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Bill -
I bought a Motion 1400 package at Sun N Fun that included bluetooth WXWorx, BT GPS and several software packages. I believe the 1600 is a bit smaller than the 1400, and that is a plus, in my opinion. I love the 1400 as a computer. In fact, it is awesome and a lot of fun. Included was the cover that has its own built-in keyboard.
IMHO, the bluetooth is not ready for prime time. Rarely, have I turned on the computer and gotten bluetooth inputs as they have been advertised: to wit: Just boot up the software (WXWorx, Destination Direct Flight software and Streets and Trips), click on the "moving map button" and you're on your way. I have tried it on AC power in the house and several times in the airplane. The GPS is a Trine brand and is really a good piece of equipment. When you can get it bluetoothed to the tablet, it will run all three pieces of software. (BTW, it is neat to be able to see where you are on a road map whilst airborne). We are not flying yet, but compared to flying in a friend's airplane, the system reliability in a car seems to be better. I don't know why, but it is.
The major problem is that blue tooth implementation in a Windows XP based computer is complicated and, I believe, not very reliable. If you run a wireless network in your home, you have some idea of the complexity. It seems like everytime it boots, a setting changes or is blocked or disappears. It may well have something to do with all of the security fixes that Microsoft downloads and installs in your system.
Bluetooth is done through the Windows networking system and uses virtual serial ports for the BT feeds. WxWorx uses two - one for the GPS and one for the data receiver. As you know, there are lots of obscure settings in many layers of the Windows operating system. A major problem is if the signal between the BT transmitter and the tablet is interrupted for any reason, you have to recycle the transmitter off then on. And often, that does not seem to fix the problem. We have our WXWorx receiver back on the hatshelf of our ES. Great location, but we had to wire a switch up forward so we could cycle the cigarette lighter power jack.
I have had to call the vendor several times for tech support and on three occasions, we had to reinstall the BT serial ports from scratch. That makes an airborne problem with the system almost unsolvable - time and safety wise. Microsoft has its own BT software, but the vendor feels that it is not as reliable and robust as the one they use. I may delete their BT software and try using Microsofts. It may not be better, but knowing Microsoft, it works better with XP.
The Motion 1400 BT receiver used to be on whenever I booted the machine. After installing a software update, I now have to manually open a screen and click on a dot to bring it on line.
WXWorx when it is on line, in an airplane and connected to GPS is awesome. I really would not want to fly much IFR/IMC without it because I believe that it is one of the most important aids to safe flight to come down the pike in many years. I'm hoping that the anomalies and gremlins in the interfaces can be expelled in the near future.
Oh, BTW, WXWorx receiver blows a fuse in the power supply when we transmit on one of the com radios. It is well known to them and their solution to me was to go to Radio Shack and buy a specific model power adapter. In fairness, they said that they were working on a new supply, but declined to say if they would replace ours. :-((
Destination Direct and the WxWorx are both very good pieces of software, but when airborne, they need GPS and the WX feed to be useful.
Bryan Burr has the same system and he monitors this list. Bryan, it would help if you could give us your opinions and experience.
Hope this helps. It is only one data point and not really well grounded on the science. Send me an email if you have any questions.
John
On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 01:14:21 -0500, billhogarty <billhogarty@direcway.com> wrote:
I had a chance to pickup a used WXWORX receiver and have sent it back to the factory for a Bluetooth upgrade.
I am hoping to pick up a motion LE 1600 tablet with the View Anywhere option to use with this package in a L-IVP. If anyone on the list is using a similar combination, I would appreciate any advice you might have; i.e., component location, wiring, power supply, application, etc.
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