ahreno Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 So here's what i figure the usb one is nice because it's usb... plug and play, fast, etc... but it only outputs garmins info... the serial one is older, slower but outputs industry standard NMEA 0183 but can be changed to output to garmins... I have all garmin maps so it doesn't matter much to me, it just seems that it would be nice to have the option in the future to use it with a different companies software... plus, all you need is a serial > usb convertor right? thoughts? Quote Link to comment
dragonzealot Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 USB carries power while serial does not. You have to supply power to the GPS if you use serial. I think the USB unit updates position more frequently because USB is faster. You can install GPSgate if you want to use Garmin GPS with other mapping software. I tried it with GPS 18 and MS Street & Trips works fine. Quote Link to comment
+RumJungle Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 Does GPS 18 support NMEA -- make sure the version you purchase does. This is the standard language GPS receivers use to communicate to third party applications. Quote Link to comment
ahreno Posted September 25, 2005 Author Share Posted September 25, 2005 Does GPS 18 support NMEA -- make sure the version you purchase does. This is the standard language GPS receivers use to communicate to third party applications. the usb version only spits out garmins language, while the serial version spits out the standard AND garmins... though it sounds like the program mentioned two posts above can translate garmin into nmea?? Quote Link to comment
+RumJungle Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 Yes, GPSGate will translate into NMEA -- Not sure which NMEA commands it converts to. May want to check w/GPSGate. I would recommend these sentences: GPGGA, GPGSV, GPGSA and GPGRMC as a minimum. I'm not sure if the USB will gain you any speed only the convenience. The amount of data between the GPS and computer is at a minimum (Position, satellite data, speed and such). USB seems to be the standard unstandard. The USB standard does not have GPS listed as part of its supported class of devices so manufactures must provide a custom class interface driver for the specific operating system that is proprietary. IMHO --- I like serial NMEA better because I know the GPS will interface to anything RS-232 and many software products will interface to NMEA. However, RS-232 is becoming a legacy interface. Thus the USB RS-232 serial was born… Quote Link to comment
peter Posted September 26, 2005 Share Posted September 26, 2005 I like serial NMEA better because I know the GPS will interface to anything RS-232 and many software products will interface to NMEA. Yes, assuming that by "serial" you mean RS-232. GPS units with RS-232 compatibility will also connect to a variety of other equipment like chartplotters, auto-pilots, radar, fishfinders, sounders, VHF radios, EPIRBs, etc. Quote Link to comment
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