You are not logged in.

#1 2008-01-14 07:28:29

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

GPS device recommendations

Hey everyone,
I'm looking to buy myself a little handheld GPS device. Nothing fancy, maybe around $100 USD. Now, considering I don't have a windows machine at all, I'm going to need one that works well with the linux software out there.

Now a big problem here is that I'm not too hip on the terminology. So I'll just write it out, if someone knows the real terms for some of this stuff, let me know.

Features I need:
* Compatible with Linux software
* Ability to record routes ("tracks" I think?) for 3-5 days
* Decent battery life
* Waterproof

Nice to haves:
* SD card expandable
* USB access
* Bluetooth
* Built-in Compass

Things I don't need:
* Color screen
* Complex maps

Right now I'm looking through the Garmin stuff, but none of them seems to fit EXACTLY. Anyone have any helpful advice?

Offline

#2 2008-01-14 14:28:50

evol
Member
From: Ireland
Registered: 2007-06-27
Posts: 53
Website

Re: GPS device recommendations

I'm not an authority on GPS equipment, but I've been looking into it for the last few days actually and am going to pick up this little fella:

http://www.globalsat.com.tw/eng/product … 000044.htm

It's not what you want/need, but from doing a little reading while figuring out what to get, it seems that one of the key things a GPS receiver needs to be able to do in order to interface with Linux & gpsd is that it support NMEA protocol. If it does that, it should work nicely with gpsd.


-//------------------/------>

Offline

#3 2008-01-14 18:46:47

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: GPS device recommendations

I've been thinking about this bad boy: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de … R&v=glance

Here's a problem. Most of these things have serial connections. Serial? WTF? I have one serial port and it's way in the back behind my desk covered in dust.... grrr

Offline

#4 2008-01-14 18:57:01

iBertus
Member
From: Greenville, NC
Registered: 2004-11-04
Posts: 2,228

Re: GPS device recommendations

phrakture wrote:

I've been thinking about this bad boy: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de … R&v=glance

Here's a problem. Most of these things have serial connections. Serial? WTF? I have one serial port and it's way in the back behind my desk covered in dust.... grrr

For some strange reason all the professional scientific loggers and GPS systems my university department has purchased in the past few months/years also has only a serial connection. We've had good luck with those USB-Serial adapters for almost everything. It really bugs me when new equipment comes in with only a serial connector.

Offline

#5 2008-01-14 19:58:25

chimeric
Member
From: Munich, Germany
Registered: 2007-10-07
Posts: 254
Website

Re: GPS device recommendations

Re Linux support: I own a Garmin Edge 205, I use it primarily for biking, and it works very well with Linux by using gpsbabel (which supports most Garmin devices), the garmin_gps kernel module however doesn't work that good but it's not needed by gpsbabel to access the device anyway. I personally think that Garmin does have some good products, however this is no advertisement, just my opinion wink.

Offline

#6 2008-01-14 20:41:19

PeteMo
Member
From: H'Burg, VA
Registered: 2006-01-26
Posts: 191
Website

Re: GPS device recommendations

iBertus wrote:

For some strange reason all the professional scientific loggers and GPS systems my university department has purchased in the past few months/years also has only a serial connection. We've had good luck with those USB-Serial adapters for almost everything. It really bugs me when new equipment comes in with only a serial connector.

I've had *bad* luck with serial -> usb converters under linux, see http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=23469

I found out (after buying one) that converters based on the prolific pl2303 controller are buggy especially in linux.  There is a link to a mailing list discussing this in the thread I linked to.  I suspect if you made sure to get one that is known to work you'd be fine.  I went for the cheapest one and as usual, you get what you pay for.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB