GPS device reviews

A good way to get involved in the OpenStreetMap project is to upload GNSS (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou/COMPASS, etc.) traces. Recorded by your satellite receiver or mobile phone, the typical trace is a record of your location every second, or every meter (“tracelog”). Convert it to GPX format if it wasn't done for you automatically. The collected data can be displayed as a background of thin lines or little dots within the map editor. These lines and dots can then be used to help you add map features (such as roads and footpaths), similar to tracing from aerial imagery.

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Thinking of getting a GPS receiver to add data to OSM? These reviews are here to help. If you think about other mapping related hardware too, look at the Hardware Guide. If you buy a GPS unit via any of our retail partners then up to 10% of the purchase price will be donated to OpenStreetMap. This helps to help keep our servers running. See the Shop for details. The correct term is GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), though the most common system GPS have become the name most people use (if you go to your local shop and ask for a GNSS, the clerk will probably not know what you mean). Legend for the summary tables Units are listed alphabetically. Type can be: Data Logger: the GNSS includes an automatic geographic position logging system with extraction possibility to another electronic device Recreational: the GPS receiver can either simply deliver a geographic position for another device or display it on a simple screen with no navigation facility. Navigator: the GNSS includes a screen with maps and software for turn-by-turn navigation assistance Mobile Phone: the GPS is included in a mobile phone device Smartphone: probably the most abundand GPS device these days Professional GNSS: the GNSS is designated for massive or accurate geographic survey. Many such devices also combines the various GNSS technologies, such as combined GPS/Glonass receivers and evaluate the different carrier signals. Glonass is also available as a backup/augmentation in some GPS receivers, but at the moment not available as standalone handheld units. Storage can be: Internal MultiMedia (MMC) Secure Digital (SD) None Specify the capacity , or , , or none Common GPS chipsets are: SiRFStar I, II, IIe, IIe/LP, IIt, III SiRFLoc SiRFXTrac Nemerix RFMD MTK Sony Solution u-Nav + iTrax 3rd Gen Atmel Antaris 4l u-blox Ublox Xemics HP6515 AGPS Skytraq Venus 5 Skytraq Venus 6 Methods of DGPS correction / Augmentation can be SBAS (WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS), Beacon, NTRIP, Direct IP, IALA are free services, with various coverage. Spotbeam, Inmarsat, Veripos, HP/XP are semiglobal services but requires licenses and are not likely in handheld units. Corrections can be transmitted as proprietary formats, single station corrections, or 'RTCM' format correction list. Some receivers might use RTCM as identifier for corrections, but the source than is one of the systems mentioned above. Alternative forms of GNSS are named according to the promoters of the satellite constellations: the existing GPS system properly named, Glonass, Galileo (still in deployment), and BaiDou (COMPASS). On devices equiped with tuners capable of hearing multiple constellations, it may be possible to get more precision and better coverage than what can be done today with just the GPS alone (some newer constellations will provide additional services not limited to one-way geolocating, such as Argos-style emergency signals for search and rescue). AGPS is an abreviation for Assisted GPS, and is usually an enhancement for