DigiTraveler GPS
by RadioShack
 - October 2002 -
 

Intro and where to buy

The DigiTraveler GPS is the first GPS receiver to break the $100 price barrier and that even includes navigation software, Delorme's StreetAtlas 2003 (SKU#20-1602) or XMap Handheld (SKU#20-1601). Each sell separately for $40 and contain street level detail for the USA. It should also be noted that the RS edition of Xmap HH has voice guidance, unlike the standalone version, at least in its current incarnation.

Update 10/23/02: Jeff, one of our visitors, pointed out that the 20-1602 was also shown on the RS website as coming with Xmap Handheld. I actually stopped by a RS store today and checked the cover of the package and it does in fact say "Street Atlas 2003 RS Edition" as expected and unlike what the website says.

It is available now from RadioShack at a price of $99 either online or in their dense network of stores.

Specs:

Size and Appearance: 

The DigiTraveler GPS is closest to a Mouse GPS.

p1                         p2                                  p3                               p4

p5                         p6                                  p7                               p8

 

These pictures show that this GPS is larger than the others but since it is mainly destined for car use that's not a large drawback
 

Battery Life and Power Supply:  

The DigiTraveler GPS can be powered in two different ways; either with 3 AAA batteries or via the ubiquitous round connector used on many electronic devices (iPaq 36/37, BT GPS, Minolta digital cameras, etc...) as shown in p8. This dual power source does provide some good flexibility and unlike other mouse GPS receivers it can be used outside of a car. The disadvantage compared with the Pharos i180 mouse GPS is that it does not power the PocketPC it is connected to. This will probably require a dual car adapter, but that's a cheap trade-off!

Operation:

I found the DigiTraveler  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 plug it into your iPaq 36/37 or 38/39 or Palm m Series, using either of the three provided cables. I don't' know if you can by the laptop cable separately but that would be a nice addition. Presumably the laptop edition comes only with one serial cable.

Settings:

This is the first GPS receiver I review that doesn't appear to be equipped with a SiRF chipset. As a result (and like the Pharos i180) it cannot be controlled by Leadtek's CE Monitor, although you can connect to it using that utility. This helps to monitor the satellite acquisition process and observing this also makes me think it's not a SiRF chipset because it doesn't follow a similar pattern to the SiRF based receivers. Instead of identifying all the available satellites and then proceed to get their azimuth and elevation, the DigiTraveler gets the azimuth and elevation of each satellite in succession.

1) Baudrate:
Factory default is set at 4,800bps and cannot be modified as far as I can tell.

2) Output Protocol or language:
It is set to NMEA and cannot be changed to SiRF, so that means you'll want to avoid using it with the current version of Destinator. Other than that it should work fine with all other navigation programs.

Satellite Reception and Time to acquire a fix

See this page for detailed timings and comparisons

The DigiTraveler GPS appears to be less sensitive than the SiRF based receivers but over a fifteen minute period this afternoon it consistently got a fix between 70 and 75 seconds. I tried again tonight and it was having a harder time getting a fix as it took around 2/2.5 minutes and only found 3 satellites when the Pharos i180 found 5 in 60 seconds. Still in my book it's a decent performance and once it had a fix, it did not lose it in my limited testing.

One thing I noticed is that each time it booted or I switched from one program to another, it started its satellite search from a rather odd position: 35.6N/139.7E, i.e 5km SSE from the center of Tokyo. Presumably that doesn't help for satellite acquisition in the US! I think XMap HandHeld actually has an initial position setting and it probably sends that to the DigiTraveler.

 

Compatibility with mapping/routing software:

In my limited testing, I've found the DigiTraveler  GPS to operate perfectly with the programs I've tried:
- Mapopolis
- PocketMap Navigator
- Destinator in NMEA mode (not something I recommend..)
- Pharos Ostia v4.0

- I'll update this later on but they should all work since it uses COM1, except those that are locked to a receiver like Travroute's CoPilot or Distefora's mobile navigator.

Conclusion: