Database Develop

How good is Kaiser GPS?

I believe Kaiser rely on the Qualcomm chip for GPS. How is the performance. People say good thing about the SIRF III chip. How is the Kaiser GPS compare to the SIRF III? Anyone know?

welll in most cases built in gps arnt as reliable as the actuall thing... they are off sometimes

I guess it may depend on what you want/need to do with GPS.
If I turn it on and run Google Maps, it shows me right in the middle of my house, and that's where I am. If I move from one end of my house to another, I again appear in the right place.

To use GPS do we require to have gprs or 3g data activated.
Or is like integrated FM Radion which doesnt require data connection.

No -- there is a GPS receiver built into the unit that sends NMEA 0183 data over a serial port. You'll probably need map software; any software that works with WM6 and a Bluetooth GPS should do the job (e.g. TomTom 6).

I use Googlemaps and TOMTOM 6 with no problem.

I need to mention that I am a current HTC Trinity owner, and if IF if IF if IF the Kaiser has the same A-GPS chip found in the trinity, then this is what we should expect (from my experience with the Trinity)
1- Initial fix time can take long (sometimes it takes 2 minutes, sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 10 minutes, and sometimes IT NEVER gets a fix and no GPS singal can be found)
2- Once the GPS get a fix, then it works perfectly and flawlessly.
So I only hope that the Kaiser will solve the initial fix problem.

Has it now "normal" GPS or the mobile Version AGPS

I guess you could upgrade your radio to 1.40+ and try again. They said there's a big improvement to GPS fix.
Talking about TTFF, if you are moving, or inside a building, I think it will take longer than usual to get a fix. I live in a really urban area, but once I stand still in an open area, I usually got fix in 2-3 minutes, without exception.
Someone did a test in the Trinity forum - the accuracy of the qualcomm chip is even better than that of the sirf-iii.
However, a major problem though is the lack of a software assisted gps problem that can improve the ttff time. (Though qualcomm said there's one, but until now it's still vapourware.)

ww2250 said:
I guess you could upgrade your radio to 1.40+ and try again. They said there's a big improvement to GPS fix.
Talking about TTFF, if you are moving, or inside a building, I think it will take longer than usual to get a fix. I live in a really urban area, but once I stand still in an open area, I usually got fix in 2-3 minutes, without exception.
Someone did a test in the Trinity forum - the accuracy of the qualcomm chip is even better than that of the sirf-iii.
However, a major problem though is the lack of a software assisted gps problem that can improve the ttff time. (Though qualcomm said there's one, but until now it's still vapourware.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have the Trinity and can back up the above comments. I have a Sirf III device as well and apart from the Time To First Fix being quicker there is no noticeable difference between the two - both very accurate and don't lose their fixes.

TheEngineer0815 said:
Has it now "normal" GPS or the mobile Version AGPS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might find this interesting: http://mobilitysite.com/2007/08/assisted-gps/
Gordon

GordonTGopher said:
You might find this interesting: http://mobilitysite.com/2007/08/assisted-gps/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really interesting. The author of this article think that the Kaiser will have a Sirf-III. Now I think for the first time, we got a device with 2 GPS, a dedicated Sirf-III GPS chip together with a Qualcom integrated GPS.
I would imagine it will greatly increase the accuracy as well as the TTFF
Oh, wait, HTC might disable the Qualcom GPS, and just use the Sirf-III. See what they did to Hermes

Does anyone know how to start the gPS on the Kaiser - I bought one ...but don`t know how to start !

Kaiser GPS Problem workaround

Some people might experience with certain GPS software.
If you look at the log of the NMEA log, you might realize that it burst out every 6-10 seconds. After that you might wait for another 6-10 sec, which is unusable for real-time navigation. If you happen to meet this trouble.
I have a way which could allow normal update intervals.
Install GPSGATE, it create virtual GPS COM PORT and re-route the NMEA data.
Install GPSGATE, just use the default settings, it create the virtual GPS port as COM 1.
Just use GPS software on COM 1 .
software url: http://franson.com/gpsgate/

Can anyone confirm this works? Ive noticed my GPS works the same way. Im using the Kaiser / TyTn II with Mapking and i notice that i also get my signbal ins bursts and NOT a smooth stream. Anyone know if this will resolve the problem?

What is the update intervals with GPSGATE ?
Do you mean GPSGATE must be run concurrently with the other software TomTom 6 for example ?
It would be a good workaround for people who encounter this GPS issue.

could this be some delicious spam?

How exactly does the OP propose that a user space application can make the hardware produce data in a smoother stream?
I call BS.

seems like BS to me too...Probably some spam Can anyone who has tried it out verify if it really works or not?..
THKS

You don't need to use other GPS software concurrently,
just use the GPSGATE and mapking will do.
Remember you have to modify the settings in mapking to use the virtual com port ( com1 default)
Not SPAM

I am not sure, this is BS.
If I am not mistaken the GPSGATE will act like a "router" (middle man) between the GPS hardware (Internal GPS of Kaiser) and the application (TomTom).
If the GPS hardware is faulty (having problem) with bursting data every 10 seconds, then the GPSGATE will also receive bursting data every 10 seconds.
So, that's useless as long as the problem is in the GPS hardware.

Gpsproxy should be able to do the same thing and its free.

GPSGate is a splitter, allowing using more than one application with the same NMEA stream. It creates another virtual GPS COM port, that's it.
GPS on the Kaiser works great and I'm on SatNav business. Aquisition time is fast, reception is great and update ratio is every 1 sec, just like any other civilian GPS receiver. GPS is NOT evaluated by the refresh rate you see on the screen, other software will give you other rate, try OZI Explorer for instance. I used Kaiser with TomTom, Destinator & Ozi, all works really great even comparing to Sirf III GPS chipset embedded devices such as Eten X500, HTC Artemis and Asus 535.
Last, Microsoft has included the same functionality of GPS Gate in WM5 and WM6 under settings. You do not need to install any additional SW, you can send "trueman 12345" (the guy who opened this thread with 2 posts history) your money directly.

Thanks RonenB for this very usefull precision !

Thanks as well RonenB, However, it does not solve the odd occasional pause in the data that we're seeing. Is this hardware or software that needs help in the Kaiser?

Actually I'm not so sure we have defined the problem accurately here.
Examining the signal from the GPS shows some interesting info.
1
A satellite is locked onto for perhaps only one or two seconds at a time.
2
Several satellites can achieve a lock but out of these a few will be lost every few seconds
3
New satellites are also acquired every few seconds.
The Result
If you are in the presence of many satellites then there is a constant dropping of some and locking onto others. This leads to no problems as there are always a few satellites locked on and data flow is smooth.
BUT
If you are in the presence of only say 2 or 3 satellites it is possible to drop these two or three (as indicated above), but no new ones are acquired. In this situation there will be a few seconds before the first 2 or 3 lock in again. Result a gap in data flow to your GPS software.
Meaning
The Internal GPS is not polling data in bursts. In other words you cannot turn up the frequency of data polling (possible baud rate adjustment maybe). The data is continuous but if there are too few satellites then there can be gaps where it drops some satellites and does not lock others.
There are various applications that can show this behaviour graphically but tomtom shows it well on the satellite view screen.
Compared to external GPS satellite locks this works in a strangely different way. You will see the bars jumping around from a lock on this one to that one continuously. Only a problem as I say when there are only a few satellites in sight.
Mike
PS - I cannot see the advantage of GPSGate in this particular situation as it is due to momentary periods when no satellite is detected.
Having said all of the above, I find the GPS perfectly adequate for general use. Perhaps if I need spot on plotting data then it might be weak. However if I need that unusual level of accuracy I would not use my phone to do it. I regularly use mine in place of my car's tomtom and the results are on a par with the full tomtom device.