GPS-enabled cell phones. It allows receivers quicker startup time, as well as continuing to give positions with weak or missing satellite data. Connectivity can be achieved by: WiFi Bluetooth IrDa NFC/RFID USB PS/2 Serial RS232 ))) GNSS: Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that can be received. Possible values are GPS GLONASS Galileo Baidou Measured DRMS accuracy: Horizontal RMS (root mean square, or Distance Root Mean Square, DRMS) deviation of the measured position from the true (or long-term averaged) position. Should be assessed by measuring a point cloud under good visibility conditions for at least several hours. Not to be confused with the DOP accuracy estimation, which may not match the actual obtained accuracy. Dual-frequency: If the device can use two frequencies for accuracy enhancement, such as E1/E5a for Galileo or L1/L5 for GPS. Summary table Brand Name Type release date GPS Chipset No Channel Augmen­tation Data Logging Capacity Storage Connec­tivity Estimated Price Supports DOP GNSS measured DRMS accuracy Dual-frequency Xiaomi Mi 8 Smartphone 2018 BCM47755 ? ? 64 GB 64 GB internal 300 € VDOP, HDOP GPS, GLONASS, BaiDou, Galileo 1.0 m yes Huawei Mate 20 Smartphone 2018 ? ? 128 GB 128 GB internal 400 € yes GPS, GLONASS, BaiDou, Galileo yes Holux M-241+ Data Logger, Recreational 2018 MTK MT3333 66 WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS 250,000 ? 110 € GPS, GLONASS ? no ClearEvo EcoDroidGPS Professional GNSS for Android 2017 UBLOX M8030 72 SBAS L1 C/A: WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN no no (tested 6 simultaneous Android phone connections) 85 US$ GPS, GLONASS, Galileo ? no Holux RCV-3000 Data Logger 2017 (2010 old version) MTK MT3333 66 WAAS, EGNOS 250,000 Internal 4MiB (standard USB cable with USB mini-B plug) 83 ~Euros (03/2018, amazon.de) Yes (NMEA output); No (logging to memory) GPS, GLONASS ? no Huawei P10 Smartphone 2017 BCM4774 ? ? 64 GB 64 GB internal 250 € yes GPS, GLONASS, BaiDou, Galileo 4.3 m no Mio Cyclo 605 HC Navigator (Cycle) 2017-06 U-blox 7 56 ? ? 360 € GPS, GLONASS ? no Samsung Galaxy S7 Smartphone 2016 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 ? yes 32 GB 32 GB internal 300 € VDOP, HDOP GPS, GLONASS, BaiDou 5.1 m no Garmin GPSmap 276Cx Outdoor mapping GPS 2016 ? ? WAAS, EGNOS Internal 8GB 600 US$ ? GPS, GLONASS ? no GNS GNS 2000 PLUS Recreational; inbuilt battery 2016-12 Mediatek MT3333 99 WAAS, EGNOS, QZSS, MSAS, GAGAN 54k (date/pos every 5s) Internal (charged over Mini-USB) 96 € yes GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BaiDou ? no Garmin eTrex 35 touch Data Logger, Navigator 2015 MediaTek ? WAAS, EGNOS 10k, 200 routes, 10000 points, 200 tracks or to SD-card Internal, 245 $ no GPS, GLONASS ? no Navilock NL-8002U GPS receiver module 2014 u-blox UBX-M8030 72 WAAS, EGNOS, QZSS, MSAS no no 70 € [1] yes GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU, Galileo ? no Samsung Galaxy S5 Smartphone 2014 Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC ? yes 32 GB 32 GB internal 200 € VDOP, HDOP GPS, GLONASS, Baidou 1.7 m no Navilock BT-821G Recreational 2014 Mediatek MT3333 33 WAAS, EGNOS, QZSS, MSAS, GAGAN no no (charged over 5V DC power jack 4.0mm x 1.7mm Center PLUS) 90 € yes GPS, GLONASS ? no Solmeta Geotagger Pro2 Data Logger with Compass 2013 MTK MT3339 22 EXIF and internal 2GB internal Nikon Cord 200 US$ ? ? no Transystem i-Blue 747ProS Data Logger, Recreational 2013 MTK II 66 WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, AGPS 250k Internal 8 MiB 75 € (amazon.de) (~$80 on eBay.com) (2014-03-20) ? GPS ? no Bad Elf GPS-2200 Recreational, data logger 2012 MTK 66 SBAS, WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS 360,000 (100 hrs