DCONNEX DC-230 Bluetooth GPS

[edsub]

After looking for a wired GPS (just because of pricing) I found (&bought) this DCONNEX DC-230 Bluetooth GPS.

They sell for around 80 euros (ex 28 euros shipping).

It very complete:
BT GPS (charge/data-connector/ on-off switch / external antenna connector and three leds to check operation)
Charging cable (USB)
In-car charger (12-24V)
Mains charger (100-240V), US style
Mains adapters (three, but useless for me)
CD with manual

From the manual I found out this BT GPS is in fact a Rebadged Holux GR-230!!! This makes it even better.

Only drawback is that the case looks a bit cheap (well; it is cheap so what) and the connectors are not covered like they are with the Holux.

[Blaze_au]

I have one too.. works great.

I would recommend it.

[k_kirk]

May I ask where you bought the unit and how much you paid for it? Dconnex is a Singapore firm and the local pricing is way above the 80 euros mentioned above. Go figure! Thanks for the information.

[Blaze_au]

I picked mine up on Ebay, I brought it using EUR's as the auctions in other currencies had a reserve.

All up including deleivery I paid $149au which is about $87eur

A bargin I think.

[edsub]

I bought mine on eBay too: EUR 78 (EUR 28 for shipping/insurance must be added to that).
As far as I could see the lowest price until that moment :lol:
Of course the actual price depend on the popularity of a particular aution.
It costed me 2 days trying to get one for the price I had in mind.
The seller is called techworldsg (aka Jason Wong, the owner of DCONNEX)

[k_kirk]

Thanks for your replies. Given I am local to Jason, I will try to contact him and see if I can buy direct and avoid shipping and eBay waiting hassles etc. Will let you know how it goes. Regards

Update : After a search on the net I came accross an email address for the eBay supplier of this BT GPS unit... techworldsg@yahoo.com.sg . Seems like Dconnex website and their proper emails are not involved in eBay trading. Nevertheless, I sent an email and asked for a S$ based price... To my suprise, I was quoted S$590 which translates to about US$350.-... And that is self collect by the way! Unbelieavable. Seems like I will end up doing the eBay order after all.

[Blaze_au]

Yeah, I investigated importing a few to sell locally, the cost price was well above what I ended up paying on ebay.

[k_kirk]

I reckon what he sells on eBay goes out-of-band as far as local taxation is concerned and whatever he sells locally is legit business and pays taxes on etc and hence the higher price. This is the only reason I can think of for such a price hike...

[MikeHalleron]

Hi Guys,

Just got myself one of these. The unit seems to be working fine but the CD I got with it is cracked down the middle and unreadable. I have asked the supplier to resend the CD but that could take another 10 days from Singapore.

Questions:

How do I get TomTom 3 to work with it. This GPS doesn't seem to be on the list. What settings need to be in TomTom.

If a driver is required please could one of you kind people send it to me?

Thanks a lot.

Mike Halleron
(mike.halleron@btinternet.com)

[griffog]

For TomTom just configure the GPS as 'NMEAv0183@4800' and the relevant Com Port.

[edsub]

This is my config with this GPS:

(I use rom 1.72)
Bond the DC-230
PIN is 0000 (the manual is wrong on this!!)
Answer yes to the question to create a COM port to support Serial Port Profile

In TomTom
Select "NMEA xxxx Bluetooth" (in fact any NMEA or SiRF will do) in upper combo
Select "COM5" in lower combo (even better: "Bluetooth GPS", but that seem impossible for some of us, like me ;-(
Tick the blue-ish box

Off you go.

Beware: If you use COM5 keep in mind what is said in
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=11674&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

No driver required.
The manual is on cd as well, but rayher useless since our BT Stack is different from the widely used (and documented) Widcomm stack.

I could email the Cd contents to you.

[MikeHalleron]

Thanks for the replies guys. That seemed to do the trick.

It definately works better outside than inside.

Any suggestions about positioning it in a car? Does it have to be line of site or something?

Thanks again!

Mike

[edsub]

With me it works behind every window.
BUT:
It wont perform well behind a windscreen with heat-resistant coating
The beter the view of the sky is the better the performance. (ie behind windscreen or back-window get best results)

I have such a heat-resistant windscreen. On my windscreen there are two places (left & right of mirror) that are coating-free. I put my DC-230 inside a black plastic box and taped that on the windscreen just inside the coating free area. Work super. Plus the plastic box makes it invisible for possible thieves.

I also connected it to a permanent power lead which has the advantage that I constantly have a fix.