Bluetooth GPS

[BonesD]

Hello, I’m looking at buying a Bluetooth GPS as a backup for the onboard Garmin.
I bought the Garmin Glo but was unsuccessful in getting it to complete pairing with my windows based lap top using Coastal Exp.
I asked the CE folks and they said people have had a lot of luck with the Dual Electronics XGPS150A Anyone had good luck with this unit?
Thanks

 

[fgarriso]

I would prefer to use wired connections is at all possible. I spent 20 years working on industrial wireless installations. The one thing it taught me was to ALWAYS use wired if possible.

 

[DCDC]

We have been using a Dual Bluetooth GPS for Aquamap on an IPad. Working well for two years. I keep it near a pilot house window on USB power 24/7. Range is somewhat limited. Reaches fly bridge and main cabin but not the aft cabin. I like redundancy for key devices so we also run Coastal Explorer with a Global USB puck on a PC and an old Raymarine chart plotter with it’s own GPS. I leave Aquamaps on at anchor for the anchor alarm function. Snapshot of 10 days at current anchorage with a couple of cold front’s passing through.

All three become confused occasionally so I would not use them to control an autopilot.

 

[Steve91T]

I use Bad Elf and it works great. I connect my phone and iPad via Bluetooth running aqua maps. Works great

 

[BonesD]

Thanks all. I went ahead and ordered the dual Bluetooth gps and for twenty bucks more ordered the Vfan USB GPS FOR even more redundancy. I’m hoping between these and the Garmin I can find my way to a bar with ice cold beer.
Thanks

 

[Olebird]

Couple of things - normally I prefer wired, semi permanent installs for critical systems and back ups - on Starlite I have a little overkill - The VHF has a built in GPS receiver, as does the 942 Garmin, along with the legacy 545 Garmin Map


- but I also carry a Tablet/map running various maps driven by a Bluetooth GPS receiver. I use it as primary in my truck and backup in the airplane GlobalSat BT-821 Bluetooth GPS Receive



I've found the bluetooth in my laptop is difficult to pair with almost anything. So I added a bluetooth dongle that works much better running BT 4.0. You might want to add a dongle - your garmin will likely pair with it. Worth a try - they are inexpensive.

 

[BonesD]

I will look in to the dongle, thanks.

 

[kmacdonald]

I have a Garmin Glo2 and it works great with my ipad and samsung galaxy phone. The ipad runs Time Zero.

I also have a Windows tablet with OpenCPN and a USB GPS. The ipad and Time Zero is much better.

 

[William983]

I have the dual 150, and 170.
They pair well with my iPad. I use the 170 in my plane. It receives weather in the air, but not on the water.

 

[Chiprtom]

I use Bad Elf and it works great. I connect my phone and iPad via Bluetooth running aqua maps. Works great

. Hi Steve. Can you please tell me if the bad elf when connected to the ipad running aqua maps is automatically linked? I have paired the two but just curios it there is a setting in aqua maps to recognize the bad elf.

 

[PennBruce]

I had the same problem with the Garmin Glo. it pairs but won't stay connected.

I'm looking for a solution to an Android 11 problem with Navionics software. Android 11 will only permit Navionics to access location when using the app, not all the time. Navionics won't work for navigation with this permission. I want to try an external GPS to see if it will solve this.

Navionics running an Android tablet will be my backup navigation system if I can solve this location problem.

Bruce