to want to lock on.
they was no manual or driver with it at all.

valerebel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 4

I think they're best to give a wide berth to. I went for a Holux GR231 in the end, which also uses a Nokia battery (@ 8 hrs use on average). BT and USB.

These OEM units sound bit "pony".

VALEREBEL

iancjc · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:15 pm Post subject:

yes the sat led flashes with a fix. Try pulling the battery for a few hours to reset the unit before giving up.

As stated above I have had one for 10 days now and after a little hassle at the beginning I'm really impressed.

Not sure about the "pony" comment - this unit is my 5th gps purchase and is very very good. The battery is easly repaceable and lasts a full 18 hours on a 2.5 hour charge, second batteries are less than a tenner on ebay so I could easly run one for a week on a 5 hour charge.

I've just got the unit in from my car (to check the led) and once again it shows 6 sats locked even though it's inside a steel clad building.
_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
TyTn II (WM6.1) / tomtom one v2
TTN6.03 tomtom 7.xx (one)

dununda · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:26 pm Post subject:

Grexy,
I could no be happier with mine. Works perfectly as far as I am concerned. Both with my Palm and PC. The only other suggestion I would make is that when you first turn it on for its initial fix in your region put it in spot with a clear view of the sky and do not move it at all until it gets a fix. Once it is localised you can turn it on any old how. I just found for the first fix it worked better if I kept it still.

BT77 GPS Lights
LED1 :
a. Red flashing light indicates GPS tracking function has been activated
b. Orange light indicates BLUETOOTH GPS is being charged.
c. Green light, while flashing, indicates battery low, steady indicates battery fully charged.
LED2 :
Blue light, flashing swiftly signals pairing,
Blue light, flashing once a second signals PDA/PC and BLUETOOTH GPS has been connected;
Blue light, flashing every 3 seconds signals connection failed.
_________________
BT77 GPS
Palm T3
Navman SmartST v3.0

	PocketGPS
	Web