Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Hi:

Received a confirmation from Nexian that my unit is on it's way. This is what I got from them:

Dear Mike Vidal,

Thank you for your purchase of HandyGPS!

We are pleased to inform you that your HandyGPS order(s)
have been shipped and are on their way!

You will be able to track the shipment on the Internet
using the tracking number below:

=======================================
URL : www.usps.gov
Tracking Number : 0300 1290 0003 0733 4506
=======================================

After you register your HandyGPS on our web site, www.nexian.com, you
will be able to download the US maps from the site.

The US maps will be updated from time to time to provide better quality, and
we will make sure to inform you of such updates.

Thanks again for purchasing HandyGPS!

I will post my thoughts and a short review when I get the unit including the maps, since I know Miami very well and can check the accuracy of the maps.

Excited and waiting.

Mike Vidal

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Howdy:

Got the Handy GPS today, after it was confirmed shipped on Friday. It was sent priority mail which blew me away as it got here in 3 days from San Diego to Miami.

Size: Unit is really small and sticks out about 3/4" above the visor and adds about 1/4" thickness in the back. Batteries are included.

Installation: A breeze. When you plug the unit in, it turns on your visor and loads the app. You need to set it up for your home city (a buch listed) and Miami is there.
Prefrences are set for speed (max 300Mph) and measurement (km/h, ft/s, m/s, knots.) Gmt ofset is also set and there is an option on the gmt for Minutes (0 or 30) but have not figured out what it does nor is it explained in the manual. The last option is power consumption (or save mode as they call it.)

Operation: Once the GPS unit is set up, the main GPS screen can be displayed. The lat/long values are grayed out until the unit can receive an update from the sattelites. It seems to this faster when you are moving than when you are standing still, but it pick them up in about 3 minutes or so. GPS screen displays heading in a rose and in degrees, lat/long, speed and altitude (in meters only). I took a walk across the front of my house and the unit showed a speed of 3mph and would change the lat by 1 sec which is about right, which is from property line to property line.

Maps: Once you register for the maps on nexians page, you can download the maps. I went and got broward county (ft lauderdale) and dade county (miami.) Within the counties were also a bunch of city files. I presume that these would overlap with the county files. The dade county map would not load as it was an invalid hand held file and was deleted. I wrote to nexian and we'll see how fast they fix it. Given this problem, I can't really test to see if they overlap or not. I then downloaded Perrine and Cutler (these are two known townships close to where I live, but are not cities.)

Accuracy: Hopped in the car and took a ride. Neither the Perrin or Cutler maps go enough south or east to pick up my street or house, but do have the major street north of me so off I went to go on it. Was amazed at how accurate the maps were once on this street. At a setting of .3 miles it would show each crossing street intersection as I approached and passed it. Getting close to a major freeway, it identified the on ramps.

Generall accuracy at .3 miles appears to be about 60 feet or so from the actual street you are traversing, but the system kept it locked up (as in my position.) If you go to .11 miles, then your position indicator sits right on the road you are traveling.

The speed seems pretty accurate as my speedometer showed 30 indicated and the GPS read 30.3. I set the cruise control on (digital indication of 30Mph) and the gps showed 3.6. That is about right since the speedo needle is a bit fast so I think the cruise control may be off by that much.

So far I'm pretty impressed. You can shut the GPS off by selecting the apps button or by unpluging the unit hot. Plugging it in hot or cold does not seem to affect the visor. The only thing I have noticed is that when you remove it hot, the visor resets then ask me if I want to reload the hacks I have installed (green light, DST, diddle bug and logo.) So far these do not seem to interfere with the GPS operation.

If you exit the GPS there is a GPS icon on your apps screen and you can select it to start the unit again. When the unit is removed, the icon disappears.

I will be taking a road trip in the next few days up the coast through various counties and will update my impressions further then as far as maps and unit operation, speed accuracy and some of the other features I have not had a chance to explore yet.



------------------
Mike Vidal
Ice Owner
Corvette Enthusiast
Racecar Spelled backwards is Racecar!

Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Posts: 30

Mavidal... thanks for the great info on your first impressions. Great description.

