Windows Phone Thoughts: IOGear Bluetooth GPS with Navigation Software System - Outstanding Gear for the Traveler

Loading by City
When loading by city, you actually get to choose the radius around the city, so you can get as much or as little of the "suburbs" as you want.


Figure 5: Loading maps by City.

Loading by Region
By choosing to load a region, you actually get to load entire states. This makes life much easier, since you don't need to know exactly what area you need, you just grab all of the area. Simply click on the state or states you want and everything in them is transferred.


Figure 6: Loading maps by Region.

I loaded up the system with Ohio, Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia, and together they took up about 165 MB. Not bad, really. However, if I tried to push that across an ActiveSync connection, I might be able to walk to my destination faster. The software knows this and allows me to load this information onto my SD card directly. After I loaded up my Pocket PC with the software and maps, I had to connect to the GPS receiver unit.

This is a Class 2 Bluetooth unit, which means that it has about a 30 foot range. My car isn't really that big, but it also means that I get a good, strong connection. Just starting up the software will direct my Pocket PC connect to the GPS Receiver unit... no hassles with pairing, no fuss. When this is set, the software changes to map mode, and my location is shown on the map. The GPS Receiver unit itself is fairly large, but lightweight, and it has 3 LEDs; GPS connection, Bluetooth connection, and charging. I kind of wish that is would clue me in on battery status, but IOGear claims that that the battery is good for 25 hours of use. I wasn't able to check it for that long, but it did last a serious amount of time. The unit is powerful enough that I was able to wear it on the lanyard and have it operate with no problems while driving.

As with other GPS systems, once you have the map information and have made your GPS connection, you select your start point (or let your GPS input it) and then your destination, and BAM! the software figures out your route.