Customer Reviews

CD-111: GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr for Digital Camera GPS Data Logger with Motion Sensor (51 ch. MTK, Windows and Mac Supported)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I've used it during a 3 weeks trip around Europe.
Good reception and reasonable cold start. Tested it side to side with a garmin NUVI and this device was able to recover the lost signal when coming out of a tunnel as quick as the Garmin.
Position is quite accurate, though sometimes it creates a "spike" on the map when loosing the signal (eg when going inside a building).
Software is ok for tagging but somehow basic whith other features. I prefer the more advanced features of jetphoto, so I invested another $25 on that software and now I have the perfect combination. Because of the software I only give it 4 stars, the hardware deserves full 5 stars.

The good:

- Performs as promised
- Good GPS positioning, also tracks altitude
- Does good job of locking onto and holding GPS signal
- Software (ver 2.1) has a lot of advanced features.
- Compact and lightweight device
- Once you get it set up and figure out the software, its easy to use.

The bad:

- Software installation is confusing. Software, Drivers, and Firmware that ship with device were very outdated and updating all of these was a bit painful.
- Even though the software has a lot of modern and advanced features, it has the look and feel of a program that was designed about 6 to 8 years ago.
- The 1/2 page manual that shipped with the product is pretty bad. There is a PDF manual with the software that is a bit better.
- Some of the sounds the unit makes are right up there with fingernails on a chalkboard (thankfully they can be disabled). The voice prompts the unit gives are a bit cryptic.

Conclusion:

The device and software do not have the polished look and feel of something that would come from a major electronics company. However, I'm pleased with the product and would recommend it. Just give yourself a little extra time for installation and figuring out the software.

I pre-ordered this and got it soon after the release and can't think of a reason to never use it. This is not just a photo tracker, but a full-fledged GPS tracker with excellent battery life. Think of the fun, hide it in a car of someone you don't quite trust and then retrieve it later. The software uses Google Maps to route tracker, and it matches the time code on digital pictures to the time code on the GPS files. If you go inside a building, the signal will be lost, but the software is smart enough to assume you're in the same place. The pictures upload to Flickr with a couple clicks and so long as you hard encode the GPS data to the picture files, Flickr will map them for the world to see.

This works with any camera, because all you have to do is match the time.

Also included in the box is a travel adapter, which is a USB charger that plugs into a car outlet, a home charger, and the needed cables. This works perfect in pockets, bags, and picks up a signal faster than my Garmin car unit.

This is the best device until a camera is released with a built-in GPS tracker.

I bought this to use with my MacBook Pro, running Windows XP.

The hardware is phenomenal. I bought a cell phone belt carrier to fit it. When I am in my pickup, with the device between me and the seat, it still tracks. It tracks from inside the saddle bags on my ATV. Phenomenal...

However, the Windows software is pretty... ah, basic. It records the GPS coordinates and displays them on a Google earth map. When I tried to write the GPS data to the photos, it records something, I don't know what. Unfortunately, in Adobe Bridge, when you try to actually read the GPS data in EXIF, all you get is the altitude, (in meters), and the file hangs up and will just keep trying to read the GPS data. If you export your images to Flickr, directly from the software, GPS data doesn't go with it. So, basically, what you can do with this in Windows with this phenomenal piece of hardware is look at a map with your pictures at the appropriate coordinates. That's pretty much it.

As far as the Mac software they just came out with - it looks like a really great app. Unfortunately, they are only releasing a restricted version of the app and making you pay $25 for the "pro" version. Also, unfortunately, despite multiple attempts, their software won't recognize their own GPS device, so I can't use the Mac software.

Their tech support is pretty weak. No telephone tech support. They do respond to your emails, but they just give generic advice - like "Did you try different USB ports?" The printed manual is one page. The manual on the CD is about 6 pages. There is a website manual for both Mac and Windows versions, which I found equally unhelpful.

I am waiting for the software to catch up with phenomenal hardware...

The GiSTEQ CD110 GPS logger and PhotoTrackr software together with a PC are a complex system trying to do a simple thing, add accurate location information to photos. In this review I'll try to answer some of the questions I had when making a purchasing decision to hopefully help you do the same.

CD110 Pros: GPS performance, configurability, size, replaceable battery
CD110 Cons: Poor lanyard design, battery cover

PhotoTrackr Pros: Versatile, simple interface, Google Maps API integration, no activation code (v2.4)
PhotoTrackr Cons: Not entirely user-proof

Firmware: v4.2
Platform 1: Windows Vista SP1 (32-bit) with PhotoTracker v2.3.821.0
Platform 2: Windows XP SP3 with PhotoTrackr v2.4.610.1

When I received the CD111 I was surprised by the packaging, it was in a compact sleeved box like a typical mobile phone. Everything inside was individually wrapped conveying a sense of quality. The logger itself is small and quite light, measuring 3" x 1-3/4" x 7/8" and 2.4 ounces, battery installed.

