Customer Reviews

i-gotU GT-120 Travel Blog Master (USB GPS, Data Logger, SiRF III Chipset) (Bumper Case, Data Cable and Software Included) (GT-120)

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

 

 

Geotagging images is important to me. I know where they were taken, but it's an issue of public access to the where and when of an image.

We're not at the point of having all cameras equipped with built in GPS. It's just a matter of time before this happens. In the meantime, if you want to geotag an image, you either find a GPS unit that works with your specific camera, or you do it manually.

What I've noticed is that doing it manually is a lot of trouble for most folks(I know it's time consuming for me), so a lot of people will just indicate what city, or state, or maybe just the country they were in at the time a particular photo was taken, or the indicate nothing at all and leave you guessing.

For me, this just doesn't work. In fact, even though I manually tag all of my photos on a map after they've been uploaded to flickr, and carry around a GPS unit on trips to areas I'm not completely familiar with, I want a better and more accurate way of geotagging images, that lets me cut down on the time it takes.

The problem is that I've got several digital cameras, going the route of getting a GPS unit for each camera doesn't work. Not all the cameras will support this.

What to do? Well, I did some research and found the i-gotU unit which will support any camera, provided the images are shot in jpg format.

It's a little stand alone GPS device, very simple and in fact the only button it has is to turn it on, and it's about the size of a matchbox.

I tried it for the last few days, and have been very impressed with it. I made sure that my camera's clock was set the same as that of the i-gotU (which is how this thing works) and then went out and took some pictures.

After returning home, I downloaded the images I took, and plugged in the I-gotU GPS device and had it map my images. It was spot on. It even saved the info to the EXIF data.

I'm going to love this thing. I wish it worked with camera RAW files, but for the time being it doesn't and it's not too much trouble for me to work around this limitation. In fact, I've already found a freeware solution that uses the gpx data and will work with RAW images.

Still, I can't wait for the day when this doesn't have to be done and cameras come equipped with built in GPS.

I do wish this had a little case that I could clip to my belt or camera strap, but that's a minor issue.

I live on 20 acres surrounded by much larger properties and there are large gaps in our fence and when our dogs were disappearing for several hours at a time I wanted to know where they were going. Using this little device I logged them going everywhere they were not supposed to go and places I had no idea they could get to. The track was so good I could even determine that they had been chasing something through the hills. I found an old knife case that fit on their collar and made it waterproof by putting it in a baggy. Came back wet on the outside and dry on the inside.

They are now grounded and lost their run privelidges. Now I am going to find a new use for this great little gadget. Worked great and software was very easy to use.

From the first time I saw this logger it was love at first site! I was using the AMOD AGL3080 and was somewhat disappointed with the size of it...and that it kept banging against me as I was walking (I had it attached to the camera strap), it also would get in the way when I'd try to take macro photos or wanted to get a different angled shot.

This unit is so small that I hardly notice it on my camera strap. I have no trouble with a satellite finding it when I start it in the RV (or even inside the house for that matter). The biggest plus is the rechargeable battery that gets charged when you plug the included cable into your computer. Another plus is the included software that makes it so easy to get your logs from the unit, synchronize your photos and upload it all to the a-[...]website. I love the help that is available both on and offline.

If you're just getting into geotagging your photos I highly recommend this unit.

I was excited to find out that this device is near identical to the CatTraQ, and I bought it to learn more about house cat home ranges and movements. I haven't yet used it on a cat, but I've been having fun using it myself. The software and device are both very easy to use. My only complaint is that the instructional booklet is so sparse. To get any decent information, you need to visit the support page on the i-gotU website, and I still wasn't able to get all my questions answered. Today I was going cross-country skiing, and initially the device didn't appear to turn on so I figured the battery was too low and I put it in my pocket. When I got home it turned out that it had turned on and logged points all day in my pocket including the ride home!

a very good product and left it on until 2 days without having to upload the program that includes use is quite simple really I do not regret the purchase.

the only thing that bothers some are light indicators on the day costs a little to see them but it is nothing serious.

Luckily my son is helping me with this. However, it's fun to look at a map and see where we were when we took 4000 pictures in South Africa. I think as I'm able to learn how to use the product, it will become easier and I'll learn of all its applications.

I found this review at [...] and found it to be very helpful.

I thought I'd share it with everyone else.

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I recently reviewed the ATP GPS PhotoFinder mini photo geotagging module. I liked the concept, but found some issues with usability. Today I have a similar product for you. It's the i-gotU USB GPS Travel Logger GT-120 from Mobile Action. It's smaller and even easier to use than the PhotoFinder. Let's take a look.

If you are not familiar with this type of geotagging product, it interfaces with any camera or mobile phone, so that the images that you snap can be tagged with the GPS longitude and latitude coordinates where they were taken. The i-gotU goes a step farther in that it will allow you to upload your trips to a special free online server, create nifty little animated movies of your travels and share them with anyone.

Package Contents:

-i-gotU module

-USB cable

-Mini CD with software and manual

The i-gotU module is a very small White plastic rectangle, with one button. The Blue silicone skin is removable. There are two LEDs (not visible in this photo) located on either side of the power button. One is Blue and one is Red. When the module is powered on, the Blue LED will blink every 15 or so seconds. If there is a GPS signal, the Red LED will also blink.

One end has the proprietary USB connector and a lanyard attachment eyelet. Surprisingly, no lanyard or keychain was included in the package.

Before you use the i-gotU, you must first charge it using the included USB cable. The initial charge requires 4hrs and subsequent charges will require 2hrs.

Operating this device is about as simple as it can be. Just hold down the only button for a couple of seconds till you see the Blue LED blink. Then go outside to allow it to get a GPS lock. You will know when you have a signal, when you see the Red LED blinking along with the Blue one. Most of the time, this only requires a minute or so. Now all you have to do is carry the i-gotU along with you, while snapping pictures with a camera that has the correct time set. I used my cellphone during the review. Since mobile phones typically set the time via the carrier, I didn't need to worry about that aspect.

When you're finished for the day, load up the included software on a Windows PC and launch it.

The @Trip software has an easy user friendly interface. Clicking the Import GPS Track button in the upper Left corner will guide you through the steps of retrieving info off the i-gotU module. Click on screenshots for full size images.

You will be prompted to connect the i-gotU to your PC with the included USB cable. Once you do, it will automatically start downloading the info.

You will then be presented with a list of trips. In the screenshot above, I have 3 separate trips for that day as I had powered the i-gotU on and off at the start and end of each trip. The software will automatically select multiple trips for that day. If you want to combine them all together, click Next, otherwise, you can uncheck the trips you don't want to include.

You then have the option of three different trip styles. More about that in a bit.

The next step is to import the images that you took while the i-gotU was powered on. The images that were taken during the same time that the module powered was on and receiving a GPS signal, will have a G next to them.

After the images are imported, your trip will be shown using Google Maps, complete with start and end points. Depending on the style that you selected, imported images will show up on the sidebar. If you combined multiple trips into one, each leg of the trip will be a different color.

If you picked the sport style, you will see some some cool info such as distance traveled during the trip, max speed, altitude, etc. All three styles allow you to `play' the trip and if you want to share it with your friends, you can upload it to the @Trip website for free.

It's pretty fun to watch the animated trips. Here are two examples. The images aren't that great since I snapped them really quickly with my phone. But it gives you an idea of what you could do with this device and your camera.

[...]

There is one thing that I found missing with this product. It does not have the ability for imported images to automatically map to the last known coordinates for those times when the module did not have a GPS signal. For example, if you are driving to a museum and have the i-gotU on your car's dash, it will record your trip and the images that you snapped along the way. But, if you take the i-gotU inside a building where it can't get a signal and you continue to snap pix, the trip won't include those photos. It would be great if the software would automatically allow you to map images to the last known location. That said, the software will allow you to manually map an image to a specific waypoint. But, it's not very convenient or straightforward as to which waypoint you should pick.

I found this module and software to be much easier to use than the ATP PhotoFinder mini. You don't have to worry about missing the time zone setting as you only need to set once the first time you import data from the i-gotU module. There's even a daylight savings time switch. It's also a lot faster at exporting data than the PhotoFinder.

I didn't have problems with it keeping a GPS signal even while driving over 60MPH. The images that I took matched up very well with the locations where I snapped them, even if I was driving at the time.

The i-gotU is a fun and relatively inexpensive little gadget to play with if your camera does not already have geotagging features. And FYI.. if you want to skip the whole separate module thing and you already own a Symbian, Windows Mobile or a phone that supports Java, you can download the free @Trip software for your phone. It will upload your images to the @Trip website.

I had the opportunity to use i-gotU data logger in Machupicchu in my last vacations. The device worked perfectly from morning to night logging GPS information each 30 seconds in bus, train or walking. You will need to charge batteries for a couple of hours at night. I took around 500 pictures in 3 days and all of them are now Geotaged with included software using a Vista computer.

I had this unit for one day. The included disc is useless for Mac users, it is a mini-CD that doesn't even fit in the slot in my iMac (so you can't even use it with Parallels). However, I found freeware sofware that will do most of what the included software will do (igotu2gpx). MyTracks and GPS Babel will also download waypoints to a GPX file, which is all I really need to do.

There's no manual or instructions with the thing, not even a PDF download from the manufacturer's web site. However, I found a blog written by some guy, where he explains the very confusing behavior of the LED lights on the unit.

I charged up the thing, and took it for a test dog-walk. It doesn't have any kind of strap to hook, you have to improvise something from a camera wrist strap or a hook-and-loop strap. Frankly, I'm not entirely clear how you can secure this unit to a camera bag, but I guess I can improvise something. I got a great signal, it's really small, very nice. The LED's blink to tell you that it's on.

I got home and connected it to my Mac. Easy-peasy download to MyTracks and GPSBabel. The accuracy of the unit is very high. I download the GPX file to the computer and use Jeffrey Friedl's Geoencoding plug-in for Lightroom to geoencode my photos. I'm very pleased.

However, after I disconnect the cable, I discovered that the proprietary cable was broken. It's not a standard USB connection, it's a weird connector with strange plastic latch. The latch broke; now I can't connect the cable to the unit. I can't find replacement cables anywhere online. This renders the unit unable to connect to the computer; unable to charge, unable to download data. This would be a disaster in the field or on a trip. So, due to the flimsy connector, I returned the item, and got a full refund.

I am using it as a cat tracker, also sold as Cat Traq.

Nice and small, weights less than an ounce.

Notice I was pulling data even in the house!! Not sure why.

Software seems to be easy to use.