What GPS should I get?

dominik · January 7, 2006

Hiya,

I'm interested in GPS-enabling my photos; to do this, I understand I need to purchase a GPS accessory.

I'm interested in this soley for labelling photos, so any features that prevent me from getting lost are just icing on the cake

I currently use a Canon Digital Rebel, and am looking for something easy to use, light to carry and inexpensive.

Anyone familiar with the market in GPS devices have any recommendations?

Thanks!

ian408 · January 7, 2006

Are you wanting to enter the GPS coordinates manually? If so, one of the
small Garmin E-trax units would do the trick. There are a couple of ways
you might do it with this unit. One is to save the track, and then read it
back using Map Source (by overlaying the track) or by saving your current
location for each place you shoot using way points.

Here is a page with some information on the subject of GPS enabled photos.

Let us know how this works out for you.

Ian

Sam · January 7, 2006

I don't know anything about the new fangled stuff, but if you want something that's proven over time, here is my set up.

Sam

dominik · January 7, 2006

ian408 wrote:

Are you wanting to enter the GPS coordinates manually? If so, one of the
small Garmin E-trax units would do the trick. There are a couple of ways
you might do it with this unit. One is to save the track, and then read it
back using Map Source (by overlaying the track) or by saving your current
location for each place you shoot using way points.

Here is a page with some information on the subject of GPS enabled photos.

Let us know how this works out for you.

Ian

Thanks -- that link provided the analysis I was looking for!

Art Scott · January 7, 2006

Sam wrote:

I don't know anything about the new fangled stuff, but if you want something that's proven over time, here is my set up.

Sam

This is good for not getting lost but it will not give you Long. and Lat. to enter into pic info.....btw where is the fish hook....they are good for more than just fish.....

Sam · January 8, 2006

ART SCOTT wrote:

This is good for not getting lost but it will not give you Long. and Lat. to enter into pic info.....btw where is the fish hook....they are good for more than just fish.....

You use this is in conjunction with another out of date piece of equipment called a map.

Fish hooks, line, matches, solar blanket extra batteries, memory cards, etc. are all in the vest.

Sam

rainforest1155 · January 8, 2006

I use the one I posted in the favorite accessories thread called TFAC Pyxis.

Pros:

small and lightwight, because it has no fancy display - just a small LCD
directly logs data on a SD-Card - when you're home take the card out and convert the raw logfiles to GPX like I described here. Drag the result into the Location Stamper from http://wwmx.org/ - it'll show a map and the track where you've been while the GPS was on. Now you can drag in the photos and hit a button and if you've set your camera clock according to the gps-time you'll end up with a lot of pink dots on the map and your pictures are gps-tagged and ready to upload to smugmug
no need to hassle with any buttons, as the track is continuesly logged as long as the card isn't full or the battery empty
fits the case of the Garmin Gekko to be attached to a backpack or where-ever
no memory issues - a 16MB SD-card will at least last for 10hours (the longest I had) of continous logging (saving the position every second)

Cons:

biggest downside - the built-in li-ion battery which is loaded via the USB-port. Depends on your shooting style. Works great for mine as usually I'm not long away from a plug to load it (bought an external charger for USB). It'll last around 10hours and you always can turn it off when walking around not shooting to increase your battery time by a lot. Keep in mind that the li-ion batteries lifespan depends on how often you've plug it in to charge (the chargetime doesn't matter) - every plug=one life cycle even if it was only in for a short amount of time. So I try to charge it only when I need it and don't connect it directly to the PC to use any advanced functions of the device
battery probably can't be changed, but I don't see this as a problem yet - see note above
sometimes takes it time to find a fix (your coordinates) - so it's better you stand still for 2 minutes when you use it first at the beginning of the day. Later fixes depending on the signal it's getting are generally faster
not good for use in vehicles as there's no way to connect an external antenna

It's the best low-cost GPS I could find for the purpose of log photo shoots as it's so easy to use and memory is definately no problem at all.

Hope this helps,
Sebastian

dominik · January 8, 2006

rainforest1155 wrote:

I use the one I posted in the favorite accessories thread called TFAC Pyxis.

Pros:
small and lightwight, because it has no fancy display - just a small LCD

directly logs data on a SD-Card - when you're home take the card out and convert the raw logfiles to GPX like I described here. Drag the result into the Location Stamper from http://wwmx.org/ - it'll show a map and the track where you've been while the GPS was on. Now you can drag in the photos and hit a button and if you've set your camera clock according to the gps-time you'll end up with a lot of pink dots on the map and your pictures are gps-tagged and ready to upload to smugmug

no need to hassle with any buttons, as the track is continuesly logged as long as the card isn't full or the battery empty

fits the case of the Garmin Gekko to be attached to a backpack or where-ever

no memory issues - a 16MB SD-card will at least last for 10hours (the longest I had) of continous logging (saving the position every second)

Cons:
biggest downside - the built-in li-ion battery which is loaded via the USB-port. Depends on your shooting style. Works great for mine as usually I'm not long away from a plug to load it (bought an external charger for USB). It'll last around 10hours and you always can turn it off when walking around not shooting to increase your battery time by a lot. Keep in mind that the li-ion batteries lifespan depends on how often you've plug it in to charge (the chargetime doesn't matter) - every plug=one life cycle even if it was only in for a short amount of time. So I try to charge it only when I need it and don't connect it directly to the PC to use any advanced functions of the device

battery probably can't be changed, but I don't see this as a problem yet - see note above

sometimes takes it time to find a fix (your coordinates) - so it's better you stand still for 2 minutes when you use it first at the beginning of the day. Later fixes depending on the signal it's getting are generally faster

not good for use in vehicles as there's no way to connect an external antenna

It's the best low-cost GPS I could find for the purpose of log photo shoots as it's so easy to use and memory is definately no problem at all.

Hope this helps,
Sebastian

Wow thanks -- something with a rechargable battery and removable storage is a huge plus. This device looks like just what I need since I'm just interested in the fix and don't need to see where I am on a screen

Only one question: where can I buy it/what does it cost :-/ googling didn't turn up much .. it seems the company is based in Taiwan? Their website doesn't seem to allow purchasing online, or list any prices :-/. I found a store that sells it, but they're based in Aussieland and I don't want to even ponder how much shipping from there to states is gonna cost. I wonder if it is even available in the US...

Thanks!

rainforest1155 · January 8, 2006

dominik wrote:

Only one question: where can I buy it/what does it cost :-/ googling didn't turn up much .. it seems the company is based in Taiwan?

Forgot the part hardest to figure out.

It's availiable very cheap through a shop from Canada selling on ebay and they're always having at least one buy-now auction running - here it is and even 10$ cheaper than I used to pay!

Curious what serial number you'll get. Mine is #000178

:
Shipping was very fast - paid via paypal and had it a week later in my hands

- in Germany with custom unpacking it and having a look at it and, of course, charging me tax.

Bye,
Sebastian

Art Scott · January 10, 2006

Here is one I am looking at b/c it accepts extra memory (sd cards)

http://www.magellangps.com/en/products/product.asp?PRODID=90

$199.99 at Wal-Mart

ian408 · January 10, 2006

Here's the Garmin unit I was talking about. Around $100.

Don't know if it works with the stamping program though.

Ian

rainforest1155 · January 10, 2006

ART SCOTT wrote:

Here is one I am looking at b/c it accepts extra memory (sd cards)

Depending on what you would like to do with it keep in mind that the homepage only talks about loading map data onto the SD card, but I couldn't find anything about just logging data. From what I know the big companies tend to integrate their own data formats for logging data. So even when the device supports the logging feature it might only work with software from the company and it even might be limited in what you can export from the device. You've to dig really deep into it to find out if the device is going to meet your expectations.

With my GPS it was a sort of gamble if it really would do what I wanted it to do, but I wasn't disappointed at all and it turned out to be much better than I thought.

Sebastian

ian408 · January 10, 2006

There is at least one standard for GPS. It's called NEMA. I would think most units
support it but to what degree might be the real question

If you bought a unit
that supported NEMA and the tools you use to read the tracks support NEMA, I would
think you'd be in business.