The battery resembles a mobile phone slab style battery and fits behind a sliding cover. While the logger was charging prior to first use I decided to install the lanyard. Unlike most lanyard rings where you thread the lanyard under a bar and then loop it on itself, the battery cover actually forms one side of the lanyard ring and when the cover is removed the lanyard is slipped in from the side. Closing the cover closes the ring and traps the lanyard. This is a poor design because the cover is retained by a weak spring latch so if the cover loosens there is the risk that the logger will separate from the lanyard and be lost.

The package includes a printed manual, something rarely seen these days. It's a small booklet that is essentially a reprint of the electronic help file but given the number of features that can be performed by the three buttons it's nice to be able to toss a small manual into your camera bag.

According to the manual, when the logger is charging a green indicator flashes, going solid when charging is complete. Contrary to the description in the manual, what I have found is that powering the unit for charging actually turns it on and the LEDs flash in accordance with the normal power on scheme (both red and green LEDs). If the unit is plugged into a USB charger however, it can be turned off via the normal power button and the green LED will flash until the unit is charged at which time the LED will turn off. Curiously, if the unit is plugged into a computer USB for charging, it cannot be turned off via the normal power button and the LEDs behave as previously described.

The package came with v2.3 of the PhotoTrackr software. This software requires activation and there is a 3 activation limit. I installed v2.3 on my Vista system and it worked immediately with no problems, even upgrading itself to the latest v2.3 build and upgrading the logger to firmware v4.2. I was impressed that this was all done without leaving the program, a benefit to those who are squeamish about standalone updaters.
A quick check of the GiSTEQ website showed that v2.4 of the PhotoTrackr software was available and best of all, it required no activation. I installed PhotoTrackr v2.4 on my XP system without any problems. Luckily, firmware v4.2 is compatible with both of the current v2.3 and v2.4 software versions. Software features discussed in this review will apply to both versions unless otherwise stated.

The logger talks and makes other noises. The voice says, "satellites positioning", "satellites fixed" and "low battery". The other noises seem to have been lifted from Windows system sounds. Volume can be controlled in four steps, off, low, medium and high. The LEDs flash to indicate power on (green), satellites fixed (red), and USB communications (orange). These can also be extinguished by putting the device in "stealth" mode.

My seat of the pants comparison to Garmin and Magellan GPS devices is that the GiSTEQ performance is comparable. I was concerned that the MTK GPS chipset might not meet expectations formed by experience with the SiRF III chipset but these concerns are unfounded. The warm and cold acquisition times are comparable and reasonable.

My last concern with the hardware was the driver vs. driverless argument. This has turned out to be a non-issue. Since a program has to be used to write location information to my photo files (geocoding) my real concern should have been how does geocoding affect my workflow and does the need for a device driver affect this process? The answers are, workflow isn't affected and the need for a driver is transparent to geocoding (in this case).

Geocoding can be done any time after both photos and corresponding GPS log are downloaded to your computer. Within PhotoTrackr there is an "Add Images" function which writes location data to the EXIF information within the photo file. The photos are not copied so additional disk space is not used.

Leveraging the Google Maps API is brilliant. Whether you love or hate Google you can't argue with the fact that it works as well as many and better than most. In addition to the map view you have access to Google's satellite photos. Viewing your photos in the context of a satellite photo seems very intuitive.

I use Google Picasa and the program's integration with Picasa is seamless. From within PhotoTrackr I select the photos to be uploaded and the destination folder. Click, and off they go. I can even downsize the photos so they take less space. The two features that I miss are embossing (I like to emboss a copyright onto each uploaded photo) and the ability to create new folders. The latter can still be done from my browser so the workaround is pretty painless.

When the logger is first connected to the computer it sets its timezone based on the computer's timezone. I changed the timezone on my XP computer and also set the clock 5 minutes fast to verify that the logger uses the initial setup to determine the logger timezone and GPS time for synchronization purposes. Connecting the logger to computers in different timezones does not affect the synchronization time. Synchronization is important because your camera clock must be set to the logger clock in order for the software to match a place to a photo. Note that it is the time embedded within the photo's EXIF data that is matched to the waypoint time within the GPS log that is matched and not the file creation times that are used.

