USB GPS Pucks

[diama]

hello, does anyone have an opinion on the relative merits of the USGlobalSAt BU-353 and the Holux GR-213.
I use an old Panosonic toughbook for chartwork......do either or these units have W98SE drivers? thanks

[Bash]

relative merits? For $32, I don't see how you can go wrong.

[four winds]

I have the global and it works fine even inside the cabin lying on bunk or chart table.

Drivers here but I don't see w98 drivers, looking very quickly however.

USGlobalSat Incorporated


Looks like the holux has w98 drivers. Not familiar with it's operation.

http://www.holux.com/JCore/en/suppor...loadCenter.jsp

[hummingway]

I've been relatively happy with my GlobalSat. I can't remember which field it is but it doesn't populate one of the speed fields which shouldn't be a problem except there is a bug in VNS so I don't SOG. My Holux has never worked properly. I've also had two Zenstars which I would avoid - neither of them worked. Some pucks have batteries in them and I suspect they get old sitting on the shelf. The batteries charge when first plugged in and then grab the signal. I don't know why they operate this way instead of just using the GPS power but the Zenstar does and I suspected that that might have been the Holux problem too.

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

I couldn't find Windows 7 driver for the Global Sat so couldn't get it to work.

[four winds]

windows 7 drivers at the link above, Hannah.

file name is, windows_allinone_usb_drivers_v130.zip

[farotherside]

Originally Posted by hummingway

Some pucks have batteries in them and I suspect they get old sitting on the shelf. The batteries charge when first plugged in and then grab the signal. I don't know why they operate this way instead of just using the GPS power but the Zenstar does and I suspected that that might have been the Holux problem too.

this is so that they have a memory of which satellites they last saw, and at what strengths, etc - it's an important part of getting a quick fix. without the batteries they *should* still work, but might take a few minutes to lock in.

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

Many thanks, I will have a nice long passage to get it set up. It will be fun.

[ActiveCaptain]

The BU-353 is THE standard. It works in all environments, operating systems, software, etc., I've ever seen. It's the one that all navigation software companies push their customers towards because it has great specs and works with everything.

There is absolutely no problem using it with W7/32 or 64 bit.

[svOhana]

Has anyone tried the ND-100?

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by diama

hello, does anyone have an opinion on the relative merits of the USGlobalSAt BU-353 and the Holux GR-213.
I use an old Panosonic toughbook for chartwork......do either or these units have W98SE drivers? thanks

You're in luck. I have both those pucks.

They work on all my XP-equipped laptops and quite well indeed on my newly purchased Windows 7 Starter Version netbook. I'm running SeaClearII on the XP laptops (a 2003 Pentium 4 with 1 GB of RAM and a 2009 Dell M6300 with a brain bigger than mine).

I would suggest that finding drivers for a Win98SE for these would lead you into a world of hurt because of Win98's poor to invisible support for USB, as it was very new in 1998.

Do yourself a favour and go even to Windows 2000...even a duffer Toughbook should be able to run it if you aren't prepared or can't manage XP.

Barring that, get a $300 netbook and a nice dry bag.

[diama]

thank you everyone for your helpful insight........I was wondering
S/V Alchemy, do you notice any difference between the two units? any problem with the battery in the Holux?
I'm afraid someone will have trouble prying the toughbook out of our arms, it is a bit challenged in the performance department or course but it perfoms well with opencpn and our handheld Garmin. We may try the Holux since they do list W98 drivers.