Waterproof Bluetooth GPS Receiver

I'm using CoPilot Laptop 11 and BU353 USB antenna.

I would rather have a Bluetooth antenna that I can mount on the roof of my car or medium duty truck that I use to haul my 5th wheel.

The Bluetooth is more necessary for the truck. It has a visor that prevents a good, consistent lock.

First question - will Bluetooth work that far?

Second - Is there a waterproof, Bluetooth antenna

Third - It would need some type of magnetic mount to keep it on the roof

Fourth - would need an 8 to 10 hour battery life.

Thanks!
Al

The Garmin GPS10 (not 10x) would meet all your needs. However it is an older technology discontinued product and expensive. It would be cheaper to buy 2 BU353s and mount them permanently in the different vehicles using a USB extension cable. The BU-353 is waterproof and magnetic as you probably already know. There is also a truck version with a long cord but it is a mast-type mount.

Terry

I wanted to follow up on this thread. I noticed it was a year old but I too am looking for something similar.

I would like to mount the gps receiver on top of the "slide in" camper on my pickup. The camper itself has power so providing that isn't a problem but the bluetooth connectivity would be nice because I'll be using a laptop while sitting in the cab. I would rather avoid having to run a usb cable all the way into the cab if necessary.

Any updates since the original post?

Hi Sirwin, and welcome to the forums. You could use an "OtterBox" waterproof case with magnetic base. They are designed for this exact purpose.

I've been looking around and I believe the waterproof case is the best solution for what I originally had in mind. I am not too excited about the idea of powering it off of batteries though, so now I'm looking for Plan B.

Plan B is to mount a Bluetooth GPS receiver inside the camper, have it connected to the 12 volt system in there, and mount an external waterproof antenna on the roof.

I'm going to explore the forums for recommendations for Bluetooth GPS receivers with external antenna ports, but any recommendations would be appreciated.

The only BT one I know with an antenna connection is the Holux GPSlim 236.

Terry

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out. I also found the following:

Royaltek RBT-2210/2200 BT GPS

It appears to have a port to plug in an external antenna as well. I'll check both out and let you know what I find.

Thanks again for the info!

After trolling the internet, I found 11 GPS discontinued.

I noticed most had either the SiRF III chip or the MTK chip. Is one better than another?

The only two I found that seem to still be in production are Royaltek RBT-2210 and Royaltek RBT-2300.

Most receivers connected to an external antenna via an MMCX plug. I reviewed the user documents from http://www.royaltek.com/, but they don't list what type of plug is it beyond "mc card".

Does anyone have any experience with the Royaltek GPS devices?

Oops...nevermind the MTK vs SiRF question. I just found this on your website:

http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/977-mtk-chipset-vs-sirfstariii-chipset

Any info on Royaltek 2300 external antenna port is appreciated.

One of the reasons external antenna connections are few and far between is the sensitivity of GPS chips today compared to the past. They will work fine under most conditions althouth I am not sure how that might apply in a metal shell camper.

The MKT II is a newer and more sensitive chipset. With an external powered antenna and full sky view, I am sure the SirfStar III would be fine though.

Terry

I have no experience with any RoyalTek products. I don't see any MTK II GPS in the Royaltek lineup. The 2300 is a SirfStar III with data logging capabilities. That would probably increase the price for features you haven't said you need.

Terry

Just to follow up on the thread. I contacted the manufacturer. The Royaltek 2300 has a MMCX port. The 2100 may have a port as well. The manufacturer said some versions of the model had the port while others did not.

The Royaltek site says the 2300 replaced the 2100 in 2006. It might be difficult to find a new 2100 these days with or without a mcx connector. Did you ask about the 2210?

Bluetooth GPS Receiver: RBT-2210/2200 Bluetooth GPS RoyalTek


Terry

Attached Images

External Antenna.jpg (227.5 KB)

The manufacturer said yes, the 2210 has a 3.0V input MMCX type active antenna connector.

Are you aware that the voltage specification has a significant impact? An active antenna requires power. It gets that power from whatever it is connected to. In this case, the 2210 unit will supply power at up to 3.0V DC to an active antenna when it is connected. This will have an impact on the battery life of the Bluetooth unit that it's connected to.

...ken...

