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Holux GR 230 Bluetooth GPS on XDA2

I have just been following all the developments with the Bluetoth Stack Problems etc, after actually I had Ordered the Holux BT GPS Receiver.
I am still awaiting delivery, but after reading the last thread under GPS/Bluetooth got a bot dissappointed as a lot of people seem to have problems with the Reception.
I actually did some research before ordering and the reviews were promising. So in real life, what are the problems with the actual GPS itsself and how is the reception?
Even though I haven't tried Towas BT Fix, but I must congratulate as it seems very impressive the job he has done. I have downloaded all is required in terms of software fixes.
Please share your experiences with the Holux BT GPS and if anyone likes to do a preview perhaps?

I've already posted my comments in another thread but to summarise - it doesn't work ver well at all. I've used a Navman/iPaq combo - worked quite well, a Nokia LAM1/9210 - worked surprisingly well too, then a CF GPS in an Axim - worked extremely well, then this Holux device with an XDA II - the worst so far, by far. I'm assuming that the problem isn't with the XDA II as it uses a 400 mhz xScale 263 cpu which should be more than sufficient. I had read that these things would pick up a decent signal from within a rucksack or pocket, and indoors from a few feet from a window, but not in my case.
I can't wait to see what other peoples experiences are.
Ged.

How did you get the holux to work with xda2, I am having no luck with it.

I just installed towas patch, when I chose the holux it allowed me to assign a serial port "com4 chosen" this then appeared under gps in tomtom, works great and the headset works at same time, it did prevent me synching via bluetooth which was working fine before, but that is no hardship as I am unlikely to be synching by bluetooth while running tomtom.
P.s. I tried changing com ports for the gps but it didnt help so I removed my bluetooth desktop pc bluetooth profile, went to settings/bluetooth, told it to sync by bluetooth, it searched for and found my pc bluetooth dongle, when I click finish Towas patch pops up, I selected activesync and it now all works, the guys a genius with programming.

Got my Holux working too
Even though I was very nervous about the Holux, it has proved for me working very well, but it did take a bit to get things working.
At first, I removed all bluetooth devices, then installed Towas' Patch and then added the BT Devices (Holux + HBH-65). The HBH-65 worked well all the time, but once I loaded the Holux supplied software GPSviewer, it kept crashing and froze or it automatically kept rebooting. Tried all different ports but no success.
Finally, I had to Hard-Reset the XDA2 and then first install Towas's BT Patch before pairing any devices or installing any applications. Then I tried some third party software and finally Mapopolis and saw it working perfectly (COM 5, 9600). For some reason, GPSviewer is not compatible with either the XDA2 or Towas's Patch at any setting.
The Positioning is very good and usually have 8 sats locked out of 10 visible. I saw the device to be very accurate, perhaps to about 1-2 metres on Mapopolis. I even get around 3-4 Sats locked when I am indoors (thats either on the top floor or near a window. First time to fix is always around 30secs and hotstart seems immediate to me. The only matter which has got to me was that while driving, the positioning seemed to be lagging behind and Mapopolis came up with streets which just passed. I am also quite pissed off with the male voice of mapopolis as it sounds awful. I have now ordered TomTom V.2 and will keep u guys posted how that goes.
PS: The BT Handset works well at the same time as the GPS, but still missing the Handsfree BT Profile.
Anyone any update about O2 (UK) ROM Update?

I found no lag with Tomtom2, it was on the button and extremely accurate, does anybody know if the battery can be swapped out of this unit in the event of a failure once warrany is out?

I would think so. I took mine apart to see what was inside and it's very similar to one that you'd find in a cordless phone. Nothing special really and there are lots of companies out there that supply custom or specialist batteries.

Analyst said:
I have just been following all the developments with the Bluetoth Stack Problems etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i take it ur talking about the prolems "when you change the baud rate on the GR-230, it would lose communication via Bluetooth"?
if so the review on pocketgps.co.uk for the unit is quite good. its available @
http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/holuxgr230.php
but it explains that its a firmware prob with units shipped B4 Dec 03, which can B fixed.
Hope this helps. ive just ordered 1 myself, £95 off ebay, will do nicely if it works, i shall let ya'll know.
Smiley

XDA 1 to SX66 upgrade - is it a good idea?