at 1 Hz) 64 MiB internal (to Apple iOS) 150 US$ GPS ? no Ventus G730 Data Logger 2012 SkyTrac Venus 6 65 WAAS, EGNOS 256,000 points Internal 45 £ - 60 £ ? ? ? no Royaltek RGM-4600]] Recreational 2012 SiRFstarIV 48 no 0 no ? ? no Wintec WBT-202 Data Logger 2011 u-blox Antaris 5 18 (tracking), 32 (aquisition) WAAS, EGNOS 260k internal / 134M with 2GB microSD Internal and (64 MB-2 GB) 109 € (2009-10-24) ? ? no Garmin eTrex 10 Data Logger, Navigator 2011 MediaTek ? WAAS, EGNOS 10k Internal 119 € / $109.99 / £99.99 no GPS, GLONASS ? no Qstarz BT-Q1000XT Datalogger 2010 MTK II 66 WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS 400k, can log 5 Hz GPS: log: ? GPS ? no Magellan eXplorist 510 Data Logger, Navigator 2010 SiRFstarIII 20 WAAS/ EGNOS/ MSAS 500 MB 220 € ? ? no Geneq SX Blue II GPS Recreational 2010 ? 10 + 2 WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN 0 0 1500 € HDOP VDOP PDOP GPS 0.3 m (claimed by manufacturer) no Holux GPSport 260 Recreational 2010 MTK3329 66 ? 160,000 Internal 4 MiB $340 ? GPS 2.5 m (claimed by manufacturer) no Umax i-gotU GT-120/USB Data Logger 2009 SiRF III 20 WAAS, EGNOS 65,000 Internal 45 € no DOP, but EHPE available ? ? no Columbus V-990 (Mark II) Data Logger, Recreational 2009 MTK MT3339 66 WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS 25,000,000 max. 4 GiB 89 € VDOP, HDOP, PDOP GPS ? no Garmin Nüvi 205 Navigator 2009 SiRFstarII ? ? no 940 MiB Internal memory and microSD-card Discont'd no GPS ? no Columbus V-900 (Mark II) Data Logger, Recreational 2009 MTK MT3339 66 WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS 25,000,000 max. 4 GiB 109 € VDOP, HDOP, PDOP GPS ? no Holux GPSport 245 Recreational 2009 MTK3318 32 ? 200,000 Internal 4 MiB $180 GPS ? no Apple IPhone 3G Smartphone 2008 ? ? 8 GB 8 GB internal 200 $ ? GPS 8.3 m no Garmin Oregon 300 Outdoor mapping GPS 2008 STM STA2062 "Cartesio" 32 WAAS, EGNOS 850 MiB internal or microSD-card (4 GiB work well) 300 € (Amazon.com) ? ? no GlobalSat BT-368 Recreational 2008 SiRF Star III 20 WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS 0 no 47 GB£ GPS ? no Garmin GPSmap 60CSx Outdoor mapping GPS 2007 SiRFstarIII 12 WAAS, EGNOS Internal or up to 4 GiB SD-card (since FW 3.90) 294.15 US$ (Amazon.com) GPS ? no Garmin Nüvi 760 Navigator 2007 SiRFstarII ? ? Internal 10,000 points up to 4 GiB 300 ~€ GPS ? no GiSTEQ CD110BT Data Logger 2007 MTK 51 ? internal 150,000 points internal 4 MiB 60 GB£~ GPS ? no Geonaute Keymaze 300 (see [2] for OSS driver) Outdoor Mapping GPS 2007 SiRF Star III ? WAAS internal 200 points internal 89 ~€ ? ? no GlobalSat DG-100 Data Logger 2007 SiRF Star III 20 WAAS 60k Internal 110 US$ GPS ? no GlobalSat BT-821C Recreational 2007 Mediatek MT3339 66 WAAS, EGNOS, QZSS, MSAS, GAGAN no no (charged over 5V DC power jack 4.0mm x 1.7mm Center PLUS) 50 US$ yes GPS ? no GlobalSat BT-335 Data Logger, Recreational 2007 SiRF Star III 20 WAAS, EGNOS 60k Internal 80 € GPS ? no GlobalSat BT-359 Recreational 2006 SiRF Star III 20 WAAS, EGNOS 0 no 80 US$ GPS ? no GlobalSat BR-355 Recreational 2005 SiRF Star III e/LP 20 WAAS, EGNOS 0 no 60 US$ GPS ? no GlobalSat BU-353 Recreational 2005 SiRF Star III e/LP 20 WAAS, EGNOS 0 no 28-57 GB£ GPS ? no GlobalSat BT-338 Recreational 2005 SiRF Star III 20 WAAS, EGNOS 0 no GPS ? no GlobalSat BU-303 Recreational 2005 SiRF Star II e/LP 12 no 0 no 50 € GPS ? no GlobalSat BT-308 Recreational 2003 SiRF Star II e/LP 12 WAAS 0 no GPS ? no GlobalSat BR-305 Recreational 2003 SiRF Star II e/LP 12 no 0 no 50 US$ GPS 10 m (claimed by manufacturer) no GlobalSat BR-304 Recreational 2003 SiRF Star II e/LP 12 no 0 no 50 US$ GPS 10 m (claimed by manufacturer) no See also RTKLIB-compatible GPS devices, for raw data outputting devices.