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Hi
Those who recognise my name will know I recently got a fantastic Brodit holder and charger for my XDA2, but now I'm looking for GPS stuff too.
Does anyone have any suggestions on which is the best (and more importantly value for money) GPS receiver, and also what is the best software? Not that I would encourage such things, but are the "evaluation" versions you can "acquire" off the net any good, do they show you how it works before you then go and buy the real software?
I'm interested in the smaller gps units as I do not like the look of bulky ones.
Cheers
Anthony
Hi
I use the Fortuna Clipon Bluetooth. it is portable and has an 8 hour battery life. The software i use is TomTom 3.
There are plenty of reviews at www.pocketgps.co.uk .
Regards
The Pilgrim
I would definitely recommend any Bluetooth GPS receiver.
Plusses:
- Own power supply (rechargeable battery)
- Less wires inside car (no "Y-cable", but if you want it permanently powered you still need it wired to +12V)
- Can be used outside of car (bevause of battery)
- When constantly powered keeps its fix (this is the best plus for me)
Minus:
- Price
On eBay you might get lucky in buying a cheap one. I bought my DCONNEX DC230, rebadged Holux GR-230, for about 100euro incl shipping there.
I used Belkin BT GPS...
edsub said:
I would definitely recommend any Bluetooth GPS receiver.
Plusses:
- Own power supply (rechargeable battery)
- Less wires inside car (no "Y-cable", but if you want it permanently powered you still need it wired to +12V)
- Can be used outside of car (bevause of battery)
- When constantly powered keeps its fix (this is the best plus for me)
Minus:
- Price
On eBay you might get lucky in buying a cheap one. I bought my DCONNEX DC230, rebadged Holux GR-230, for about 100euro incl shipping there.
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I agree with "edsub", bluetooth GPS gives you more freedom to move it around. Here in the United States I bought Belkin BT GPS (its a Fortuna Clip-on rebadge) the navigation software is included ((iNav/iGuidance) Version 1.0 US and Canada) very cheap too $170 including shipping. Usually cost $399.99 but when you using coupon 82242, you will get only $140+S/H=$170.00 here in the US. Buy directly from Belkin website (brand new).
For US resident this is a good opportunity to buy BT GPS. I am not sure if Belkin deliver overseas.
If the gps is for car use only I would suggest a cheap wired version such as Haicom hi-203e. Even if you have charged your bluetooth gps in the house you have to remember to take it to the car, if you get it to the car you have to be confident that the battery will last for the duration of the journey, your xda will need to be on charge all the time in the car so I dont see the problem with having a y cable that works off one cigarette socket. The only drawback I can see is when the car has a windscreen that will not allow gps signal through, the length of lead on wired gps wont allow you to place gps in rear window. I have used and tested dozens of different gps/pda combos and that is my 2 pennies worth of advice.
TomTom 3 and a BT Receiver. Couple that with our Safety Camera database and Digitools superb UKPostCode Plug-In and you have a system way better than any other.
And as you have an XDAII you can subscribe to the Traffic Service and have live updates overlayed on your map via GPRS
I hafta agree with Griffog. i have everything he says and i would (excuse the pun) be lost without all that :wink:
I have the Leadtek 9537 BT Receiver and regularly travel round with between 7 - 9 sats.
Bluetooth
I use a TOMTOM BT GPS purchased from ebay £70 and it is fantastic. Absolutely no probs whotsoever. No spaghetti junction on the dashboard and alot can be said for that.
cruisin-thru said:
If the gps is for car use only I would suggest a cheap wired version such as Haicom hi-203e.
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I have a wired GPS antenna and have never tried a BT one, for I have and XDA1 only, but agree with the principle that since you will probably want your XDA powered, a wired solution is fully acceptable.
The model Haicom 203 has been replaced with Haicom 204.
BIG plus for the BT option is to always have a fix, independent whether the MDAII is connected or not. I heard of cases where it can take up to one minute before a GPS mouse has found a new fix.
I solved the battery issue by hooking the BT GPS to a permanent power lead that is put behind the roof-fabric of the car (GPS is located in a bllack box next to the mirror because that is the nly place where there is no heat-resistant layer on the windscreen).
edsub said:
BIG plus for the BT option is to always have a fix, independent whether the MDAII is connected or not. I heard of cases where it can take up to one minute before a GPS mouse has found a new fix.
