A Bluetooth GPS receiver that would be a great match

[atomicthumbs]

Looks like a perfect match for the Pandora. NMEA and Bluetooth, for $30.

http://www.buygpsnow.com/AR-211-Bluetoo ... eiver.aspx

 

[Tor]

Could be. I'm not familiar with that chipset.
Having owned a couple of BT GPS devices I've found that the important issues are:
1) Lock on _fast_.
2) Sensitivity: It should work in difficult areas (tall buildings, behind metal-tinted glass, maybe even indoors).
3) It must be able to lock also when I'm moving.
4) Long battery life (i.e. don't suck power).

The MTK chipset in a device I have scores on all of the above. The older SirfStar II chipset in an older one fails on 2) and 3) (I must stand still while it locks, then I can start moving (at any speed). The MTK locks on even inside a 747 at speed.
A SirfStar III should be as good as the MTK afaik, but I don't have any GPS with that chipset. The Skytraq chipset in that AR-211 link I'm not familiar with.

 

[pelrun]

I've got SirfStar II and MTK receivers and I concur. Although you can't really fault the older chipsets; they aren't bad, it's just that the current ones are spectacular. (indoor reception? considering the signal strength that's insane!)

The OP's device certainly wins on price; I'm flabbergasted that they've gotten that cheap. However 12 hours runtime seems a bit weak, and there's no telling how good the actual antenna is.

 

[valhalla]

A SirfStar III should be as good as the MTK afaik, but I don't have any GPS with that chipset. The Skytraq chipset in that AR-211 link I'm not familiar with.

I have a SirfStar III based receiver and a MTK logger: the SirfStar III is quite good on points 1-4 and I was pretty statisfied with it, but then I've bought the MTK one and it's even better, expecially on point 2.

Around here you can find SirfStar III based receivers around 40 euros, and I wouldn't buy anything based on an older chip.

 

[Tyler Durden]

http://www.buygpsnow.com/Canmore-GT-730F-USB-GPS-Dongle-with-A-GPS-Support__1037.aspx is what I bought. I've never used a civilian gps before. I'm only familiar with the military one. Do you think this will be decent?

 

[Tor]

@tylerdurden:
It doesn't say what chipset it uses.. so it's difficult to tell. The ad is a bit misleading though, something you probably realize if you're already familiar with military equipment. It first says '54 channels', and then 'Acquire and track 54 satellites simultaneously', which is just rubbish. That's not what all the channels are for. There are not that many satellites around (and will never be), and it's not possible to see more than 11, maybe 12 at the same time anyway. All the channels are there in order to do a fast search&lock, by listening on many channels at the same time. 12-channel devices (as my old SirfStar II, for example) takes longer for the initial lock.

As to price, I paid 27 UK pounds for an MTK-based Holux M1200 a year ago.

 

[Grench]

What software do you all plan on using for your bluetooth GPS enabled Pandoras?

I haven't seen anything with good maps and turn by turn directions for Linux let alone Linux on ARM.

Someday I hope my Pandora and a bluetooth GPS receiver can replace my Garmin iQue 3600. So far... it looks like it will be a long wait.

 

[lingenfr]

I've tried roadnav and gpsdrive. Both a great projects but leave a bit to be desired. Neither of them compare to MapThis for the PSP. I expect that OpenTom would be the cats arse for the Pandora.

 

[valhalla]

What software do you all plan on using for your bluetooth GPS enabled Pandoras?

I plan to use navit for turn-by-turn, unless Traveling Salesman is available and proves itself better (navit is already available for arm, ts is java.)
More often, I will probably use them or tangoGPS to show maps, and either myself or my SO doing navigation while the other drives just like we are currently doing with a netbook: I find computer generated indications distracting and confusing, but probably I'm just old

As for map quality, I'm going to install at least one OSM editor to be able to improve it: I'm looking into osm2go, but I will probably also try to use JOSM.

 

[Tor]

I will try to get Maemo Mapper running on the Pandora. And I'm pretty certain everyone with a Nokia tablet background will try the same!

 

[atomicthumbs]

What software do you all plan on using for your bluetooth GPS enabled Pandoras?

I haven't seen anything with good maps and turn by turn directions for Linux let alone Linux on ARM.

Someday I hope my Pandora and a bluetooth GPS receiver can replace my Garmin iQue 3600. So far... it looks like it will be a long wait.

Dunno specifics, but I plan to take my Pandora hiking and use this to log my routes for putting on maps, as well as geotagging photos. It might help my family so that we no longer have to dig around for maps on road trips.

 

[hedwards]

How well is this going to work in the upper latitudes? I haven't used a recent GPS, but they never worked well up here in WA. Get under trees or in any sort of decent ravine and forget about getting any satellites.

 

[Tor]

@hedwards: Get a SirfStar III (not II) or MTK chipset-based GPS, and you won't have any such signal problems(*). BTW I'm at almost 70 deg. latitude.

(*) except in a ravine which truly blocks any possible signal. But the problem isn't that much more of a problem in high latitudes compared to the lower ones, although there _is_ a difference. But with all the satellites in the system deployed it's not something you easily notice these days.

 

[hedwards]

@hedwards: Get a SirfStar III (not II) or MTK chipset-based GPS, and you won't have any such signal problems(*). BTW I'm at almost 70 deg. latitude.

(*) except in a ravine which truly blocks any possible signal. But the problem isn't that much more of a problem in high latitudes compared to the lower ones, although there _is_ a difference. But with all the satellites in the system deployed it's not something you easily notice these days.

That should probably be fine then. The ravines that I'm talking about aren't that steep and usually I was having problems even when there appeared to be a reasonable line of site southward.

70 deg latitude is much further away from the equator than I am I'm not even at 50 deg north. If it works for you up near 70, I should have very few problems at all down here.

I'm mainly interested in it for geotagging my photos.