I have been using the bad elf now for two moths, as I backpack. Travelled through Arizona, and now going through Cambodia.
I connect the device to my iPod touch 5th gen. iPad mini (with GPS) and iPhone 4, all at the same time. While walking between buildings, riding on my motorbike far out in the country, sometimes under trees, and even when climbing the Angkor temples, the device performs exceptionally well.
Firstly it gives gps functionality to my iPod touch, thus any pictures I take now have geotagging. Secondly, it greatly improves my ipad and iPhone's GPS accuracy. At places I have switched the bluetooth off on both the ipad and iPhone, and the internal gps could not get a fix. Switch the bluetooth back on, and connect to the bad elf, and get a gps fix instantly.
On the flight over from America to Tokyo, and then to Malaysia, and on to Siem reap, I managed to get exact speeds on the GPS display as the in flight information, even at 497 miles an hour. I had the device in my pants pocket, and it managed to track most of the time. However, there were points where the device lost connection totally, and even putting it against the window had no effect. At other points it would say, 14 satellites in view, but used none and just could not get a fix for an hours or so. I do not know if it is a problem with satellites in that area over the ocean, however I find it strange that it could see satellites, but would not use any and could not get a fix. In saying that I mainly use the device for backpacking, so the in flight mishaps were few and does not bother me, maybe yes if you are a pilot it may.
I read that some people have trouble closing the charging port. This is because there is actually a trick to closing it. If you just press the big end where the charge cable goes, it does not fit properly and sometimes comes out. What you have to do is press at the small end as well, where the cover swivels when you open it, and then it stays shut. I just use my nail and press firmly at the small end of the cover until it is in (very easy) and have not had any problems of the cover coming out.
As far as connection to my devices, al three easily paired. And automatically connects when I put the bad elf on. Using it as a data logger, I get more than a day of use out of it, while my devices are connected to it at the same time. However, you can greatly increase battery life if you do not log your track on the bad elf. I do it on my ipad.
As for connecting to satellites, if you start the bad elf up in roughly the same place you last were, it is quick to connect. But when you are miles away (such as switching it of in flight and then switching it on again when you land) it can take some time to find and reconnect. At one point, I was sitting in the airport next to a massive glass window that ran the length of the seating area, and it took 10 minutes for the gps to get a fix. It kept saying it had 9 to 14 satellites in view, and bounced around from between 2 to 5 satellites in use, but just could not get a fix for 10 minutes, until eventually it got a fix with 4 satellites and later improved to 8. Strange.
As for accuracy, in most spots the accuracy is within a few feet of a road. However altitude is not always that accurate. In the airplane I have seen it off more than a 1000 feet as to what the airplane inflight information gives (even when the speed compares) not sure who was correct there, maybe the inflight information was incorrect. (This was after flying stable for more than an hour). Sitting in my room on the second floor now, it currently says altitude is 56ft. However, I am miles from the ocean, and it should be much higher. However if it calculates the distance from the ground to where you are, then it would be more acceptable. (Not sure if it displays relative altitude to the ground or absolute altitude as from sea level. Have not found this information yet).
All in all, for a cheap and very accurate alternative to getting a GPS device, especially for backpacking, I highly recommend this device. In fact, I would rather recommend you get an old iPhone 4 with lifeproof case, or even an iPod touch and this device than any GPS device. For the apps and the maps that one can get for apple products is amazing, and the detail is far better and more interactive than any GPS device you could get. Most of the apps I use connects to Wikipedia and pulls in articles about the places close to you. So for backpacking and driving, this device is awesome.
For flying as a back up GPS device, I cannot comment as I am not a pilot, and my experience in flight is too limited to say. But then, if you are a pilot then you probably have the spare cash so go ahead, it worked most of the time for me in flight.
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| Customer Rating | (646) | (5455) | (1948) | (2722) | (434) |
| Price | $199.99 | $158.14 | $449.99 | $349.99 | $599.99 |
| Sold By | MobAsh | Manhattan Innovations | CoJack407 | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
| Average Battery Life | 35 hours | 25 hours | 17 hours | — | 18.00 hours |
| Screen Size | 2 inches | 2.2 inches | 1.7 inches | 1.27 inches | 5 inches |
| Item Dimensions | 2.4 x 0.7 x 3 inches | 2.13 x 1.3 x 4.06 inches | 1.7 x 0.9 x 2.9 inches | 2 x 1.3 x 3.9 inches | 8.54 x 5.9 x 3.26 inches |
| Item Weight | 3.20 ounces | 5.00 ounces | 3.10 ounces | 3.52 ounces | 1.46 lbs |
| Bluetooth support? | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes |
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Customer reviews
Only connect up to 2 devices with iOS 10.x. Never fixed.
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2016
Description is written connect up to 5 devices at many places. But it is only max 3 connections. Fourth one does not connect. See attached photo. If number of device connection matter to you like me, it is false advertised product. GPS connection works fine as expected, but it does not matter if it does not connect.Update:It connect only up to 2 iOS 10.x devices. Then it shows <MAX>. If other device such as iOS 9 device are previously connected, it may show 3 <MAX> as attached photo case.Contacted manufacture. They said it is iOS 10.x issue by Apple. 10.1 has still same issue. But I think it is also firmware issue. Apple may not fix or change back to before. So unless firmware did not get fixed, the problem will never fixed. iOS 10 release about 2 month ago. They have not fixed yet.Following is posted on Bad Elf site. (search on google since Amazon does not allow to have URL here.)ALERT: Issue prevents Bluetooth connectivity with more than two iOS 10 devicesUpdate Nov 12, 2016:They had new iOS app update and firmware update that mentioned resolved iOS 10 issue.But nothing fixed.Update Jul 15, 2022:Same issue continued. Never fixed.
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2016
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