One request... on your next road trip, see how accurate the altitude reading is. I have used other GPS units for road navigation, and while I was generally impressed with the accuracy of my position and speed, sometimes the altitude reading would fluctuate wildly even though I was on a level road. (One second it would read 450ft, the next it would say 700ft, even though I had obviously not climbed 250ft of road)

If you happen to know the elevation of your locale, and the unit reports it pretty accurately, then wonderful! Basically, I'm looking to use the unit for flying navigational purposes, and accurate altitude readings would be a great plus!

Thanks!

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Hi sreidy:

Being a pilot myself I can understand your interest in the altitude portion. First off, altitude display in the GPS display is in meters only, I cannot find a way to set it to feet. This is one of the questions I need to throw out to Nexian (which was very responsive BTW to the map issue I ran into.)

Where I am at, the altitude above MSL is 9 feet. My front door is at 11 MSL. The GPS has reported altitudes from -20M to 100M with it setteling around 30M.

I will get a better handle on this on the road trip, as I think it has better resolution while you are moving than standing still, but have not been able to really confirm this yet.

For waypoint navigation in an airplane, I don't see an issue with that. So far it is within .1 of a mile, using my house as ground zero. This error could be when I took the snapshot of the coordinates for the waypoint.

BTW, you can set waypoints in degrees, minutes, seconds, or in decimal degrees. I have been using the former and not the latter, as like you, that is what I learned with.

Nexian is claiming 25M resolution with the unit for lat/longs but nothing on altitude.

What they explain in the booklet is that you are triangulating on 4 satellites which yield two points, 1 is good and 1 is garbage, the unit throws the garbage point away and displays the good one.

What I have observed so far is that standing still, your position jumps around a bit, this could be a limit of the unit since it is what they call an SPS (Standard Positioning Service) vs a PSP (Precision Positioning Service) which is reserved for Government and authorized personell.

Being SPS I would guess that we have to live with these errors.

I will supply a much more detail review here in a day or two, when I get back from my road trip.

I'm still impressed so far, and everyone I have shown it to is blown away.

------------------
Mike Vidal
Ice Owner
Corvette Enthusiast
Racecar Spelled backwards is Racecar!

[This message has been edited by mavidal (edited 08-01-2000).]

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Louisville KY, USA
Posts: 43

quote:

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Originally posted by mavidal:
Size: Unit is really small and sticks out about 3/4" above the visor and adds about 1/4" thickness in the back. Batteries are included.

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Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Heidelberg, Germany
Posts: 85

Selective availability shouldn't be a factor in most of the United States since the President ordered it to be turned off. The government does reserve the right to turn it back on as needed. Does the Handy GPS have a position averaging mode and does it also have the ability to display your location in the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS)? Thanks for the postings, mavidal, and we look forward to more on your reviews.

RadarGreg

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Hi Dave:

Yes, the HandyGPS runs on it's own set of 2 AAA batteries.

Mike Vidal

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

RadarGreg:

quote:

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Originally posted by RadarGreg:
Does the Handy GPS have a position averaging mode and does it also have the ability to display your location in the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS)? Thanks for the postings, mavidal, and we look forward to more on your reviews.

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Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Hermosa Beach, CA
Posts: 222

Mavidal, I, too received my GPS last Friday, but I don't seem to have as much luck as you. I posted my woes on another topic at http://discussion.visorcentral.com/...TML/000561.html

I haven't had much time recently (been REAL busy at work) so I haven't given Nexian a call to see if they could help me. I'm hoping that I have a bad unit because the one that I have is disappointing.

Please let me know what your comments are to the problems I've been having with mine.

Also, even when the Visor is off, the module seems to be draining the Visor's batteries. Have you also noticed this?

Thanks.

Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Posts: 30

Mavidal,

Awesome, a fellow pilot! Ok, if you'll induldge a few more questions....

What kind of battery life are you getting while GPSing, both for the Visor and the GPS unit? Is there any way to adjust the GPS data refresh rate to save battery life, as on the Geode?

Does the manual mention anything about the GPS data standard it uses?? Over the last few months, the Nexian site changed it's tune. At first, it claimed full NMEA compatibility. Now, the site just says someting about an ASCII standard. My dream combo would be to use HandyGPS with FlightBuddy (a nice little GPS app for pilots). If HandyGPS cannot work with 3rd party GPS software, then I wouldn't be very happy.

Keep your wings level.

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Hi Guys:

I am reading your post, but being on the road makes it a bit tough to answer in detail so bear with me and I will respond back tomorrow night when I get back home.

Just a short note to say the mapping software with the unit worked pretty much flawlessly and really impressed me.

I want to gather my thoughts and give you a thorough debrief when I get home.

For Hatman, let me read your post again as I did a quick scan and will attempt to lend assitance.

Mike Vidal

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Heidelberg, Germany
Posts: 85

mavidal,

About the Military Grid Reference System, or MGRS. It is a system usinga standard scale grid square, based on a point of origin on a map projection of the Earth's surface in an accurate and consistent manner to permit either position referencing or the computation of direction and distance between grid positions. A position is described by a series number and letters to describe a grid zone, a 100,000 meter square and a distance to the east followed by a distance to the north both measured from the coordinate origin of the square.

Ok, that's the textbook reference. What it means is a coordinate described by 13S MS23450e 12870n will get you within 1 meter accuracy of your position. The military uses this system with their maps instead of using the standard lattitude/longitude. Once you understand the system, it is very easy to use and find yourself on a map. An excellent reference web site is at: http://army-gps.robins.af.mil/

Position averaging is a method of overcoming the error induced by selective availability. Basically, you leave the GPS receiver in a stable spot and the receiver makes multiple calculations of the received data and averages the results to acheive the best accuracy. If you leave a GPS receiver in a fixed spot for 10 minutes or more, your accuracy should be very good as it has had time to calculate your position better. The other methods of overcoming the errors induced by selective availability are differential transmitter and the FAA's new WAAS. Both of these systems transmit a precise position signal from a fixed ground site and if your receiver can accept these signals it uses it to eliminate the intentional errors transmitted from the satellites.

I appreciate the reviews of the HandyGPS you've done and hope the info I provided helps too.

RadarGreg

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Louisville KY, USA
Posts: 43

Here's a thought, can you beam waypoints/coordinates from one visor to another? I'm guessing that you can mark points of interest on the Handy GPS so that you can find them quickly and easily.

It seems that with the growing popularity of the Visor, that Visor specific funcitonality should be included.

It would be nice if you could beam the location of your home from your Visor to a relative's Visor in case they ever wanted to visit you.

It would be useful to beam (or maybe even e-mail) the location of your work to an associate that needs to know the location of it but has never been to your city.

Is there any "Visor unique" options that may not be found in dedicated GPS units? If not, then I think they are really missing the boat on a great marketing strategy.

Just curious

Dave

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Hi Greg:

quote:

---

Originally posted by RadarGreg:
mavidal,

Ok, that's the textbook reference. What it means is a coordinate described by 13S MS23450e 12870n will get you within 1 meter

Position averaging is a method of overcoming the error induced by selective

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Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Hi:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nhatman:
Mavidal, I, too received my GPS last Friday, but I don't seem to have as much luck as you. I posted my woes on another topic at http://discussion.visorcentral.com/...TML/000561.html

Please let me know what your comments are to the problems I've been having with mine.

Also, even when the Visor is off, the module seems to be draining the Visor's batteries. Have you also noticed this?

Thanks.

---

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Hi Dave:

quote:

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Originally posted by DaveTheSane:
Here's a thought, can you beam waypoints/coordinates from one visor to another? I'm guessing that you can mark points of interest on the Handy GPS so that you can find them quickly and easily.
Dave

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Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Madison,AL
Posts: 25

Guys,
You will NEVER get accurate altitude with these type of units. I have an Delorme Earthmate GPS and the altitude varied GREATLY (from 200 to 1000' my actual is 650'). I orginally thought my unit was defective but after a little research I realized that you will never get accurate altitude readings unless you are using DGPS (differential GPS) when uses a ground based reference in conjunction with the satellites.

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 96

Hi Tim:

quote:

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Originally posted by timpearson:
Guys,
You will NEVER get accurate altitude with these type of units. I have an Delorme Earthmate GPS and the altitude varied GREATLY (from 200 to 1000' my actual is 650'). I orginally thought my unit was defective but after a little research I realized that you will never get accurate altitude readings unless you are using DGPS (differential GPS) when uses a ground based reference in conjunction with the satellites.

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