lawman

Seidio BlueGPS RBT-2010 - SiRF Star III GPS Receiver Review

By lawman
16th. December, 2005

Developer/Vendor: (www.seidioonline.com)
Price: (check their web site for their latest price) - coming soon!
Rating (out of 5): 5

Overview

Seidio now has an extremely formidable competitor to the GlobalSat BT-338 GPS receiver. If you're looking for a new or another option for a BT receiver that utilizes the SiRF Star III GPS chipset, then I seriously say you should put this GPS receiver at the top of your must-have list. Here's why. When Royaltek came out with the RBT-2001 BT GPS receiver, it was actually rated better than the GlobalSat BT-338 in terms of sensitivity, but what it lacked was lasting battery power compared to the GlobalSat BT-338 battery duration. The RBT-2001 had only a 680 mAh.

Well, now Seidio has come out with a new BT GPS receiver (a rebranded RBT-2010 which is actually a RBT-2001 + 1700mAh LiOn battery!). This BT GPS receiver is called the Seidio BlueGPS RBT-2010. And I have only one thing to say ... WOW !!! Not only do you get the very best sensitivity of the SiRF Star III receivers out there but now you have the extended battery power as well for a 15-17 hour duration.

<see pictures Package-aximsite.jpg>


Received this new Seidio BlueGPS RBT-2010 receiver in a simple white box package. See contents of box below.

1. Seidio BlueGPS SiRF Star III receiver (RBT-2010).
2. DC power wall travel charger (AC 90-240V).
3. 1700 mAh LiOn battery.
4. No documentation comes included.

Following are the travel charger and LiOn battery components of the Seidio BlueGPS package.


<see pictures Travel_Charger1-small.jpg and 1700mAh-small.jpg>

Comparison between Seidio BlueGPS (RBT-2010) and GlobalSat BT-338


<see pictures Comparison2-small.jpg and Comparison4-small.jpg>


When I compare it side by side, the Seidio BlueGPS model is roughly the same size as the BT-338 but slightly deeper. The picture above is worth a thousand words. The Seidio BlueGPS design is well constructed and the color is a sleek black with the Seidio logo on the front.


<see pictures LED_BlueGPS.jpg> ... very cool LED colours.. :-)


If you look closely at the front of the Seidio BlueGPS, you can see a full panel of transparent LED display (right below the Seidio logo). The LED display is very cool. When you charge the unit the first time, it glows AMBER. When it is charged at full power, it changes to GREEN. To enable the BlueGPS, there is an ON/OFF switch (this is nice to have when compared to a button you have to hold down to switch a GPS unit on). When you switch the BlueGPS ON, the LED display shows a blinking GREEN. When it pairs with your BT PDA or BT-enabled laptop, the LED display on the BlueGPS shows a BLUE LED and this alternates BLUE/GREEN on a continuous cycle. The LED lighting is very clear and you can easily check the current condition of the BlueGPS. I actually liked this LED display!

Now, when you open the side rubber panel, you can see two ports. One is the plug for the DC power wall travel charger, and the other copper port is for an external antenna which uses the MC card connector (optional). The DC power wall charger cable is more solid and built much better and more durable than the thin 2-wire cable charger of the BT-338.


<see pictures Seidio_BTGPS3-small.jpg and Seidio_BTGPS_plugged-small.jpg and Seidio_BTGPS4-small.jpg>


I opened the battery compartment and this is what it shows. Nice ...


<see pictures Seidio_BTGPS_inside-small.jpg>

The integrated GPS device has the following specifications

Specifications:

* Supports NMEA transmission protocol (so should be usable with any NMEA compatible GPS programs).
* GPS Receiver Sensitivity (-159 dBm)
* External antenna MC Card format
* Firmware is the latest v3.1.1 (see attached diagram below) and SN is 00 (disabled)

<see pictures FirmwareBlueGPS.jpg>

Integrated GPS Settings (need to be set for your GPS mapping program):

* Chipset SiRF Star III
* NMEA 0183
* Bluetooth Class 2 (10m)
* Bluetooth Serial Port profile
* Baud Rate - 4800
* 20 Channels
* COM port of your software (in this case OCN5 for me) needs to be set to COM7 (or let your software auto-detect it)


GPS mapping programs I tested with (PPC and laptop):

* OnCourse Navigator 5 (set your mapping s/w to auto-detect serial GPS)
* Microsoft Street and Trips 2005 for PPC
* BT-enabled PC laptop running Microsoft S&T 2005 and Microsoft Autoroute2005
* Vito Smartmap
* GPS Monitor (CE Monitor) - works for NMEA only
* GPS Tuner
* GPS Dash

At home and on the road

At the beginning, I tried it out in my basement, and the Seidio BlueGPS RBT-2010 is amazing. I picked up more satellites with the Seidio BlueGPS RBT-2010 (8 satellites) compared with the GlobalSat BT-338 (6 satellites). And the lower DOP values tells me the sensitivity of this Seidio BlueGPS RBT-2010 unit is much more higher than that of the BT-338. You can see that the BT-338 is missing the satellites: 3 and 29.


