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I am glad that I am not in the GPS hardware business! The competition is pretty aggressive, and it's becoming harder to find something to distinguish your product from the other products. So when I received the WondeX BT-100Y Bluetooth GPS Receiver from buyGPSnow.com, I didn't expect to find much to differentiate it from the rest of the pack. However, I was pleasantly surprised by what this slick little package can do! It has 44 channels, uses the SkyTraq chipset, utilizes A-GPS for super-quick first fixes, is WAAS enabled and has a unique Auto On/Off function that is based on movement. Add a 1000 hour standby/20 hour operation battery life and you get a pretty nice GPS unit for US$59.95 from buyGPSnow.com.
First, let's get the technical specs for the unit:
- 44 channels “All-In-View” tracking
- Cold/Warm/Hot start time: 30/28/1 sec. (average)
- Superior sensitivity: -159dBm tracking
- Support A-GPS function
- Reacquisition time: 0.1 sec.
- Built-in ceramic patch antenna
- Built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery
- Support standard NMEA-0183 at 38400 bps baudrate
- Compatible with Bluetooth devices with Serial Port Profile (SPP)
- Ultra low power consumption: 20 hours continuous use to stand-by time more than one week by 950mAh battery
- Time to full recharge: within 3 hours
- Vibration sensor for power management
- 4 LEDs display GPS, Bluetooth, low power and charging status
- Size: 77.05 (L) X 46.10 (W) X 19.50 (H) mm
- Weight: 60g (battery included)
- Non-slip back pad for a secure placement
Here is what is in the box:
1. The Bluetooth Receiver
2. Lithium-ion rechargeable battery
3. Car charger
4. Power adapter
5. Document CD
6. Anti-Slip Rubber Pad
Here is a picture of the unit:
As you can see, it's a clean and simple package. It does have non-skid feet on the bottom. The one silver button in the picture is for on/off, but rarely needs to be touched. The white band you can see on the left side wraps around the entire end and has four LEDs in it. Here is a picture of the band from the end view:
You can see the band wrapping around the end of the unit and the only connector--a mini-USB for charging the battery and connecting for A-GPS data loads (more on that later).
When the unit first arrived, I turned it on, watched the LEDs flash and got the first fix in about 30 seconds inside my basement. That's a really hot receiver! I then read up on the LEDs. There are four of them. From the User Manual that is on the CD:
The LEDs are either steady or flash to indicate the status, much like any other receiver. When it's all happy with a fix and BT connection, the Red and Blue flash to confirm the status.
Ok, enough about the technicalities, how did it work? Excellently! As I said, the first fix was in my basement and was achieved very quickly. After that, the first fix of the day usually took less time that for my GPS software to start up. Fixes were accurate and timely. I never lost reception, nor did BT ever fail to connect and stay connected. Battery life seemed about right, although I did not do a full stress test. It sat in my car for a full week, used about 2 hours per day, standby for the rest of the time, before the battery warning LED came on.
The Assisted GPS (A-GPS) function may need some explanation. One of the challenges for GPS receivers is that they must have a current copy of the ephemeris and almanac data before a fix can be calculated. In the days of single-channel receivers, the process of listening for the almanac and ephemeris data could take 20 minutes, more if the receiver was moved and the stream interrupted in the middle of transmission. Multi-channel receivers speeded up the process, since they could listen to all the frequencies from all satellites at one time, but it still takes a couple of minutes for that first cold fix. A-GPS is a technology that lets you load the most current ephemeris and almanac data from the Internet to the receiver, so that when you first turn it on you already have the data in the unit and can get to the first fix much quicker. In practice, that first fix should now be in the 5-9 second range.
The CDROM did not come with A-GPS software on it, but they (there are multiple available) can be easily found using any web search tool. I downloaded the utility to pass the data to a SkyTraq receiver, installed it on my desktop in the basement and tried to test the software. It inserted the latest data and triggered a cold fix cycle to get a fix in that advertised 5-9 seconds. But it was difficult for me to verify completely that it really DID work because the receiver was so sensitive that even in my basement it found the satellites and got a fix while I was downloading the data! I would say that it did seem to work as advertised.
I mentioned earlier that the unit got a fix before my GPS software finished starting. It was that fast because in standby mode it has a motion sensor in it that triggers it to go from standby to "on" when it senses movement. The sensor detects a shake, activates the receiver and turns on the Bluetooth, looking for a connection. If it doesn't find a connection, it turns back off in 5 minutes. If it does find a connection, it turns on the GPS receiver section and starts looking for the fix. I use GPSGate as my connection manager, so when I'm ready to use my GPS I first initiate GPSGate, so it makes the connection to the receiver. While that is happening I start my mapping software and by the time it is finished initializing, GPSGate has a connection and I usually have a fix. The motion detector was sensitive enough that when I opened the car door and got in and then closed the door that little bit of shake was enough to trigger the circuitry. If you have a car without as much shake, you may have to give the unit a nudge to get it to come on, or you may have to wait until you start moving and hit the first bump in the road. If you don't use GPSGate, you have five minutes to get the software started to make the BT connection. The motion sensor is a unique feature for this receiver. I'm not aware of any others that work that way.
All in all this is a nice package. buyGPSnow.com has it listed for $59.95, which is a good value for a good receiver.
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WondeX BT-100Y Bluetooth GPS Receiver
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