New Toy: Bluetooth GPS

Welcome to 45° 28′ 18″ N, 122° 39′ 11″ W. I got a new toy this week, a [GlobalSat BT-338](http://www.globalsat.com.tw/english/products_detail.php?p_id=74) Bluetooth GPS unit. It is basically a matchbox-sized brick with a couple of LEDs, a GPS receiver, and Bluetooth radio.

It looks like it is all batter, with one that is supposed to last all day. It also seems to be more sensitive than my old Garmin GPS-12XL, and got a signal inside a building, in my pocket, in my bag, and under trees while raining, all places where the old receiver had problems. I had tried connecting my old receiver to my old Clie PDA through a serial cable but that wasn’t practical.

My Treo can connect to it by Bluetooth and programs can get their position. I have been using [Mapopolis](http://www.mapopolis.com/) for mapping, and [Cetus GPS](http://www.cetusgps.dk/) for general GPS routes and tracks. The routing and driving directions with Mapopolis seems to work well and it has the ability to reroute from the current GPS position.