thinking about utilizing my kaiser's gps for road trip, i figure i'd ask for advice before jumped in buying gps software (since i don't have a guarantee to be able to load google map at all times). let me hear it if you've done road trips using kaiser as your main gps device & how reliable is it - of course it'll run on car's power plug - does it get overheat or have any issue receiving call when gps software is active etc?
thanks in advance guys.
I use AT&T's Telenav and have made trips with the Tilt running for up to 5-6 hours at a stretch, no problems. I just have it in a Brodit car mount, use a car charger and use my Jabra BT8040 for the street names and voice directions when I need it. Since Telenav is using a data connection, it drops out if a call comes in on an EDGE connection. Keeps going fine if in a 3G area though.
i use kaiser with garmin and adria route maps and everything works fine. no overheating, no problem with calls. you just have to make sure to get the right maps for your needs (up to date, covering your area of interests...)
gps
i use my tilt as my only GPS, and with the tomtom6 software loaded onto it, its taken me hundreds of miles all over the US with no issues. I recommend using this and not buying another GPS, especially since the tomtom software makes it identical to any other tomtom device
It's nice to have google maps, windows live installed to use when you can, but it's hard to beat something like TomTom or iGo8 if you want to splurge..
Definitely recommend getting a car mount (that you can swivel!) and a car charger and your battery gets chewed up QUICK when using GPS...
Enjoy!
-RT
i used it at a last min, with google maps on a trip, of course having gps and edge on at the same time kills the battery, but having it charge in car was fine it worked well, just wish i could have faster then edge connection with us tmo
Tomtom Navigator worked reliably under my TyTN IIs original WM 6.0 firmware (allbeit a little like watching a slideshow at times) but now under HTCs latest 6.1 release, GPS performance is very erratic and it takes ages to get a fix in most cases. HTC needs to come up with a fix to this issue so I suggest you steer clear of the HTC WM 6.1 update until it's been resolved.
It's perfectly suitable for this kind of use.
Don't forget about car charger, I've bought mine off eBay for silly price
Yep, I'll throw in my $.02 too. Great for road navigation, sucks for much else. It's off by 15-20 feet at all times, jumps around randomly, and altitude is always WAY off, but none of that matters with road nav software as they "snap to road".
There *is* the occational time I'll have TomTom suddenly think I'm on a nearby road, like if two are closely parallelling each other (say, interstate and small road beside it) and once or twice I've had it think I'm on a cross street I'm approaching, but rarely is it more than you might see it blip over to the wrong street, start recalculating, then jump back.
reliable
here is my 2 cents having just used it on a 1500 mile week-long roadtrip a week ago. simply, it was as awesome as it can get. i had tomtom 6 with the latest US-Canada map on my 2GB microSD.
before setting sail, i saved all the addresses i wanted to go to as FAVs, and just went off, no problems getting a signal, and the signal was accurate enough for driving.
when i needed to look for a POI that TomTom didn't have, I would just start Google Maps for Mobile and find it. I was also running Mologogo to allow family to know where I was. GPS photos where also nice to have.
as others pointed out, a windshield mount and a car charger are musts.
the only problem I had (couldn't explain, but didn't cause enough problems to research) was that it would heat up really good (of course being exposed to direct sun light helped) that it would start flashing red while being charged, and i had to stop charging to get it back to flashing green. I then found that brining it next to the AC actually helped in keeping it charging.
ya ill 2nd that it does get really hot while using gps and internet while trying to charge it... but i only used it for short times 20-30min and when you have a super long road u dont need it, i dont use it to tell me every direction i was a copilot
i think most gps sucks at accurate position or even giving live directions, thats why i dont use it in such a way, only to see the map and were I am in relation to the directions.
I think the GPS is very accurate. With Google Maps, if I stand at the end of my driveway and zoom into the sat view of my home, it's got me pegged to within a meter or so, easily (even clearly indicating which side of the driveway I'm on, and it's only about 13m wide at that point). And, as soon as I start walking, "my location" starts moving along too.
I use it with Garmin Mobile XT (GMXT) software for road navigation and it works quite well. Must have a car charget as it drains battery a lot. GPS is sometimes slow to lock (even with QuickGPS data), so you can't expect to turn it on and be navigating within 30 seconds everytime. Other than it is perfect - only one device to carry. Good maps, voice directions etc...
My suggestion is to get a entry level Garmin or Tomtom automotive gps cost less than $130 and is designed to be used for extended period of time repeatedly and have maps of entire North America.
In my opinion phones are not designed to be running for so many hours constantly, some inner parts might be aging (pcb boards becomes dark and burned looking) without you knowing it. Especially in the hotter areas where the dashboard temperature could reach 160 degrees easily since it's constantly exposed to the sun. GPS on the phone works as a backup when you are far from your car in a totally strange place. Automotive GPS are designed to be used in such harsh conditions.
Also consider the network coverage of the phones if you are using one of the free services, as when you are out of the internet service, you can't get any map update...... So in the long run an entry level GPS w/maps saves you more money, since they cost about same as a piece of software for your phone that probably does not get updated as often as each company's regular automotive GPS products.
So what I am trying to say is:
Save your delicate Tilt/TyTN II, and get a GPS! You can find discontinued Garmin GPS products on eBay for heck cheap, for example the Garmin C320 that my girlfriend still uses since I bought it years ago, and gave to her when I upgraded to C580, goes for around $60-70 and it's one of the best GPS I've used.
just went to georgia and back with garmin mobile xt + 2009 maps installed, no problems at all.
I have tried it on long journeys using tomtom, route66, garminxt and miomaps.
Works fine using any of this s/w. I found the new Diamond ROMs slowed tomtomt down when getting a satellite fix. It took at least 10 minutes at the best of times. I have gone back to one of Duttys 6.1 ROMS and it is all working fine again.
I use GPS tuner V5.0 for GPS, you can create your own maps, waypoints etc. No tomtom in this part of the world, but Mapking works good too.
Be sure to have a charger nearby though...
Thank you guys for the advice
It's awesome to hear from your experiences in a way that gives me an idea how much should I expect from my Kaiser, well I guess I'll try to use it only when I need directions the most (i.e. within cities) as opposed to "continue on highway XYZ for 80 miles, drive straight ahead, straight ahead, 79 more miles c'mon you can do it, ...."
and thank you guys also to be kind enough providing some info for the GPS software, I'm entirely grateful
If you're taking a long trips over 1 hour DO NOT USE GOOGLE MAPS!!! even if you have a car charger. Google maps requires a constant data connection to update its maps on top of keeping the screen on and powering the internal GPS receiver. The drain is more than the car charger can handle. The phone will get hot with in 30 minutes of google maps usage. If you dont have a car charger Google Maps will kill your fully charged standard battery less than 4 hours if you're on EDGE, less than 3 hours if you're on 3G. Stay away from Google Maps for long trips. The only time I use Google Maps on a long trip is to check for traffic.
A dedicated GPS navigation software like TomTom, iGuidance, Destinator, Garmin mobile work best for long trips. The drain is minimal. The car charger will handle TomTom, iGuidance or Destinator for hours and hours without any problem. The phone doesnt get as hot plus it actually charges the phone. As for its actual useage and practicality, TomTom software is just as good as the dedicated TomTom. The interface is the same. High end TomTom may have more options but that's about it. It gets you from point A to point B. It may not take you on a route that you like but it'll get you there. It automatically reroutes and recalculates if you miss a turn. Like any other GPS device, if you need to change destination or search for POI hand it to the passanger and let them do it.
I'd say you need a better car charger. I use AT&T Nav, which also uses a constant data connection for maps and real time traffic updates. When I've used mine for whole days of constant use (ferrying people around D.C. and greater area one weekend for a work function), my car charger managed to keep it fully charged the whole time (and I made/received quite a few calls and emails those days too, plus did a fair bit of web surfing).
Sure, the back got a little warm, but honestly, I feel the device is not harmed by it - in fact, I'd argue it's designed for such use. just like people who use wifi for long periods or who get tons of push mail daily and so forth. Heck, mine gets pretty warm just using wifi when updating my RSS and podcast feeds every day. Does it have thermal overload protection anyway? I would not be surprised if it did.
The screen LEDs are not likely going to burn out from constant use in the lifetime of the device (which for even the most infrequent user won't be more then several or so years). You figure an LED should be good for at least, say 50,000 hours (?) which is over 10 years if on for 12hrs every single day.
The heat may kill the battery a bit sooner then later, but after one year or two at most of 24/7 use (I never turn my phone off), the battery will be shot anyway.
I say just use the thing - what's the point of such a device if you cannot use it for the things it is supposedly intended for? Anyhow, that's how I use mine, and it's doing just fine.
Related
A lot of folks (myself included) have been wondering how good the GPS in the Kaiser is. Since I own something like 7 GPS units at last count, I decided to grab all the handheld ones and do a comparison
In the best highly subjective and unscientific manner, I let each GPS lock in my window where easily 12 satellites are visible, then after it had stabilized brought them in another 5-6 feet to where my oldest GPS had always been borderline. I used Mapopolis and TomTom on the PocketPCs to display how many satellites (birds) and what signal strength each of the connected GPS's was locking. The standalone units I put on their satellite display to get the same info.
I watched them all for close to an hour, fiddling with positioning, orientation, etc and derived a completely unscientific rating for each. Keeping and holding more satellites with higher signal strength yielded more points, and I arbitrarily set the best one at 10 points, then tried to rate the others relative to that. Note that this is only signal holding ability, not lock time or ease of lock, and it isn't tested MOVING where a GPS can really show (or show up) it's signal holding ability. With all that said, hopefully these are better than nothing and will give folks some idea of where the Kaiser falls in the spectrum of GPS performance.
In order from "worst" to "best", 'Unit - My Rating':
Garmin eTrex Vista - 3
Holux GM270 CompactFlash Card - 4
Garmin eTrex VistaC - 7
AT&T Tilt (Kaiser) - 8
GlobalSat BT-338 BlueTooth - 10
The SirfStarIII in the BT-338 blows away all the other GPS units - it consistently held no less than 9 of the 12 birds, and typically 11 or 12 - and all with fantastic signal strength. Based on my past experience, I can say this is an awesome unit for lock time, lock durability, etc, etc, etc so I was unsurprised that it was the best performer here.
The Tilt/Kaiser actually did surprisingly well, typically 1-3 birds less than the BT-338, noticeably weaker signal strength and a lot more hopping around - i.e. holding 9 birds, but a different 9 from moment to moment. Test was done with QuickGPS data having been downloaded a few days ago, but QuickGPS executable not running.
The VistaC was another surprise - I've owned the original Vista since not long after it came out, and recently got a used VistaC. A lot more hopping than the Kaiser, but consistently holding 6-8 birds for a good solid fix. I had always assumed the GPS circuitry was common across the eTrex line, but the newer VistaC was a LOT better than my old Vista.
I don't recall which chipset is in the Holux - I think it was SirfStarII. I was never thrilled with this GPS and often had to use an external antenna in the car to get decent lock durability, so I was not shocked to find it near the bottom of the list.
I loved my Vista so I didn't really realize how much GPS technology has improved - it'd be tough sell to recommend one of these to anyone today. Wonderful device, but the new Vista HCx is likely to blow it away.
Well, it was a fun little project and I hope someone evaluating the Kaiser will find their existing GPS on my list and get an idea of how the Kaiser may perform in comparison.
Richard
Nice review.
It would be nice to see a similar review of the devices while you are moving.
At this moment, Tilt's GPS is completely useless for geocaching and walking because there is not way of disabling static navigation as you can do with SirfStarIII's gps. Even if you got information from 8 satellites there are moments where you position will freeze and it won't update even if you are walking.
Tilt's GPS only really works when you are driving.
I did a similar test back when I got my Kaiser about 6 weeks ago, running it and my BT-338. Results were pretty much the same.
However, more recently, it's been harder for my Kaiser to get an initial fix indoors, even with fresh QuickGPS data. When the Kaiser was new, it would get a fix within 30 seconds running in my living room -- now it can take up to 30 minutes if it gets a fix at all. Outdoors, it still gets quick fixes -- 10 to 30 seconds.
Have a Eten M700 and Kaiser and have some comparison. For GPS reception, I would rate M700 with full mark 10 and kaiser 7. The GPS signal is unbelievably strong on M700 as it gets a patch antenna inside.
I modify my kaiser a little so that the screen can be tilt up to almost 90 degree, I can just leave it on the dashboard when using tomtom.
staryon said:
Nice review.
It would be nice to see a similar review of the devices while you are moving.
At this moment, Tilt's GPS is completely useless for geocaching and walking because there is not way of disabling static navigation as you can do with SirfStarIII's gps. Even if you got information from 8 satellites there are moments where you position will freeze and it won't update even if you are walking.
Tilt's GPS only really works when you are driving.
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I've used kaiser's GPS for cycling and it has worked fine with "compegps" application!
pepeto2001 said:
I've used kaiser's GPS for cycling and it has worked fine with "compegps" application!
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For that it should be fine. Usually you got this problem is your speed is below 1.2 m/s (3.2 miles per hour)
Modify Kaiser?
Tonychen,
How did you modify the Kaiser to tilt almost 90 degrees? This would be awesome as the 'tilt" is not enough for me to use it on the dashboard of either of my cars.
Can you provide any pics of the mod you did and explain how you did it?
Thanks.
This would void your warranty, unless you really want it. I can write a small guide here if you are still interested.
Check the photo attached.
tonychen said:
This would void your warranty, unless you really want it. I can write a small guide here if you are still interested.
Check the photo attached.
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Click to collapse
If you don't mind a tuturial would be great.
tonychen said:
This would void your warranty, unless you really want it. I can write a small guide here if you are still interested.
Check the photo attached.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on with this small guide we are (at least me) interested...
