Customer Reviews

i-Blue 747 Bluetooth Data Logger GPS Receiver.

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

 

 

I have mixed feeling about this product, performance wise, with the new MTK 32-Channel chipset, is it competent. From experience, it performs better than the average GPS with SiRF III chipset, significantly, it has a very fast cold start and high sensitivity. I have read in forums that this GPS is 'tuned' for automobile speed, but I have no issues using it as a pedestrian, i.e. it is just as good ;)

It uses the standard NMEA 0183 GPS communication protocol, which more or less allows you to hook up with most of the shelve SatNav software like Microsoft Streets & Trips, or free one like 'GPS Trackmaker'. This can be done via USB with the I/O emulator software provided or Bluetooth.

The Data Logger software however needs improvement, although usable and functional, it could do with more clarity of functions or even checking for spelling mistake or maybe it just a matter of waiting for the next release. The latest version is 2.0 (as of May 2007) and may be downloaded from the manufacturer's website[...]

Aesthetic wise, it has a nice two tone finish with a back cover for battery release, the battery is a common Lithium Polymer size similar to those use in mobile phones, the user manual shows a list of compatibility.

But damn the switch that changes the mode from Off to Bluetooth mode to Log mode, it is very small and fiddly, definitely needs improvement. In general, the case is not suitable for exposure to weather, the USB port is exposed, the push to log button looks like it is going sip water. But nevertheless this is not for commando operations :)

Overall, in terms of usability, it does the job well, but don't skip the user manual! 4 Stars!

I used i-Blue 747 to log my ski trips, hikes and to geocode trip photos. This device captures data anywhere in my car, backpack or even inside my house. You can customize the logged data. Battery charge lasts for at least ten hours. I also use it with Microsoft Streets and Trips using bluetooth (If I remember correctly, I couldn't make it work with MS S&T using USB connection. MS S&T could see the GPS however it couldn't communicate with it.) You can download the data in CVS, kml or NMEA format. I wish it had supported GPX format then I wouldn't have to convert the files. The download is painfully slow. It takes few minutes to download few mb data from the unit to the interface (then you can save it to the computer in a format of your choice). Another minor problem is: You have to keep the device on the log mode to download data. When it appends some unnecessary entries to your log (you can make it stop logging using the interface but not before it adds at least a couple of entries). I have been using it for a month and overall I love this unit. It is small, light, aesthetic and captures gps data very well.

Addendum:
Yesterday when I came home from a skiing trip, I downloaded the data, saved it to a file and erased it from the device. When I opened the KML file in Google Earth I noticed that the data wasn't complete. It was just about an hour of data. However when I started downloading the data, the device was 60% full, which meant at least 7-8 hours data from my previous experience. I couldn't try downloading the data again because I had already erased it.

I have used this product for several months now and agree with the other 2 reviewers that it does a great job of acquiring GPS satellites and recording the track data.

The provided software for extracting the data, however, is pretty clunky. It's functional and gets the job done but it's not too polished. Note that I only use the USB port and have never used the BT feature.

!!!NOTE: The biggest problem is that FREQUENTLY only part of the track data will download to the software. I thought this was a deal-breaker until I discovered that one could simply try a second time to download the data and it will always (so far) get it all. SO ADVICE: ensure that the number of data points actually downloaded (takes about a minute) matches the number of points the unit initially said it had stored. If not, download again.

One nice feature of the software is that it will output track data DIRECTLY to Google Earth. It puts out both POI's and a path; this can be redundant and confusing, etc. You can also save the tract points from the s/w in various formats but you might have to use a 3rd party translation program to make the data compatible with whatever you want to do with it.

The device does not disappoint in terms of battery life or gps location accuracy. The device is also capable of storing a lot of points on the tracklog, enough for an entire day of shooting.
Where this device does disappoint is software.
I bought this GPS logger without knowing how problematic it would be to get the logs off of this onto my mac. I had to use an expensive third party software to be able to use the features of this device.

I bought this to use with my Blackberry because Verizon stupidly prevents you from using the internal gps for anything besides BB maps. It pairs with the phone great and has a long battery life. It made it through a 14 hour day of driving and could have gone longer but I charged it because I wasn't sure if it would make it through a 2nd consecutive full day.

The Datalogger software is pretty basic and looks like something from Windows 3.1 (meaning old.) If you use plan on using ith with your phone, I would just recommend getting the plain version without the logging feature and using a phone application (GPSed for Blackberry's) to do any logging.

It can take a minute or two to acquire a gps signal sometimes, especially if you haven't used it for a while. There is a newer version of this product (iblue 747A+) that has an updated gps chip and should acquire a signal much faster.

I like this GPS receiver...I really do. When using it to connect to my PDA or laptop mapping software via Bluetooth it works great. The automatic logging feature works great. The software is not so great, but it does work. Your best bet is to export the track points into a standard NMEA format file, and then import that into whatever app you want to use to manipulate the data (geotagging, mapping, etc). For geotagging specifically, I do wish that I'd bought a unit that could automatically stamp my photos just by inserting the card, but then I probably wouldn't be able to use this as a great GPS receiver for my laptop either. Overall, I'm pleased with this unit.