GPS gremlins

[Dunerunner]

G'day

I have a HP PDA with a built in Garmin GPS and Tom Tom 6 and other stuff. I also have Natmap 2008 running in Oziexplorer on an SD card.

The unit has been running fine for 16 months and has now developed a gremlin whereby it loses GPS signal on occasions. There is no fixed loss time as it is random. I am a tad annoyed at having paid close on $700 for the gear and now it won't work properly. Have spoken with the supplier who was quick to point out that the warranty had expired but asked me to send it back so that 'he' can look at it. I am happy to do that but on a previous occasion I had this particular person do some work on my laptop and it died soon afterwards.

I have a feeling that there may be a gremlin in the NMEA link between the GPS and Ozi.

Does anyone have ideas if there is a fix for this or where one could go looking on the net?

Cheers

Dunerunner

[Davidman]

Try putting a post on this site. They may be able to help if you have no luck elsewhere.

GPS Australia .:GPS Australia:.

[tom_cruiser_r63]

While I can not offer a direct solution to your problem I can suggest a work around if the inbuilt GPS is not repairable.
I assume your PDA has Bluetooth capability. If the repair fails, a work around could be to purchase a Bluetooth GPS and connect to your PDA that way.

I have a PDA (HP Ipaq HX4700) set up and use a GlobalSat BT338 Bluetooth GPS for Tom Tom and OziExplorer software. The GPS cost around $120.

Tom

[billolga]

I have a TOMTOM XL that would not lock on to ANY SAT! - I did the usual Google & found out that if I did a RESET it would fix the problem.

ARE!!! - But there is NO RESET BUTTON! - The answer for the TomTom was to press the On/Off button while it was On AND DON'T LET GO even when the thing turned off.

After around 30 seconds it came back on RESET with everything WORKING!

GOOGLE & also try the Forum at GPS AUSTRALIA GPS Australia - powered by vBulletin

[Dunerunner]

Thanks for the feedback and the Bluetooth advice.

Cheers

[hazza]

Originally Posted by Dunerunner

I am a tad annoyed at having paid close on $700 for the gear and now it won't work properly. Have spoken with the supplier who was quick to point out that the warranty had expired

Ring him back and ask if he is aware of his obligations under statutory warranty (also know as a implied warranty), explain that statutory warranty IS NOT the same as manufacturer express warranty.

Let him know that the small claims court would most ceratinly agree that a $700 GPS unit would be expected to last more than the 16 months you have had it.

BTW Look at the "fit for purpose" trade practices act section for more consumer rights surprises.

[bmurray2250]

Hazza, that is very useful information

[hazza]

Originally Posted by bmurray2250

Hazza, that is very useful information

Yeah most people think that once the express warranty has run out on their $4,000 50 inch plasma flat screen TV that they have to pay for it to be repaired themselves.

Expecting a GPS unit that cost $20 off ebay to last more than a week would probably be too much. The staturtory warranty has many factors that effect the length of expected service but only getting 16 months from a GPS unit that cost $700.... I would expect it to be well within reasonable bounds.

[Dunerunner]

Well...............I logged on to GPS Australia and trid to register only to find that I am already registered there. Had forgotten password and try to reset password and things went downhill from there...LOL I cannot be bothered with sites that are over enthusiastic about logging on or off.

Hazza.....Thanks for the warranty info

The seller of the equipmet has offered to work on the PDA as a favour. ATM however the bloody GPS is working again...so who knows? I did actually reset the PDA this morning as Ozi would not open. After that it worked fine. But I have reset it in the past will no result. Its weird.

Thanks for all the suggestions

Cheers

[Brisey]

When the GPS drops out are you under tree cover or between buildings? Depending on the chipset used in the GPS it may be affected by objects blocking a clear view of the satelites.

You can check if the NMEA data is being interupted by opening the display NMEA input screen in Ozi from the Map menu if there is a continuos scrolling of information when it drops out then the connection is OK.

Cheers

Bri