Navigation CF GPS
by Billionton

 - September 2002 -

Intro

This is one of the more anticipated GPS receivers to be released due to its diminutive form factor that I unimaginatively christened CF/T, i.e. Compact Flash Thin. This is the second GPS in this form factor to be released after the Leadtek 9534 that made a first appearance this spring. Following lackluster performance it was recalled and will be re-released at the end of September with a modified casing. So I was eager to see how the Billionton Navigation CF GPS performed. This review was made possible by Derek Ma, from Cadmus Micro the US distribution arm of Billionton. He provided me with a pre-production sample, thanks !
The release date is set for October. Cadmus have been working with OEMs and have not yet decided whether they would offer it for direct sale. Considering that they have an estimated price of $149 (estimated, subject to change) with the external active antenna, it seems like a good deal.

Specs:

From Billionton's site: specs 


Size and Appearance: 

A few pictures I took to show how it compares to the different design of the PocketMap CF Navigator. Click on picture for a larger version

I think these pictures show the trade-off in design, either thick or long. The Billionton CF GPS is definitely a very thin and light device. It's longer than the PocketMap CF GPS though and is roughly the length of a PCMCIA CF adapter.
 

Battery Life and Power Supply:  

See the "Battery Life" page for details

Like all current CF GPS solutions (except for the NeoGPS) it doesn't not have its own power and will use the one supplied by the PocketPC it is connected to. See the "Battery Life" page for what consequences this has. My tests found that while the Navigation CF GPS used less power than other CF GPS receivers, you will still notice the additional power drain if your PocketPC is running off its batteries.

Operation:

I found the Navigation CF GPS to be very easy to operate. It does not require any specific drivers on your PocketPC (at least if you're running PPC2002) so all you need to do is drop it in the CF slot of your PDA or of the expansion sleeve of your PDA.
There is a small switch on the side that resets the unit.

Settings:

Like all the GPS receivers using the SiRF chip, it can easily be set to any combination of baud rates and protocol. All you need is Leadtek's excellent CE Monitor linked at the top of the "software" webpage

1) Baudrate:
Factory default is set at 4,800bps but can be easily modified to 9,600/19,200/38,200/57,600bps with CE Monitor
This will guarantee compatibility with all open navigation programs (i.e. all navigation programs except Travroute's CoPilot)

2) Output Protocol or language:
You can easily switch back and forth between NMEA and SiRF with CE Monitor.
Switching to SiRF is a must for all Destinator aficionados...
 

Satellite Reception and Time to acquire a fix

See this page for detailed timings and comparisons

While it got a fix fairly quickly most of the time, at times it would just appear to hang with no satellite in view. I think this might be due to a slightly lower sensitivity than other GPS receivers (likely due to its tiny form factor) that could just prevent it from seeing enough satellites to get started.
It also appeared that it generally saw one or two fewer satellites than the PocketMap CF GPS and the BT GPS, therefore making it less "stable". It often saw 4 when the others had 6, which means that if one is lost due to an obstruction, so is the fix.
The external active antenna solved this behavior, so make sure you have it handy in case satellite reception is difficult due to your environment.

Compatibility with mapping/routing software:

In my limited testing, I've found the Billionton CF GPS to operate perfectly with all the programs I tried.
- Destinator (make sure you use switch to SiRF mode)
- Pharos Ostia - NMEA
- Teletype - NMEA
- TomTom Route Planner USA - NMEA
- TomTom GPS plug-in (used by CityMaps, TT Online and TT Navigator). Using the NMEA mode because for some reason in SiRF mode TT (still not fixed in 1.40 but Navigator still works ok according to this post in French) wasn't reading the position properly. Unlike the current version of Destinator however, TomTom GPS works fine in NMEA mode.
- There are others out there, but they should all work provided you can select COM ports easily (on my iPaq the BT hardware set it to COM8), except those that are locked to a receiver like Travroute's CoPilot or Distefora's mobile navigator.

Conclusion:

                Pros:
                   - Very light and thin
                   - Easy installation and operation
                   - Price point ($149 estimated) with antenna is attractive

                Wishes:
                    - More sensitive reception for more consistent GPS fixes without the need for the external active antenna