Trackaroo Trackmaster

Any BT GPS units suggested?

Thanks.
Maybe with bluetooth it would work better in pocket mode in the car.

Nothing with a magnetic mount or I guess I can secure it to my harness bar?

I have the BT-Q890 and have it mounted on the windshield, kind of behind the rear view using a small velcro square. The unit is extremely light and has no issues with this mounting solution. I like it because it's hidden. You can kind of see it in this photo from Saturday's autocross ...



Also, just to note, using the BT unit to set splits at autocross has proved to be much more accurate than the onboard unit. It will some times take a few seconds to find accuracy if the devices goes to sleep, but I could consistently get 7' accuracy with the BT unit while setting split markers.

Thanks. I'll get that fixed on the next release.

Jeff

I think Trackmaster is still a bargain compared to your other options for lap timing. But if you are unhappy with Trackmaster at anytime, I provide a money-back guarantee. Just email me and I'll refund your money.

Jeff

Same here.
Would I like a Traqmate? Sure.
For the few DEs and AXs I do a year, this suits me more than just fine.
I'll be paying for the addon once I buy an external GPS.

Edit: Just spent $300+ on brake pads. This is the least of my expenses.

I'm pondering the bigger Q818X. What would my mounting options be here? Would heavy-duty velco patches on the back work, or would they block a battery compartment, etc? Actually, is the back a battery compartment? I'd be concerned about that flying off in a corner if that's how it were attached...

FYI this is for a kart, so it needs to hold up to ~2 - 3Gs of lateral force.

:edit: Did a little googling and others are saying there's room on the back for a velcro patch on the 818x, and the heavy duty 3M velcro stuff I have should work a treat.

Hi All,

I cannot connect to my external Qstarz BT-Q890 GPS. Can anyone give me any hints?

I purchased the BT-Q890 to use with Trackmaster and purchased the Trackmaster GPS software too.

My HTC Incredible shows in my settings menu that I have paired with the QStarz device, but it reports "Paired but not connected." (Is this correct?) Then, in Trackmaster Settings I have set "GPS Mode: Bluetooth" and selected "QStarz GPS" as the device. In green it shows "Status: Ready" and "Device: Qstarz GPS".

Ultimately though, when I go back to the Start Session page for Trackmaster I get the warning "GPS Connection Failure: Unable to connect to your GPS. Would you like to change your settings or retry? Settings | Retry | Cancel".

Any ideas on how to fix this issue?

Thanks!

Here is what I tried:

1 Turn on bluetooth on my phone (internal gps is off).
2 Turn on the Qstarz GPS, put it into 5hz mode.
3 Launch the Trackaroo BT GPS Service.
4 Have Trackaroo BT GPS Service try to connect to my GPS. Get Error "Connection Failure: Unable to connect to your GPS." (At this point my Qstar has the flashing green X for 5hz mode and a solid orange GPS indicator light.)
5 Try to connect again and again, same error.
6 Pressed and held the button on the Qstar for 2 seconds, turning off 5hz mode. Indicator lights turned to solid blue for BT (meaning it is pairing) and solid orange for GPS.
7 Tried to reconnect - failure.

It is clear that the Qstarz is listening to the phone, because it gets waken up from sleep (it shows solid blue for BT and solid orange for GPS) whenever Trackaroo BT GPS Service tries to connect, but the connection never succeeds.

MM, are you running it with the switch on 5hz mode? On mine once I switch it there it seems to disable Bluetooth for some reason, but after I updated it via USB it's in 5hz even when the switch is on normal, or at least that's what the BT GPS service reads it as.

I'm guessing yes, but to be safe: did you pair the GPS with the phone first by going into Settings -> Wireless -> Bluetooth Settings -> and "Scan for Devices?"

Your phone should be able to see the device and add it to the list of devices, but it won't pair to it. Once it's added you should then be able to see it from the BT utility app.

Ahh, sorry, you did say that above and I missed it.

I see the same "Paired but not connected" but once bringing it in to the BT app it's recognized immediately. This is on a Droid, though.

Sucks regardless

Have any friends with Android or Windows Mobile devices you could try it out on?

So I went to the Verizon store and I believe it is the HTC Incredible that is at fault. Here is what we tried.

1) (Pass) Connected my BT-Q890 to the store's Motorola Droid and used Googoo's "Bluetooth GPS" to successfully talk to the BT-Q890.
2) (Pass) Connected via bluetooth my HTC Incredible to the store's Motorola Droid and initiated a file between phones. We did not run the file transfer to completion but the communication appeared successful.
3) (Fail) We paired my BT-Q890 to a second HTC Incredible unit owned by the store. Googoo's "Bluetooth GPS" could NOT connect to the BT-Q890.

I think this indicates that in general my HTC Incredible can use its Bluetooth, but that it has a specific problem with the BT-Q890. It also suggests that all HTC Incredibles might fail to work with the QStarz GPS units.

