Socket Announces Availability of Bluetooth GPS Navigation Kit for Pocket PCs

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.socketcom.com/about/press/read.asp?ID=76' target='_blank'>http://www.socketcom.com/about/pres.../read.asp?ID=76</a><br /><br /></div>About two months ago, we <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4965">mentioned</a> 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... ;)<br /><br />The product page is <a href="http://www.socketcom.com/product/GP0804-405.asp">here</a> (the above link is the press release).

[st63z]

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&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)

[frost]

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

[gpspassion]

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.

[SeanMcLeod]

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/comparison.jsp?products=010-00190-00&products=010-00212-00&products=010-00256-00&products=010-00225-00&products=010-00243-00&products=010-00190-40&banner=/graphics/outdoorPIC.jpg

[gpspassion]

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"...

[hollis_f]

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.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

[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

[Pony99CA]

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
I agree that the price seems high, but the NavMan Bluetooth GPS device is $499 list. However, the new TravRoute GPS sleeve (http://www.travroute.com/products/gps/pocketcp3/newjacket.html) 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:


[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
(http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi?action=Enter&thispage=01100200100106_B689284P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID!)
See how much nicer that is? :-)

[gpspassion]

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

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 ;-)

[GoldKey]

I use GPS for Geocaching (www.geocaching.com). Are those of you that are looking for GPS for your PDA mostly interested in vehicle navigation, etc? Just curious, because the environment I use my GPS in is not one in which I would want to be using my PPC. My GPS has been dropped submerged, etc on a recurring basis and is pretty much designed to take abuse that my PDA never would.

[Pony99CA]

I use GPS for Geocaching (www.geocaching.com). Are those of you that are looking for GPS for your PDA mostly interested in vehicle navigation, etc? Just curious, because the environment I use my GPS in is not one in which I would want to be using my PPC. My GPS has been dropped submerged, etc on a recurring basis and is pretty much designed to take abuse that my PDA never would.
I use my GPS pretty much exclusively for in-car navigation.

I had heard of geocaching before (think high-tech treasure hunting), but was surprised to find some caches had been put out by me (but already found).

Steve

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Let me add that I have both Socket BT and WiFi CF cards. Socket is what I consider to be a "luxury" brand of I/O devices for the PocketPC.

They're always more expensive than the competition, but for the added price, you do get great product quality and near-guaranteed compatibility with any device.