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Holux M 1000 32 Channel Bluetooth GPS Receiver

Holux M1000 Bluetooth GPS with MTK 32 GPS engine. The advantages of the Holux M-1000 include best tracking and most importantly affordable.

With the advanced technology, the HOlux M-1000 tracks up to 32 satellites at a time, re-acquires satellite signals in 100 ns and updates position data every second. Trickle-Power allows the unit operates a fraction of the time and Push-to-Fix permits user to have a quick position fix even though the receiver usually stays off.

The Holux M-1000 comes with integrated rechargeable Li-Ion battery with 850mAh capacity that lasts up to 17 hours.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Receives satellites virtually anywhere in the car
I’m using this with an iPAQ 211 PDA running Street Atlas 2008 for Pocket PC. I started out setting it on the dashboard, then realized that works anywhere in the car. I now just toss it the center console and it picks up the satellites just fine. It’s a good deal at $42. Bluetooth range is 30 feet or better when testing it in the house. The battery is the same as that in my Nokia tracfone making for a quick way to charge.

4 Stars Good Signal (strange behaviour with Nokia)
I have used this one for almost a year now. I use it with Nokia E60, and it is good in gaining signal, but the strange thing is that I can’t synch to it more than one time, and then I have to delete it from my bluetooth devices in order to use it again. I find this really strange.

5 Stars Better than my tomtom at getting a satellite
I use this with my AT&T pantech duo phone and google maps and also live search and this thing will pick up a street even inside the house. It was a bit difficult to set up because the instructions were very brief but if you go to the website [...] they have the full guide and after following that I was on my way. Should work great with any smart phone using windows mobile. Then you don’t have to pay for those expensive GPS services through your provider!

4 Stars HOLUX M-1000
I needed a GPS Receiver for the Nokia n800 I bought last year so I looked around for something that would work. I had loaded the free map program from Maemo, and from what I read on-line, this GPS device would work.

When I received the Holux M1000, the instructions – written in about 500 languages – were not exactly ‘clear-as-a-bell’. But the Nokia information was not that helpful, either. However, I muddled through it all and I got it to work. Quickly – you insert the battery and charge it up for about four hours. Then you flip on the switch. On the Nokia, you go to the ‘Settings’ icon and then you go to the ‘Control Panel’ icon. Once there, you tap on Bluetooth. A small window should pop up. Tap on the ‘Devices’ tab. Another window should come and see that you are operating an M1000. Tap on the M1000 name and yet another window will come up. It will ask you to enter a Pass Code number. Just enter 0000. The Nokia will start the pairing process. I think I have included all the steps – but, once it starts working, it does a great job. Far better than the Garvin I have been using in the car. The Holux is a little bigger than I thought it would be: larger than a match book. But it quickly finds your location and is more sensitive than many of the GPS receivers I have seen. It is a good choice and a good buy.

5 Stars One of the best bluetooth GPS receiver
There are many similar devices around here, but this has 4 major advantages over competitors models (without talking about the price).

1st: MTK chipset, very very fast. Previously to this I has a Sirf Star III based device, I’ve been happy with it until I lost it. When I get this, I really feel the difference, I can sey it with experience on me.

2nd: Battery can be easily replaced, it’s compatible with a specific Nokia cellphone battery, cheap and very common to find it.

3rd: The design. This is not the most beautiful device in the world, but is nicer than other models.

4th: Most GPS receivers updated and send data position every 1 second (1 Hz), but this device can be tweaked to reach 5 Hz, useful to build detailed maps.

I have this one paired with an Atom Life Pocket PC running under Windows Mobile 6 with Garmin Mobile XT v5.00.20 together.

Buy/More Info

GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Lite DPL700 GPS Photo Tracker

Marketing description is not available.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Great when it works …. but then it doesn’t…..
This is a slick little unit – easy to carry, clip to your camera bag or belt, and schlep it all over. Even performed well inside a plane when I was testing it. It does not have the option to change logging rates while on the go (would be nice to have walk/drive/fly options without having to go back to a computer.)

Liked it so much I sent one to my sister for Christmas to log her once-in-a-lifetime trip to India.

Then on a trip to Scotland, for no apparent reason, it just stopped acquiring satellites and I lost about 1/4 of that trip and all of my next trip.

Customer support at GiSTEQ told me to update the firmware. Once done, the power LED blinked away but could not acquire satellites. Changed batteries, re-updated firmware, reset the unit … still, no acquisition.

Sister had the SAME problem with her unit failing while in India – can’t return the unit until her big trip is over.

My unit is back at the manufacturer at the moment (probably a couple weeks to turnaround, who knows.)

Bottom line: a tool like this should not need much coddling. It should work well for years, the battery should be easy to replace (it isn’t) and the user should not have to wonder whether the unit is working or not.

It should not require having a computer and internet access to update firmware in the middle of a trip.

For me the jury is out – if GiSTEQ can make both units ‘right’ in one fix then it will be worth keeping. If not, I’ll be howling for a refund and go on to another more reliable unit.

1 Star Poor software, proprietary interface, and build quality issues
I purchased a GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Lite last April. The Windows software was unintuitive and unnecessarily difficult to use. Unfortunately, the logger does not show up as a standard USB device, and so far as I am aware GiSTEQ’s software is the only tool capable of retrieving and reading files from the logger. As annoying and difficult as the software was, it did have a lot of good features and it was able to do much of what I wanted. The logger and software do work, and if the build quality was decent the product might get three stars. Unfortunately, the build quality (or more likely the engineering) is poor, and the plastic case cracked near the latch after fewer than 14 days of actual use. I should also note at this point that the battery life is significantly lower than advertised (I don’t remember the specifics well enough to state a number of hours), which means that the battery door gets more use than you would expect from looking at the specs.

I didn’t discover the biggest issue with this logger until, several months after installing the software, I deleted the installation files from my desktop. One would think that the installer files are not necessary to run the already-installed software, but one would be mistaken. The next time I tried to start the software it refused to start, saying that it needed the installation files. Since I no longer have the installation files, I downloaded the version of the software that is available on GiSTEQ’s web site. The software now runs, but says that I need to update the firmware on my logger before it can be used. If the update were free this would be fine, but GiSTEQ forces you to purchase a Pro version of their software in order to download firmware updates. My logger, which works just fine (in spite of the broken plastic), is now effectively useless unless I pay more money. They do not offer for download the older version of the software that works with the old (less than a year) firmware, and I will not pay a second time to regain functionality for which I already paid. Given that the only way to access the logger is through GiSTEQ’s software, that the software is difficult to use in the best of circumstances, and that the only version of their software available for download tried to make me pay again to let me use a device for which I have already paid, I recommend avoiding this product.

1 Star Save yourself many headaches – get something else
I rarely bother to take the time to submit negative reviews about products, but this one really deserves it. I bought 10 of these units for an educational project, and it’s turned out to be a complete nightmare. The units themselves are flimsy and completely unreliable. When they are working, the satellite reception is tenuous at best, and they often shut off for no apparent reason or simply refuse to receive satellite signals no matter how long you choose to wait.

The most serious problem, however, is the software. If you use a Mac, don’t even think about buying this product. Despite many months (years) of promises from the company, the Mac software still doesn’t function properly. The latest release (March 2009) will finally allow GPS track logs to be downloaded, but the elevation data are lost (which I need).

It seems that every time you finally resolve one problem with the hardware or software, a new problem appears. Today I updated the software on a PC, but now I can’t connect to the unit because the firmware is out of date. But when I try to update the firmware, some kind of error occurs. It just never ends!

This has been one long, frustrating experience. I would strongly suggest that if you are considering one of these, get a low-end regular GPS unit instead. I wish that I had taken this approach.

4 Stars GPS Unit – way to hard to use
This thing works, but it is just way to hard to get it synced to camera, using Nikon GPS unit now on d200. If you don’t have a dedicated GPS option, and want tagging, this is a way to get there, but it requires a lot of post work. a dedicated unit is better, and a standard gps with waypoints might work as well

1 Star Pretty nifty, but too easily broken.
I purchased the DPL700 just over a year ago, and have used it fairly often since then with no major problems… until about a week ago. But I’ll get to that later.

Installing and using the software wasn’t the most intuitive thing in the world, and it feels a bit kludgy, but once you figure out what you’re doing it works very well for getting your photos geotagged.

As I said, I’ve used my Trackr fairly often in the past year… just normal, everyday use — I usually have the device clipped to my camera strap, so it gets the same level of care that I give to my camera. After several months of use, I noticed that the body of the device had a small crack next to the battery door (similar to that seen in the user photo uploaded by E. Richards). This crack did not affect the use of the device in any way.

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled by train from the midwest to Washington State, and I took my Trackr along for the ride. I kept it placed near the window and on at all times, and it was able to acquire and keep a satellite connection for most of the journey. The battery lasted about 10 hours, as expected, so I did need to change that out several times on the trip.

