In preparation for an upcoming trip to Italy, Chip got a Qstarz BT-Q1000 GPS data recorder for his birthday. He wanted a small device that would record tracks for geotagging, but would be relatively inconspicuous. This fits the bill perfectly. As we played with this thing, both of us revised our workflows for geotagging images – Chip with his new gizmo and I with my trusty Garmin eTrex Legend. Here’s a breakdown of what I learned over the weekend…
Data Recorders
In an earlier post about geotagging workflow, my mantra was keep the GPS running. If you don’t have the geographic data, manual tagging is your only choice. At the time of that writing, there was only one real option for dedicated tracking for consumers – Sony’s GSP-CS1. That device was fraught with problems, from not being very accurate to taking too long to lock onto satellites. Sony has since updated the tracker, but it’s been joined by lots of other options.
Devices such as the BT-Q1000 have a new generation of GPS chipsets. These are more accurate, and can maintain satellite locks while in a pocket or in a backpack. This makes them much more convenient for travel, as you don’t have to have a bulky handheld GPSr with clear view of the sky all the time. Since there is no display, battery life is much better. The Qstarz unit boasts a 32 hour battery life.
Not having an LCD screen isn’t a problem, though. Many of these, such as the BT-Q1000, have BlueTooth so that they can take advantage of the displays on mobile devices. As with discovered with the BT-Q1000, its BlueTooth function won’t allow export of track data. That has to be done through the USB connection.