Emtac Crux Bluetooth GPS Receiver (part I)

This is a review that has had a long gestation time.

It’s been several months in the planning, several weeks in the making and several days in the testing. And you can read it in just several minutes. Such is the life of an Editor...

Was all this work worthwhile? You bet!

The Emtac Crux Bluetooth GPS Receiver is the very best – and most expensive – GPS we’ve reviewed to date.

Share my excitement and read about it here.

Regular readers know that I applaud solutions to messy wiring, particularly in vehicle or aircraft environments. And I’m all for “user friendliness” and simplicity.  Sometimes these things go together and sometimes they are conflicting objectives. I’ve written before about the level of complexity that bluetooth technologies bring with them at present (see for instance my review on EPoX).

You will read how the Emtac scores on this point.

More importantly, you’ll be informed on how good a receiver it is and whether it is value for your money.

Let’s go and find out!

First up: my thanks to Peter Girgis from AusNavigation (www.ausnav.com.au) who made the Emtac available for review. The unit I received from him didn’t come in a retail box but he supplied some scanned images so that you will know what to expect when you get one.

This is what you’ll find inside the box:

1. the GPS receiver

2. a nice leather case with belt clip

3. a lightweight AC charger with US prongs

4. an Australian AC adapter (power adapters will vary according to country)

5. a 12V-24V vehicle charger with USB connector and cable

6. manual on CD.

What do we notice first about the receiver? The “Wireless GPS” as they call it (remember the days when radio was called the “wireless”? Of course you don’t!) is diminutive.

Look at the comparison with my Nokia and iPAQ.

Perfect to place in an unobtrusive spot on your dash. Just don’t forget to take it with you after the trip if it is not your vehicle!

The unit sits securely on the dash, held in place by two non-slip rubber pads.

On the side you can plug in an external antenna of the MCX type. Even though you would not need an extra antenna in most cases, it’s still comfortable to know you have the option.

An external antenna was not supplied but I thought I’d test it with the antenna that came with the Rikaline GPS-6020, a CF based receiver which will be next in line for reviewing. It looked like it had the right MCX type connector, but no, just slightly different! Arggh! Standardisation is not a bad word in my household!

On the business end of the receiver you’ll find the charger jack, the On/Off switch and three LEDs which give you all the info you need about its status.

• Blue – 1 blink per second: Listening for a Bluetooth connection

• Blue – 1 blink every 2 seconds: Connected to another Bluetooth device

• Green – Constant: Obtaining a GPS Fix

• Green – Blinking: Has obtained a GPS Fix

• Red/Orange - Red: Low Power -  be prepared to recharge the unit

• Red/Orange - Orange Constant: Charging the unit

• Red/Orange - No light: Battery is fully charged

I switched on the unit after having fully charged it overnight. More about charging later.

The middle green light was on constantly, seeking a GPS fix while the blue LED blinked every second, seeking a partner. Frankly, it makes more sense to have the GPS status light blink when seeking and constantly on when a fix has been established. It’s counter-intuitive this way as a blinking light seeks attention. I have noticed this with other GPS receivers as well.

Similarly, the blue LED should just be on and not blinking when a connection has been made. Anyway, I placed the unit on my window sill where I have the worst possible view of the satellite constellations and went to make a cup of coffee. When I returned the receiver was “on the blink” but in this case it meant that it was working! (see what I mean about a blinking light giving the wrong indication?)

Well, that was a good omen as with other receivers it was impossible to get a fix through that window.

I took the unit to the verandah where I have an unobstructed view of the northern sky. That’s the best part of the sky for us down under where you’ll get most of the sats.

Quick acquisition followed as expected. I shielded the receiver with my hand. Not surprisingly the fix was lost. Then I started wondering: how come the signal still comes through a heavy layer of rain clouds which also should act as a shield of sorts? There’s still so much about GPS that I don’t know yet even though I use it daily…

Now it was time to install the software.

On the disk were two programs, Crux View and a short Word document describing the install process. If this is all there is as far as supporting documents then it is a bit thin on the ground. But maybe that’s all that’s needed, in which case: great! The simpler the better.

One comment I must make: I’m a stickler for using grammatically correct English and even though English is my second language too, I feel that some companies should go to the effort of having someone well-versed in English go through company documentation so that it doesn’t look like it came straight from a BabelFish translation. Emtac’s manual is quite readable but can do with an editor’s hand to make the instructions absolutely clear.

Let’s follow the steps in the Installation Guide.

1. Turn on the BTGPS and the Bluetooth (BT) radio on your PDA

2. Click on BT Manager and on Search. My BTGPS was immediately found!

3. Check and save it

4. Click OK and an icon of the BTGPS appears in the All Devices Folder. This icon was just a big yellow question mark because the receiver is still unclassified. I don’t know what that means but we’ll no doubt find out.