I am currently using an XDA1 with an o2 carkit, Haicom 204e and TT5 wih no problems, however, I am considering ungrading to a Seimens SX66 (Blue Angel?) and using a bluetooth GPS receiver. My questions are:
Is there a carkit available for the SX66?
Are there any problems I am likely to encounter with compatibility (I have noticed a few people reporting issues with TT5/bt/Blue Angel and don't want to upgrade to somthing that doesn't work)?
Thanks.

I think it will no work your idea :roll:

I think you better buy a universal and benefit from WM 2005 while you are at it. You obviously don't need quadband - so I would say a universal is a good device

Deke, is there any need to upgrade if you are happy with your present setup?

Well, I would like a gps system that can be moved from the car, and also a PDA with integral WiFI - an SX66 would satisfy both of these requirements (if the bt gps were battery powered).
Also, Mrs Deke's XDA1 has suffered some damage and won't last much longer. She says an XDA1 is all she needs, but I'm reluctant to get her a s/h XDA1 if I can use this opportunity to replace my system and let her have my XDA1.
But if the SX66 won't run tt5 properly with a bt - or if there are other issues I'm not aware of - then I'll just get her a used XDA1 and I'll keep mine.
I've also been looking at the HP 6365 - any thoughts on that?

Recommendation for GPS Receiver for a complete noob

Hi, first post here, though I have lurked for a bit.
I must confess that I'm a complete noob at this, I've had an XDA IIi for over 6 months and done absolutely nothing to it, it's as virgin as the day it came out of the box. Also, I've never had a GPS Receiver before, nor SatNav.
Anyway, I've ordered TomTom software and need a GPS Receiver, but I have no idea on what basis to compare the miriad of different GPS Receivers out there, so am humbly asking for your recommendation. If you could also point me at a noobie guide on all terms regarding GPS, or explain what they mean, that would be great.
99% of usage will be in the car with my XDA in a cradle, though I'm guessing I will have to swap over the 2 charger cables, however occassionally I'd like to roam on foot with Sat Nav (usually in London). So I'm guessing I would like a BlueTooth GPS Receiver that comes with a car charger and main charger.
I have no idea what Cold Start, Warm Start, or Hot Start mean, nor what Update time is for or what's good or bad for these values. Why is Baud rate or NMEA output protocol important? What are the pro's / cons of internal or external Antenna's and wtf does an external Antenna look like and how does it work, hang out the window?? How many "channels" should I have, and what difference does it make anyway?
Sorry for all the questions, but none of the purchase sites seem to do a noobie guide aimed at my level, they all assume you know what they're talking about! :roll:
Thanks in advance.

Can no one even point me at a decent online guide that explains what all these things mean?

GuiltyCol said:
Hi, first post here, though I have lurked for a bit.
I must confess that I'm a complete noob at this, I've had an XDA IIi for over 6 months and done absolutely nothing to it, it's as virgin as the day it came out of the box. Also, I've never had a GPS Receiver before, nor SatNav.
Anyway, I've ordered TomTom software and need a GPS Receiver, but I have no idea on what basis to compare the miriad of different GPS Receivers out there, so am humbly asking for your recommendation. If you could also point me at a noobie guide on all terms regarding GPS, or explain what they mean, that would be great.
99% of usage will be in the car with my XDA in a cradle, though I'm guessing I will have to swap over the 2 charger cables, however occassionally I'd like to roam on foot with Sat Nav (usually in London). So I'm guessing I would like a BlueTooth GPS Receiver that comes with a car charger and main charger.
I have no idea what Cold Start, Warm Start, or Hot Start mean, nor what Update time is for or what's good or bad for these values. Why is Baud rate or NMEA output protocol important? What are the pro's / cons of internal or external Antenna's and wtf does an external Antenna look like and how does it work, hang out the window?? How many "channels" should I have, and what difference does it make anyway?
Sorry for all the questions, but none of the purchase sites seem to do a noobie guide aimed at my level, they all assume you know what they're talking about! :roll:
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK basic reccomendation. Get a Globalsat BT-338. A popular and well liked high performing device at a reasonable cost.
What you need to look for in a receiver is the chipset. You want one with a SIRF III chipset because it will provide the best reception in heavily built up areas. You want to avoid X-TRAC because it's laggy.
With regards to charging, you probably won't need to be continuously charging, (look for battery life on the device specs. You want around 20 hours per charge). However you could get a cradle which charges both, or a Y-Cable which will also charge both the xda and the receiver if need be.
Cold start refers to how long the receiver takes to get a fix from the very first time it is used, or after it has had no battery, it needs to work out where you are on the planet and can take up to 5 mins. After this you will be more likely to just do warm starts, by which the receiver uses your last known location to get a rough guide of where you are, this should take less than a minute. A Hot start means you havent moved from your last know location, theis should take 30 seconds to get a fix. These times are measured as TTF- Time to Fix, ands should also be on the device specs.
The Protocol is the format that the data is passed onto the xda software. Most software expects NMEA data, as this is the most commonly used. The baud rate is just how fast the device can communicate with the xda and dosn't make a lot of difference the BT-338 has a baud rate of 38400, but I've used a device with a baud rate of 9600 and can't say I noticed a difference. A SIRF III device is unlikely to need an external arial, unless you have heat reflective windows all round your car, and even then unlikely. A good SIRF III receiver will work from inside a closed glove box. An older SIRF II chipset may need an external antenna. These are usually little magnetic squares that you stick to the roof of the car, with a cable that connects to the receiver inside. Buy a SIRF III and forget about those.
Channels, most SIRF III receivers are 16- 20 channels, this is how many simultaneous satellites the device can track at once. Anything over 16 is pure bonus as you are probably unlikely to get more than 12 satellites in your line of sight anyway.
That seems to cover everything except cost. Expect to pay between £50 and £80.
and check out www.pocketgps.co.uk

