01-14-2003, 04:15 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Socket Announces Availability of Bluetooth GPS Navigation Kit for Pocket PCs
About two months ago, we mentioned that Socket was going to come out with a Bluetooth GPS solution. It's now officially available, bundled with a software kit for Pocket PC's to enable in-car navigation. Now, if they only bundled a stand in... 
The product page is here (the above link is the press release).
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01-14-2003, 05:16 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 513
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http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum...threadid=25695
Down the thread, yellow mentioned he likes Socket's MyNavigator software, so I'm really curious about it now. Hard to believe some brand new v1.0 is better than all the established mapping apps...
Secondly, I'd like head-to-head roundup of the hardware BT GPS receivers (Socket/Emtac vs. Navman vs. others)
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01-14-2003, 06:18 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 2
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Well, I have an Ipaq 5450 and the Socket BT GPS and love it. After many frustrating weeks with the Travroute Copilot sleeve (both the original and the latest release) I decided to try the socket solution. Well I love it. The GPS will accuire a signal in less than 2 seconds usually. The old navman sleeve would sometimes take up to 3 minutes. Additionally, I can now keep the Socket GPS in my glove compartment and it still gets a lock.
I combined the GPS with maps from Mapapolis.com. While mapapolis has very accurate maps, its just not as professional as Travroute. BUT I like mapopolis better. ITs faster and non-propietery. It will use any gps including the bluetooth.
BTW I got a great deal on the GPS from here
http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi?action=Enter&thispage=01100200100106_B689284P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID!
About 100 bucks cheaper than list cost.
Frost
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01-14-2003, 06:44 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 152
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It's a very nice software package. As much as I like Mapopolis (I gave it the GpsPasSion Best City Navigator award), MyNavigator adds an essential feature for road navigation: true heading up, that makes a world of difference. The UI is also very tight and the display very "crisp". I'll try to have screenshots ASAP.
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01-14-2003, 09:31 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 8
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Why so expensive?
Why is the product so expensive at $399?
Garmin's bottom of the range eTrex product is only $145 and that includes an LCD display, albeit a fairly low res version and also stores and displays waypoints etc.
The Socket product doesn't have a display, doesn't store and display waypoints etc., basically only has the core GPS receiver plus a Bluetooth transmitter, so I would expect it to be cheaper than the eTrex.
Remembering that Bluetooth was supposed to be a low cost add-on in the order of $5 per device so that shouldn't be accounting for the massive price difference.
http://www.garmin.com/products/compa...outdoorPIC.jpg
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01-14-2003, 10:09 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 152
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Actually it's $303 if you follow the link above.
I think the actual cost of BT is not a factor here, but convenience is. It's your call to see whether you're ready to pay (a lot) more for something that can make a huge difference in terms of convenience. Other than in a car setting it's going to be hard to use a GPS connected through a serial cable to the PocketPC.
Now the Fortuna GPSmart (see my website with more details) is a different beast because it's basically an eTrex with a Bluetooth connection. Price is not known yet but will be "very competitive"...
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01-14-2003, 02:06 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 382
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by gpspassion
I think the actual cost of BT is not a factor here, but convenience is. It's your call to see whether you're ready to pay (a lot) more for something that can make a huge difference in terms of convenience. Other than in a car setting it's going to be hard to use a GPS connected through a serial cable to the PocketPC.
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Yup. Some of us have a major aversion to cables and will pay over the odds to get rid of the horrible things. The Emtac/Socket BT GPS seems to have been pretty popular
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01-14-2003, 02:40 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 8
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Logically I'd assume just based on parts costs the prices should be something along these lines:
- GPS receiver & BT transmitter (no LCD, memory etc.) - $120
- eTrex like receiver with LCD, memory etc. - $145
- eTrex like receiver with LCD, memory & BT transmitter - $160
But it appears they're charging quite a premium for the cost of removing an LCD, memory and adding in BT and removing a serial cable! 8O
But I guess if people are willing to pay that much for the convenience even if they're getting less then they'll take the extra profit until some other manufacturer starts undercutting them :P
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01-14-2003, 03:50 PM
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Swami
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 4,396
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Socket Price
Quote:
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Originally Posted by SeanMcLeod
Logically I'd assume just based on parts costs the prices should be something along these lines:
- GPS receiver & BT transmitter (no LCD, memory etc.) - $120
- eTrex like receiver with LCD, memory etc. - $145
- eTrex like receiver with LCD, memory & BT transmitter - $160
But it appears they're charging quite a premium for the cost of removing an LCD, memory and adding in BT and removing a serial cable! 8O
But I guess if people are willing to pay that much for the convenience even if they're getting less then they'll take the extra profit until some other manufacturer starts undercutting them :P
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I agree that the price seems high, but the NavMan Bluetooth GPS device is $499 list. However, the new TravRoute GPS sleeve for the iPAQ, which includes their software, is $349. It would certainly be nice if this had an LCD to display at least basic GPS data so it could be used as a stand-alone device.
Personally, I think I'd prefer using my GPS sleeve with my iPAQ 3870 to using a Bluetooth GPS device. If I want to do GPS somewhere else, I only have to carry one device.
Steve
P.S. My usual rant. Please don't post long links "naked". The board software doesn't wrap them, and it resets the margins for the whole page, forcing horizontal scrolling. Use the URL tags, like this:
Code:
[url=http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi?action=Enter&thispage=01100200100106_B689284P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID!]
ShopBLT Socket Bluetooth GPS price
[/url]
The above looks like the following when posted:
ShopBLT Socket Bluetooth GPS price
See how much nicer that is? :-)
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01-14-2003, 04:10 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 152
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by SeanMcLeod
Logically I'd assume just based on parts costs the prices should be something along these lines:
- GPS receiver & BT transmitter (no LCD, memory etc.) - $120
- eTrex like receiver with LCD, memory etc. - $145
- eTrex like receiver with LCD, memory & BT transmitter - $160
But it appears they're charging quite a premium for the cost of removing an LCD, memory and adding in BT and removing a serial cable! 8O
But I guess if people are willing to pay that much for the convenience even if they're getting less then they'll take the extra profit until some other manufacturer starts undercutting them :P
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You're forgetting:
- built-in lithium battery
- smaller form factor
- sensitivity is about 5x (works in your pocket, glove-box, etc...)
Not sure if you've tried bluetooth and especially the BT GPS, but when I did it was almost a "revelation"...actually it led to the creation of my website ;-)
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Linear Mode
