Cheap GPS

[xdajunkman]

I purchased the following unit from Amazon for $17:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E336YK

I had few expectations given the price, but have been quite surprised. The thing paired with my Nook immediately right out of the box. The 'Bluetooth GPS' app (free from the Market) recognized and connected to the device on the first try. It did take about 10 minutes to get a GPS lock the first time I turned it on, but now takes less than two minutes each time I fire it up. Works great with Google Maps (tested with cached map tiles while driving) and Locus Pro (purchased from the Market). There is also no real range problem with the Bluetooth connection - I stuck the receiver on my windshield visor and had the Nook sitting in the passenger seat and maintained the Bluetooth connection.

I have only had it for two days, but am amazed at how well it has worked so far.
Just wanted to throw this out in case anyone is interested in uber-cheap GPS. Amazon seems to be out of these units, but you can find them for a comperable price elsewhere.

Cheers.

 

[tigersgt]

Any way to put the Nook Color on the windshield? I am interested in using it as a GPS also.

 

[iolinux333]

Seems your post has knocked them out of stock most everywhere, and others are raising their prices. I'd rather just get a Holux for a few dollars more with what they are trying to charge for these things now. I'm still going to just wait until I figure out how to make my WM6.1 phone, or my E71 symbian phone send out a bluetooth GPS signal that my Nook can find.

I purchased the following unit from Amazon for $17:



I had few expectations given the price, but have been quite surprised. The thing paired with my Nook immediately right out of the box. The 'Bluetooth GPS' app (free from the Market) recognized and connected to the device on the first try. It did take about 10 minutes to get a GPS lock the first time I turned it on, but now takes less than two minutes each time I fire it up. Works great with Google Maps (tested with cached map tiles while driving) and Locus Pro (purchased from the Market). There is also no real range problem with the Bluetooth connection - I stuck the receiver on my windshield visor and had the Nook sitting in the passenger seat and maintained the Bluetooth connection.

I have only had it for two days, but am amazed at how well it has worked so far.
Just wanted to throw this out in case anyone is interested in uber-cheap GPS. Amazon seems to be out of these units, but you can find them for a comperable price elsewhere.

Cheers.

 

[Divine_Madcat]

Any way to put the Nook Color on the windshield? I am interested in using it as a GPS also.

I bought this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004M8ST36/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

and
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00161YS8M


The combo works great. I bought some velcro patches that you can stick on things, and so i have the GPS mounted to the back of the holder, with the Nook obviously fitting in the front. This keeps the GPS inches away from the nook (while maintaining a clear sky view), preventing any BT range issues. I use it with CoPilot live, and it works perfectly (oh, and the Bluetooth GPS app from the market).

I will try to get a photo tonight for ya'll...

 

[xdajunkman]

Seems your post has knocked them out of stock most everywhere, and others are raising their prices. I'd rather just get a Holux for a few dollars more with what they are trying to charge for these things now. I'm still going to just wait until I figure out how to make my WM6.1 phone, or my E71 symbian phone send out a bluetooth GPS signal that my Nook can find.

Goodness your right...price jacked up everywhere. Can't find one for less than about $30 shipped anymore. Bummer. I also tested this with Copilot and it works great. I am most impressed with the Bluetooth range...I can put the receiver just about anywhere and still keep the connection to the nook.

Regarding your WM phone...I have an old WM 6.5 Standard (i.e. non-touchscreen) phone and spent a long time trying to get this to work. I could not find any way to make it fly, but there are some free programs out there for older touchscreen WM phones that will allow GPS data output over BT or Wifi. Getting the nook to connect will be the tricky part. Just look around and you will find what you need to give it a go.

 

[iolinux333]

Goodness your right...price jacked up everywhere. Can't find one for less than about $30 shipped anymore. Bummer. I also tested this with Copilot and it works great. I am most impressed with the Bluetooth range...I can put the receiver just about anywhere and still keep the connection to the nook.

Regarding your WM phone...I have an old WM 6.5 Standard (i.e. non-touchscreen) phone and spent a long time trying to get this to work. I could not find any way to make it fly, but there are some free programs out there for older touchscreen WM phones that will allow GPS data output over BT or Wifi. Getting the nook to connect will be the tricky part. Just look around and you will find what you need to give it a go.

I've been giving it a go, believe me! But your post may have given me a clue... If you couldn't make it work either, I think I may know what the problem is. With my particular phone, I'm only able to output the signal over bluetooth through COM1: Everything else is used up. With the E71 symbian phone, I don't know which COM port is being used. I suspect that the bluetooth GPS software I've been trying on the Nook is only looking at a particular COM: port. If I could figure out how to make it look at some others, I suspect it would start receiving data on one of them.