And now for the bad news… While doing some sightseeing in Washington, I was in the middle of snapping a picture when the little black strap that connects the Trackr to the clip unexpectedly fell apart, and my Trackr went crashing to the ground. At first glance, the device appeared unharmed, but when I tried to close up the battery compartment door, it would not stay shut. Sadly, that flimsy little itty bitty piece of plastic that holds the battery door closed had snapped off, just the same as other reviewers have mentioned. I tried holding the compartment closed with my fingers, and the device began working again. However, the force needed to hold the door shut is more than you might expect, so I was unable to hold it closed for more than a few minutes at a time. I then tried to McGuyver it shut with duct tape, which did work for about 20 minutes, until the duct tape began to stretch under the pressure from the battery, causing the device to stop working again.

So… because of the easily broken-ness of the device, and the very poorly designed battery compartment, I’m only giving it one star. If I could find something stronger than duct tape that would hold the battery compartment shut — a portable Incredible Hulk, perhaps, or maybe a small vice — I might have given it 3-4 stars, because the device does still *work* (IF you can hold the door shut), and it is good for tagging your photos. And it did work just fine for 14 months…

Buy/More Info

Holux M 1000 32 Channel Bluetooth GPS Receiver

Holux M1000 Bluetooth GPS with MTK 32 GPS engine. The advantages of the Holux M-1000 include best tracking and most importantly affordable.

With the advanced technology, the HOlux M-1000 tracks up to 32 satellites at a time, re-acquires satellite signals in 100 ns and updates position data every second. Trickle-Power allows the unit operates a fraction of the time and Push-to-Fix permits user to have a quick position fix even though the receiver usually stays off.

The Holux M-1000 comes with integrated rechargeable Li-Ion battery with 850mAh capacity that lasts up to 17 hours.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Receives satellites virtually anywhere in the car
I’m using this with an iPAQ 211 PDA running Street Atlas 2008 for Pocket PC. I started out setting it on the dashboard, then realized that works anywhere in the car. I now just toss it the center console and it picks up the satellites just fine. It’s a good deal at $42. Bluetooth range is 30 feet or better when testing it in the house. The battery is the same as that in my Nokia tracfone making for a quick way to charge.

4 Stars HOLUX M-1000
I needed a GPS Receiver for the Nokia n800 I bought last year so I looked around for something that would work. I had loaded the free map program from Maemo, and from what I read on-line, this GPS device would work.

When I received the Holux M1000, the instructions – written in about 500 languages – were not exactly ‘clear-as-a-bell’. But the Nokia information was not that helpful, either. However, I muddled through it all and I got it to work. Quickly – you insert the battery and charge it up for about four hours. Then you flip on the switch. On the Nokia, you go to the ‘Settings’ icon and then you go to the ‘Control Panel’ icon. Once there, you tap on Bluetooth. A small window should pop up. Tap on the ‘Devices’ tab. Another window should come and see that you are operating an M1000. Tap on the M1000 name and yet another window will come up. It will ask you to enter a Pass Code number. Just enter 0000. The Nokia will start the pairing process. I think I have included all the steps – but, once it starts working, it does a great job. Far better than the Garvin I have been using in the car. The Holux is a little bigger than I thought it would be: larger than a match book. But it quickly finds your location and is more sensitive than many of the GPS receivers I have seen. It is a good choice and a good buy.

5 Stars One of the best bluetooth GPS receiver
There are many similar devices around here, but this has 4 major advantages over competitors models (without talking about the price).

1st: MTK chipset, very very fast. Previously to this I has a Sirf Star III based device, I’ve been happy with it until I lost it. When I get this, I really feel the difference, I can sey it with experience on me.

2nd: Battery can be easily replaced, it’s compatible with a specific Nokia cellphone battery, cheap and very common to find it.

3rd: The design. This is not the most beautiful device in the world, but is nicer than other models.

4th: Most GPS receivers updated and send data position every 1 second (1 Hz), but this device can be tweaked to reach 5 Hz, useful to build detailed maps.

I have this one paired with an Atom Life Pocket PC running under Windows Mobile 6 with Garmin Mobile XT v5.00.20 together.

5 Stars Better than my tomtom at getting a satellite
I use this with my AT&T pantech duo phone and google maps and also live search and this thing will pick up a street even inside the house. It was a bit difficult to set up because the instructions were very brief but if you go to the website [...] they have the full guide and after following that I was on my way. Should work great with any smart phone using windows mobile. Then you don’t have to pay for those expensive GPS services through your provider!