Thanks Gajet, that was everything I wanted in an answer. Much obliged.

My Globalsat BT-338 arrived yesterday. Had a few problems working out which serial port it was using but got there in the end. Also the middle LED seems to flash or hold solid with a mind of it's own. But apart from that, works like a treat, and as the review said, works fine in my glovebox too, which is nice.
Thanks again.

The middle LED just tells you if you are getting a good satellite lock. If it stays steady then you are not getting enough satellite signal for a lock. There is a program on the CD that can tell you the satellite signal strength. Most nav programs have that feature as well.
I've been playing with mine for a few days and I am amazed by how fast it can lock onto satellite signal. If you compare with other non-SirfIII chipped GPS the difference is almost night and day.
I did have some BT/COM port issue if I run an alternate nav program. It wouldn't connect BT anymore until I rediscover it. But staying with one program (iGuidance) it works perfectly.

> I did have some BT/COM port issue if I run an alternate nav program.
I had this problem too. If I ran up the GPSInfo program, then TomTom would fail to find the GPS Receiver.

Who brought a 2006 thread back to life...Thread closed, Thank you.

E-Ten G500 What do you think

Okay I THINK this isn't an HTC device but I wanted to know if anyone has looked into it.
I really like the built-in GPRS and Bluetooth 2.0
I do know that it doesn't have WIFI but on my PDA2K I don't really even use the wifi so it's not a big loss for me.
I also wanted to know if anyone knew of a website like this for that device, I really like the way people help here and would hate to not have a place to go like this if I did buy the G500.
Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated
http://www.etencorp.com/products/Communication/G500.php

I just bought 50, for a specific purpose, but first impressions are:
rugged
stable
small
but
average battery life using GPS
no sodding instruction manual
FM radio promised but not yet released
No Keyboard
No WiFi
i haven't tried to install any GPS software yet, but i can confirm the hardware works virtually underwater, as we use it to track drivers as well as mobile data.
We're paying £272 plus VAT, and for our purposes it's great - which doesn't involve wifi or keyboard....
if the battery life was better i'd be buying 100 more

I'd suggest also thinking about the Mio A701.
I think it does everything the G500 does but is smaller. I went for it over the G500 mainly because of it's size. And also because it takes full size SD cards

Hi mach1!
There is a forum for ETEN owners:
http://www.eten-users.net
One thing you should consider is that this device uses mini-sd so there is no SDIO support, thus no way to add WiFi if you decide you need it.
Also no EDGE, HSCSD or 3G so forget about dissent internet access.
Any way, you should check out http://www.gsmarena.com. They got info on phones (PDA / Smartphones) from all leading companies including ETEN, all arranged nicely with full specs and user ratings and comments.
No prices though...

