I had emailed three GPS vendors for help with my problems. After nearly a week, I've had no response from Nextar, so it's just as well I returned their GPS unit.
Over the weekend, I asked DeLorme: I have an Earthmate GPS. I am wondering if you have a way of connecting it to the Palm TX -- either through an adapter cable or via BlueTooth. Allen replied:
"Unfortunately not since it is designed to be used with a lap-top. Our Bluelogger receiver (link enclosed) will offer you a solution."
Well, that answer wasn't quite accurate, as I explained when I wrote back: I purchased the Earthmate GPS several years ago, because it worked with the Palm III. The package included an adapter cable for the Palm III, as well as Solus Pro software that ran GPS and mapping software on the Palm. The connector on the new Palm TX differs from the old Palm III, and I am wondering if you have the new adapter cable and/or software that supports the TX.
Allen replied immediately, "Unfortunately we no longer sell cables for this unit to adapt to a PDA. We no[w] only have a Bluetooth solution."
The advantage to Bluetooth is that it eliminates data cables and the need to purchase all kinds of adapter cables to handle differing connector types. (It still needs a power source, either through cables or batteries.) Heck, even the USB "standard" has six different connectors: rectangular, square, mini, and then male and female versions of each. The drawback is that Bluetooth makes non-Bluetooth devices obsolete, even those that still work perfectly well -- except for the lack of an adapter cable.
BTW, the DeLorme Earthmate uses a proprietary data stream, so you need to either purchase DeLorme-supported software and maps, or else purchase Yet Another Adapter that translate DeLorme-ese into standard GPS data coding.
I continue to hope to also hear from Garmin.
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