Customer Reviews

GT-200: i-gotU GT-200 Bluetooth Travel Blog Master (New Version) (Blue/USB GPS, Data Logger, SiRF III Chipset)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First, I just LOVE the device... it's small, and I'm very impressed with how well it works. I went outside the house, hit the button, it acquired within 30 seconds, I put it in the breast pocket of a denim jacket, got on the motorcycle and rode to work, (taking a few more turns than normal) and stopped a few times to take pictures.

When I got to work, I installed the software, downloaded the pics from the camera, hooked up the GPS, which downloads the track automatically, told the software where the pictures were, and in about 30 more seconds had the Googlemap showing the pictures, and the track was never more than about 6 feet off course.

As far as the vendor, buyGPSnow is great. I ordered on Friday, and got it on Tuesday (I paid the extra $3 for expedited shipping) and when I got home, I didn't understand a couple of things. I sent off two emails and got an answer each time within about 10 minutes. The emails were informative, and actually answered the questions.

I would definitely buy from them again.

I brought this unit with me on a one week bus trip in North America. My setup was:
- schedule turn on/of is enabled
16 hour recording
unit will turn on during that 16 hour
even the unit is turned off intentionally
- record every 60 seconds,
record every 30 seconds if faster than 30mph
- bring a tape to adhere GPS tracker on
bus window so this device can
receive GPS signal

after the trip, I downloaded data and found there was one point been recorded in south America. Fine, Just a little editing work. I exported GPS data to gpx format (xml file), then delete this wrong south America location.

The fun part started with merging GPS with photo. I took about 1000+ photo with 10M pixel camera. Below are two systems that I used for processing gps and photo data.

pc configuration: (both dual core)
1) windows xp with 2G memory
2) vista home with 3G memory

First of all, the xp with 2G system failed to process 7 day data with photo successfully. The vista with 3G system works sometimes, but not all the time.

there were about 17% photo can't find a matched GPS data.

If I download one day gps data and merge with one day photo at a time, then the software from i-gotu handles slow but works. Problem happens when I download 7 day trip data and merging with 7 day photo, the software crash, out of memory, script run time error, etc. Contacted with support via email and they did some research and still can't solve the problem.

I then found exiftool (free) and GeoSetter (using exiftool) works well. This exiftool shows track and photo correctly; however this tool don't have animation like what i-gotu provided.

Reason I gave rating 3 is mainly of poor software design. Hardware wise, it is pretty good design, good battery life, very compact, except reception capability can be improved.

I searched around for days to find a geo tagging device for my camera. I have talked to numerous people and read tons of reviews on everything out there and was not impressed with a single device.

Then i accidentally came across this device and was interested. The price beat all the rest, the size, build and quality are great. I have only tested it a couple times but both times, never had a problem.

The only problem i had was when trying to download the data from the device, it sometimes didnt see the track and i had to try the download again but once it came through, the software was slick and easy to use. More then i can say about the competition.

I bought this about a 9 months ago. It's good for it's cost, but it's nothing spectactular.

The unit itself doesn't get the best signal reception. I've used it for 200+ hours and decided it doesn't get better than 50 foot accuracy and averages 75-200 feet. This is while comparing it to my eTrex Venture (which averages 15-30 feet) in know and unknown locations. It seems to get the best signal if you're willing to tape it to the top of your head. I never could get the bluetooth feature to connect to my Treo or Macbook properly.

It also loses signal a lot, which usually means gaps in it's track log. I had maybe 15% of my photos without locations by default (fixable with other software). However, the battery life is phenomenal. I've had it running almost 40 hours at a time without charging before it died. Increasing the time interval between points can extend it even more.

There is no software for Macs, sadly. I tried using the software via Parallels, but it doesn't work. It does work fine under Bootcamp. The software takes a little getting use to but works well enough. I usually just dump the data with their software and use GPSBabel & GPSPhotoLinker to manipulate it.

Overall this is a inexpensive unit with mediocre quality at best. It is also a great thing to have with your camera for spur of the moment geotagging or long trips that you want to track you picture locations on.

I'm extremely happy with my purchase of the i-gotU Bluetooth GPS logger. I bought it for two reasons:

1. wanted to GEO-tag pictures I take with my Canon 40D
2. wanted to utilize GPS functions on my aging Treo 700w and Treo700wx smartphones

I couldn't be happier with it's ability to do both functions at a very reasonable price.

Pros:
Surprised by how small it is. Not much bigger than a quarter.
The software has been quite full featured and seems to get regularly upgrade by the manufacturer.
Battery life is quite long -even while using it in a Bluetooth mode
Battery life can be adjusted setting the logging interval either longer or shorter
Windows mobile software allows logging to the memory card on the smartphone
Windows mobile software is free and quite functional
I can now use Google maps on my smart phones -utilizing the GT-200 as a Bluetooth GPS transmitter
Software on Windows XP and Windows mobile 5 or 6.1 allows exporting of time and location data in standard GPX file format (compatible with other software)
Picture and track data viewing is just really cool
Website has good FAQ's once you find them
Everything is done either by Bluetooth or USB (easily charges on the road via my laptop)
Cool -blue rubber cover keeps it from sliding around

Cons:
The early software wouldn't allow tagging hundreds of photos at one time (seems to have been fixed in recent releases)
Simple interface (O1 button and 2 LED's) take a little while getting used to
Instructions could be better written better
Manufacturer website has an annoying camera shutter sound on many pages (okay I'm nit-picking)

I've owned it for about 6 months and it's done everything I have asked. A couple days ago my wife accidentally sent it through our washing machine AND dryer. My fault for leaving it in a pants pocket after a bike trip. I'm amazed it still works.

I have also recommended it to several friends.