BUMP.
Guide please.
juiceppc said:
BUMP.
Guide please.
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Click to collapse
Not that I really care, but you might do better PM'ing the guy who said he modded his rather than bumping a GPS thread and hoping he responds
Just my $0.02,
Richard
I would just like to comment that I have not experienced this lockup of the GPS while moving at slow speeds. I've played around with TomTom while walking down a city street and it seemed to track speed and direction just fine, not that it was particularly useful in this manner. It consistently tracked my speed at 1-2mph and has never had this locking up or pausing that I've read about in other threads. I've tested with the original AT&T rom and one of the Big Storage AT&T modified roms with no issues.
-James
Compared with a Garmin Vista Cx, it seems more sensitive - it can lock onto three or four birds in the centre of the ground floor of my house while the Garmin is hard pressed to get a full lock even on the top floor.
Looking at the pattern of locks on a GPS monitor program, I get the impression that it is a lot less than 12 channel - anyone seen a specification? My overall impression is that it's a useful feature for non-critical navigation, but I still carry my Garmin for the serious stuff. The combination of GPS and 3g is wonderful - open up Live Search and look for Fast Food near "Here" - yes, Garmins have a POI database built in, but it is very limited compared with the combined contents of MSN and Google!
Martin
Follow up : I am really beginning to be quite impressed by the sensitivity of this GPS. I went into London by train yesterday and switched the GPS on sitting in the middle of a crowded carriage. I got a five bird lock within a minute and retained it for the entire journey (apart from long tunnels, of course). On several occasions it was reporting locks on as many as ten satellites. Accuracy was also pretty good - assessed by comparing position reported through Google Maps with observation through the window - certainly, when we stopped in stations, the position in Google matched well. I've tried the same with a Garmin Vista Cx - on the same route - and you are lucky to get any kind of fix without sitting at a window seat, with the GPS held close to the window.
I was just wondering if there are any apps out there that tell you how fast you're travelling, using your GPS.
I was just watching myself zoom across fields on google maps using GPS, as I am currently im a train.
Also, has anyone else noticed this terrible lag when typing, especially IE or Opera? :S
Thanks,
Sebastian
if you have virtualGPSce installed, you can click on the pannel tab and it has four gauges on of witch is speed.
I've never used it, but assume it works.
I've attatched the cab file in case you don't have it
Tracking Speed with GPS software
Yes you can track your speed using GPS. I am using Garmin Mobile XT North America Software w/ 2GB microSD with miniSD & SD adapters for Smartphone. I ordered it about two weeks ago and have been playing around with it for the last week or so. It has turn by turn spoken directions and if you have a gps enabled phone with internet access it will download traffic information before it calculates your route, awesome software so far. Still Trying to figure out how to change the arrow to a vehicle though. I have mine still on the 2gig sd card it came with. When your route is set and you hit go the map is shown and the speed is posted on the botom left and your arrival time on the bottom right. Click speed the tab on the bottom left and it give you trip information such as distance and max speed, etc. Hope this helps. The links for the two places I saw the product are below, got mine in about 3 days from Buygpsnow.com, after they shipped. It is still showing that they are instock.
http://www.buygpsnow.com/Product/Garmin-Mobile-XT-MicroSDMiniSD-Software-Only-for-North-America__930.aspx
http://www.semsons.com/gamoxtforsmn.html
Also forgot to mention if your Smartphone/PDA has bluetooth but does not have gps you can buy a bluetooth gps reciever and use the Garmin mobile XT Program.
Whats wrong with TOMTOM, it displays speed fine.
Preferences-> page 4 of 5-> status Bar preference -> Speed CHECK IT!!!
It comes free with htc kaiser :]
gpstuner is the best.... as the altitude graph, there's one for the speed, it has also average speed, max & min speed and more and more and more
http://www.gpstuner.com/screens.htm
...and the v 5.2 has the online downloading of terraserver & googlemaps
telmap works fine as well.
ekw said:
Whats wrong with TOMTOM, it displays speed fine.
Preferences-> page 4 of 5-> status Bar preference -> Speed CHECK IT!!!
It comes free with htc kaiser :]
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Click to collapse
not all
mine didnt.
kabirjohnson said:
telmap works fine as well.
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If only it wasn't so overpriced... I was very unimpressed.
SkizZO said:
gpstuner is the best.... as the altitude graph, there's one for the speed, it has also average speed, max & min speed and more and more and more
http://www.gpstuner.com/screens.htm
...and the v 5.2 has the online downloading of terraserver & googlemaps
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Click to collapse
It's been a while since I used GPSTuner, but I remember that I really liked the way it can display large gauges for speed, direction, etc. If you want to know your speed while street driving, I know TomTom will display such. If you just want an easy to read display with your speed, etc. GPSTuner works great.
