pdawg17

It appears that the BT units are cheaper than the "standalones"...is there any other reason to get a BT unit?

RobMan

No wires! You can put it anywhere on your dash very easily.

I just purchased the Globalsat BT-338, and it's great. Holds a charge pretty much all day. Includes a DC and AC charger.

stevenator65

Far cheaper, great performance and multi-use product. You can do far more w/your pda than w/a standalone system. I'm sure the standalone system is better just for gps b/c of the bigger screen and machinery dedicated strictly to gps, but the pda's work great.
Steve

jahko

Originally Posted by RobMan

No wires! You can put it anywhere on your dash very easily. I just purchased the Globalsat BT-338, and it's great. Holds a charge pretty much all day. Includes a DC and AC charger.

BT-338 is definately a great GPS - too bad most s/w sucks

messmerizer

i have a rino that i bought before going to iraq, can't hook it to pda but doubles as a two way radio and if you're talking to another rino user it transmits their location so you can see them on your map :)

Koopah

Originally Posted by pdawg17

It appears that the BT units are cheaper than the "standalones"...is there any other reason to get a BT unit?

I think it depends on how you will use the GPS most frequently. Think about the kinds of activities in which GPS will play a role. Are you a hiker or a boater/sailor? Do you geocache? Do you want navigation just for your Auto?

I actually have three GPS units; the one I use least is a rather large, heavy, battery-sucking standalone Garmin Street Pilot. It works well-enough but it is big, heavy and is only used in the car. However, I have now switched my car navigation system to an X30H, OnCourse Navigator and the Globalsat BT338. So, the Street Pilot is performing excellent duty as a paperweight ($ offers accepted!).

My other standalone unit is a Garmin eTrex Vista. I use it for hiking, kayaking and geocaching. It's rugged, waterproof (ask me how I know) and very accurate since it receives WAAS signaling. However, its display is rather small and is monochrome; not easy to see while driving. But I wouldn't dare take my X30H/BT338 on a kayaking trip so, for me, the rugged standalone works for those activities.

If you are going to use GPS primarily for in-car navigation, I'd humbly recommend a PDA with a BT GPS receiver. The PDA will have a (relatively) large color screen and a seperate GPS can always be upgraded (by replacement) as GPS technology advances. You won't be messing around with wires and can have a little more freedom in the placement of the GPSR.

Hope this helps...

Theo

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CdSlc

Originally Posted by pdawg17

It appears that the BT units are cheaper than the "standalones"...is there any other reason to get a BT unit?

I think it depends on what kind of "standalone" units you are looking at. I found that a good "standalone" unit from TomTom or Garmin or Magellan can very easily cost anywhere between $550 to $1000. Considering that for $550 you are just getting a GPS unit with no other functionality in it, I think would make "standalone" unit expensive. At the current price, if you pay $600, you can get a X50v + BT338 + OCN4.

pdawg17

Originally Posted by CdSlc

I think it depends on what kind of "standalone" units you are looking at. I found that a good "standalone" unit from TomTom or Garmin or Magellan can very easily cost anywhere between $550 to $1000. Considering that for $550 you are just getting a GPS unit with no other functionality in it, I think would make "standalone" unit expensive. At the current price, if you pay $600, you can get a X50v + BT338 + OCN4.

Any other units comparable to the BT338 at this point? It sounds like the way to go...

CdSlc

Originally Posted by pdawg17

Any other units comparable to the BT338 at this point? It sounds like the way to go...

I don't think there are many units that use SirfIII chipset, so there are not many units that are really comparable to BT338.

But SirfII chipset, xTracV2 are also pretty good. Couple of BT GPS that falls under this category are GlobalSat BT308/309, Fortuna Clip-On. Dell and Belkin's GPS receiver are re-branded version of GlobalSat and Fortuna. These two receivers were considered to be the best until BT338 came along.

Couple of other GPS receivers that I have read people raving about are Garmin 10, AVL, Royaltek, Haicom, iTrek.

Go through JakeRich's GPS review section, also go through www.gpspassion.com and you will find more info on GPS than you will ever need to know.