Looking for smallest GPS

[+user13371]

Anybody have suggestions for a tracking-only GPS? Don't need mapping capability or even a display. Just want it for recording biking / hiking routes - want to clip it to my backpack or belt, and be able to transfer the recorded tracks to my computer when I get home.

Edited June 21, 2008 by lee_rimar

[+storm180]

Anybody have suggestions for a tracking-only GPS? Don't need mapping capability or even a display. Just want it for recording biking / hiking routes - want to clip it to my backpack or belt, and be able to transfer the recorded tracks to my computer when I get home.

 

Try any of the garmin forerunners or the foretrexs. Very small and they do what you want them to do. I have a forerunner 201 than straps to my wrist.

[+user13371]

...any of the garmin forerunners or the foretrexs. Very small and they do what you want them to do...

Okay, yes, but they do MORE than what I want. Notably, they have displays. I don't want to wear it, look at it, or think about it when I'm using it. I just want a track recorder.

 

I was looking for something more the size of a thumb-drive. I've seen a few bluetooth models (like this Holux model) but was hoping for some first hand insight.

Edited June 21, 2008 by lee_rimar

[+clan_Barron]

...any of the garmin forerunners or the foretrexs. Very small and they do what you want them to do...

Okay, yes, but they do MORE than what I want. Notably, they have displays. I don't want to wear it, look at it, or think about it when I'm using it. I just want a track recorder.

 

I was looking for something more the size of a thumb-drive. I've seen a few bluetooth models (like this Holux model) but was hoping for some first hand insight.

 

I don't think the Holux will save a tracklog, which is what you are after. What you want is a GPS data logger. Maybe something like THIS

[+user13371]

I don't think the Holux will save a tracklog, which is what you are after. What you want is a GPS data logger. Maybe something like THIS

Yes, that's a lot closer to the idea. Holux does make some data loggers, and they make tiny bluetooth GPSs, but they don't seem to have exactly what I want.

 

Sadly, the specific one you pointed to doesn't have brilliant user reviews (one guy says "easy to use, the other says "doesn't work very well"). But it's the right idea, and the magic search phrase for google, amazon, and ebay seems to be "gps data logger." Thanks!

 

Now, does anyone actually HAVE one they have used and can offer some insights?

[robertlipe]

I have a basket full of this class of products, Lee.

 

Semsons has the best selection of data loggers that I know of.

 

If you don't need BT, but you do need lots of log points in a small size with good reception, the tip of my hat goes to the Wintec WBT-201. Unlike a lot of similarly sized units, it's waterproof and rechargeable, though it gets great battery life on its own. It holds a boatload of trackpoints, 128K, IIRC. The unit is about the size of a tic-tac box.

 

Going up a step in size (it has a screen and is about the size of a 35mm film can) the Holux M-241 takes commodity AA batteries, but you forgo waterproofness.

 

 

It's worth noting that this is a class of products dominated by price. There are lots of "makers" of this kind of product that do nothing more than produce a plastic shell around someone else's hardware. English-speaking support is rare.

 

Unsurprisingly, GPSBabel supports both of the above (as well as a dozen or so others that I have here, but didn't recommend to you for one reason or another) and I have some experience with this stuff if you want to ask specifics. It's a large market with players coming and going very quickly, so I haven't tried one of everything...

[+user13371]

I have a basket full of this class of products....

Any spares you'd like to sell? PM me, especially if you're willing to part with one of these...

 

Wintec WBT-201 .. lots of log points ...small size...good reception.... waterproof and rechargeable...great battery life...about the size of a tic-tac box.

Yep, that's what I'm after.

 

Thanks for the info!

Edited June 22, 2008 by lee_rimar

[table/cache]

The Garmin Gecko does have a display, but it's cheap and small, readily available, and has support.

[robertlipe]

Geko's serial interface is a real drag for transferring tracks.

 

Lee, I don't have spares. What I buy for the GPSBabel project I end up keeping/using for supporting the product.

 

I know several people that have bought the Wintecs for a variety of uses and all have been happy.

[+user13371]

... I don't have spares. What I buy for the GPSBabel project I end up keeping/using for supporting the product...

Oh man, you're doing it all wrong. When I wrote for computer magazines, companies would send me stuff to review. I was allowed to keep these goodies, give them to friends, or eBay/Craigslist them. Paying for it would have just seemed weird

 

Seriously, for the amount of value you provide - extending the usefulness of various companies products - they should be sending you review models.

[robertlipe]

[ Veering off-topic, but since it's your thread I don't see a reason to put on my moderator hat and punish my non-moderator persona. ]

 

I won't say that it never happens, but it's not the typical case.

 

Sometimes, a GPS vendor will realize that I support more OSes than they do and putting their hardware in my hands is a good idea.

 

Honestly, there have also been times when I've been approached by a GPS company that offered to comp me $50 in hardware that I've never heard of if only I'd implement their 100 page protocol on three OSes and I've declined.

 

In the data logger world, the units are $40-$100 USD. If I have enough interest in them on the lists (especially interest associated with either code or funding) it's usually not worthwhile for me to figure out who in the Taiwan-based company can figure out how great I am and why they should send me one.

 

Building the relationships withe right people at the GPS vendors is a time-consuming process of its own.

 

This is why there's a process for contributions to GPSBabel involving money - Amazon and Semsons don't accept code patches. :-)

[+user13371]

Robert -

 

Veering back ON topic, someone commented earlier that the Holux GPSlim 240 (perhaps the tiniest GPS around) doesn't record a track log. Do you know if that's so? I haven't been able to figure it out for certain from info available online.

 

-Lee.

[robertlipe]

Don't have that model in my lab, but quick perusal of various sources doesn't lead me to an obvious "nonsense" contradiction.

 

Slim 240 hasn't made my radar. The doc I've found offhand implies it's a "transmit position only" unit intead of a logger; I could be wrong.

[+user13371]

...various sources ...implies it's a "transmit position only" unit intead of a logger; I could be wrong.

Yeah, bummer. That's really the form factor I was hoping for. Minimalist, easy to mount or carry, no display to distract (or potentially break).

 

The AMOD AGL 3080 seems attractive at around $70 from Semsons -- but it's bigger than both the Holux GPSlim and the Wintec WBT-210. Once it starts getting over a certain size, there's not as much advantage to having a "logger only" device -- I can get a used Explorist 210 or 400 for around the same money.

[+capytone]

http://www.lunarloot.com/

only 17hrs left on price

[+SUp3rFM & Cruella]

The Holux GPSlim 236 and 240 work only as transmission unit only. Their useless without a PDA or a mobile phone to read its data. It does not log a track, position or whatever.

 

If you take a mobile phone with you, maybe it's an option. There's plenty of software to choose from.