PocketMap CF GPS
by PocketMap
 - September 2002 -
(Last Updated October 2002)
 

Intro

This CF GPS receivers uses the same base as the Pharos CF GPS receiver and it appears that both were produced by M.E.W. (Matsushita Electronics Conglomerate) as they identify themselves to Windows as "MEW_CFGPS1.0". A big thank you to Lisa who provided me with this evaluation sample, thanks !
It is available now at a price of $179.95 which is quite competitive. The optional antenna can be purchased for $25, more on that later.

Specs:

From PocketMap's site: specs 
PDF also available: .pdf

Size and Appearance: 

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

I think these pictures show the trade-off in design, either thick or long. The PocketMap CF GPS is bulkier but also shorter than the Billionton CF GPS. It's also a bit heavier, but that different design should not impact everyday use. While "thin is in", I don't believe it's a deciding factor for CF GPS receivers.
 

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 have its own power supply and will use the one of the PocketPC it is connected to. See the "Battery Life" page for what consequences this has. My tests found that while the PocketMap CF GPS required similar power to other "bulky" CF GPS receivers, and while it can be a bit problematic with the old generation of PPC's like the iPaq 36xx, it's much more manageable with the current iPaq 39xx generation. Still you will notice the additional power drain if your PocketPC is running off its batteries.

Operation:

I found the PocketMap 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. It can also be used with a laptop if need be, using standard Windows  drivers.

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...

3) WAAS
Although it's bit of a buzzword these days for GPS receivers, WAAS  isn't really needed for road navigation, where the software generally uses a "snap to road" trick instead. Tthe PocketMap uses the SiRF IIe chip so in theory it is capable of WAAS. This feature is not mentioned by PocketMap and neither are there any utilities that I know of that can activate it.
For off-road use though it can be useful for people who need a very accurate position.
 

Satellite Reception and Time to acquire a fix

See this page for detailed timings and comparisons

The PocketMap CF GPS got a fix fairly quickly most of the time as shown in the table linked above.
Once it had a fix, even though I moved it around quite a bit in my car and even put my PPC on the passenger seat a few times, it never lost the fix.
It does use a nifty trick when starting from "warm" by keeping the satellite data (elevation, azimuth), it can help it accidentally loses power or if the skies haven't changed too much since you turned off your receiver, thus mimicking a "hot" start
In my testing I didn't miss not having an external active antenna, unlike for the Billionton CF GPS where it solved some problems due to difficult satellite  environments. Still, like for other CF receivers, it should benefit from the use of an antenna to speed up acquisition time for difficult satellite configurations in Cold/Warm starts

Compatibility with mapping/routing software:

In my limited testing, I've found the PocketMap CF GPS to operate perfectly with all the programs I tried.
- Destinator (make sure you use switch to SiRF mode)
- Pharos Ostia - NMEA/4,800bps
- Teletype - NMEA
- Mapopolis -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 1.41 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, except those that are locked to a receiver like Travroute's CoPilot or Distefora's mobile navigator.

Conclusion: