homeygdog

Does anybody have any experience connecting their Axim X5 to a Magellan GPS for car navigation? I own an Axim X5 and a Magellan SporTrak Pro with vehicle mount and cig adapter. I assume that will require the purchase of:
1. Vehicle mount for Axim with cig adapter
2. Mapping software for Axim
3. Cable to connect GPS and Axim (and connect to cig adapter)
4. Cig adapter splitter to provide power to GPS and Axim

Questions:
1. Has anybody done this?
2. Where do you get the cable?
3. Am I missing anything from my list?

JakeRich

1. Yes.
2. PC-Mobile is one vendor, there are others.
3. Nothing, but if you get a powered mount, you can eliminate some cables. Seidio and Arkon both have powered mounts. Also, the speaker on the X5 is really poor, so an amplifier is handy. Fortunately, the Seidio and Arkon mounts also have an amplifier and speaker installed to do just that.

veearich

Another vendor
http://www.thesupplynet.com/
Pc-Mobile has a neat bluetooth adapter for Magellan. I decided to go with the vehicle cable which powers both axim and magellan from the supply net

homeygdog

Originally Posted by JakeRich

1. Yes. 2. PC-Mobile is one vendor, there are others. 3. Nothing, but if you get a powered mount, you can eliminate some cables. Seidio and Arkon both have powered mounts. Also, the speaker on the X5 is really poor, so an amplifier is handy. Fortunately, the Seidio and Arkon mounts also have an amplifier and speaker installed to do just that.

I looked at mounts from Seido and Arkon. From what I can determine, here are my requirements for PDA mounts:

Inputs:

1. Audio (from PDA)
2. GPS data (from GPS)
3. DC power (from cig adapter)

Outputs:

1. Speaker (to user)
2. GPS data (to PDA)
3. Power (to PDA)
4. Power (to GPS)

Cable-wise, it seems I would need to meet requirements above as follows:

Cable 1: I2+O4
Cable 2: I1
Cable 3: cig adapter (I3)
Mount connector: O2+O3


I didn't see any products that explicitly stated that it met these requirements. Am I overlooking something?

JakeRich

I'm not sure what the I2, O4, I1, I3 etc. refer to. However, if you plan on the Seidio cradle, you can ask PC-Mobile for a GMDC and a GTTC and you should be able to get an X5 Seidio cradle, connect the GMDC to the GTTC, then to the Magellan and the cradle and be good to go.

homeygdog

Originally Posted by JakeRich

I'm not sure what the I2, O4, I1, I3 etc. refer to. However, if you plan on the Seidio cradle, you can ask PC-Mobile for a GMDC and a GTTC and you should be able to get an X5 Seidio cradle, connect the GMDC to the GTTC, then to the Magellan and the cradle and be good to go.

I'll tell you what I2, etc. are if you tell me what GMDC and GTTC are!

I1 = input 1 from my list; O2 = output 2 from my list

How does my list of cables/connections look?

JakeRich

Ah, ok, the GMDC and GTTC are specific cables at PC-Mobile. They connect the Magellan to an Seidio cradle, eliminate all other cables. The Seidio then provides power to the Axim, receives GPS from the Magellan and routes it to the bottom port on the Axim. Audio comes out the Axim earphone connector to the mount, is amplified and presented to you with better volume and bass response. This solution meets all your needs except for power to the GPS. The Seidio cradle provides 5.4v for that, but the Magellan only wants 3.96 v (I think, check the specs). So, the Magellan would run on batteries unless you wanted to cobble together a power supply at about 4V and splice it into the PC-Mobile cable set. You might be able to use a power Y connector to run two power cables and splice your existing power cable for the Magellan to the PC-Mobile set.

Is this the cable you have for the Magellan? If so, you could use the PAXGS cable on this page. and that cable and get a simple mount and power supply for the Axim and all you'd be missing is the amplified sound. The sound in the X5 is pretty poor, though.

Or, you could use your cable, assuming it's that one, with the DIY cable from Seidio, or get them to make a DB9 to RJ connector for you. I think they'll do that, I seem to recall them having that before.