<see pictures GlobalSat_BT-338.jpg and Seidio_BlueGPS.jpg>


The Seidio BlueGPS RBT-2010 shows the following characterization (the GlobalSat BT-338 is already well-documented so I won't cover it here);

* Time To Fix (TTF) from cold start ~ 45 seconds
o These are the acquisition times I recorded;
+ Re-acquisition: < 1 sec
+ Warm: < 30 sec
+ Cold: < 45 sec
+ AutoLocate: < 45 sec

This week, we have the "perfect weather" in Ottawa, Canada to test this. We were hit with one of the worst and heaviest snowfalls (30cm snowfall) and so I used this opportunity to test both BT GPS units (Seidio BlueGPS RBT-2010 and GlobalSat BT-338) and compare the performance of both in this bad weather while driving downtown where the skyscrapers help block out the satellites.

I drove the same route winding thru downtown under bridges and among the heaviest areas where the skyscrapers are closely packed together and blocks out the sky, and all this while heavy snow is still falling. On every occasion, the Seidio BlueGPS did not lose the GPS signal once and managed to keep locked, but the BT-338 loss the signal a couple of times when I moved under some bridges. I think this is was primarily due to the heavy cloud cover and snowfall with low visibility.

Pros:

• Much more sensitive.
• Has a notch to place a lanyard so you place this around your neck.
• The Seidio BlueGPS quality is amazing and I highly recommend this as "the benchmark" for all SiRF Star III receivers (my opinion only as a user) - Try it out yourself to prove it.
• Removable rechargeble 1700mAh LiOn battery.
• Longer battery duration ~ 20+ hours.
• DC power wall charger cable is more thicker and robust compared to the BT-338 receiver.

Cons:

• No documentation.
• I cannot see how to auto-shutoff this GPS receiver. I left it running all night, and it did not shut-off which I guess is due to it having an ON/OFF switch instead of a push button. This however is a minor issue as I like the ON/OFF switch over the push button.

Merry Xmas + A Happy New Year for 2006 :approve:

lawman

Here are more pictures for the above review. Sorry for the some of the broken links above, there is a max of 5 pics per post.

lawman

Here are the rest of the pictures for the review. Sorry for the some of the broken links above, there is a max of 5 pics per post.

lawman

This was the weather I was driving in ... definitely winter is here .. :)

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...6de910&k=43666

At least the Rideau canal should be solid soon enough to skate on... woohooo!

seidioseidio

Thank you for the review. we plan to release it on Monday (12/19). It will be available on USA/Canada (www.seidioonline.com) and Europe (www.seidio-europe.com).

David Chang
Seidio
dsc@seidio.com

jing0124

Originally Posted by seidioseidio

Thank you for the review. we plan to release it on Monday (12/19). It will be available on USA/Canada (www.seidioonline.com) and Europe (www.seidio-europe.com). David Chang Seidio dsc@seidio.com

what will be the price when Seidio releases it on Monday ?

lawman

It should be competitive to the prices for the GlobalSat BT-338. But the quality of the Seidio BlueGPS is much better.

stevenator65

Lawman, that was a great review! Well written and informative. It's obvious you put alot of time and care into it. Great job.

lawman

Your thanks is much appreciated. But I'm still learning. I have not played with as many GPS devices as JakeRich, and everything I'm getting used to while using the GPS software/hardware I like to compare with existing software/devices to see if there is an improvement.

I think the more informed a buyer is, the more easier for the person to decide what to buy as its very hard to find this sort of equipment in "the store close to you" to formulate a good GPS buy decision. So, every little info/detail helps me as a buyer to decide.

jing0124

Hi Lawman,

How is the comparison between Seidio RBT-2010 BT receiver and OCN5 BT receiver?

lawman

Hi jing0124,

I don't know about the OCN5 BT receiver. I believe its a rebranded BT-338 model, so the OCN5 should work identically to the GlobalSat BT-338 model. But I don't have access to a OCN5 BT receiver to compare the Seidio BlueGPS to.

jing0124

Thanks

I will be waiting for Seidio announcement on Monday.

perliu

Originally Posted by jing0124

Thanks I will be waiting for Seidio announcement on Monday.

Co-Wait, good review, thanks to lawman
Don't see this device on that website yet
:)


Lawman, how about WAAS on this device? thanks again!

lawman

Originally Posted by perliu

Co-Wait, good review, thanks to lawman Don't see this device on that website yet :) Lawman, how about WAAS on this device? thanks again!

IMHO, when using SiRF III chipset, WAAS is not a factor for GPS driving. The tools I used can enable WAAS if required.

perliu

Originally Posted by lawman

IMHO, when using SiRF III chipset, WAAS is not a factor for GPS driving. The tools I used can enable WAAS if required.

Lawman, may i know the name of this tool? thanks!~

I check that website, it seems that they don't put this device on yet....