freeballer

hi, I've been asking around some newsgroups and forums and nobody has been answering. I'm confused as a good feature set, or unit that will be a good, portable general use gps device. I would prefer something that could allow easy geocache/logging and tagging for photos AND possibly allow realtime navigation via software, or waypoint.

I recently bought a usb device but it doesn't work with streets and trips because its not nmea2.. So I'd like some advice before getting a second one and not doing what I want. I saw two units that seem good; igot u and freedom keychain. Freedom has bluetooth, and igot u has one unit that does..

are there some people here thats used those, or others, and can advice?

generally I use google earth for tracking and waypoints btw, so I'd probably prefer something that would use gpx, or kml/kmz

please and thank you
Geo

HumVee

Geo, are you trying to avoid the mainstream GPS products, such as the Garmin Oregon series? The 550's even include a built in digital camera for photo tagging - and all of the units are paperless geocaching friendly (they store the geocache notes as well as the coordinates, so you don't have to carry along a printout). They don't have NMEA output capability natively - but I've recently learned that there's PC software that will do realtime signal translation to allow use with laptop mapping software. If you're interested, I'll try to dig up the links....

freeballer

well.. the pricerange is a tad high for me honestly. I have my own camera also, which is higher rez. Portability was one of main concerns, not so much for a turn by turn than a drone logger that can cache, waypoint and later connect to geo earth or kismet for gps data on laptop

HumVee

Well, just about any of the handheld GPS units will store track data that you could convert into KML/KMZ for use in Google Earth. I'm not familiar with Geo Earth or Kismet software - do you have their website addresses? In any case, GPS Babel is supposed to be a very capable GPS format converter, so it may fit your needs. That really doesn't help us with narrowing down suggestions for a GPS unit that fits your needs.


Please consider what your needs are:

• What's the most you want to spend?
  ~
• Do you want the device to be capable of turn-by-turn street directions (with purchase of a street map)?
  ~
• Is screen size important?
  ~
• Is touch-screen important?
  ~

I know that you state that a drone logger would be fine - but that is at odds with your original statement regarding wanting a GPS unit with a good feature set....
You also state that you're looking for a new device because your current one doesn't support NMEA output. There's a software product called GPS Gate that might do what you want without the purchase of any new hardware. You might want to read the literature on the site and see if that would work for you....

freeballer

I guess I should rephrase. a "drone" is more of the kind I'm looking for. Not a full screen navigation but it would be nice if it served as realtime position (on a pc, with software and bluetooth or usb).. in other words in streets and trips or similar software
something very small and would only log travel info or waypoints normally but could be tracked on pc with software. eg. freedom / igot u -- but I've never used or know anybody with those

speaking of software: google earth or google maps is easy to find but kismet is at: Kismet -- is a linux client for finding wifi. I've tagged a open access point in hotels, or local wifi spots, coffee and that sort for later. A waypoint would do same but kismet automatically tells me the basic info like ssid

with that in mind:
looking around 75-150$
device itself would not give turn by turn but by software on pc
screen size would likely be none or small
no touch screen is not


oh. and I'll take a look at the gpsgate software, hopefully it is something useful and give the trial a go sometime with streets and trips

mpyusko

Try getting one of the new Android phones. I use an HTC Droid Eris and the best app I've seen is c:geo. It does realtime searches and, by using google maps, it will even guide you to the cache. It also includes a compass mode. The Eris is even accurate inside most small buildings. There are a whole slew of applications available for geocaching on Android phones.

__________________
Me: "How do I load maps on my GPS80?"
Garmin Tech Support: "The GPS80 MIL is not capable of displaying maps."
Me: "Well that sucks. What good is that? I already know where I am, I just want to know where that is!"

HumVee

Thanks for the info, mpyusko. Please post back with your favorite Android OS apps for GPS and geocaching! I looked at c:geo, and it looks like a nice paperless geocaching application. I like that it can use Google Maps satellite/aerial imagery, but what happens if you use cellular reception - does the app fail? You could test it by putting your phone into "airplane mode" to turn off the transceiver.

mpyusko

C:geo is purely online at this point with plans to include an offline version. Geobeagle and Cachepoint support offline caching via GPX PQ's. There are many more ranging from free to expensive. There are even track logging programs and more.

__________________
Me: "How do I load maps on my GPS80?"
Garmin Tech Support: "The GPS80 MIL is not capable of displaying maps."
Me: "Well that sucks. What good is that? I already know where I am, I just want to know where that is!"