Talk:GPS device reviews: Difference between revisions

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(discontinued models are still sold)
(Good features for GPS receivers)
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: I wouldn't remove discontinued GPSrs, but instead mark them as such, since you can still buy them second-hand. Or maybe they are not even discontinued yet in some countries - who knows. If you can help for some models, that would certainly be appreciated. As to your other question - you certainly have a prince range and a use case, don't you? Do you need a (color) map display, or just some receiver with Bluetooth for your phone? Do you want a data logger which can record tracks standalone? If you decided that, only a few models are left. Ignore chipset and DGPS for now. Once you need to decide between two models, you can then google for that information and base the final decision on that. HTH. --[[User:Colin Marquardt|Colin Marquardt]] 00:13, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
: I wouldn't remove discontinued GPSrs, but instead mark them as such, since you can still buy them second-hand. Or maybe they are not even discontinued yet in some countries - who knows. If you can help for some models, that would certainly be appreciated. As to your other question - you certainly have a prince range and a use case, don't you? Do you need a (color) map display, or just some receiver with Bluetooth for your phone? Do you want a data logger which can record tracks standalone? If you decided that, only a few models are left. Ignore chipset and DGPS for now. Once you need to decide between two models, you can then google for that information and base the final decision on that. HTH. --[[User:Colin Marquardt|Colin Marquardt]] 00:13, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
::I've seen stores selling brand new discontinued models on Google shopping, specifically the original Garmin eTrex. [[User:Jecowa|Jecowa]] 01:09, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
::I've seen stores selling brand new discontinued models on Google shopping, specifically the original Garmin eTrex. [[User:Jecowa|Jecowa]] 01:09, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

== Good features for GPS receivers ==

I'm shopping for my first GPS device. There are some features that I'm not sure about their importance.
*'''High-sensitivity (WAAS)''' - is it worth the battery life it uses?
*'''Maps''' - What all can the maps features do? Are they just GIFs/JPGs? Can I make my own? Do you consider them worth the cost?
*'''Memory card''' - Will I need a memory card to fit my maps? How much space do maps take?
*'''Barometric altimeter''' and '''Electronic compass''' - These two features together aren't worth $60 are they? Why would I need another altimeter when the GPS can already calculate this?

I'd appreciate any help. These are the models I'm looking at, by the way[https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do?compare=compare&compareProduct=8701&compareProduct=8703&compareProduct=8705&compareProduct=8707&cID=${cID}]. I like that they are mobile and use AA batteries. [[User:Jecowa|Jecowa]] 01:25, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Revision as of 01:25, 12 March 2008

Owhite 20:09, 11 Jan 2006 (GMT) said:

"memory 5% full" when I had about 500 points in the tracklog, so they might have increased the memory in it.

(500 / 5%) * 100% = 10000 - which is what the manual says.

Sounds about right.

On a larger point, shall we remove SteveC's comment on the data being lost on battery removal - it looks like it was a one-off.

Don't mind. Does Garmin mention that it's flash (or "non-volatile" etc.) memory in the manual?
Interesting... While I did that "remove battery and check that the tracks were stored" test that prompted this discussion, my Geko 201 has just lost about a days' worth of data in what looks like an AFU [major error] kind of way
Background info: one morning I turned on the GPS to see that no tracklogs were showing on the display, although waypoints were still stored. GPS said that tracklog memory was 95% full (so unlikely to have been an accidental "clear memory"). Subsequent tracklogs recorded OK and downloaded OK. When the tracklog was downloaded, that missing day of data wasn't visible on the computer.
I'm wondering if it's to do with the GPS batteries running out while the tracklog is being transferred to a laptop, although it's not obvious why that would cause such problems.
Ojw 20:41, 13 Jun 2006 (UTC) (p.s. this is why the peak district looks so sparse even after I visited it...)

Has anybody noticed any difference in tracklog accuracy (and thus usefulness for OSM) between different firmware versions in Garmin units? I noticed that my Garmin Foretrex 201 runs version 2.10 (which seems to work fine) and there is a version 2.40 to download at garmin.com.



upload pictures of gps units? added my (I say my..) geko 201. User: Steve

NaviGPS

Can anyone comment on the suitability of the NaviGPS (in UK £54.99 from Storage Depot direct or via Amazon.co.uk).

Storage Depot sent me some files it will export:

  • OziExplorer Route File Version 2.1 (.RTE file)
  • OziExplorer Waypoint File Version 1.0 (.WPT file)
  • Unknown (.NMTE file)
  • OziExplorer Track Point File Version 2.1 (.PLT file)

Please reply to reynoldsp@lineone.net as well as here as I may forget to check back here.

--PeterR 20:35, 23 Feb 2006 (UTC)

Peter, I have just added a review of one I got a couple of days ago. 80n 22:33, 25 Feb 2006 (UTC)


Today I updated some of the info about the NaviGPS. Wasn't sure if the Manual Addenda should go on the page or here but I put them on the page so at least lots of people can see them. I've only had my NaviGPS (well actually it's the GT-11 version) two days and I'm very pleased with it. Perhaps it has a bit of difficulty getting a fix in town sometimes. I find GPS TrackMaker to be a very good free bit of software for creating routes and waypoints to upload to the unit. Abarnes 21:17, 13 September 2006 (BST)

I have the latest version of the firmware (V1.4 B0812) which is not yet on the Scytex website. Send me your email address if you would like me to forward you a copy. Abarnes 10:48, 20 September 2006 (BST)

Garmin GPS 60

User:arbitrary: Regarding the "Bad Things": It's possible to directly edit the coordinates while entering a new waypoint (using the MARK button). That's how I usually do it. Still a bit complicated because there's no way to enter numbers directly, so you have to use the virtual keyboard.

I recommend g7towin for uploading/downloading waypoints and tracks, it's free and supports the Garmin USB protocol.

Quick reference table?

As someone who is looking to buy their first GPS I think the review page could do with a table that summarises the important details of each unit, e.g. number of trackpoints, battery life, chipset, connectivity options. Obviously the table would have links to the reviews. Steevc 23:51, 14 September 2006 (BST)

GPS user categories

Is there any value in people including a category in their user profile to indicate what GPS they have, e.g. Acer n35 User in my case. Steevc 14:29, 12 October 2006 (BST)

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is spelled "Bluetooth" and not "BlueTooth". Please correct that on the article page. I seemed to lack the rights to edit that section.

done -- Johndrinkwater 22:26, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

PocketLoox N100

Is this any good for mapping. Only £130 on ebuyer, but seems to be out of stock for now. I don't know if it can run any GPS logging software.

Pictures copyrighted?

A few pictures of RoyalTek units recently appeared on this page which look like they're lifted from marketing pics - just search google images for the model names. If so they should be removed.

Connectivity Icon

Very, very extremely nice feature. Although I do think personally, the current icon set are little huge. Could one reduce the size? And are any of these icons copyrighted?

I am sort of thinking there should be icons for SD Cards and MMC as well, for easier recognition.

Khensthoth 19:05, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Pictures are nice, but text offered search & highlight in modern browsers. Not sure what's suppose to be the difference between Wlan and Wifi icon. --Stefanb 19:20, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Personally I think WiFi is a subset of WLAN, though I don't have any in depth knowledge about that. As such, WLAN shouldn't really be there.

Using icons also slightly disrupted the sorting capability for the Connectivity column. Is there any way to type text in there, but with some clever Wiki script or something display icons instead? For example, 4x~ = Signature, that sort of stuff. --Khensthoth 06:45, 4 November 2007 (UTC)


GPS terms explained

Since GPS redirects to GPS units, my question is: where's an explanation of all those GPS terms?

(in alphabetical order - please add any you want)

How about an explanation of the various GPS chipsets, as e.g. in [1]

  • Antaris (16 channels)
  • Evermore (12 channels)
  • Nemerix (16 channels)
  • RFMD (32 channels)
  • SiRF II (8 channels)
  • SiRF II Xtrack (12 channels)
  • SiRF III (20 channels)
  • Sony SOC (12 channels)
  • U-Nav (12 channels)
  • SkyTraq Venus 5 (44 channels)

Traut 17:37, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Waypoints

Worthwhile adding if the GPS can record waypoints (button push to save a node), all the Garmin's do. Firefishy 10:22, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Confusing

As a new user looking to buy a GPS device, I found this page was not really that great for a quick reference. There are devices which are discontinued, which I presume I don't need to consider buying - so could these be removed? I don't understand the top section about GPS chipsets and DGPS correction, so should these be explained or omitted? Also there are some devices which have different model numbers and the only difference seems to be memory capacity - could these be combined to make it easier to read? Basically there's too much choice. Would a top 10 recommendations be a good idea for newbies such as myself? Apologies if I sound like I'm a dumb newbie, but that's why I came to this page after all! :-) Thanks.Nevov 20:24, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

I wouldn't remove discontinued GPSrs, but instead mark them as such, since you can still buy them second-hand. Or maybe they are not even discontinued yet in some countries - who knows. If you can help for some models, that would certainly be appreciated. As to your other question - you certainly have a prince range and a use case, don't you? Do you need a (color) map display, or just some receiver with Bluetooth for your phone? Do you want a data logger which can record tracks standalone? If you decided that, only a few models are left. Ignore chipset and DGPS for now. Once you need to decide between two models, you can then google for that information and base the final decision on that. HTH. --Colin Marquardt 00:13, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
I've seen stores selling brand new discontinued models on Google shopping, specifically the original Garmin eTrex. Jecowa 01:09, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Good features for GPS receivers

I'm shopping for my first GPS device. There are some features that I'm not sure about their importance.

  • High-sensitivity (WAAS) - is it worth the battery life it uses?
  • Maps - What all can the maps features do? Are they just GIFs/JPGs? Can I make my own? Do you consider them worth the cost?
  • Memory card - Will I need a memory card to fit my maps? How much space do maps take?
  • Barometric altimeter and Electronic compass - These two features together aren't worth $60 are they? Why would I need another altimeter when the GPS can already calculate this?

I'd appreciate any help. These are the models I'm looking at, by the way[2]. I like that they are mobile and use AA batteries. Jecowa 01:25, 12 March 2008 (UTC)