SkizZO said:
gpstuner is the best.... as the altitude graph, there's one for the speed, it has also average speed, max & min speed and more and more and more
http://www.gpstuner.com/screens.htm
...and the v 5.2 has the online downloading of terraserver & googlemaps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive got gpstuner 5.2 and have to admit it is a good off road gps app. ive managed to get it to show google maps and goolge satalite but i cant get it to work with the terraserver at all. I want topographic maps for off road but they wont download through gps tuner, I just get unable to download when i try
Gamin, Navigon, Live Search, TomTom, Ext Antennae
Ive tried Live Search, TeleNav, TomTom, Navigon and now Garmin Moble XT for the last 3 weeks.
Live search is awesome, its free, but there is no voice anything so it's hard to use safely
TeleNav..about 10 bucks a month, slow due to it's server based programs, good program when it works..after 3 days straight of server connection problems I canceled that membership. I used Live Search as a back up
TomTom's trail teaser was not useable for me
Navigon is awesome and in my opion the best in detail, performance, screen layouts, POI's etc..etc BUT big bucks and a memory hog, the North America maps are 1.6 gigs alone so it needed a dedicated SD Micro so that wasnt gonna work for me. Costs about $300 for the program and maps, which are sold seperately...still it worked the best and has the most sophisticated displays of all types of GPS info.
Garmin Moble XT cost me $99 bucks and works just fine for me. I DOES NOT SAY " turn left on Main St" but rather gives turn warnings like " turn left in .2 miles " etc then can give a tone before saying "turn Left"...programmable for the tone part. There is a nice large text display of the street name and turn info so just a glance at the street can confirm your turns with the voice command of "turn left". Also the maps are nice and clear. Cant back up the SD card so if you damage or loose it your outta 99 bucks.
All of them including the free Microsoft Live Search are capable of traffic, gas and other real time info with a data connection. ATT's Media Net worked and works just fine with all of them.
I also bought the external HTC GPS antennae which can and will increase the performance and reception in less than perfect signal strength areas...I highly recommend it.
That's my overpriced 2 cents !
Gamin, Navigon, Live Search, TeleNav, TomTom, Ext Antennae
Ive tried Live Search, TeleNav, TomTom, Navigon and now Garmin Moble XT for the last 3 weeks. I have the Kaiser and AT&T service.
Live search is awesome, its free, but there is no voice anything so it's hard to use safely. It uses tone prompts only. Still I have it for a backup and it works pretty darn well.
TeleNav..about 10 bucks a month, slow due to it's server based programs, good program when it works..after 3 days straight of server connection problems I canceled that membership. I used Live Search as a back up during those 3 days. To many times I missed turns because of the lag in info from the server also...no maps are stored permanently in memory. Not worht the money if I cant rely on it to a higher degree. Also the volume at it highest level is not so great.
TomTom's trail teaser was not useable for me since it had very little in the way of maps and I travel all of New England.
Navigon is awesome and in my opion the best in detail, performance, screen layouts, mapping, POI's etc..etc BUT big bucks and a memory hog, the North America maps are 1.6 gigs alone so it needed a dedicated SD Micro so that wasnt gonna work for me. Costs about $300 for the program and maps, which are sold seperately...still it worked the best and has the most sophisticated displays of all types of GPS info.
Garmin Moble XT cost me $99 bucks and works just fine for me. IT DOES NOT SAY " turn left on Main St" but rather gives turn warnings like " turn left in .2 miles " etc then can give a tone before saying "turn Left" at the turn...programmable for the tone part and also Turn Detail. There is a nice large text display of the street name and turn info so just a glance at the street can confirm your turns with the voice command of "turn left". Also the maps are nice and clear and the turn instructions are easy to see and hear..good volume on the phones not so good speaker. Cant back up the SD card so if you damage or loose it your outta 99 bucks.
All of them including the free Microsoft Live Search are capable of traffic, gas and other real time info with a data connection. ATT's Media Net worked and works just fine with all of them.
I also bought the external HTC GPS antennae ($40 inc S&H) which can and will increase the performance and reception in less than perfect signal strength areas...I highly recommend it. If you use a cradle like I do the antennae plug could be an issue. Mine makes my phone sit a little funny in the cradle. I use a Gomadic Cradle. The battery dies quick using GPS so it needs to be on external power. Mines on GPS about 4-7hrs daily and without the external power a fully charged stock battery will only last a few hours at best.
That's my overpriced 2 cents !
whats with the double post? gpstuner is good : D
I dont think the poster knew about editing their post so did it all over
A simple program is Vitesse Limite - http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-vitesse-limite-v4-2.html
C
http://www.turboirc.com/ppc/
That's my favorite. It's simple to use and free. Plus it can update itself online.
