Educate me.... (sat nav)

[Assegai]

What use is Bluetooth exactly when using a TH55 as a sat nav device? I've seen numerous statements mention it but can't work out what the hell use it would be....

Thank you,
-Ally

[Aces]

The TH-55 has a big color screen and the ability to run Palm OS programs on it. If you had a GPS device that Had a small or monochrome screen, but also had Bluetooth, you could pair the two (assuming you have a non-us version of the TH-55). I believe there's a solution involving TomTom's software. But I've never played with this type of functionality. My TH-55 doesn't have BlueTooth. And I'd rather buy a dedicated GPS unit to do Satellite Navigation.

[Assegai]

The TH-55 has a big color screen and the ability to run Palm OS programs on it. If you had a GPS device that Had a small or monochrome screen, but also had Bluetooth, you could pair the two (assuming you have a non-us version of the TH-55). I believe there's a solution involving TomTom's software. But I've never played with this type of functionality. My TH-55 doesn't have BlueTooth. And I'd rather buy a dedicated GPS unit to do Satellite Navigation.

The TH55 also has a GPS receiver and car cradle available for it. If you ran GPS or sat nav software on the TH55 wouldn't this negate the need for a paired GPS device entirely?

[sgosnell]

The big advantage is that you can get a dumb bluetooth GPS receiver rather cheaply, and connect it to the handheld via bluetooth, and not have any wires to worry about. You can also connect a charger while it's running, to keep it going on long trips. The GPS can be located wherever you like, the handheld anywhere within view, and there are no wires to get in the way. You can certainly buy a cradle, but a bluetooth GPS is cheaper, and will run on its own battery for many hours, so you don't need to keep it plugged in, taking up space in the power outlet. All this assumes the handheld has bluetooth capability, of course.

[laolita]

Yup - that is what I use. A small Haicom HI-406BT GPS receiver in my jacket pocket and my TH55 in my breast pocket - running Pathaway. The TH55 is a bit cpu challenged once you start to change map scales and switch in and out of Pathaway but it works fine while you are just recording a track. Battery life of the TH55 is probably 2-4 hours when using Pathaway with the screen blanked (though my TH55 is far from new so the battery is probably not at 100%).

The Haicom can also pair with my Nokia N80i using Nokia maps but it doesn't provide me with a nice little track showing where I have just been.