4 Stars Good Signal (strange behaviour with Nokia)
I have used this one for almost a year now. I use it with Nokia E60, and it is good in gaining signal, but the strange thing is that I can’t synch to it more than one time, and then I have to delete it from my bluetooth devices in order to use it again. I find this really strange.

Buy/More Info

Garmin eTrex Legend HCx GPS Receiver

Deep foliage, nor canyons phase the rugged eTrex Legend HCx. Its high-sensitivity receiver holds a GPS signal in the toughest environments. Similar to the Legend Cx, this handheld navigator also has a bright color screen, microSD card slot and automatic routing for wherever adventure takes you.With its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver, eTrex Legend HCx locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons. The advantage is clear – whether you’re in deep woods or just near tall buildings and trees, you can count on Legend HCx to help you find your way when you need it the most.Adding maps is easier than ever with Legend HCx’s microSD card slot. Conveniently plug in optional preloaded microSD cards with MapSource data for your land and sea excursions. Just insert a MapSource card with detailed street maps, and Legend HCx provides turn-by-turn directions to your destination. The card slot is located inside the waterproof battery compartment, so you don’t have to worry about getting it wet.Like the rest of the eTrex series, Legend HCx is lightweight and compact – the perfect size for all your travels.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Geocache the easy way!
I bought this unit to geocache with. The ease of transfer from geocache.com to this unit is excellent. It would be a little better with the streets maps added but as it is I am nothing but impressed with the quality and battery life. Geocachers will love!

5 Stars Great for Geocaching
We use this for Geocaching and we can easily download from the Geocaching site items for us to hunt in our treks.

4 Stars Great little GPS, crappy policy on maps from Garmin
I love this little unit. It locks up the satellites very fast, has great battery life (have yet to run out of juice), and the size is nice. You can just slip it into any pocket. I found it very easy to use. You can see the display nicely in the dark as well as broad daylight.

My real complaint is the map software. I had owned a Garmin Street Pilot for some time and foolishly thought that I could use the City Navigator that I already had to load up onto the Legend. Note that the base maps in the are very large scale and essentially show major freeways and bodies of water. I found Garmin’s licensing to be obscure at best and spent hours trying to figure out how to load City Navigator. It seems that I was going to have to spend more then the cost of the unit to load any decent maps.

However, during my Googling I found some wonderful sites that provide FREE topo maps in Garmin format. After adding a 4GB memory card, I can now load tons of topo maps into the Legend that provide all the detail that I want. The free maps do not support routing, but I do not use this little baby unit for that anyway….this is used for hiking and not for drving.

If you are going to use this as a primary GPS for driving and finding destinations then be prepared for extra cost for the Garmin maps, but for hiking and other applications it is a great little unit.

4 Stars Etrex Legend Hcx Worth The Extra $
I bought the Legend Hcx after using the plain Legend for 1 week. The extra bucks the Hcx cost were worth it! The USB connection was worth the money all by itself. I also love the color screen and how bright it is. The regular Legend only had black and white…it does make a difference! The other thing that I noticed about the Hcx was that I could get Satellite locks inside my house and very easily in my truck…something I could never to with the plain Legend. This is a very nice unit to start out on. I use mine exclusively to Geocache.

5 Stars Great Outdoor GPS
This is my first time buying a GPS unit. I wanted it for mostly geocaching- and then for hiking, biking and running.

It has worked great for me. The base map on it are very minimal-so buying the TOPO maps are worth it. Which is why I bought this GPS because I was including the price of extra map software when I was comparing it with other units.

The screen is large enough and bright enough. I have always gotten satellite connection even in cloudy weather. Getting to a point, the GPS usually gets me within 3 to 10 ft of a point depending. It’s light weight. The battery life has been great. It’s rugged enough to withstand me dropping it and tossing it in my backpack. (I did get a case for it though)

The menus and navigation of the GPS are easy to understand.

Overall I’m really pleased with my purchase and think it’s a great GPS for any one who looking for a good practical model without over complicating the fact that it’s a GPS. I don’t use it for road navigation because that’s not what it’s made for–they make models for the car. If you want that-then don’t bother with the eTrex. This is a handheld, get out into nature and find a trail GPS.