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This is correct.
It will matter in the case of a car which will cut power to the cigar plug when the key is off.
It's not the case any more in most of recent cars. It was the case for my previous car where locallisation would take from 20 seconds (normally) to 3-4 minutes in the worth cases (unsure what the reason why but it did some days)!
I have wired the power cable that came with the TOMTOM gps to a USB connector. I then plug this in to my cigarette lighter which has a female connector on it. I also use this to plug my XDA charging cable into should I need it
I got the information I needed to solder all the connections etc from the web! a great little experiment that I helped to teach my son the art of soldering, a couple of sore little blisters later all works perfect.
Bluetooth's certainly good. But if you're a complete cheapskate, I guess the cheapest option is the RadioShack Digitraveler. It's out of production now, but on eBay you can get it for $40 thereabouts if you watch. Comes with its own software, but Mapopolis is so much better that I would advocate getting it. Cheapest software I think is MS ActiveStreets or MapPoint or something. But it too doesn't match up to Mapopolis. My GPS setup is a total of $50.
gps
hi guys
i have been looking for a gps system for ages and i have currently got a global sat sd501. i am running this in partnership with mapopolis and i find its great not too sure on the navigation side yet. but it is really accutate and i think its great with the xda2 you can find a review at the site below
regards kevin beecher
http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/globalsat-sdio-gps-sd501.php
Whilst the GlobaSat SD GPS is superb and very sensitive the big issue with all SD GPS is where do you store the maps?
If you only have the SD slot then you have no other option and if you have a PDa with both CF and SD, why pay the premium for an SD GPS when you can use a CF?
I'm very satisfied with the BT Rikaline 6030 (it is technically the same as the Leadtek 9537, I believe) together with Alturion Pro 5.3 navigation software. The main reason for choosing Bluetooth is that I want to be able to walk around with it, using GPS-supported map-software. With a (replacable) battery with a battery life that lasts for 10-12 hours, the Rikaline suits me fine.
One thing, though. If you regularly are confronted with traffic jams or other traffic nuisances, it might be worth considering to use a GPS device in combination with TMC/RDS and of course the appropriate navigation software (Alturion Pro supports this, I don't know about TomTom). Right now I use the TMC information (via GPRS) that is supplied by Alturion's TMC-server. But that is only limited to the Netherlands & Belgium.
With the combination GPS and TMC/RDS it is possible to avoid traffic jams in all areas where radio stations broadcast traffic info. Up to a few months ago there were only wired and no BT receivers that offered the combination GPS+TMC/RDS, but recently I saw an offer for navigation software (don't recall the name but is was not TomTom or Alturion) including a Bluetooth GPS as well as TMC/RDS receiver.
TomTom also offer a TMC service via GPRS. The BT GPS with TMC you saw was part of the Navigon bundle which we are testing currently.
Dont know if its the same Bt GPS, but Engin (www.engin.nl, Navigation solution by ANWB, the dutch AA) also offers a BT GPS/TMC receiver now. They even claim its modular (so you can buy with or without the TMC module).
Yes that's the same one and the screen shots are identical to Navigon, perhaps this is a rebadged version?
Hi
I have a 3 yearlod XDA1 in perfect working order, and have been thinking about using it again.
Can anyone tell me if it is possible to add sat-nav to it, and if so what I need to do it
Thanks
Steve
Yes you can add sat nav - a friend of mine has and it works perfectly.
You need a gps reciever, in car charger and a memory card large enough to hold the map data.
Can't remember if the xda1 has bluetooth, if it does you could get a bluetooth gps unit but i prefer a wired unit because you don't have to remember to recharge it.
Also obviously you need the satnav software.
Thanks very much for your help
Ill sort it
Steve
xda1 doesn't have bluetooth so you'll have to get a cable to connect the gps receiver to the ppc. oh, you'll probably have to find a cable to connect both the receiving and the power source...having gps drains the hell out of you battery.
cheers
Anyone else having problems with the bluetooth not discovering devices, i cant seem to get my one x to discover my cars bluetooth for anything, then i take my other phone and it discovers it in one shot. Anyone have any ideas?
You're making the phone "Visible to all nearby Bluetooth devices" right?
What brand car stereo? If factory stereo, what car make?
yes i have that switched on, its a mitsubishi factory stereo.
