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gpspassion
93427 Posts |
 Posted - 28 juin 2008 : 03:15:28
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REVIEWED - QSTARZ Q1300 BLUETOOTH DATALOGGER
MTK v2 chipset - Up to 200,000 points - USB2.0 - Bluetooth+USB
Review on the portal.
Product page on the Qstarz site : >> LINK <<
UPDATED 20080926 : Over the past weeks, I've done a lot of comparisons in various environments, driving, pedestrian in town, suburban train to get a good feel for its performance as it has been somewhat variable. The good news is that TTFF (Time to First Fix) is good on par with receivers with larger antenna, likely thanks to the new MTK v2 chipset rated at -148dBm vs the usual -143/-145dBm. The less good news, wouldn't really call it "bad", is that as expected the accuracy is somewhat lower than on the Qstarz 1000P and even more so compared to the SiRFstarIII Globalsat BT-335 when used on foot in dense urban areas. More details below in this review on the portal.
UPDATED 20080903 : Test unit received, first impressions are good, tiny but also very light, no sensitiviy issues noted so far, more details on page 3.
UPDATED 20080817 - Still waiting for my test unit, but some users have received the unit they ordered, poor results so far, see techgps' post on page 2 for details. Here are some pictures he was king enough to share :
"This shows my iTrekZ1 compared to the Qstarz Q1300:
 
This shows the Q1300 with the USB plugged in and all four lights lit (That was a tricky picture to get. I had to catch it at just the right time when turning it on):
 "
 News item on the portal
Ever since the SiRFstarIII chipset set the bar for high sensitivity GPS receivers in early 2005, the competition had only been able to equal its -159dBM sensitivity, but the new MTK vII (MTK 3329) chipset is rated at -165dBm. While 6dBm may not seem a lot, it actually computes to an x4 boost in sensitivity! Hard to imagine what that translates to in the field, but we should soon find out since it powers the new Qstarz Nano GPS receivers.
The Nano BT-Q890 is a standard Bluetooth GPS receiver while the BT-Q1300 adds a 200,000 point datalogger. Ultra sensitive and ultra compact with their 38x62x7mm and 21 grams with a battery life that remains decent at 12 hours in spite of the size constraints. They should make it to the "GpsPasSion Labs" in July so stay tuned for some in-depth testing.
Questions, comments ? |
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ArbyNav
12 Posts |
Posted - 30 juin 2008 : 18:23:59
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The BT-Q1300 datasheets says it has -159dbm sensitivity:
http://www.computex.biz/photo/images/company/2376/200852184051234.pdf
Also some skepticism about claims: http://www.engadget.com/tag/QSTARZ/ : "Leave it to QSTARZ to innovate so dramatically upon the tried-and-true Bluetooth GPS receiver design. Okay, so maybe it just created two new 66-channel ones that are exceptionally small. Up first is the new BT-Q1300, a "miniature" device that's dubbed the world's smallest travel recorder. Continuing on with superlatives, we see "the best" of the best in the BT-Q890, which measures in at 60- x 40- x 7-millimeters and is somehow also the "world's smallest GPS receiver." We're on to your fuzzy math, QSTARZ, and we don't like it one bit." - quote added by gpspassion
ArbyNav |
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gpspassion
93427 Posts |
Posted - 30 juin 2008 : 18:38:12
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| Interesting PDF, it seems to be of a "pre-version" of the Q1300 though, apparently a datasheet prepared for the Computex show earlier this month. The Engagdget "skepticism" is rather anecdotical since it is more about size and marketing "superlatives" than anything else, I don't think they're very tuned into GPS sensitivity calculations ;-) I added an extract to avoid confusion. |
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ArbyNav
12 Posts |
Posted - 30 juin 2008 : 19:42:51
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I'd be very interested in how this tests out. For this size, I'm interested. I like the idea of a 'shirt pocket' GPS data logger that can pick up a signal inside a car, whether right or left seat and possibly in houses too. It'd be a great way to keep a graphic log of of my travel inside my zone. I can see where I spend most of my time or get called to. One of the reasons I upgraded from a Nuvi 350 to a 760 was the track log. This could be even better.
