
Marketing literature regarding wireless systems (of all types) generally paint a utopian picture of effortless installation with uncompromised operation. Unbelievably these wireless products don’t always live up to the promises made in the bumf. I will never forget when a colleague of mine installed a satellite navigation system with a Bluetooth wireless connection between their PDA and the GPS device. Both the PDA and GPS devices had batteries that lasted about an hour, so for most journeys they both needed to be plugged into the car's cigarette lighter socket. As there was only one socket my colleague required another device to allow the connection of multiple plugs. The Bluetooth connection between the devices would work fine, until you got to a tricky roundabout in Paris and then it would stop working inexplicably. This meant another cable was required to connect the PDA to the GPS. In addition, to fix the PDA in position a large piece of plastic with a sucker on one end was required. With wires dangling everywhere the whole thing felt like Darth Vader’s bathtub. Definitely not as advertised.
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