 

[iolinux333]

I bought this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004M8ST36/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

and
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00161YS8M


The combo works great. I bought some velcro patches that you can stick on things, and so i have the GPS mounted to the back of the holder, with the Nook obviously fitting in the front. This keeps the GPS inches away from the nook (while maintaining a clear sky view), preventing any BT range issues. I use it with CoPilot live, and it works perfectly (oh, and the Bluetooth GPS app from the market).

I will try to get a photo tonight for ya'll...

I'm very interested in that pic if you ever take it!

 

[iolinux333]

I'm very interested in that pic if you ever take it!

BTW I'm trying to use GPS2Blue on my WM6.1 device. It looks like a very nice piece of software, I just wish the nook would see the signal it is putting out.

 

[tigersgt]

Thanks, got the mount!

Any recommendations on other bluetooth GPS receivers?

 

[xdajunkman]

BTW I'm trying to use GPS2Blue on my WM6.1 device. It looks like a very nice piece of software, I just wish the nook would see the signal it is putting out.

Strange...that is the program I thought would work for you. I tried it on my phone, but it does not work on non-touchscreen devices. It would be just too cool if you could get that working.

 

[fanofanne]

GPS2Blue did work on my windows 6.5 device. I remember on the Bluetooth GPS Provider on the nook. I switched to NMEA. Worked.

 

[iolinux333]

GPS2Blue did work on my windows 6.5 device. I remember on the Bluetooth GPS Provider on the nook. I switched to NMEA. Worked.

i would give you one million billion pretend dollars if you would explain how you did that. one million billion.

 

[victle]

If you have android phone, you can use it as a free Bluetooth GPS

On the phone:
- ShareGPS (for Android 2.2) or
- BlueNMEA (for CM7)
both are free in the Market

On the Nook:
- Bluetooth GPS (free)

Otherwise, you can use TetherGPS over wifi, costed $3 though.

 

[iolinux333]

If you have android phone, you can use it as a free Bluetooth GPS

On the phone:
- ShareGPS (for Android 2.2) or
- BlueNMEA (for CM7)
both are free in the Market

On the Nook:
- Bluetooth GPS (free)

Otherwise, you can use TetherGPS over wifi, costed $3 though.

I don't want an android phone until I can buy one of good quality from overseas that ATT can't recognize. There are plenty of cheap android phones out there in china, but they are all terrible quality. Right now my motorola WM6.1 has better voice quality than 99% of phones and that is most important to me.

 

[34Ford]

The thing paired with my Nook immediately right out of the box. The 'Bluetooth GPS' app (free from the Market) recognized and connected to the device on the first try.

Cheers.

Sounds to easy. I think there is more to this than just d/ling a free gps app to make the BT work, right?

 

[Divine_Madcat]

Sounds to easy. I think there is more to this than just d/ling a free gps app to make the BT work, right?

Nope. With a BT GPS, all you need is one of mnay free BT GPS apps, and you are good to go. In the Development settings, you do have to turn on "mock locations", but that is a one time deal and 5 seconds. One you fire up the app to connect to the receiver, the system receives location information as if the BT was built in.

 

[St1ck33]

Just tried it. Here's what I have:

Nook Color with Phiremod 5.3
- installed Bluetooth GPSProvider

Motorola Dext (Cliq), with adxlmod (I think) - Android 2.1
- installed ShareGPS

Everything paired and I got the Nook to display my location correctly. I'm still at work, so not driving anywhere, but will give it a shot later.

I don't have data on my phone, so I might have to get copilot live to actually be useful.

 

[Calla969]

I wouldn't jump on CoPilot Live just yet. I downloaded it yesterday after hearing about several people running it on their Nooks. Apparently the new version has introduced a problem with tablets without an IMEI number. I emailed tech support and they said that they hope to have a fix by early next week. I'd wait until then to download the app. As soon as I receive the update and can confirm that it's working, I will post it, but right now it won't work unless you still have an older version.

 

[BikeAR]

Use GPS2Blue or Flash Android!

BTW I'm trying to use GPS2Blue on my WM6.1 device. It looks like a very nice piece of software, I just wish the nook would see the signal it is putting out.

I successfully used GPS2Blue on my AT&T Tilt (HTC Kaiser) years ago and connected it to a Nokia 770 and a Motion LE1600 Win tablet. I seem to recall that I had to try different COM ports in Tilt/GPS2Blue until it would work. Unfortunately, I now have Android flashed on the Tilt or I would try it for you.

I flashed Android to the SIM-less Tilt just so that I could use it as a remote GPS with my NC!

Good luck!

 

[St1ck33]

I wouldn't jump on CoPilot Live just yet. I downloaded it yesterday after hearing about several people running it on their Nooks. Apparently the new version has introduced a problem with tablets without an IMEI number. I emailed tech support and they said that they hope to have a fix by early next week. I'd wait until then to download the app. As soon as I receive the update and can confirm that it's working, I will post it, but right now it won't work unless you still have an older version.

Cool thanks for the heads up. I'm in no rush anyway.