Bluetooth or CF GPS?

[Astir]

I am planning on buying a PDA / GPS combination and have been following the development on GPS units for PDA's for the last couple of months. I'm wondering whether I should buy a CF or a Bluetooth based GPS solution. I would use it for the purpose of road navigation, flying (soaring) and hiking.

Firstly, for me it is important to have good signal reception and accuracy, but I assume this is well covered for both CF GPS cards and bluetooth GPS units. Secondly, endurance is important. I would at least have to be able to use a PDA/GPS combination for a full day's length.

Initially, bluetooth seems like a good deal. However, I don't think it 's very practical to ensure that the bluetooth GPS still has sufficient charge left and the bluetooth connection itself also puts a penalty on PDA battery life. On the other hand, the CF or (future) SD based GPS cards will draw so much power from the PDA's that it won't be possible to use it on a single charge for a whole day anyway.

Question is: which is better? Does anyone have any experience in PDA bluetooth power draw on one hand and the battery life with CF GPS cards on the other hand? The PDA type I am planning for is the Ipaq h2210 or the not yet released Ipaq h4155 model.

Would help me a great deal in deciding on the right PDA / GPS combination! Thanks !

Martin.

[Darren]

Well no combination is going to have a day's duration on battery power with or without a GPS cof any type connected. To accomplish this you will need to rig up some form of battery box to supply the juice for extended periods of use or hook into vehicle power.

You may need to clarify the CAA regs regarding use of Bluetooth devices in the cockpit and given this and your stated requirements a CF or Jacket GPS may be the best bet. Power drain is minimal with Bluetooth and CF albeit CF has a greater drain, assume 4-6% for Bluetooth and 8-10% for CF increases in power drain/shortening of duration.

You will be unlikely to get more than 4-5hours on internal batteries with even the best PocketPC's assuming careful husbandry of display and power settings. Hope this helps.
_________________
Darren Griffin

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!