I went through a few Windows Smartphones before getting my first PPC (a Motorola MPx) just over a year ago. I already had a Bluetooth GPS receiver: Visiontac VGPS 700 I was trying to use it with my Motorola A1200, with no luck. However, with the MPx, and Tomtom, I was able to navigate via GPS with my own GPS system as it were.
That setup quickly (within weeks) gave way to a Cingular 8525 paired to the Visiontac GPS and away I went. I travel a lot for work. From So Cal to (this past year) Mass (Boston), NYC, Kentucky, Ohio, Tenn, Utah, Arizona, NM, and so on. I've used the 8525 in all kinds of areas, from urban areas like San Francisco, NYC, Philly, LA, Cincinnati, Chicago, and so on to areas in the relative middle of nowhere such as the So Cal desert, some areas of Kentucky, PA, and TN I've been to the last year (way, way off the nearest road). Since I've had it, I've put probably driven 20,000-30,000 miles with the Visiontac and Tomtom on. I've got a decent idea of how quick it takes to get a lock when cold, how long to get a lock after getting off a plane in another portion of the country, and how many satellites it shows in Tomtom. I've checked it against hundreds of roadside speed warning signs, and used it to calibrate the speedometers of three Jeeps now.
Then, a last week, I get the ATT Tilt (aka 8925, aka Kaiser). I move my 6gb micro SD across to it, fire up Tomtom (which I've always run off the card- it makes it easier when flashing every other week.) and go. After getting the com port dialed in (COM 4) and the baud rate (started at 4800 like many on here said, now on 57500) I've noticed that the internal GPS of the Kaiser just doesn't compare with the Visiontac bluetooth unit.
I went to San Fran this weekend (from Riverside- about 380 miles) and drove around town up there all weekend using the new phone for directions. I put about 1100 miles on the vehicle, and the navigation on the Kaiser. After losing signal in some areas of the city and having to drive until it found a satellite again and recalculated a route, where I didn't remember losing it before on the old setup, and noting that instead of 5 bars shown for signal as on the Hermes, I see a fluxuating 3-5 bars on the Kaiser.
So, this morning on the way in to work, I fire up both units, side by side to see what the deal is. I was wondering if the Kaiser really was lacking where the Visiontac/Hermes setup didn't seem to be.
Sure enough, the Kaiser running Tomtom 6 shows 3-5 (most often 4) bars on open freeway where the Hermes shows 5 bars. In the GPS configuration settings on Tomtom I find what I believe to be the answer. The Visiontac GPS tracks 12 satellites, the Kaiser, tracks only 8 most of the time, occasionally will track 12.
If that wasn't enough to cause me to lose direction and location, the Visiontac GPS appears more sensitive. The way Tomtom shows how good the signal is, is by the height of a particular satellite's bar on a bar graph. If you were to divide the bar into 5ths, the Visiontac seems to constantly be a fifth higher (20% more sensitive) than the Kaiser's built in GPS.
As for battery usage, I get about 3.5 hours of navigation (along with a few phone calls using the Jawbone headset) with the Kaiser before I get the "charge battery to prevent data loss" warning. On the Hermes, I get about 5.5 hours, with the Visiontac GPS able to run to almost 8 hours before needing a recharge. I expected a loss in battery power, due to the unit also having to power the GPS chip. I'm not sure I expected 2 hours, but I'm not completely bummed over it. My GPS usage is largely in a vehicle, or inside, to find out how far something is, so I can plug it in if needed.
I have also noticed that Tomtom is faster to start on the Kaiser. It is faster to allow you to type in addresses to navigate to, or points of interest to look up, and it calculates the route quicker. Key press response in general are quicker than on the Hermes. I expected a little quicker, thanks to the added RAM, but not this much- they both have 400 mhz chipsets. Granted, it still isn't instant, but it is an improvement.
Phone Specs at time of test said:
Hermes:
Running Starbase64's 6 3.62 WWE/HTC Rom for Hermes
Stock Battery
Kaiser:
Running ATT as-delivered ROM 1.57.502.2 (08/25/07)
Stock Battery
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Click to collapse
Overall:
I just wish there was a way to up the sensitivity and/or the number of satellites that the Kaiser's GPS tracked. Compared to the Visiontac VGPS 700, it just can't compete in urban environs or in heavily wooded areas. It looses signal too easily. And, while I haven't tried some of the larger bridges around here yet, I am left wondering how it will do under them. Aside from that, it is great to not have to carry around two items to navigate, I have no more bluetooth receiver falling off my dash when going around a corner, and if I have my phone, I can find a place for dinner, or find my way out of an unfamiliar area with 90 percent confidence. The Kaiser is quicker than the Hermes for navigation, and overall is accurate, however it does leave a little to be desired. Am I happy I went to the Kaiser? Absolutely. Am I going to be selling my Hermes and Visiontac? (the original plan) Probably not for a while.
Hopefully this helps any who are later to the game than I am and/or still sitting on the fence trying to decide whether or not to jump in.
Would adding the external antenna help, for the areas whre it is a pain?
I don't know what it looks like or how painful that would be, but it may be an option.
I'm not completely happy with the GPS performance of my Tytn2. I had a MDA Vario (pre-pre-decessor of the Tytn2) and an external Adapt-700 bt unit. That one worked brilliantly. Even inside a Renault (with the coated windows) it worked flawless. Alway perfect reception. It's different with my Tytn2. In the morning, it takes some time to get a fix. I was used to 10-15 seconds before a fix was there. Now it is sometimes 1 minute.
But...I've notices something. The QuickGPS program makes it work a lot better. I knew that it should improve the performance, but the program is a bit misleading. It says that once you retrieved the data, it's valid for six days. So...you'd be in the clear for the rest of the week so to say. But I noticed that when you do a 'refresh' in the morning (every day), it works much, much better. I can even get a fix where it wouldn't before.
So, my tip would be to run the QuickGPS every day, or every time before a drive.
Over2land
Another question. How well is TomTom performing for you 'quality of mapwise'? I've read a few posts complaining about how old the maps are for Nagigator 6, and especially for the U.S. Also comments about 'no rumored upgrade' for Navigator 6.
I just purchased it, so I got it for whatever it's worth. But just curious about what you are seeing.
ewingr said:
Over2land
Another question. How well is TomTom performing for you 'quality of mapwise'? I've read a few posts complaining about how old the maps are for Nagigator 6, and especially for the U.S. Also comments about 'no rumored upgrade' for Navigator 6.
I just purchased it, so I got it for whatever it's worth. But just curious about what you are seeing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Missed the first question, sorry.
I have no idea if an external wired GPS antenna would help it. I would hazard to say it couldn't hurt. However, with the Hermes, there was evidence put forth that the external antenna (for the radio/GSM) fried the output circuits or some such, rendering it useless as a phone. I'd be worried about that happening here. Also, I've got like 5 vehicles on the road right now I rotate through, or try to rotate through, and a hard-mounted wired antenna wouldn't work for me.
In San Fran, there are issues with Tomtom not knowing where and when I can or can't turn a certain direction which really annoyed me. In So Cal, there are certain areas (understandable with the housing boom) that it just doesn't have on the maps. Areas that are 3 or 4 years old still aren't there. I've also noticed the same thing in NJ, intersections don't exist in the maps and so forth. I guess really there is something I've noted everywhere I've gone. Tomtom always gets me there, often with less fan trouble than if I was one my own, I find it more accurate than Mapquest also.
They really do need map updating.
And, they really need to look at updating quickest routes. Half the time in my local area, I don't follow Tomtom's freeway suggestions due to congestion, which is persistent congestion that should be noted. Areas like the 15/91 interchange, the 10 between the 5 and 405, the 10 where it drops south to hit the 60, and so on.
Then again, I've not used any other map/ turn by turn software so I have nothing to compare it against either.
ewingr said:
Would adding the external antenna help, for the areas whre it is a pain?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still have an external GPS antenna in my car. I didn't have time to hook it up yet, but I'll check if it makes a difference. With my previous GPS receiver, which I kept in my glove compartiment (hence the antenna), it worked well. Not that it was really needed, but I just wanted optimal reception.
This is a great post. I am trying to buy a used kaiser now so I don't need a extra gps receiver. Seems I need to consider it again.
What ROM are you using on your Kaiser? There have been great differences in GPS performance between ROMs. From general advice AGPS should be disabled too for best performance.
Personally I'm very happy with mine, I'm working a lot with different GPS modules, and the performance is as good as the best ones I have. Sat count might be a bit lower (which gives fewer bars in TomTom), but the performance is really similar.
As already noted, an external antenna could help. The typical GPS antenna you'll find in a stand-alone module is a 25x25x4mm ceramic block weighing 30gr, no need to say that it's impossible to fit such a thing in a phone, so obviously the integrated antennas in those are a lot less sensitive.
Of course our uses are different and if you always use the combo in your car it doesn't matter much if you have 2 separate devices. I tend to rather use it walking, running, biking, flying so in lots of different places and with a separate receiver I would of course not have it with me most of the times I'd have needed it. Having the integrated one is great for me, even if there's a little tradeoff in performance.