Ian

rainforest1155 · January 10, 2006

ian408 wrote:

There is at least one standard for GPS. It's called NEMA. I would think most units support it but to what degree might be the real question If you bought a unit that supported NEMA and the tools you use to read the tracks support NEMA, I would think you'd be in business.

That's what I wanted to say - even if the device supports NMEA (even though I favor your spelling as it's possible to speak it NMEA is the correct one) it doesn't mean you can directly access it.
I was lucky with my device as the only thing it does with the SD-cards is writing NMEA-data on it.

Sebastian

NHBubba · January 10, 2006

ian408 wrote:

Here's the Garmin unit I was talking about. Around $100.

I have a Garmin eTrex Legend.. basically a slightly souped up version of the one Ian linked. I got a heckuva deal on it a year or so ago. IIRC it was from Amazon for like $125. I use it for hiking and boating.. and ocasionally in the car. I've never logged photos w/ it.. although I may have to try this after reading this thread.

My biggest beef w/ these eTrex jobies is that they EAT batteries. ..Or mine does anyhow. NiMH's (and backups on hand) are mandatory! Also they cannot be adapted to take an external antenna. This makes it a pain to use in a vehicle or boat. If you're just looking for something handheld for logging photos.. then it's probably not so much of an issue. But if you are looking for a multi-purpose GPS and want to use it in a vehicle, +12 VDC adapters and external antenna lugs would probably be nice to have.

Also reception is often questionable in wooded cover. Hiking below treeline I have to keep the unit on my shoulder (tied to my pack's shoulder strap) or it will lose signal and stop it's track. ..and even then it does occasionally anyhow. Once above the treeline it is more forgiving.. but still a pain. You can't just slip it in your pack and be done w/ it. My buddy recently got a newer Garmin similar to this GPSMAP 276C w/ a little flip out antenna. He seems to have far fewer problems w/ reception. So a newer style like this might be worth your attention..

ian408 · January 10, 2006

rainforest1155 wrote:

That's what I wanted to say - even if the device supports NMEA (even though I favor your spelling as it's possible to speak it NMEA is the correct one) it doesn't mean you can directly access it.
I was lucky with my device as the only thing it does with the SD-cards is writing NMEA-data on it.

Sebastian

I've been working on some electrical stuff today--NEMA on the brain...

But yes, NMEA is what you want. But if it does support it, there will be a serial
port of some kind that allows you to get the data out of it. In a sort of weird way,
this is a "bus" for navigation instruments.

rainforest1155 · January 10, 2006

NHBubba wrote:

Also reception is often questionable in wooded cover. Hiking below treeline I have to keep the unit on my shoulder (tied to my pack's shoulder strap) or it will lose signal and stop it's track. ..and even then it does occasionally anyhow.

Thanks for bringin this up as I forgot to mention it. That's the probably the problem with those little devices. They're so small and therefore they haven't got a good antenna.
From my understanding the antenna always have to 'see' the sky in order to keep in contact with the satellites. Keep in mind that the human body is a very good shield against a lot of things including the GPS signal - therefore try to keep the device at a high position. Either you have an external antenna or you simply have to attach the thing to your backpack. The latter is what I do - it's just attached there all the time and therefore gives me the best possible signal. It's enough for my photo stamping activities, but it in deed gets a little hard to keep the connection to satellites in difficult areas like the woods and between high houses in streets.

Sebastian

rainforest1155 · January 10, 2006

ian408 wrote:

I've been working on some electrical stuff today--NEMA on the brain...

But yes, NMEA is what you want. But if it does support it, there will be a serial
port of some kind that allows you to get the data out of it. In a sort of weird way,
this is a "bus" for navigation instruments.

Electrical stuff in combination with brain sounds scary - I better watch out for this NEMA thingy. :uhoh
Agreed that if the device really supports NMEA that there *should* be a way to get it out of the device. But marketing people tend to be creative - 'we haven't said that...'

Sebastian

Viking · January 13, 2006

I have a fortuna clip-on bluetooth GPS, and it works great for PDA navigating.

What GPS should I get?

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