mikechannon said:
Actually I'm not so sure we have defined the problem accurately here.
Examining the signal from the GPS shows some interesting info.
1
A satellite is locked onto for perhaps only one or two seconds at a time.
2
Several satellites can achieve a lock but out of these a few will be lost every few seconds
3
New satellites are also acquired every few seconds.
The Result
If you are in the presence of many satellites then there is a constant dropping of some and locking onto others. This leads to no problems as there are always a few satellites locked on and data flow is smooth.
BUT
If you are in the presence of only say 2 or 3 satellites it is possible to drop these two or three (as indicated above), but no new ones are acquired. In this situation there will be a few seconds before the first 2 or 3 lock in again. Result a gap in data flow to your GPS software.
Meaning
The Internal GPS is not polling data in bursts. In other words you cannot turn up the frequency of data polling (possible baud rate adjustment maybe). The data is continuous but if there are too few satellites then there can be gaps where it drops some satellites and does not lock others.
There are various applications that can show this behaviour graphically but tomtom shows it well on the satellite view screen.
Compared to external GPS satellite locks this works in a strangely different way. You will see the bars jumping around from a lock on this one to that one continuously. Only a problem as I say when there are only a few satellites in sight.
Mike
PS - I cannot see the advantage of GPSGate in this particular situation as it is due to momentary periods when no satellite is detected.
Having said all of the above, I find the GPS perfectly adequate for general use. Perhaps if I need spot on plotting data then it might be weak. However if I need that unusual level of accuracy I would not use my phone to do it. I regularly use mine in place of my car's tomtom and the results are on a par with the full tomtom device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I believe that it is time to explain a little bit how GPS works.
The GPS satellites are transmitting their position rapidly. However, due to homeland security issues (US did not want to allow anyone to place a receiver in a jet fighter or a missile) civilian GPS receivers are limited to aquire position every 1 second only. This is not a problem for a normal user even for civilian aviation. Thus, when you look at the NMEA stream, you will see it coming in bursts and not as rapid as normal data. Since GPS strings are quite short, it is good enough for any navigation system.
Number of satellites aquired is not an indicator to anything. Like any RF system, the engineers can tweak the noise level so that it will look to you that you are receiving X amount of satellites, the signal is on the air anyway.
What is important though is the position of the satellites. the closer to the horizon, the less useable that satellite is to calulate the position. Therefore receivers are taking the best located satellites into account and ignoring others even of they are recieved. Valid fix (position) is aquired by at least 3 satellites for 2D (X,Y) and 4 or more for 3D (with elevation).
Result is that as a user, you should not bother too much looking into the stream or number of sattelite in use as long as you can get a valid fix. The important and effective elements are hidden from the user: number of transsistors in the GPS chipset, quality of antenna etc. User can just evaluate the overall preformance.
As I wrote above, the Kaiser integrated GPS surprised me for superb preformance. I just arrived this week from Israel to Germany and could get a fix as soon as I left the underground garage. I did not loose GPS signal even once since I started using the device. That includes forests and dence city centers. Real good job by HTC here.

This is the problem i am facing:
Im using MapKing with Hong Kong 2007 maps. Getting a fix is no problem. I can normally get a fix in about 10-15 secs. When i check the status page I will normally have a connection to 5-7 satelites.
The problem is that the icon does not move smoothly when i travel. In map king your position on the map is represented by a small car icon. It jumps from location to location every 3-5 secs but does not smoothly move along. Can someone please tell me if this is the case with tomtom as well? Maybe it a problem with mapking?

phame said:
This is the problem i am facing:
Im using MapKing with Hong Kong 2007 maps. Getting a fix is no problem. I can normally get a fix in about 10-15 secs. When i check the status page I will normally have a connection to 5-7 satelites.
The problem is that the icon does not move smoothly when i travel. In map king your position on the map is represented by a small car icon. It jumps from location to location every 3-5 secs but does not smoothly move along. Can someone please tell me if this is the case with tomtom as well? Maybe it a problem with mapking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a Mapking problem and you should contact their support. Does not happen to me with Destinator, TomTOm and Ozi.

Ok, there is no point to argue, if you really find yourself having problem with GPS update lag, then give it a try. No harm indeed...
In HK, there are people the validity of the work around. GPS proxy might also work as well( i think it is the same principal) just i wasn't aware of this good free software before hand..
http://www11.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=5329804&extra=page=2
(u need an account and some chinese word knowledge)

trueman12345 said:
Ok, there is no point to argue, if you really find yourself having problem with GPS update lag, then give it a try. No harm indeed...
In HK, there are people the validity of the work around. GPS proxy might also work as well( i think it is the same principal) just i wasn't aware of this good free software before hand..
http://www11.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=5329804&extra=page=2
(u need an account and some chinese word knowledge)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite agree it's worth trying, and the application has other uses too.
Mike

FYI: I got GPS to work easily by installing GPSViewer, opening COM4/4800baud and getting located. After that, using Google Maps was a breeze; total "trick" took me about 1 minute to figure out which is way quicker than some other workarounds on the internet.

I was driving with iGuidance for about 1 hour this morning and I'm seeing different behavoir for this bug. iGuidance also has an excellent GPS signal viewer, mine was showing 8 out of 8 sattellites, all green, all the time (they turn red when not receiving signal from a sat). My map was moving about once per second or slightly faster. The program only paused once after about 30 minutes into the trip, for about 20-30 seconds. The iGuidance program's moving arrow's color also changes color based on signal quality of the combined sattelite lock, Green for good 3D mapping, Yellow for 2D when there are minimal sats for navigating, and Red for no signal data. During this pause the arrow went Red to indicate no data.
This seems like a bug to me.

GPS - turn off static navigation

Is it possible turn off static navigation in GPS in Kaiser?
It is important for walk navigation and necessary for geocaching.

Hello,
I suppose that you can do it with this
http://w5.nuinternet.com/s660100031/SirfTech.htm
pt_t830

no, you cant.. this works with sirf chip only
in this time, you can't turn it off...

Is there really no way to turn off static nav on the Kaiser? I've upgraded from a Mio a701 which was great for geocaching, but this is just no good unless I can disable static nav.
What chipset is the GPS? I assume it's not Sirf III then?

I see it's a Qualcomm chipset and it doesn't look like it can be turned off. How stupid, makes the GPS useless for geocaching.

I'm really disappointed by the chipset in the Kaiser too, from what I've heard. I don't have mine in hand yet, but I've been doing lots of reading on it the last week while I build a list of Palm->WM programs for migration from my long time platform. At least until Palm gets off their ass.
I already have a Holux 236, I suspect what I'll do is use the Kaiser GPS for navigation and the Holux for geocaching. I'll see how that works out.

Little surprise that you jump the ship, khaytsus.
Not only poorer performance Qualcomm GPS chipset vs. SIRF III chipset, but also you will miss some of great palm applications e.g takephone, callrec, and ptunes.

I'm not too bothered about the 3d performance a lot of other people complain about, but being able to disable static nav is something that should not have been overlooked. It would have swayed me from buying a Kaiser in the first place, even though it's pretty much perfect for what I want apart from this issue.

(This message has been translated as Google Translate)
I had the TyTN II (Kaiser) in the main purchased for geocaching. I am very disappointed now appears that static navigation can not be disabled.
I hope that HTC soon gives a solution.

I have to ask what does this Static Navigation do? and what benifit would you have from turning it off?

When you are not moving (or moving slowly) it stops updating your GPS position. This stops apps like tomtom spinning the map round when youre at traffic lights, but if you need to find a precise point on foot as in Geocaching, it makes it very difficult becuse you have to keep walking fairly quickly for the direction arrow to show.

Termiter said:
Is it possible turn off static navigation in GPS in Kaiser?
It is important for walk navigation and necessary for geocaching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems fine to me, Kaiser can detect slow walking speed quite accurately such as 1 or 2 mph. If you walk slower than 1mph, it can't tell.
For the SirfIII chip device with SN on (my ETEN M700), it ignores any speed under 3mph and keep you at the same position. With SN off then you are looking at another problem, your position jumps around even when you stand still.