Don't see anything in the systems files that would indicate Mitsubishi stereos being blacklisted. Have you tried any other Bluetooth devices? Maybe go to a stereo store and see if you can pair to other car head units. Could be a defect with the phone. Maybe others can chime in on whether they were able to get the phone paired with their Mitsubishi head units or not.
Can't connect anymore
I was able to connect with my One X with 1.73. Then I swapped my phone out at Best Buy and got a new one with 1.85. Now I can't anymore. I have a Kenwood in-dash nav.
I was having the same issues. It ended up being that there was too much interference in the area that I was (my garage) I tried it again in a open parking lot and it paired just fine. I had to search for devices from my phone while my unit was looking for my phone also.
Hi
after 4 years I wanted to replace my puny Hyunday car radio with something more versatile and powerful. My two main requirements were integrated DAB+ and Navigation. So I ordered a 7" Klyde KD-7022 HU with a 8 Core A53, 1.6GHz, 32G ROM, 2G RAM and all the bells and whistles I could get. Beside DAB+ and Navigation I ordered Dashcam, Rear Cam, OBD2 and 4G Stick. Everything arrived and it took some time to build all components in my car. Now after some modifications on brackets and cables all is installed and almost everything works. Altough the DAB+ app looks awful and the iGo Navigation doesen't satisfy me 100% I'm quite happy with the result.
Now I still have issues with the 4G Stick which claims 'SIM card removed' every time I start the car. After a reboot the stick works as Wifi Router. But I cannot establish the connection via USB cable. I only get the Wifi signalstrength display. I don't get a 3G/4G signalstrength displayed. Internet connection is established via Wifi. Has anybody made the same experience and has a tip for me? I read something about the app 'PPP Widget' which should help. But this widget needs root access which leads me to the second issue.
I haven't yet found a rooting method which works on my Head Unit. I'm quite experienced with rooting handys and tablets but with car radios I'm a newbie. How do I enter recovery mode? Do I need ADB connection or can the device be rooted via app? Has anyone successfully rooted a PX5 with Android 6.0.1? I would be glad for any hint or link.
Thanks for all answers. They are very welcome
Thanks
Hi, after reading a few threads about android auto compatibility with the essential phone, I have been put off purchasing as AA has become a pretty permanent fixture of my commute.
There have however been software updates I see by Essential, notably the latest firmware in the past few days. Just wondering if anyone has seen any improvement in android auto experience with any of the latest updates?
Thanks.
I havent had an issue. Im running AA on both my 2017 Audi and 2017 GMC. I had issues with my LGV20. With the LG, i would have to reboot the phone to get AA to recognize and even when it showed connected, text messages werent available. If i unplugged the phone and then tried to plug back in, i would have to reboot the phone if i wanted AA to work. With the essential, i can unplug the cable and plug back in and resume what i was doing seamlessly and all the alerts/texts come up no problem anymore
Same here no issues I use a couple of hours per day.
It works great with my modded Infotainment center in my 2016 Miata. However, it will not stay connected to my aftermarket 2016 Kenwood head unit in my other car more than 1-2 seconds constantly connecting and disconnecting. I've tried half a dozen different cables. Works fine with my Nexus 6.
elkay said:
It works great with my modded Infotainment center in my 2016 Miata. However, it will not stay connected to my aftermarket 2016 Kenwood head unit in my other car more than 1-2 seconds constantly connecting and disconnecting. I've tried half a dozen different cables. Works fine with my Nexus 6.
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This was what I had heard of in the forums and gives me pause about purchasing. May I ask if you have tried with latest firmware which Essential says contains some bug fixes?
Thanks to the others with positive experiences. More encouraging!
Are the reported issues with the phone itself running Android Auto and just Bluetooth connecting to the car, or when the phone is linked to the head unit?
Seamonkey79 said:
Are the reported issues with the phone itself running Android Auto and just Bluetooth connecting to the car, or when the phone is linked to the head unit?
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As I understood it, it was with the phone linked to the screen of the head unit. Mine is a 2016 vw. There was a similar issue with the Oneplus 3 which kept disconnecting for no apparent reason and Oneplus fixed this with a software update which is why I was enquiring about updates here.
No problem here, connecting to and staying connected to my wife's 2016 Ford Edge, and my 2016 Corvette.