ArbyNav |
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tol4711
Sweden
1 Posts |
Posted - 13 juil. 2008 : 06:29:23
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The manual http://www.buygpsnow.com/img/products2/BT-Q1300-Users%20Manual.pdf is interesting. It starts off by talking about the "BT-Q1300 Bluetooth Solar GPS Travel Recorder" and "48 hrs recording under sufficient sunlight", but I don't think that's for real.
There's also this award-winning passage on p40:
quote:
Actually it’s okay for Q1300 to download
data via Bluetooth interface. However,
since it is not stable and with lower
download performance than that of USB
interface, we don’t officially admit this
feature.
Now where did I see that one before 
I was hoping that one could shut bluetooth off while logging, especially as BT indicator is reported as being off when in LOG mode, but it also says that "you can use BT-Q1300 to navigate when travel log is on simultaneously".
Looking forward to hearing what it looks like in reality. |
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gpspassion
93427 Posts |
Posted - 14 juil. 2008 : 18:28:40
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Yes, but that will have to wait as it has apparently been delayed, I asked why (I suspect accuracy issues due to sensitivity pushed too high) but haven't heard back.
I haven't been able to trace the Nanos to their original manufacturer, if any, Qstarz had worked with Transystem up to now, but they don't seem to have this design.
I'm not a big fan of the "one button that cycles modes" approach, it's easy to get it wrong, the switch is easier to check. |
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Baron Munchausen
United Kingdom
39 Posts |
Posted - 15 juil. 2008 : 11:38:37
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| accuracy vs sensitivity - I suspect Nemerix came unstuck on that issue too. |
I have learned from experience that a modicum of snuff can be most efficacious |
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terranaut
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 20 juil. 2008 : 20:42:41
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| they do finally show in stock, ill await seeing someones review of one first, id like to get one for geotagging photos, and im interesting in how 'clean' their software it to use |
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gpspassion
93427 Posts |
Posted - 21 juil. 2008 : 13:03:25
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| Got some news too, a BT-Q1300 test unit should reach me this week. As for the geotaggin software, I have yet to see software that ships with a unit that does better than the Locr.com PC software, so I wouldn't make it a deciding factor between loggers. I do hope the excellent BT-747 configuration software will work on the Nanos though, if not I will stick with the Q1000P for regular use. |
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greenleaves
25 Posts |
Posted - 25 juil. 2008 : 16:21:02
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Got some nice pictures about BT-Q1300 on this Chinese web site. It's really small and slim compared with BT-Q818. I'll be very interested in the test results gpspassion is going to do on his test unit. Here is the link:
http://www.umpcfever.com/news/?postid=1085
Cheers!
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terranaut
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 31 juil. 2008 : 02:53:36
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any initial impressions yet for anyone who got one in its first week of release? only wondering because ive a trip coming up next week and cannot decide whether to try it or not...gg
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gpspassion
93427 Posts |
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JohnZeman
1 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2008 : 14:56:20
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| I'm also interested in this unit and looking forward to a review of the Nano in the near future. |
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ArneAnka
1 Posts |
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Chewy734
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - 13 août 2008 : 05:41:04
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| Any new news or reviews on this logger? It seems like it could be a great device on paper. But I'm concerned that since it's so tiny, that even though the sensitivity is higher than the Q1000P, the antenna is smaller and in real-world situations this unit won't perform as well. Any thoughts? |
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gpspassion
93427 Posts |
Posted - 13 août 2008 : 11:45:55
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Yes that's clearly a concern, satellite signals still need to be "received" before they can be processed, and many GPS systems have offered a poor user experience in the past because they compromised too much in the antenna department, Leadteck CF9534, HTC G100, Mappy Iti, Qstarz BTQ1200 v1, etc...
Unfortunately no news of the test unit I was due to receive in July. |
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[TOPIC] Qstarz Nano Q1300 with MTK v2 - Reviewed
