Globalsat BT-338 review

Bluecan · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 4:14 pm Post subject:

Great Review for a Great Device. What's more I got it at a great price (£92 incl post and packing). Ordered device on ebay from a dealer in Taiwan on Monday 4th April. Promised it would be dispatched within 3 days. After 3 days I received an email that due to a delay from the supplier the dispatch would be delayed until the 11th March.
On the 9th March I received an email that it had been dispatched. Enclosed was tracking info. I received it on the 12th April, delivered by Parcel Force Worldwide.
What a device. Since I started using it I have never lost lock with satelites including in the house, in the car glove box (8 satelites), inside B & Q and in the local Shopping Centre.
I am disabled and use a mobilty scooter. I transfer the satnav to the scooter when I arrive at different locations hence using it in what may appear to be unusual circumstances.
Compared with my Fortuna Clipon BT in XT mode which in turn was a replacement for a Socket BT GPS, there is no contest.

Alan Paul
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Alan

EasyD2 · Regular Visitor Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 137

Hi Everyone.
As promised, I am letting you all know that the Globalsat BT338 is now available for immediate delivery in the UK at EasyDevices.co.uk.

This really is one of our best GPS receivers yet.
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anthonyd · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 06, 2005 Posts: 2

Can someone tell me if the bt338 is flash programmable?

I am looking at one but I am really against the auto power off thing. If the software can be updated at a later date then I will get one of these. Otherwise I might wait untill it is fixed or consider the holux gr 236 which does not seem to have the power off issue and is flash programmable!

Thanks

Anthony

SimonCatlin · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:59 pm Post subject:

I have read on the gpspassion website that the company is thinking of changing this, and were going to do it prior to launch. However...... the techies at Globalsat said no can do in the time frame and then stated they would look at it in 3rd Q 2005.

I have one (and I have just received the bill for the import duty on this!) and it works bloody well. In fact, too well :P . I like the auto power off and it has meant I charge it once a week and run with it. I have spent 10 hours in the car this week and it is still working on it's charge from Sunday!
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iPhone5, TomTom, Google maps, Navfree, Viewranger and Apple Maps (ekk)

lbendlin · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:14 pm Post subject:

ashio · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 30, 2005 Posts: 3

I bought the BT338 as I thought I could connect my SPV smartphone to it. Has anyone done that, the GPSINFO application will not install onto the SPV.

lbendlin · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:28 pm Post subject:

You don't run GPSinfo on the Smartphone - it is for PocketPCs. Try installing Mapopolis or any other GPS program for MS Smartphones.
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Lutz

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ashio · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 30, 2005 Posts: 3

ok, thanks for that, I would have thought Globalsat would have provided some smartphone s/w ?

SimonCatlin · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 2:08 pm Post subject:

ashio · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 30, 2005 Posts: 3

Well, I've got tomtom on my smartphone, isn't Mapopolis just a different type of GPS software ? what I'm trying to do is get the tomtom to function with the 338, do I need anything else?

lbendlin · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 2:22 pm Post subject:

You need the latest version of the TomTom mobile (4.300 I believe) or you need to rename the Globalsat to "TomTom Wireless GPS" during bonding. Search the forum...
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Trevor1234 · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 4:08 pm Post subject:

henkjohn · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 03, 2005 Posts: 2

Great review for gs 338. Would have bought one immediately were it not for the non support for waas/egnos. Why on earth would they see fit to leave that out. That pretty much kills it for anyone who needs more critical accuracy. Is this just another marketing ploy to sell a new product down the line or could this be enabled in a firmware update someday? Anyone out there have any thoughts? I'm real disappointed about this one glaring deficiency and surprised this isn't a big complaint, or am I missing something. I'd buy it tomorrow but if this chipset will never support waas/egnos, I won't even bother with a device that uses it unless someone can convince me that this feature is not worth having.

lbendlin · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 1:26 am Post subject:

The chipset definitely supports SBAS, but the current firmware doesn't allow to set the SBAS source. Nobody really complains because the chipset accuracy itself is already pretty damn near to what you can achieve with SBAS.

And, let's be frank - receiving SBAS signal is like playing lottery, especially when your are in the middle of the continent (the SBAS sats sit over the oceans)

One interesting tidbit - There seems to be a bug in the firmware that may make the receiver think it's the first week cycle. (We are now in the second cycle). This results in a wrong date displayed (something like 2085 - which is another bug and should actually read 1985) , but other than that the receiver functions perfectly. Let's hope SiRF will fix that, too.
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henkjohn · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 03, 2005 Posts: 2

A big thanks to lbendlin for that bit of info. I did wonder if the inherent accuracy would make the need for waas not so much an issue and you are correct that it is a crapshoot at the moment, but that will change once more satellites are in place(granted that may be a long time where government is involved) I was hoping to hear something along these lines from the experts. I'll be ordering one soon. Thanks again :D

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