I assume you have never tried geocaching, otherwise you would see the problem. You often need to stand still and let the gps average your position to determine exactly how far away you are. Before anyone chimes in saying it is only accurate to ~10m anyway, my Mio a701 would get me to within 2-3m every time.
When you place a geocache, you need to have your coords spot on. The only way to do this is to leave the gps averaging for a while. I use GPS Tuner for this, but it is useless on the Kaiser.
"Position jumping around" is what you need for on foot accurate GPS nav, but not good for tomtom etc. All I want is the option to choose for myself, which unlike Sirf III, is currently not available for this crappy Qualcomm GPS.

What is static navigation: click here
What I tried to turn static navigation of without any result (but it works on other divices with the same gps-chipset: SiRFstar III):
SiRFTech
SiRFDemo
MMSirf setup (direct download)
So I hope there follows also a solution for the Kaiser!

There is one solution...get a bluetooth GPS receiver with a SIRFIII chip. Not ideal, I agree, but for the most part I use the bluetooth GPS for geocaching and hiking both because it can turn off SN and because it's just a much more accurate chip in general. The internal works ok for hiking, but is more ideally suited for driving applications.
@Geinponem: it doesn't have a SirfStar III gps chipset. That is part of the problem.

@Geinponem: it doesn't have a SirfStar III gps chipset. That is part of the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See here the specifications of MY TyTN II (this is the site where I bought the divice). Sorry its a Dutch site.
Here and here another Dutch sites.
Is the information wrong on this sites? Or is the build-in chipset not in every country the same?
BTW: where do you hold your BT-GPSr by geocaching. Can you put it in your pocket?

I don't get it, on my Kaiser the GPS continues updating normally even when static, as if I leave the phone on a table the position will always change a little at each reading.

Updating of the current position is great!
The problem is that the direction of the destination by low speed is not updated. In programs like GPSTuner the destination arrow is 'frozen' then.

That's totally normal. A GPS can't give you a direction (heading) when it doesn't move. If it gives you one it's just derived from the position error (even if the GPS is stationary, there will be a little position error between consecutive readings, and the direction the GPS gives will be the one between those points) so it means nothing at all.
By the way, in GPS Tuner by default there's a filter that ignores new GPS data if speed is under something like 2km/h. So even if the GPS does give info, the program discards it. You need to turn that off in the GPS options.

Nghiem said:
Little surprise that you jump the ship, khaytsus.
Not only poorer performance Qualcomm GPS chipset vs. SIRF III chipset, but also you will miss some of great palm applications e.g takephone, callrec, and ptunes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found the Tilt's GPS to be VERY accurate, in fact, it beats some of the stand-alone GPS units out there. I live in a very rural area, and it finds my house EXACTLY on the money, I am very impressed!
Edit-I see a lot in this thread who don't have their location or carrier in their posting info, it would help a lot if we knew that

The Great Kaiser GPS Comparo

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.

Turning Static Navigation off in Diamond?

Hi there,
It's indeed confirmed now that the gps chipset in diamond is Static navigation enabled, i.e. it won't refresh your location and speed if you are walking, it'll just lock your last gps location instead of updating it continuously while you walk. So it's nearly makes it impossible to walk to your destination i.e. you can't geocache at all.
I hope anybody has some clue about turning it off.

Have you tried something like SirfTech - if you can get it to connect to the internal GPS device (and assuming it is a SirfStar chipset, which I still don't know for sure?) then you should be able to toggle the static navigation setting. There are instructions right at the very bottom of that page on how to adjust the static navigation setting.
The other remaining question is how long this change will persist - hopefully it should persist until the battery is removed, but it depends how the power to the GPS receiver is switched - it's possible that switching off the PDA, or even putting it into standby, could cause the GPS receiver state to reset to default.