Logging parameters can be set from within PhotoTrackr when the logger is connected. There are a lot of customizable parameters and changing any of them is very straight forward. Type in the new value, click OK and you're done.

I made the mistake of deleting a log file and breaking its associations with the corresponding photos. After a little trial and error I restored the photos and log files by simply re-importing them. Luckily, when PhotoTrackr deletes a file it only deletes the reference to it from the database. The file (log or photo) is intact on disk.

The CB111 is a decent GPS logger with a full feature set. Once set to your preferences you should rarely have to mess with it, aside from charging it and turning it on and off. The PhotoTrackr software is the real star of the show, and it works extremely well. Eliminating the activation feature is a huge improvement. In fact, if you have any compatibility questions you should simply download the software from GiSTEQ's website and test it yourself. The program comes with sample photos and log files so you can test compatibility with your system, your photo sharing site and your workflow. GiSTEQ has created a walled garden with their software so you can do almost everything needed without leaving the program and that is quite an accomplishment.

The product works well - on JPGs. Since I shoot RAW, I was very disappointed at the inability to add the GPS information 1st to my RAW photos' EXIF information as a group to be carried over to my post-processing conversion to JPG.

I really didn't understand the instructions for it very well & now wished I had left it turned on my entire 2.5wk trip so that I didn't have so many separate "trips" from my one trip. Now I know.

The instructions you can download from their site was better than included with the purchased product.

So now I have to remember after each or all JPG conversions to run it through the software to add the GPS info to it, whereas if I could have done that with my set of RAW files immediately after upload. So with it only working on JPGs, it's easy to lose track of which ones had been geo-tagged and which ones did not.

I did a lot of research into this product before buying, and I'm happy I went ahead with it. I've tested it in a variety of applications:

1) Walking/hiking: accurate within about 10m - works better in rural environments due to less building interference, and allows you to bookmark where you took some really nice shots.

2) Jogging: accuracy really fell off - I imagine it has something to do with it bumping around on the lanyard on my neck - it was as much as a block off sometimes.

3) Driving: stuck to the roads pretty well with the occasional spike off the road (I sure don't remember going 138 mph for 1 second).

I've already taken this thing out on a few geocaching and beach trips (I'm also kind of curious if a few ziplock bags around it would render it waterproof - perhaps I'll add "underwater performance" later), and I'm really looking forward to taking it to China and India this summer.

My favorite website to use with this thing is Picasa, though using the included software to post your pictures is a little buggy - you're better off just using the web album interface directly or downloading the Picasa client if you have a lot of pictures (>5) you want to put up.

The physical product (the tracker) works reasonably well, it's pretty small and has a fairly good battery life- 3-4 days depending on logging rate. However... the software supplied is useless, it crashes constantly and it is impossible to get any meaningful support from Gisteq, they appear to update software without fully testing it properly, and it is nigh on impossible to download from their website as there are always bugs in it. Their customer service forums are not much more use.
The problem is compounded as the GPS data is stored on the tracker in a properiatory format that can't be read by other programmes. Avoid this product and look for another company's if you don't want the hassle!

I looked long and hard at the different trackers and I'm sure if I tried each and every one they would have features that I'm missing. The reason I got this one is the motion sensor. The unit is very controllable as to the time before "going to sleep" can be set in minutes, the tracking set in distance covered (in feet) or time between readings in seconds (every-X_seconds). So charge it up for 30 hours of continual use or weeks of it turning itself on when it detects motion and off after 5 minutes of no motion. The aquisition is fairly quick and once aquired locks on well. The unit can be connected with a usb cable to a laptop using Microsoft streets and trips and will show your current location constantly thus becoming an onboard map system. You can see reviews at http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/default.asp for more info.
I tried it behind the seat of my nissan P.U. and was surprised it could catch some signal (not always) even with a shirt stuffed over it.

I've had this unit for about a year now. I love the idea of geotagging and this unit CAN do a decent job of it. However, the software is weak at best. The device does not show up as a USB drive, so you need the software to get the log files, even if you're going to use another application to tag the photos (which you probably will after using their software once or twice). Reading the GisTeq support forums, there seems to be a problem with the case cracking open. There doesn't seem to be any support from GisTeq on their site or their support forum. It uses an internal battery, which means you need to carry a USB charger on long trips and there's no way to know when the unit is fully charged. The audio prompts and buttons are not very intuitive and the manual is cryptic - to say the least. So, it works. However, since I actually use the thing, I find I will need to replace it with one that works better - and takes AAA batteries. There seem to be enough good (and free) geotagging software packages out there that I'm looking for a driverless tracker that I can use with much less grief. You might want to as well.