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Yes, using a Bluetooth GPS is grand, but what if you want to save your travels. Often times you can use your software application, but sometimes that just isn’t feasible. Add in the fact that if you aren’t in a position to carry a device that you probably aren’t also carrying much power, and suddenly a BT GPS just doesn’t go travelling (outside the car especially) with you as much as you thought. Transystem hopes to alleviate these issues with their iBlue757 Pro. An inexpensive solar Bluetooth GPS data logger, yes, but does it perform up to the specifications? Read on for our results!
INTRODUCTION
SPECIFICATIONS
AT A GLANCE
(all images link to higher resolution)
While slightly larger than the other GPS units I normally use, the iBlue757 Pro doesn’t look bad in silver and black. Sadly, the logo is lacking and more or less tells the world exactly what you have sitting on your dash. On the front of the unit is a USB port (for power and for transmitting the logged data), and on the back is a hinge (which we’ll cover in more detail later). Overall, the casing feels relatively cheap in at least my hands, with a lot of creaking with even a gentle squeeze. But it did survive several long distance trips with no degradation to the plastic, and it certainly didn’t get me lost along the way.
On the left side of the GPS is the power switch with options for both navigation or navigation+logging. The switch isn’t anything special, just three points for you to select. Power on the unit and the LEDs on the front light up as expected (from left to right): battery status, memory/GPS status, and Bluetooth status. I had no trouble pairing this device with my PDA or laptop, nor with the software I chose to use for navigation on either unit. It is important to note that a Bluetooth connection is not necessary in order for the logging features to work.
The hinge we mentioned earlier allows you to flip up the lid exposing the solar panel beneath. The lid can be rotated 270 degrees to the right and 180 degrees front to back. While the solar panel does not provide enough juice to actually charge the unit, it does provide power to keep the unit running for longer than normal. How long? Well, since there isn’t any indicator to tell you whether or not the panel is even working, it is hard to say. The marketing materials say 100+ hours, and if you are in the sunshine for that long, I envy you. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the clouds are still a regular sight and therefore the solar properties don’t come quite as handy.
The battery itself hides beneath a pretty flimsy cover on the bottom of the device. It is supposed to supply 40+ hours without solar assistance, and once again, this number is tough to really quantify. I didn’t feel that it had any better battery life that any of my other Bluetooth GPS units, but it certainly didn’t have any less either (a good thing).
Also included in the kit is a drivers/test tool CD, a USB car adapter, a mini-USB connector cable, a set of instructions, and a small patch of non-slip material (the likes of which you can purchase in rolls for lining your kitchen drawers).
Plugging the GPS into a Windows PC creates a USB to UART Bridge Controller of a machine assigned COM port. I mention this as this is the only place you may be able to find this information. The LogTool application doesn’t autodetect the GPS. So note the port the first time you connect the device and save yourself the hassle of trying each of the available ports.
At first launch, the LogTool application doesn’t seem to bad. Until you realize that you didn’t write down the COM port (or you tried to guess). Second issue you may run into when connecting is an NMEA message – this essentially means that you need to turn the device on. And then, as if you couldn’t have more issues, you may have a memory error when attempting to switch to the Satellite Info tab – which means that it doesn’t have a signal. My suggestion is to power the unit into Log mode, make sure you have a signal, and then attach it to the computer for the download process.
Beyond connecting, the other configuration options include how AutoLog is configured (by time, distance, or speed). At 8Mb of memory, you will only get 50,000 data points, so watch out for the log every second when travelling long distances.
You can also set the log format, and tell the GPS whether or not to overwrite or just stop when the memory is full.
The Satellite Information tab shows you the information being received from the GPS and also allows you to reboot the GPS in either Hot, Warm, or Cold fashion.
Downloading the data is a pretty simple, but somewhat lengthy process. At one point, it took almost ten minutes to download 1024Kb of data. Another, I was able to download a small chunk (64Kb) in no time at all. The company has mentioned that it is working on this issue.
Once downloaded, you can browse the contents, erase the memory, save the file, or overlay the data on Google Earth. You can read data you have saved previously without having the GPS connected. Just make sure to change the name of the data.bin file as the download process automatically overwrites each time.
Clicking the Draw Map button, and selecting the overlay options (which you can change after the fact), Google Earth will launch (assuming you have it installed) and zoom in on your data set. At this point, you can specify the points used on the map, but by default the entire data set is drawn (which can lead to some odd lines stretching across the countryside if you launched the data logger in another location after being in one spot). The data shown was quite accurate (especially at the 1 second per point mark), kicking up this number to 15 seconds produced usable data, but at higher speeds, the track will only connect point to point, thus making it look like you may have crossed into lands unknown. In the first example above you can see a portion of our recent adventure in Disneyland (the smooth curves were from the monorail ride around the park, the squiggles are foot traffic). The GPS was closed in my shirt pocket during this time (and with great results). The second example was another trip into California, and I thought it might be interesting to demonstrate the 3D building view that Google Earth can present along with the data overlay. In this case, the GPS remained on the dash of the rental car.
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You can purchase Transystem’s iBlue757 Pro here for $109. Even with the LogTool presenting some frustrations, I found the iBlue757 Pro to be a perfectly acceptable Bluetooth GPS. It would have probably met lower scores if not for the the solar panel and logging capabilities – mostly in the realm of the case design. As I used the device more and more, I found how much I missed the ability to data log my GPS routes, and the fact that it integrates so easily with Google Earth is a big plus. If you were looking for an easy to use, and inexpensive data logger, the iBlue757 Pro would probably rank as one of my first recommendations.
THE DRAWING BOARD
First thing up on the drawing board would be to put some sort of indicator for the solar panel to signify whether or not it was in good position to allow for power. Second item on my list of changes would be a better case design, one that didn’t feel so flimsy (although, the perceived weakness has yet to turn into an actual problem). Finally, a major rework on the LogTool would make this unit a lot easier to deal with on the PC side.
PURCHASING
PROS
CONS
Value
Ease of Use
Features
Overall
OVERALL IMPRESSION
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