5. Clicking on the icon gives us more information and tells us that the device is not “bonded” yet.

6. So we select Actions and Connect to Serial Port. Nothing happens so I try again and now I get a “connected to serial port” message. The device is still not bonded and this is where the instructions let you down because later on they say that the steps are: Pair your BTGPS, Make a serial port connection and then open the right COM port for your application

7. Back to BT Manager and back to Actions to Create Bond with this Device

8. It requests a pin code. I select 1111 (that’s not my ATM code!)

9. Get the message: “Unable to exchange passkeys”. Great. Now what? Where’s the help file??

10. There are no other possible actions than to remove this device and start again. This time I’ll try to bond before making the serial port connection. But even this procedure leaves me stranded…

I then happened to read someone else’s experience on connecting where he mentioned you need to use “0183” as the pin code!

Works like a charm but where’s the documentation for that?

Okay, the device is now bonded but it still is “unclassified”. Usually, words with “un-“ denote that something is not quite the way it should be and I feel, um, uncertain about it…

Now the next hurdle, the CRUX II GPS view software.

The Installation guide says: “Copy the execution file to your PDA and run”.

Simple enough. But when I click on the Position tab after ensuring that I have a fix, my position seems to be the North Pole!

Well, it turns out that you have to really be careful that the port connection has been made, the port is set to COM8 and baud level at max 38400. Not all that simple but once it works, it rocks!

I noticed that the use of Crux View made my iPAQ hang every time after about 10 minutes. Why, I don’t know but it is a nuisance to have to reset every time. It’s not that you need to use this piece of software all the time, but still…

I have a good signal from 6 to 8 sats from a window with an obstructed view of the sky, the Venetian blinds are drawn and I put a piece of paper on top of the receiver!

Talking about handicapping the unit. This is fun. I put a heavy book on the Emtac. I gained two sats! Incredible! I don’t know why my earlier test, where I shielded the unit with my hand, had a different result.

Moved it 1 meter away from the window. Still 4 – 5 sats.

Moved it 2 meters away. The strain is beginning to show. The 4 or 5 sats show not more than 35% signal strength.

Three meters in and after a valiant effort all colour in the bars has bled away…

A magnificent piece of kit!

A word about battery life and charging.

I tested the Emtac (which by the way is also branded as a Socket BTG

PS) for endurance. The official word is you’ll get at least 6 hours working life out of a full charge. That’s a decent length of time – probably better than your average PDA – and that’s exactly what I got. Six hours and then the red light came on for only a few minutes before everything faded to black… That really is too short a notice, especially as you normally have no idea how much juice is in the battery.

Over several test cycles the most I got out of it was 6 hrs and 20 mins.

Charging the internal Li-Ion battery takes about 90 minutes from mains even when the unit is in use. The same figures apply for charging from a USB port and from the vehicle adapter.

So you see: plenty of options and the really good thing is that your iPAQ can be charged with the same equipment and vice versa (same voltage, same plug). Good thinking, Emtac!

The unit does not come with any mapping software, so for my initial testing I fell back on Control Vision’s AnywhereMap (AWM) which I normally run with their Sentinel (Haikom) CF GPS. That unit works beautifully with the external antenna but the power drain on my PDA means I need to have it connected nearly all the time. Wires going everywhere!

I’m looking forward to having a clean setup in the cockpit and in my car and hopefully also a longer battery life on the PDA.

Later on I will test the unit also with OziExplorer but I feel this warrants a separate review when I will also test drive or rather test fly some digital aviation maps as provided by Aviation Computing.

Making AWM recognize the BTGPS was not difficult but with the growing popularity of bluetooth receivers I hope Control Vision will put that choice on the menu for their next release. Otherwise people will have to guess which category matches their receiver and which port to use.

Keep in mind that you need to select COM8 on AWM as well as 19200 baud.

Once that was sorted out the Emtac responded with an immediate fix right there where I built my office years ago!

So far so good. In subsequent initial tests in car and aircraft the unit performed flawlessly.

In Part II of this review I will go into greater detail with more screenshots of the actual drives and flights. I’m still waiting for a good vehicle navigation program for the Antipodes. Australia hasn’t been blessed with a choice of good vehicle navigation programs like TomTom or Mapopolis but there is a good one coming my way soon, I’m told.

For now, we have enough information to round up this Part I with the following observations.

PRO

·        Wireless connection

·        Exceptional reception

·        No external antenna needed in most cases

·        Decent operating time (6 hours)

·        Multiple GPS applications can be open at the same time (more on this in next review)

·        Lots of options to recharge

·        Commonality with iPAQ charging needs

·        Set the standard for BT GPS receivers

CON

·        Price is still fairly high (with other brands rapidly introducing their BTGPS models prices may come down a bit)

·        Little warning on battery time remaining

·        Installation still too fiddly (inherent to present BT technology)

·        Crux View software somewhat buggy (could be just the BT Manager on my iPAQ though)

Excellent receiver that has broken new ground for this technology.

If you want to minimise wiring mess, or just the very best satellite reception, this is the one to buy!

In Australia you can buy one at  www.ausnav.com.au  for AUD$699 and
the optional (recommended) USB/Car Charger is another $30.

If you want to comment give me holler on editor@pocketpcreviews.net

I appreciate your feedback.

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