Whoa... Anyone Seen These Gps's?

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Found it on the German ebay site. There is a company called "Alan" and they make GPS recievers. I had no idea until I saw it today...

 

Alan Map500

 

Alan Website (DE)

 

Specs (map 500):

 

1000 waypoints

2AA batts

4 mb mapping

flash storage for additional maps up to 512mb

12 parallel channel

2500 point tracklog, 8 savable

 

Looks like the map 600 does autorouting and has a barometer and compass.

 

German folks feel free to chime in if you know anything about these.

Edited May 20, 2005 by Tahoe Skier5000

[+IVxIV]

Interesting..

 

Quote from their website...

 

Up until now, the market for Handheld GPS products has been dominated by just a few brand names. That’s all about to change.

 

That ought to stir the pot around here

[+Cheminer Will]

How can you translate a website?

[+Greymane]

Not bad at all. If they are going to take on the "Big Boys", they are going to have to try harder, though. Waypoints and routes numbers are a bit weak. Also, are they really going with a CF card for memory? I don't understand that choice. That said, overall, it is very respectable.

[Neo_Geo]

How can you translate a website?

Google Language Tools

 

They even do it in Elmer Fudd's wanguage

[+badlands]

They even do it in Elmer Fudd's wanguage 

 

edit: N_G's - not kidding

Edited May 22, 2005 by badlands

[+Hard Oiler]

And the chef with the swedish accent...

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Don't forget Gizoogle

[PDave]

It may just be me, but the logo on the units in some of those pictures look like they were added with Photoshop. I am a little dubious to say the absolute least.

[+Alan2]

I wonder when they're coming out with the Alan2?

[+GOT GPS?]

Any GPS that says to remove batteries before you use the power cord, is pretty strange.

[+planetrobert]

Don't forget Gizoogle

dont forget http://www.asksnoop.com

 

[+niskibum]

Looks like they are made by Midland.

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

I know that no one has answered this forum in about 4 months, but I came across it doing some research and thought I could help answer this person.

 

Alan (the UK/German name for this company) is Midland in the US. They make CB radios and walkie talkies. I have a CB walkie talkie from Midland from the early 1980's that still works quite well. The Alan Map 500 GPS unit actually was sold here in the states as the Whistler Galileo series by radar detector maker Whistler. It is also sold in Asia as the Holux GM 100. Holux is a Taiwanese GPS maker that in the US mostly sells GPS units made to attach to laptop computers that do not have their own screen.

 

It appears though they have discontinued it in the US due to poor sales, though you can still find lots of clearance and refurb units out there, often for under $100. I have one of these units, it is not too bad in terms of getting and holding satellites (though only if you have the latest firmware which you can get from the Whistler website), especially compared to some entry-level Garmin/Magellan units and most Cobra (rival radar detector maker) units, but many geocachers will find a challenge with it on three counts:

 

1) Only shows lat/long in deg/min/sec, not deg/min/decimal fraction of min

 

2) Not compatible with third party map software, only with the Whistler maps which they are not going to update anymore (though their maps are pretty darn good)

 

3) Stops showing distance after 0.1 miles. When you get to 0.05 mi, it shows "0.0 miles", not feet. There is a very tricky way using the map to find your distance in feet.

 

If maps and storage (i.e. CF card) are more important to you than the basic GPS functions for Geocaching and you can deal with the lat/long conversions and you can't afford the $200+ Garmin/Magellan units, it is definitely a bargain and is why I like it but I think for most entry-level geocachers the basic Garmin Geko or entry-level Etrex will be better for them.

[gringo_nordestino]

And the chef with the swedish accent...

and for the Klingons