I am using Romeos 4.2 and have never had a problem with my gps on mt TYTNII. I get a fix indoors which I cannot do with my Garmin Rino no external antenna required.
I got to put my Tilt's Tom-Tom to use last week. Took a trip to LA & rented a car without a built in GPS unit. I have to say that the Los Angeles area is one place a GPS device was invented for. Could never have found anything with a printed map.
The Tom-Tom on the Tilt did not disappoint - getting us right to the door of every location we entered.
However, two strange things happened - on one trip we were directed onto route 101 north, drove a while and then were directed off an exit, it made us take a few turns and then drove us right back onto the 101 north one exit down (no, I don't subscribe to traffic updates). We had to take this same trip a couple of days later, and there was no such detour. On another occasion, we were directed right out of our hotel, drove two blocks, and were directed to turn right, left, left, and right - back onto the same street we left!
Other then those two slip-ups - it performed flawlessly.
But nothing like a Tom-Tom with a sense of humor
umm...okay...thx for your experience..
I think that this is due to the accuracy of the GPS chip inside the phone. It is not always 100% accurate and sometimes it makes your position to appear to jump around a lot. Happens to me a lot. Then when this happens it trys to recalculate the route based on where it thinks you are possibly leading you to random places or longer routes.
Happens to me in San Fransisco all the time. Depends on how strong the GPS signal is.
Sometimes it thinks a road is not connected to another road because the name changes, meaning it would use intermediate roads to connect the two.
Its all about the maps in the end. It may even think a road is a one-way road when its not for example (or worse the opposite!)
Surur
I've had TomTom do some really dumb things to me before.. I'll try to ascii-it but I'm sure it'll not work out well..
......... ________________________
.........|........................|
Dest_____|_______Current__________|
I was at current, wanting to go to Dest. Obviously this is a little simplified, but this is the general idea. It had me go towards the destination, take a turn, take another turn onto a nearby road, drive down the road, turn right off, then right onto the road I was ORIGINALLY on, then straight through the intersection it first had me turn right at and straight onto my destination.
Sad part is I wasn't paying attention enough and followed it... Once I got onto the "loop" I had no choice but to continue. Ah well.
Tomtom has been pretty reliable for me so far. I wish they updated their maps, however. I have run into many new areas where Tomtom shows nothing.
Ok, so I been looking at the htc titans registry, and the entrys for the gps (hklm/software/htc sup gps). It seems a lot more emmaculate than ours.
Anyway, I noticed that there is a server, so I typed in the server address on my pc, and it ask for credentials (user name password). I believe thats why some of us cant get a fix.
The tilt's gps does work(communicating with satellite and towers), its just not getting the info from the towers/satellite to the phone! I assumed that what it is because I played around with several settings and finally got it to say "seeking position".
So if we can please get this thread going to fix the gps.
I LOVE MY TILT AND WOULD HATE TO GET AN IPHONE (EWL I HAVE TO WASH OUT MY MOUTH NOW)
GPS
GPD4 ???
My Gps is being found on GPD4 not com4, dont think its the same!
I have an ATT Tilt running on tmobile. I have everthing working 100% perfectly.
If you're trying to setup AGPS with t-mobile you'll need to determine if t-mobile has an AGPS server (IPort). I've disabled my AGPS since I could never find this information anywhere. T-Mobile clains that the G1 has this feature, but nobody has been able to determine an IPort for configuration for AGPS.
Instead, use "SeaGee Quick Position", it's based on the packedEphemeris.ee data download instead of realtime. Read my responses in this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3065747&postcount=197
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3076268&postcount=203
Good Luck,
DJC
Thank you djcasual for the Quick Position Tip,
My gps aquires a signal much faster now...especially with TomTom 7
Thanks,
DJcasual, I am not worthy! Mines too is working with Tom Tom 7!
Thanks a million!
Yesterday reminded me why I don't use the built-in GPS..
First off, I use a bluetooth GPS with my Tilt because it's faster, more accurate, doesn't use any of the Tilt's battery, and doesn't *continue* to use it even after shutting it down.
I was out geocaching.. I was parked 300 feet from where I knew a cache was, so I didn't need the GPS.. And I knew another cache was about 600 feet from it, away from the car.. So I hit one cache, got about 400 feet towards the next one and went to start homing in on the cache to make sure I was going the right direction and realized I'd left the bluetooth GPS in the car.
So instead of sloshing back to the car, I waited for about 10 minutes for the Tilt's GPS to finally warm up only to be driven crazy by it's slowness and tendency to bounce around making caching impossible. I eventually gave up and went back to the car for the bluetooth GPS.
Then when I got home that night I had about 60% battery.. 4 hours later I went to grab the phone and it was at 5% and was warm. Stupid GPS was still running.