Thanks for the heads up on that one. I didn't think of that. Fortunately I think I may have a solution. I plan on leaving it installed in the camper of my truck, which fortunately has its own 12 volt system connected to a battery, the truck alternator, and a solar panel. I'm thinking the majority of the time I will be using it will be while I'm driving so the alternator should cover that.

But your question does bring up a good point, do most external antennas basically perform the same? I was thinking of purchasing an external active GPS antenna.

I was planning on permanently mounting the antenna on the roof of the camper so I wanted something small that could handle extended direct sunlight and rain. The one above does say 100% waterproof but I'm not techie enough to understand the rest of the description, and therefore don't know if its "what I need". I don't know what I should be looking for in an external antenna. Any advice or experience with external antennas would be appreciated.

Just after I posted the comment above, I did a little googling and found the page below:

Active external GPS Antennas for Garmin, Magellan, & Navman | Gilsson Technologies

They have a list of "features" which I found useful when comparing antennas. Looks like active antennas are definitely something to look for. Signal gain is something to compare.

Before buying all these parts and building a complicated system with a variety of failure points, you should try the basics. Do you know for sure a USB GPS mounted on the dash would not meet your needs?

I did use a Garmin active antenna for quite a while and it was great. However, that was back in the days that I had a Garmin Street Pilot 3 and GPS technology has improved vastly since then. The BU-353 or MTKII based i-Blue GM2 might fulfill your needs without the complication and failure points inherent in the system you are trying to set up. And at a fraction of the cost.

Terry

Terry has a good point. While antenna gain versus electrical current draw are good measurements for evaluating the purchase of an external antenna, you really need to ask yourself if you need one.

Let's leave the question of antenna performance begging for a second and look at what you are trying to do: find your way from where you are to where you want to be. This does not need high accuracy or super strong GPS signals. It merely requires that you have adequate reception from three or more satellites. You need just enough accuracy for the navigation component of the software to determine which street/road/highway you are travelling on and roughly where on that road you are at the moment.

As Terry points out, a GPS receiver sitting on the dash will, in the vast majority of cases, get the job done, especially with current technology.

I have an external antenna that I use with my old tech Garmin iQue 3600. In many situations it makes the difference between receiving enough signals to get a location fix or not. It makes the iQue 3600 usable in far more situations than it would otherwise be.

By comparison to my Nuvi 765T, the external antenna makes the old tech iQue 3600 roughly equal to the Nuvi 765T with its internal antenna.

My external antenna is waterproof and magnetic so I could mount it on the outside of the vehicle. I almost never do. It lays on the dash up against the windshield, just where you would likely place a USB receiver for your laptop/netbook. That is sufficient for all but the most obscured locations .. deep canyons in the mountains.

For on-road navigation to get you to where you want to go, you do not need a high degree of accuracy. To illustrate again with my current toys .. my Nuvi 765T has a connector for an external antenna. Just for fun I have connected my external antenna to the Nuvi to see what happens. In all cases it increases the signal strength of the satellites it can already see. In some cases it will even add one or two more satellites that it couldn't grab onto without the external antenna.

In normal conditions here on the flat Canadian Prairies, connecting the external antenna to the Nuvi will pin the satellite signals at the max for all the satellites in view.

But it does not make one tiny bit of difference in getting me where I want to go. The Nuvi or the iQue 3600 will both still get me where I want to go as long as they can see at least three satellite signals of just sufficient strength to get a location fix. They don't even need to have the location fix continuously. As long as I'm travelling on a straight stretch of road and don't have an immediately impending turn, the fix can even be intermittent. It's all good as long as it has a fix during those periods preceding an upcoming turn so it can tell me about it.

If you have other uses, that may change things, of course.

...ken...

Just thought I'd finish off the thread. I ended up purchasing a used Holux GPSlim 236 on eBay (as recommended by someone on this thread) along with an external antenna. I installed the antenna on the roof of my camper and the receiver inside a cabinet in the camper. Everything works great.

I have to say I'm VERY impressed with the GPS chip in the GPSlim 236. I heard it was good but I am amazed at how fast it acquires signals (compared to the built-in GPS on my HTC Fuze phone). It's not even in the same ballpark - the receiver stays connected to satellites even when it is inside the cabinet...without the external antenna. Go figure!

The device easily connects to my laptop via Bluetooth so I think I'm good to go. Thanks for all of the tips and advice.

Now onto my next challenge....figuring out how to get the fuze to use the holux gps receiver.