flicka said:
I'd suggest also thinking about the Mio A701.
I think it does everything the G500 does but is smaller. I went for it over the G500 mainly because of it's size. And also because it takes full size SD cards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We have 10 of the a701 and 5 a700 yes thay are a bit smaller but
thay are not as stable as the G500 we use ours for personal tracking etc
and have not had any problems with then at all
and thats with tomtom and our own GPS tracking software.
hope this helps

bought a mio a701 and to be honest i really like it and i think it'll go a long way before i replace her. tried out the gps navigation using mapking (in bangkok) and i sure didn't get lost. the voice nav told me where to go and such and from there all went fine. i didn't get the eten because of the mini-sd; all of my accessories are using sd card (example; my digicam). i also like the mio because of the looks and the size. i'm not a fan of wifi nor do like having a keyboard so it works fine for me. mio will be releasing a rom sometime later on and that will support push email AND a2dp (for stereo bluetooth function). since i use an itech clip s headset it's just a matter of waiting until the new rom is released. when i listen to the tunez i can hook up my bluecon bt adaptor which allows me to listen wirelessly.
cheers

A701 GPS
Were currently testing both the A70 and G500. Has anybody seriously tested the 'location call' software on the A701?
In the tests we have performed the GPS position is incorrect. In a comparison between TomTom and Visual GPSCE the position do differ. I am assuming there is an offset or algorithm which computes the correct location.
What i'm looking for is a program which does the same thing as location call, i.e. send your gps position by sms, but actualy send the correct gps position.
Has anybody come across one?
Cheers
Paul

E-TEN G500 bought instead Qtek 2020i (waiting for Qtek S310)
Hi,
I changed devices cause i wanted integrated gps. Sometimes you're in your car and the bluetooth receiver is at home (for safety of stealing), and sometimes pairing bluetooth takes a while.
Actually i'm waiting for the HTC Trinity (Qtek G200) or Qtek S310.
Both devices will be with GPS & WIFI inclusive.
The Qtek S310 looks very spacy and will be released end of 2006 (hopefully).
At the moment I also have an all-in, the E-TEN G500 with SPECTEC MINI WIFI-SDIO CARD. I like the smooth blue colourlines / size / battery and functions.
I updated the rom to the 0097 and now can receive FM radio & TMC (Traffic messaging control) which gives you information about busy traffic and leads you away from it. This only works when you connect the wired headset as antenna,but no problem.
Now that it's also become an all in, i'm doubting to buy the new upcomming Qteks, I like this E-TEN very much, smooth look, compact, processor very good, and carkit included in package!
I never doubted about the Mio A701, the E-TEN is a much cooler device. Only the sound quality & speaker is less, but I love this device!
Greetz,
Innovator 8)

New Orbit tt can't find gps receiver

I have a registered tt6 which I bought for £70 odd. It worked fine in my old orbit. Then that one broke, what happens is it doesn't respond to screen touch, fortunately as I have the rollerball set as a pointer I can actually use it though slow. The reason for saying this is that I haven't yet sent it back because tt works on it, whereas the new phone using the exact same memory card and set exactly the same as the other phone, tt doesn't find the gps device.
I am using 9600 baud com 9.
Phoning 02 results in lots of baming i.e. ring tom tom, or ring the number on your bill, or go into an o2 shop.
I have spent much money on these premium rate options (except going into a store as yet) but non of them want to own the problem suggesting I phone (at premium rate) yet another number.
The reason I haven't yet gone into an 02 shop is mainly because last time I went in to ask an orbit question I knew about four times as much about the darned thing than the spotty herbert who is wanting to be the next millionaire by selling phones for company's who don't know how to provide an after sales service.
I note that the operating system for the latest orbit is most certainly better than the old one, and it occurs to me the problem might be a hardware one.
Is there a cluster of this problem or am I just unlucky?

Took it into o2 shop this morning, forst he tried to say it was tomtom then I showed it working on the other orbit I have, then he tried to say we have had a lot of trouble with tomtom that is why we use palm pilot, so I said, have you got a demo copy? Yes, right put it in here. Sure enough it didn't find the gps receiver either.
So reluctantly he agreed to send my new phone for repair.

Hmm, you spoke to a muppet, the config is Com 4 at 9600 Baud, or if you have TT 6,020 or 6,030 installed (which you should have) just select the inbuilt GPS receiver option when configuring the GPS within the TomTom application - DO NOT mess around with the GPS applet on the device as this can screw things up unless you know what you want from it - it is best left alone for this very reason - Mike