MGN Reviews the Mobile Crossing Bluetooth GPS

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobilegadgetnews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1844&mode=nested&order=0&thold=0' target='_blank'>http://www.mobilegadgetnews.com/mod...order=0&thold=0</a><br /><br /></div><i>"There is a new player in the world of GPS devices and these folks are one to watch. Mobile Crossing, based in the Silicon Valley was founded early this year and has already made several great products and they are just getting started. We recently got our hands on their Bluetooth GPS unit and it is a great little box. Tweaked for accuracy in all three dimensions, this GPS will tell you where you are more accurately than the others."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_200400721_mobilecrossing_gps.jpg" /> <br /><br />The review is very informative, so if you're just getting started with GPS, do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. There are quite a few photos and some interesting tests as well. One of the unique features of this unit seems to be the attention given to accurate altitude readings, which should be useful for pilots, or maybe really smart birds. :mrgreen:

[Askani]

It seems to me, based just on looks alone that this is the same gps device that HP uses for their iPaq Bluetooth GPS Navigation System. It has the same LEDS, switches, and external attentae port as the iPaq one. It also suffers from the same car heat issues. Still a pretty good device.

[dacs29]

I've noticed that a lot of Bluetooth GPS units look identical. Could it be that they are all based off of one design?

David

[dma1965]

This does indeed look just like the iPaq Bluetooth GPS, and it probably is. The GPS HP markets is actually a GlobalSat BT308. If you go to the GlobalSat site you can download a utility that will allow you to connect to your GPS over bluetooth and turn WAAS on, as well as Powersave. I do not know why HP did not include this. You can download the software from: http://www.globalsat.com.tw/english/download.php

[SeanH]

That is a great article that points out some important facts about owning a GPS. All GPS’s need a view of three satellites before it can triangulate your 2D location. Four satellites for 3D (altitude). And that a GPS needs an open sky view. PDA’s with a CF GPS card need to be placed on the dash or you have to use an external attenna.

Acura has Bluetooth in a lot of there new cars so you can use the cars stereo as a hands free kit with your Bluetooth phone. It would be great if all these cars with On-Star would include a Bluetooth option to send location data to your Bluetooth PDA, Laptop or Cell phone. Maybe someday.

Sean

[heliod]

This device, the device from HP and the device from Belkin are all the same device.

They are based on the BT-308 made by Taiwanese Globalsat. Details here: http://www.globalsat.com.tw/english/products_detail.php?main_id=5&p_id=8

I have been using the BT-308 for the last year, since I have received it for a review, and it is a great receiver, with 10 hours of battery between charges (although it is a little heavier than my old Socket GPS).

NOTE: BTW, the Dell new GPS receiver that appears on http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=266183 also seems to be the same device, if you look at the placement of the LEDs, the on/off button and the power jack. Just seems that DELL has built a new housing for it.

[MC_Calvin]

Hello everyone,

Yes, there are many Bluetooth GPS devices based on the same reference design from Globalsat. You will be surprised to know that there are many Bluetooth GPS devices that are based on the same reference design but have modified case designs to disguise the appearance. Did we have the need to modify and disguise the appearance of the unit? I've decided against it because it would have added unnecessary cost to the unit, and would have taken money out of the budget for our other improvements.

Our Bluetooth GPS is built to our requirements, and this includes the absolute latest bug fixes and firmware upgrades. We've compared ours to the "reference" from last year, and ours have slightly greater sensitivity, better accuracy, and the sought after geoid-correction that fixes some of the bad altitude readings that many of the units from 2003 suffered (e.g., I am -422 feet underground, etc). Accuracy is more significantly improved in the WAAS DGPS area -- our unit is measurably 5m of accuracy @ 95%. If anyone is interested, I might do a writeup on further differences on our site.

The reference design does not make it easy to upgrade the firmware in the field. For all intents and purposes, it is not possible. So for those that have experienced a version of this unit back in 2003, I will put forward that ours will be the nicest you can get for some time to come. So yes, if you wait long enough, these tweaks and upgrades will make their way into all the new units from all the companies. However, for now, we know when ours came off the factory line, and we guarantee the latest firmware.

In addition, we went further to develop a custom made hard-white packaging exclusively for our products. All of our units come double boxed, and ships with both the AC and DC adapters. We even threw away the supplied CD and built a friendlier mini-CD. Other differences come down to a matter of detail. For example, we found that the mounting velcro normally available via Taiwan is definitely not automotive-grade. We're located in California, and after 1 day in the sun, the velcro created the world's biggest mess inside our support guy's new Prius. It turns out that the generic "hook and loop" fasteners from Taiwan usually use a rubber based adhesive that is definitely bad for cars.

Although I know many people don't bother with the Velcro, I found this to be unacceptable and dumped our ENTIRE stock of the below-par fasteners, and contracted as significant expense custom-cut genuine Velcro from a company in New Jersey to exactly fit the shape of the GPS. We've also used an acrylic formulation that will not melt and mess up your car.

The bottom line is this: If you have a similar non-Mobile Crossing unit from 2003, or even early 2004, and you are happy with the accuracy and the altitude then I'm not suggesting that you buy one of our units. And I can't speak for Dell's new unit--I may guess that it is a very fine unit. However, if you want something that is better in the small touches where it counts and the customer service that you would expect from a smaller company, come take a look at us.

We are an open company and we welcome visitors and feedback.

Regards,
Calvin Chu
Mobile Crossing
http://www.mobilecrossing.com

[gpspassion]

Just to pipe in, I first tested the Globalsat BT-308 GPS back in June of last year for the BT GPS Shoot-Out (http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=54) and had them fix the BT/GPS disconnect problem in the process ;-) Globalsat were among the first to use the 2.3 version of the SiRF firmware and it added Geoid correction although it does not follow NMEA rules so you're still going to get incorrect altitude readings unless the software is specifically designed for SiRF Based GPS receivers.

From memory, we've had a few GPS receivers OEM'd on the BT308 (HP of course, but also Tripnav (Rayming), Navilock, etc...). Dell are in fact using the casing that first appeared on the dconnex version (http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/comments.asp?id=380) last year. Belkin use the Fortuna ClipOn GPS.

I'm a bit surprised Globalsat aren't encouraging new customers to license the more recent BT-318 (http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/news.asp?id=296) that sports a very powerful removable battery boasting a record 19 hour battery life!

[MC_Calvin]

Hello,

I just came by the forums to see how things are going here.

The only comments I can make here is that the BT-318 is indeed a nice GPS design. However, we (Mobile Crossing) does not have any plans to use this design. All of our upcoming designs in the future will be extensions and improvements on the 308 design. There's a lot to like about the 318, however, we weighed the pros and cons and feel we can accomplish more with the 308.

The only other thing I might add is that our BT GPS does not require any special SiRF compliant software to immediately get improvements in altitude. To get the improvements in accuracy (latitude and longitude) via DGPS (WAAS) the software does need to be SiRF aware only in order to issue the command to enable WAAS.

Thanks,
Calvin
Mobile Crossing