Columbus V-900 Bluetooth GPS Data Logger with Free 1GB microSD card (microSD , Driverless, Push to Log, XP / Vista/ Linux / Mac OSX Compatible)

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Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• ASIN: B001JJRBU8
• Item model number: V-900
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,424 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 29, 2008

Product Description

Product Description

Columbus V-900 Bluetooth GPS Data Logger is the world first data logger with Voice-Tag function for adding your personal voice labels to any waypoints. It is easy to use, compact, and provides excellent GPS performance. You name it, the Columbus V-900 data logger records almost all available GPS parameters such as: Date, Time, Latitude, Longitude, Altitude, Speed, Heading, Fix Mode, PDOP, HDOP, VDOP and Voice!. Software compatibility: The Columbus V-900 is compatible with nearly any GPS mapping software available and fully compatible with NMEA standards (all versions). The included Time Album data logger application is compatible with Windows XP, 2000, Vista, Linux, Mac OS and Mac OS X. Hardware compatibility: Works with Windows XP, 2000, Vista, Linux, Mac OS and Mac OS X with a SD Card Reader to download logged data and Bluetooth Radio is required to use the Columbus V-900 as a GPS receiver.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Small and accurate with room for improvements, January 19, 2009

By	G. Ko (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I used this over a 3 week trip through Mexico, Argentina, and Chile in order to geotag my photos. I didn't want a camera specific logged which I'd have to attach to my camera because I didn't want to deal with yet another cable or strap hanging off the camera body. We were planning on doing a lot of hiking in Patagonia so I also didn't want to carry a full size GPS which would weigh me down. So the small size and low weight of the V900 was perfect. I usually just turn it on when I head out, throw it into my camera bag, and turn it off at the end of the day. During my trip, the gps coordinates were accurate enough. Though back in NYC, when surrounded by tall buildings, it can take several minutes to get a gps lock and the accuracy drops off. It will sometimes give a location that is a few blocks away from my true location.
There are a few websites out there that claim 24 hours of battery life in its 'logging only' mode, but I've only gotten about 12 hours at most. I haven't tried it as a bluetooth gps receiver. The logger accepts a micro SD memory card and a 12 hour log takes approximately 4MB. There is no way to adjust how often log points are updated under the 'normal' logging mode. You can select a frequency between 10 and 100 minutes when in 'spy mode.'
Unfortunately, when you connect the logger to a computer through the USB port, the card is not readable. The USB port is there only for charging or powering the device. The only way to read the logging data, is to pull the card out and to access it through a separate memory card reader. The card has to be formatted under the FAT file system, but that's not a problem for Mac users.
The log data files are CSV text files which you can read or copy on a Mac or PC, but they are not in a standard format. The logger comes with a Java app which can read the data log file and tag photos, but it does not support RAW files. This app can export the data log as a .kmz file which is fine for Google Earth, but it doesn't work for some photo geotagging programs. For my work flow, I'll use a program, NMEA2KMZ, to convert the CSV file to .gpx, then use houdageo to geotag my photo RAW files. At that point, I can import the photos into Aperture.
The provided Java application can also be used to configure the device. The only options are:
1) to choose between 'Standard' and 'Professional' modes which basically gives you different logging data points.
2) to set or deactivate the overspeed alert.
3) to set the 'spy mode' timer frequency.
Again, since the computer cannot access the memory card within the V900, it simply writes these configuration options to a text file, which you have to manually copy to the memory card through a card reader. An option to disable beeping when turning the device on or off, or when inserting and ejecting the memory card would also be nice.
Its far from perfect, but if you're willing to deal with the shortcomings, the V900 will work fine.


Update: TimeAlbum 1.61 now supports exporting of the CVS data files to the NMEA file format. This is an improvement since houdageo, gpsbabel, and other gps programs will recognize this format. I no longer have to go through the trouble of starting Windows in Parallels just to run the NMEA2KMZ151 program in order to convert it to gpx.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive, accurate, slim, records tracks for months..., October 30, 2008

By	McCann (Arcadia, California) - See all my reviews

Received this unit 4 days ago from buy GPS now store. So far, I have used it to track more than 700 miles and geo-tagged 40 plus photos and 5 voice-tags.

I really like this unit in terms of the design, which is slim, stainless steel casing on the back and most button operations are confirm by a beep sound (either long or short beep).

The included Java application is actually quite easy to use and runs directly from the CD / Disc included.

The accuracy is excellent compare to AMOD I was using. Accuracy is so good that it tracks me down to the actual parking slot that I parked my car and even track me down to the exact lane on a 5-lane freeway. I have also checked the geo-tagged photo and the EXIF headers correctly show the latitude, longtitude, altitude, speed and even heading. I have also confirmed that the geotagged photos are regonized and placed on the correct position on Picasa Web Album.

I also like the Speed Alarm feature, which I currently set it to 80 mph and everytime I try to pass cars on a freeway, I will get a loud noise as soon as I passed the 80 mph speed limit and the noise starts to go away as soon as my speed drops below 80 mph.

Cons 1: The geo-tagged photos are actually placed under a special folder called "GPSed". This was not mentioned in the user's manual.

Cons 2: The Time Album application is currently capable of doing KM/h and the manufacturer is working on a new version to support MPH, and allows us to switch between these 2 standards.

I highly recommend the Columbus V-900, especially to Mac OSX or Linux users (also compatible with windows XP / Vista)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This device has justified my expectations, November 27, 2008

By	G. Giorgi (Tbilisi, Georgia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Recently received my Columbis V-900. Before that I bought Garmin Nivi 650 at Amazon, but I missed that it has no track logging feature which is really important for me.
Therefore I decided to buy quality data logger, and found this unit...

First view:
- It is really small.
- Nice, stylish design.
- Material is very high quality (plastic, metal back,...).

Nice features:
- It can be used as logger and as receiver simultaneously (most bluetooth data loggers can't do that).
- POI button can be used to start new track as well.
- Logging can be started/stoped by short press on power button.
- Has beep confirmations on events/actions.
- Voice tagging is really useful feature, it helps a lot when you have many POIs. (recorded voice quality is poor, but is enough to recognize speech)

Signal reception is quite good as on other MTK chipset GPSes.
I compared/tested with iBlue-747 - accuracy is same.

Conclusion:
- This device has justified my expectations.
- Not cheap, but that's ok, if we take into account it's quality and useful features.