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Has anybody used a Bluetooth GPS with an iPad2 wifi so that Tides and Charts Navionics software works?
The iPad wifi only has no built in GPS. I have read what the geeks say and there are lots of Bluetooth GPSs out there that "work" with the iPad. I am looking for first hand experience that it works.
Yes, there are lots of bluetooth GPS that work. The one I hear about the most is the Bad Elf Bluetooth Receiver.
What I will be doing is a bit different. I've been able to get all my instruments repeating to my helm that is running OpenCPN. I think if I can find a NMEA deamon, I'm going to put the NMEA stream on the network as a TCP connection. Then use iNavx to tap into that stream on the iPad.
I have the Ipad 2 with 3G and, therefore, built in gps. However, I didn't trust that the gps receiver was going to work well when down below, so I bought a bluetooth receiver as well. I had thought this was the only one that worked with the Ipad, at least at the time.
When I turn it on, it works perfectly. Automatically synchs with no effort whatsoever. It is small, charges with no effort and comes with a suction cup holder to mount somewhere. The downside is that it can't get wet, although could easily be put in a waterproof bag, such as designed for cell phones. It also has a swipe to turn it on and off, like the ipad's confirmation swipe, no actually buttons. It is easily turned on and drained when in a bag. I have a 12v dc plug in the cockpit and usually just leave it plugged in when using it.
Rik, you got the info on what I believe is the only Bluetooth GPS that will work with iOS - the Dual XGPS. A normal Bluetooth GPS will not work - it has to be a special one that Apple has approved. I don't know why this is necessary but you just can't use a normal Bluetooth GPS without Jailbreaking your phone/pad and I wouldn't suggest that any longer.
The Bad Elf was mentioned. That is a device that will work with an iPad but unfortunately, it is not Bluetooth. It is a device that plugs into the docking slot. That's not a bad solution for a boat since you'll probably be plugging in the iPad anyway.
If you are so inclined, jail breaking your iPad will allow you to use any bluetooth GPS once you install BTstackGPS. I had an old TomTom bluetooth GPS around so I didn't want to purchase a new one specifically for my non-3G iPad. It works fine, but annoyingly disconnects every time the iPad goes to sleep. Reconnecting only takes a few clicks, so it isn't the end of the world.
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