Buy/More Info

TomTom ONE 130 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator

3.5″ TFT 320×240 Color LCD Touchscreen / 1GB Flash Memory / Pre-loaded maps of USA/Canada / High-sensitivity GPS chipset / 266 MHz, 32 MB RAM CPU

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars The Best Idea I’ve ever had
I drive all over the place because I work in promotions, and getting this GPS was the best decision I’ve ever made. It has vastly increased my productivity when it comes to errands and easily directs me around Boston, a city in which I used to hate driving with a strong passion. The text to voice is a very important feature, especially at intersections with a few roads coming in and I highly encourage getting a GPS with this feature. I’ve noticed that sometimes it has trouble connecting to satellites, but plugging it in to charge usually corrects that problem immediately. The volume gets very loud and though it’s difficult to adjust sometimes, that small problem doesn’t reduce my wholehearted recommendation of the 130S!

5 Stars Easy and Accurate!
After weeks of researching GPS devices, I finally decided to buy a TomTom. The price is better, TomTom includes Canada at no extra cost, and it is fast and easy to set up. So far, this device has been very accurate and I live in a very rural area. I am very happy with my purchase!

5 Stars I LOVE my Tom Tom!!!
I researched this item on Consumer Reports first and plugged in all the important features I was looking for, including price. I am extremely happy with the value and how well the product has performed so far. The touch screen is easy and clear and it shows you the names of streets before you come to them. I would definitely recommend this product. It is easy to use and helpful when navigation and directions aren’t your forte!

5 Stars Very good choice!!
This GPS is a very good navigator. It’s the perfect size for me and fits in every place in my car. It’s exactly what I was looking for, and it’s very easy to download the actualizations from the computer.

5 Stars Great GPS (TomTom ONE 130)
This is one of the best products and/or gadgets I’ve ever had the pleasure of using. From the day it arrived I turned it on (it was fully charged), and noticed how easy and intuitive it was to use and play around with. I thought maybe there was a problem with the contents when there were no user’s manual that fell out when I opened the package. It didn’t matter — it was very easy to use. I knew that I could download the manual from the TomTom website.

I bought this GPS for planning our trip up to New York City. I did some searching and reading about a few different GPS’s, and eventually ended up getting a low-priced but a newer model from TomTom. What finally helped me decide was:

1)portability (fits in shirt pocket).

2)support available on the Net.

3)simplicity of use.

First use:

Going to checkout the local parks near our home became so simple and nice, that otherwise would have been a difficult and time consuming task, with the unfolding and folding of maps, looking out for street names, or printing them out from Google Maps.

Extensive use:

Before the trip I entered all the restaurants and places we would like to visit as “Favorites”. This is a trip from Virginia Beach to NYC (Manhattan). Never been there before, but with this gadget we weren’t afraid to go just about anywhere we pleased. We followed the GPS to Delaware, caught the ferry to New Jersey, and reached our hotel with ease. This route was modified. The original route was given by TomTom to use the I-95 area, but we modified it to go our way which was very easy to do using the “Find alternative” icon.

Basically, we stayed in New Jersey going to Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry (which is FREE), and back to our hotel in New Jersey. And we did this for a few days with the help of this GPS. We didn’t bother driving in Manhattan, looking for parking, etc.

The hardest part about this whole trip was figuring out how to use the subway system. We even used our GPS to help us find out which way to go from time to time while on foot (thus the small size and portability). And it’s great for a map reference. But I have to mention here that picking up the GPS signal while being surrounded by tall buildings out on the side walk is a little difficult. And I have to guess that it’ll probably have the same effect while driving here.

Next, there seems to be some concern with the volume problem that I kept reading about. Ours was o.k. This GPS is very loud at its default of 70%! And clear! We had to turn down the volume while driving on the freeway — it has a “Link volume to car speed” feature, which I think is ingenious, so it was louder on the freeway, then it gets down to its lower volume at lower speeds. The suction cup is nicely designed, and it’s simple to take the whole assy. on and off to put away from vandalism.

There were fancier ones that mention the street names aloud, and ones that give you traffic information, and other things. But all I wanted was something simple and straight forward (turn left, turn right, stay on the left lane, etc. — TomTom ONE 130 is perfect). Also I thought about getting the bigger 4.3″ wide screen, but after using this it’s not necessary.

Minor complaint:

One minor complaint is that when naming your “Favorites” it doesn’t let you tap the cursor to any of its area, instead you have to erase the whole thing that has been highlighted or put the cursor at its very end. And when you want to give it a name and the address together, the number portion automatically gets inserted at the beginning which is annoying.

My solution: enter the name, and when entering the number portion, precede it with a special character like an asterisk then the number, then follow it by another asterisk, then the street name but without any space before it. Also I found it convenient to include the phone number on this whole line.

Buy/More Info