I've been watching the pricing of various GPS receivers that I can use with my N800. Wandering eBay, Froogle, etc.

I'd been focusing on the Holux GR236, but then just tripped over the Deluo Bluetooth GPS Lite. It looks like it's a discontinued model, but that only means that they're about to fire-sale away on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110086103666

At $45 shipped, it seems like a killer deal. Reviews on the net (from a couple of years ago) look pretty positive. That seller has 20 of them - I think I'm about to leave him with only 19.

These days you shouldn't buy a GPS unless it has a SiRF Star III chipset. The difference in sensitivity to other chipsets is very noticable. My own BT GPS (which doesn't have that chipset) is quite good, but it doesn't work behind certain types of glass, and in cities with narrow streets and tall buildings it can suddenly (incorrectly) direct my car nav. system to tell me to turn back..

GPS devices with the SiRF Star III chipset is so sensitive that the GPS can often be used indoors, and it has much less problems with city streets (or deep valleys). Edit: I believe that Holux you were looking at has this chipset. Other than that it should support NMEA 0183, most do.

So, you've had semi-negative experience with a different (unnamed) chipset, and read good things about the SiRF Star III. That strikes me as insufficient reason to advise people that it's the ONLY choice.

I have no direct experience with the SiRF Star III. Although it's the reference point for a lot of comparisons, online reviewers have found the MTK chip very competitive in performance metrics, possibly superior on multipath rejection, and a clear winner on power consumption. That could be the tie-breaker for a lot of buyers.

Probably the best known example is the i-Blue 737 (second generation), which has received positive reviews here and around the net. Looking further, the Qstarz BT-Q810 appears to be its twin, right down to the case, with identical specs.

Qstarz bumps it up another level with the BT-Q818, using a higher capacity battery and additional tweaks to extend run time. They also updated the case without changing its dimensions (72.2 x 46.5 x 20mm) or weight (64.7g w/battery).

I bought the BT-Q818 for $70. It works indoors. It works in the basement. It works downtown (Boston, I can't speak for Manhattan). It works behind tinted glass. Importantly, it works out of sight in the bin under my car's center armrest. It goes to sleep when I take my N800 out of range and wakes up when I bring it back.

Qstarz claims 32 hours of active use on a single charge, which seems credible so far. (I was well past 24 continuous hours when I needed to reboot my N800 for an unrelated reason and aborted the test.) Tracking in Maemo Mapper is spookily accurate. I'm very satisfied.

If the MTK chip is newer than the SiRF Star III then it could well be. When the mentioned SiRF chipset came out (not that long ago) it was just about the only game in town.

Hmmm... sounds like it may be a good thing that I ended up not getting th Delou. hmm...

fwiw... Here's a BT-Q818:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=200073316264


Thanks guys.

I'm back in wander mode now... What do you guys think of the conversation that happened here:

http://discussion.buygpsnow.com/foru...howThread.aspx

Basically, the question of the unit being rebranded?

Frankly, I don't know who is rebranding who, and neither do I care. Given how things work in Taiwan, it's equally possible that neither company is the originator, and the designs emanate from another anonymous entity. (Pure speculation on my part.)

But the buyGPSnow sales team did get their models mixed up, as noted further down the thread. The i-Blue 737 and Qstarz BT-Q810 are apparently equivalent, while the BT-Q818 adds the extra capacity battery and a new case that does not appear in the i-Blue lineup.

GpsPasSion found the 818's battery life slightly off spec (28+ hours, versus 32 advertised), but still disproportionately longer than the i-Blue 737 (23 hours) given the 10% increase in Li-Ion capacity. This supports the claim that the 818 is more than just an 810 with a battery upgrade:

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...TOPIC_ID=75868

Yup, that's the eBay seller I bought mine from. Less than 48 hours to ship from Western Canada to Eastern US, plus a favorable exchange rate.

I'm sure you're right. Things move fast in technology. Or maybe it's a relativistic thing, time dilating as I accelerate toward my own EOL... ;-)

As a follow-up and a "fwiw", I bought this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=170074414821

I'm VERY happy. As you guys have mentioned, the receiver works on the dash, in the ash tray, on the lower console - it even got a signal here at work in my no-window cube.

It's going to replace my standard "GPS Mouse" that I use in the truck.


Thanks all for the babble.