I wonder if HTC changed the implementation of the Bluetooth stack for Sense UI. Here is one thread that suggests HTC did such a thing for the HTC Desire, which I think is closely related to the Incredible (link). They might have disabled Serial Port Protocol (SPP) in their Bluetooth stack, and I think that the BT-Q890 communicates using SPP.

Here are the Bluetooth protocols that the manual says the HTC Incredible supports: Bluetooth® 2.1 with FTP/OPP for file transfer, A2DP for wireless stereo headsets, and PBAP for phonebook access from the car kit. No mention of SPP, which is what I think the GPS uses...right?

A question: are there any newer 5hz GPS units that communicate via a different Bluetooth protocol? Maybe a different unit/protocol would be able to connect to the Incredible?

Otherwise I might need to wait for someone to root the Incredible so that I can use the Nexus One BT stack.

Thanks for the follow-up and sorry to hear the bad news. Not sure why HTC decided not to support the SPP profile. As you pointed out, the bluetooth SPP profile is used to communicate with many types of devices including other phones. Hopefully, they will support this in the near future.

Jeff

Unfortunately, all the bluetooth GPS receivers use SPP (serial) profile for communication. SPP is also used by gamepads (game controllers) and some phone-to-phone communication (multi-player games). It's too bad HTC isn't doing more to support SPP.

Jeff

I'm still monitoring M M's post on the HTC forum. Someone has gone as far as to say that HTC is running an early 2.1 build and not the same as the Nexus One (or Droid). So maybe we can hope that there will be an update from HTC in the near future.

M M's Bluetooth HTC Forum Post

Jeff

Sorry, the 818X can't connect via USB to your HTC. HTC needs to fix their bluetooth stack. I'm pretty confident that they will fix it, but not sure when. I suggest contacting HTC to hopefully get them to work quickly.

HTC Support Email


Jeff

Give me a couple days and I'll let you know. I'm trying to get my hands on a HTC 4G EVO. It's a little difficult since they are apparently sold out.

Jeff

Any update on the Evo?

Awesome, thanks for the info!! I'll order one right now

Any diff between the 818 and 890?

It sounds like the Droid Incredible is getting an OTA update right now. I'm hoping bluetooth fixes are included. It also includes some new features.

Droid Life

Jeff

The European HTC Hero/Eris received the 2.1 update just recently (couple months after USA) and bluetooth GPS works with it. I'm guessing this USA update will include those same bluetooth SPP fixes.

The HTC Incredible update didn't happen, but it sounds like it was delayed a couple weeks to include the full Froyo update. A couple weeks delay is worth getting Froyo.

Boy Genius Report

Jeff

I sure hope this isn't true. I order the GPS a couple days ago and then I stumble upon this. I will have an update on as soon I receive the unit. If it doesn't work I will have one FOR SALE.

The US Eris received an OTA update last week. Did that affect the issue any?

I would be happy to test it, but the Eris I have is connected to my Wife's Google account so I'd need to DL the BT GPS application again.

Has anyone had a chance to try BT GPS on the new Motorola Droid X? I might get that phone if I knew it worked for Trackmaster's external GPS mode.

Verizon is rolling out Android 2.2(Froyo) to the HTC Incredible. I'm hoping the bluetooth issue is fixed with this release. Since bluetooth works fine with the HTC EVO (Froyo, too), I think there is a pretty good chance that the Incredible will work now.

Verizon Release Doc

Jeff

Quick Q:

i have somepalm GPS recievers which work with older Treo phone by Bluetooth.

They look similar to the external GPS shown in your posts.

Inside its BlueTooth 1.2 Compliant
FCC ID 08F238BBT GPS

Model 180-10242-00

Would this standalone GPS reciever work with the DROID phones APP?

TIA!
-Scott

Do you have any experience (or heard anything about) the QStar BT-818XT? It's only $10 more than the 818X and offers 10hz sampling. Can TrackMaster handle it? Has anyone acheived 10hz sampling?

Thanks,
Mike LaGrasta (on a Nexus One)

See this thread:

http://trackmaster.trackaroo.com/forums/-/message_boards/message/27337

Jeff

I've gotten the HTC Incredible on Verizon with OS 2.2 working with the QStar 818XT. No issues getting is connected, similar results to what some others have posted, TrackMaster records timings every 0.1 seconds for several readings, then takes a 0.5 second break and starts again at 0.1 intervals.

Yes, the Qstarz BT-Q1000XT will also work with Trackmaster.

Jeff

Check out this link:

http://trackmaster.trackaroo.com/forums/-/message_boards/message/43483

Jeff

You shouldn't have any issues. Some racers had issues on the older generation Android phones, but all the latest phones work great. The Motorola Atrix is a one of the best phones and will work great.

Jeff

The problem is due to the reliability and the accuracy of the internal phone GPS. This varies by manufacturer. You may be able to improve your results by improving the mounting - make sure you have a clear view of the sky and don't place the phone so that it's obstructed by metal or other interference.

More:
http://trackmaster.trackaroo.com/forums/-/message_boards/message/43483

Jeff