I use AA everyday, in my 2018 Audi Q5. I've never seen it drop out once.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Thanks very much for the positive reports.
I had issues getting AA to work with my Essential phone, what solved the issue for me was disabling USB debugging. After that it worked like a champ.
elkay said:
It works great with my modded Infotainment center in my 2016 Miata. However, it will not stay connected to my aftermarket 2016 Kenwood head unit in my other car more than 1-2 seconds constantly connecting and disconnecting. I've tried half a dozen different cables. Works fine with my Nexus 6.
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Click to collapse
Exact same. My old Nexus 6 works fine but the Essential will not work with my Kenwood DDX9903. Currently I'm using my Nexus and tethering but due to Android Auto's (stupid imo) handling of calls through BT instead of USB, I can't accept calls over BT with the Essential while the N6 is in Android Auto mode.
dwj said:
This was what I had heard of in the forums and gives me pause about purchasing. May I ask if you have tried with latest firmware which Essential says contains some bug fixes?
Thanks to the others with positive experiences. More encouraging!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm all up to date and it still will connect and disconnect rapidly until my head unit restarts. It literally worked ONCE on the first night I got it. On my drive back home and up til now I only get the USB access error message.
Charlie_Don't_Surf said:
Exact same. My old Nexus 6 works fine but the Essential will not work with my Kenwood DDX9903. Currently I'm using my Nexus and tethering but due to Android Auto's (stupid imo) handling of calls through BT instead of USB, I can't accept calls over BT with the Essential while the N6 is in Android Auto mode.
I'm all up to date and it still will connect and disconnect rapidly until my head unit restarts. It literally worked ONCE on the first night I got it. On my drive back home and up til now I only get the USB access error message.
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And same haha.. I'm using my Nexus 6 with hotspot thru my Essential for connectivity. And also same issue regarding calls. I was pondering cuttingthe proprietary USB cable and soldering it really close to the connector itself, thinking maybe if I get that cable as short as possible and then use a USB-C cable *just* long enough to reach the phone in front of the unit, maybe that will give the signal just enough boost to not keep failing repeatedly.
elkay said:
And same haha.. I'm using my Nexus 6 with hotspot thru my Essential for connectivity. And also same issue regarding calls. I was pondering cuttingthe proprietary USB cable and soldering it really close to the connector itself, thinking maybe if I get that cable as short as possible and then use a USB-C cable *just* long enough to reach the phone in front of the unit, maybe that will give the signal just enough boost to not keep failing repeatedly.
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I swear I thought about doing the same thing but I think it might be a USB C issue in general. I have to test it with my mom's Nexus 5X. Worst case scenario I'll end up buying a replacement cable, cannibalizing the connector, and running a ~3ft USB C cable connected directly to the kenwood connector. That should tell me for sure if it's a cable quality/length issue. If I remember correctly, the cable from Kenwood is at least 2 ft. just by itself.
If you find any solution let me know because I have almost an hour commute and Waze's police alerts helps me big time.
My Prius was hellbent on grabbing my wife's iPhone instead of my SGS5 and the same thing happens with the Essential Phone. It always grabs her phone over mine. Otherwise, works fine.
elkay said:
And same haha.. I'm using my Nexus 6 with hotspot thru my Essential for connectivity. And also same issue regarding calls. I was pondering cuttingthe proprietary USB cable and soldering it really close to the connector itself, thinking maybe if I get that cable as short as possible and then use a USB-C cable *just* long enough to reach the phone in front of the unit, maybe that will give the signal just enough boost to not keep failing repeatedly.
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Click to collapse
I had it working tonight. I used a SUPER SHORT USB 2.0 Cable that came with my Anker PowerCore battery, then a samsung microusb to USB C connector.
It's so weird but I think going with the shortest cable possible, including the head unit cable might be a fix.
That sounds like a problem specific to Kenwood receivers then.
I've used my Essential with Android auto in four different cars with three different cables and I've never seen it disconnect once on any of them. But those were all Factory radios.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
I just switched from an Xperia X and the PH-1 is significantly slower on AA. It works, but it's a slog.
This is on a 2017 Silverado
Just bought a 2017 Audi S3 and AA has been working flawlessly since day 1.
Weird, no slowdown or speed issues on AA in any of the 4 cars I've used it in. Guess I'm lucky. As long as it works in my Audi (and it does), I'm happy.
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