Brodit Amplified Holder Review

lexuscol · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 25, 2004 Posts: 102

Thanks Darren, I have emailed Handnav asking for a returns authorisation so I can get mine sorted it definely does not amplify. Thanks go to pockets GPS for all posts, if it hadn't been for the brodit review I would not have beeen any the wiser. I hope handnav will sort it for me.
Cheers
Col

Tim Buxton · Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 10:13 am Post subject:

MikeB · Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 11:18 am Post subject:

Dont think the Brodit will work too well on your bike!! Laughing

Mine works really well in the car, and no you cant have it.
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Mike Barrett

Tim Buxton · Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 11:36 am Post subject:

On the 'bike it's OK. I just have the iPAQ in my map pocket and turn the audio off to avoid startling pedestrians at junctions. Quite why they think I'd be telling myself to 'Turn left, then turn right' in a lady's voice (tight leathers maybe?) is beyond me, but then, so many things are.....

It's in the car that I suffer, just because of where I have the system mounted. Well, not so much mounted as 'put'! Mind you , does that Brodit holder take a Navman sleeve or will I have to use the Navman BT unit?

And finally, I've seen your Voyager don't forget, and I think that losing one mount and holder would be better for you, in that it would allow you to see some of your dashboard!
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Tim

Darren · Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 6:21 pm Post subject:

lexuscol · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 25, 2004 Posts: 102

Hi Mike and Darren. thought I would give you an update regarding my mount. Hand nav have kindly sent me a replacement even before they have got the faulty one back. Excellent service don't you think? especially in this day and age.
I still have a problem though the new mount does not amplify either. They are both quieter than the 2210 on its own and thats pretty quiet, I do have the volume on the ppc turned full up. I began to suspect my 2210 jack socket but having tested it with a seidio mount it is working OK, I also tested it with my desktop amplified speakers and it is OK with them also. One thing I have noticed is the seidio mount is a mono jack plug and the brodit mount is a stereo jack plug. I know the ipaq is mono only, when connected to my pc speakers I get sound from one speaker only which is correct, due to the 2210 being mono. could this be the snag.
I can't really see two mounts having the same fault especially as the time difference in getting the mounts is 1 month they probably came from different manufacturing batches.
Unless of course the jack plugs on the brodits are not connecting properly? I shall have to try to find someone in Yorkshire in order to do a comparison, ipaq to brodit and viccy versa. I am going down to London in a couple of weeks maybe I can call in at Handnav but I notice they only seem to have a PO box for return address.
Have you any other thoughts on what might be amiss?
Col

Tim Buxton · Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 12:32 am Post subject:

Are you sure your 2210 is mono? I lifted the quote below from HP's website here.

Audio

Integrated Microphone speaker and one 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, MP3 stereo (thru audio jack)
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Tim

lexuscol · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 25, 2004 Posts: 102

thanks, i was just assuming it was mono due to having single speaker on 2210 unit. headphone jack is only outputting through one speaker when connected thru desktop pc stereo speakers. could be you have solved the snag and that the 2210 is only picking up on one channel therefore if the channel that is u/s is the one that the brodit is wired thru then it wont work. i shall wire a stereo jack plug to the other circuit tomorrow and see if the cause has been found.
thank you
Col
ps. i think my brain must be disolving with age, should have thought of that myself.

Tim Buxton · Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 12:05 pm Post subject:

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
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Tim

lexuscol · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 25, 2004 Posts: 102

Tim, Mike, Darren and all who are interested. Well I have some good news to report for a change, my luck must be on the turn. After a nice friendly chat with Chetan at Handnav Technologies this morning (Again I would like to say what a brilliant service Handnav gave. I cannot recommended them highly enough, A real pleasure to deal with.) I then spoke to Brodit in Sweden, unfortunately they could not assist, their support said "it could be the cig lighter lead at fault but everything is tested before it leaves us here"
I doubted the power lead was at fault because every thing else on the mount was behaving OK apart from the amplifier.
I asked for permission to change the jack plug as ( see my previous post ) I thought this could be the culprit. Brodit would not authorise a change of jack plug.
I decided to take a chance and change the plug anyway.
I duly got out my soldering iron and changed the plug. Lo and behold the amplifier works as it should, I have had to turn the volume on the 2210 down, It is absolutely brilliant now.
My thanks go to everyone for their assistance in getting my mount sorted.
Regards
Col
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Col

tt go 730T

Tim Buxton · Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 7:47 pm Post subject:

Great news. now that your luck's on the turn, how about giving me the coming Saturday's lottery numbers?
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Tim

peter-h · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 14, 2004 Posts: 1

Well I had the same problem - the Ipaq 5450 Brodit holder having a duff speaker.

I give credit to Chetan at Handnav for providing a good level of customer service, in a business where in general "customer service" is somewhere between zero and speaking to a monkey in some 3rd world call centre.

So I emailed Brodit in Sweden who were very responsive and sent me a new speaker with the amplifier circuit board attached.

The reason I asked for just these, rather than a complete new holder, was that I had the holder very laboriously (and ultimately expensively, together with a load of other stuff like a 5V-powered bluetooth GPS) wired into the vehicle, a task not made easier by the 12V -> 5V inline power supply which forms a bump in the power lead of the Brodit holder, making it very hard to feed the power lead through holes, etc.

Upon opening the amplifier/speaker case I found that the problem was caused by someone at Brodit having incorrectly soldered the lead from the 3.5mm jack plug to the circuit board, shorting the signal.

Correcting the wiring made it work but I used the replacement speaker/amplifier anyway because I had slightly damaged the speaker when removing it from the housing. I've written to Brodit with these findings...

I will certainly go back to Handnav for more of these products. In my admittedly limited experience they are more responsive than just about anybody in this business.

Also the Brodit holder is well made, out of partially machined plastic which fits the PDA very accurately.

burgermeister · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 06, 2005 Posts: 1

Does anyone know if this will this work with an HP Jornada 540?

tim1d · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 19, 2005 Posts: 3

Having an Arkon Mount for my 5450, I now want to change to a neater, quailty and less bulky setup. I like the idea of just placing it in the cradle rather then squeezing it between the side mount. Shame about not having the headphone jack built into the cradle as mentioned though.

My question really is do Brodit have the same mounting as the Arkon, I want to continue using my suction cup arm to mount to the glass. I’m not to keen on drilling my dash as it seems the Brodits are fond off this method unless I’m mistaken.

If someone can list me the parts (my company’s going to be paying for it) I would be most grateful. I also use it with my Bluetooth Emtac so a charger cable for this if the mount allows this would also be great to power the Emtac in the event of the battery dying.

Brodits website is just too confusing!!!

Replies welcome thanks.

Tim Rolling Eyes

Darren · Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:15 am Post subject:

They don't share the same mounting as Arkon. However, I would urge you to try the full Brodit Cradle and ProClip mounting system, it is so much better than the suction mounts that you'd be missing much of the benefit by using the cradle only.
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Darren Griffin

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