One of the most popular bluetooth GPS receivers from Taiwanese manufacturer Altina is the GBT-709 these days. With the prices of these devices getting lower and lower each day there’s no reason for you to not have one. You can pick up Altina GBT-709 for as low as $50.

Just like most other bluetooth GPS receivers Altina GBT-709 works by getting a location fix from the satellites and soon after sends that location notes (in NMEA0183 V2.2 format) to your handheld device via bluetooth. Bluetooth GPS receivers do not know how to get you from point A to point B. Therefore

you are going to need some sort of navigation software to pinpoint you on a map, or give you directions by making use of the street level mapping info it stores.

Let’s have a short look at the specs of GBT-709: First off it measures 69 x 50 x 19 mm which is not huge but we’ve seen slimmer ones. It uses the SiRF Star III GPS receiver chipset and has a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can last up to 12 hours. The receivers’s sensitivity is -175dBW and it can track upto 20 satellites at once.

Original post by Tim Robbins