Its not a sirf chipset and those tools wont work on it

someone1234 said:
Its not a sirf chipset and those tools wont work on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that. I guess we people will have to live with it. There's a HTC GPS utility from HTC which works on this qualcomm chip but I am no expert if there's any setting which can turn static navigation off. For someone wanna give a try to the HTC tool, download the attached file.

i just did a quick test with Diamond running TomTom walking along the street. It works fine in pedestrian mode. My actual postion was accurate at all times during the test. Diamond GPS is suitable for navigation in pedestrian mode.

Probably you have not tryed with some device with really good SirfStar III GPS, like ETEN X500.

@panosha
my point is: walking navigation mode is indeed available with Diamond running TomTom. I am not to compare GPS performance of Diamond directly with Sirf III equipped devices.
That said, if you take a look at my signature, you would certainly notice that I have also few HTC Sirf III equipped phones presently and not to mention TomTom GO 510. I am quite certain that Diamond is quite usable for walking routes..

Is usable for walking routes, but it has mediocre behavior for this use, concerning the good GPS devices.

@panosha.
mediocre behavior indeed.
I was referring to the very first post in this thread:
.. it won't refresh your location and speed if you are walking, it'll just lock your last gps location instead of updating it continuously while you walk. So it's nearly makes it impossible to walk to your destination i.e. you can't geocache at all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it will refresh GPS location as you walk.
yes, it will update GPS position fairly constantly.
yes, it is possible to walk to a destination and geocache.

Sorry but I have to disagree.
While the Diamond keeps up with a standalone device while driving, I took them both out walking today and the Diamond is terrible while walking. In fact I did the route three times and it was always approximately 30 feet out of synch which is no good at all in a city environment.
If anyone has any idea how to improve this I'd certainly be happy to hear it.
I have a P1i and external receiver and at this rate I may have to return the Diamond and go back to it, which is a shame.

Yeah. That's the point. It indeed keeps up while driving but crap while walking.

Folks, I think it would be really important to find a solution for this problem.
It seems that it has definitely to do with static navigation and
is no problem of any kind of application.
Since I have my diamond I used a lot of different gps software,
but the lag is always the same.
This is indeed very bad, thus the reception quality is superb!
My last HTC was a trinity which had also a Qualcom chipset,
but with this device I never noticed such a behavior.
Somehow it must be possible to turn the static navigation of...

Are there any news so far?

I guess nobody could figure it out yet. WE have to keep our fingers crossed

Is there any other news?
Disabling static navigation would be greate!!
Does anyone know the brand/model of the gps chip?

And there's always a lag between your actual position and the position shown in the GPS software....
Sometimes this lag is more than 50m...
HastaSSSS

I am trying to see if the Qualcomm ONEgps - GPS can have its programming changed with QPST, but unfortunately I havent found any information on getting it to run with Diamond. I think that would be the only way to turn off static nav, as the system is not Sifir or what ever its called, so non of the current "static nav" off solutions will work. I have OziExplorer running and I get the issue. I also noticed that there is a lot of unecessary activiting on decent/assend info, its as though it has quite a unstable 3d lock.
Can anyone else using TomTom pedestrian mode could confirm if there is no delay (more then 10-30 seconds) between starting walking and position beginning to update?
Thanks!
D.

does tt has special option for pedestrian? maybe the problem is tt and NOT the hardware (gps-diamond)??
i am using igo and it has special options for pedestrian, for car, bicycle, public transportation and even emergency vehicle. seeing this made me think that the program will react different at different speeds.
i did not tried the pedestrian option but i promise to do it and come back with the results.

Sorry about the dumb question, bust how can I switch to pedestrian mode in TomTom???

It's the same s*ht
The GPS on this receiver, for the time being, really sucks...
I'm hopping that someone will figure out a solution, or with a release of a new radio ROM.
Even when I'm driving, the gps lags so much.... Drives me crazy!
When I stop on a red light, the gps still indicates speed for 15s more or less, until it actually stops on the place where my car actually is...
I wonder if the gou acceleration driver is actually installed...it could happen that this delay is due to the fact that the CPU has to do all the work, and since the resolution is VGA, it means extra work, which the CPU can't handle 100%...
HastaSSSS