Dual xgps (1 Viewer)

[Oregonix]

Anyone use a Dual Xgps like this one? Amazon product ASIN B006M49G80
Judging by the reviews and stuff Im thinking of getting it for off hwy adventures but would love to hear from others about their experience.

 

[UltraFJ40]

I'm getting nothing but your written text on this end.

 

[Jomama]

Anyone use a Dual Xgps like this one? Amazon product ASIN B006M49G80
Judging by the reviews and stuff Im thinking of getting it for off hwy adventures but would love to hear from others about their experience.

Flying with a guy the last few weeks using it in an R44 with a tablet and flight app. He stated it's nearly real time compared to the GPS in the tablet and can watch it match his movements in the bird.

 

[KLF]

No feedback, but it's good to see the Dial name again. I thought they went under when the CD-ROM killed their awesome turntables.

 

[retrofive]

Yes. I ran on for awhile. Worked decent. But that was 8+ years ago. Was a little finicky depending on which OS you were using and app compatibility. Does it work, sure.

 

[reddog90]

A friend tried to sell me on one of these just last week. What advantage does it have over an iPhone or iPad with built in GPS for running Gaia GPS? Even when I have no cell signal on my phone, my GPS and Gaia works.

 

[george_tlc]

Serves no purpose compared to a modern phone with inbulit GPS or many tablets. A modern smart device can receive GPS, Glonass, BeiDou and likely Galileo simultaneously. You'll often see 20+ satellites (from the various systems) being used for position fixes. Extremely fast position acquisition and plenty accurate (for offroad use).

In the 'olden' days, it was common to have an external GPS puck, either wired or that Bluetooth connected. These were useful for use with a laptop since then and even now, they are typically gps-less. But now a tablet with expandable external flash storage can hold maps of an entire country and even a whole bunch of high res aerial photograpy. Plenty of quality and low cost apps to provide the navigation ability, either street, topo, aerial etc.

cheers,
george.

 

[MrMikeyG]

Bumping an old thread.
I was recently out in the woods where there was no cell reception. I was within 1 mile of the main road, so not a dangerous situation, but still I didn't check my pre-trip supplies well enough. I have an older ipad mini that does not have built in gps or cellular that I was thinking of kicking over to navigation use. I've heard of pairing with a garmin inreach device, but I'd like to be a cheap bastard on something. Aside from the usual bugs that seem to come along with ios updates what other stand alone gps devices are people finding that work well for pairing with a tablet these days?
I see there is a bigger/newer Dual gps160 out there for around $175. Back when I was in the military I remeber a few guys "acquiring" p.l.g.r antennas and hotwiring them into devices. That was 16 years ago now though.
Does anyone remember the short and sweet version of gps signal basics? I,e; roof mounted vs in cab antenna making much difference?

 

[george_tlc]

A modern multi constellation GPS receiver (i.e. like I wrote above your post ^) will operate just fine on the dash, no reason to mount a puck on the roof etc. A single constellation receiver (e.g. one that picks up only the US GPS birds) will have issues in canyons/dense tree canopy etc., since it only has the US GPS units that it can receive. While a multi constellation receiver will have 2 or 3 times as many birds to choose from.

My cell phone (a pixel 3xl) has an excellent multi constellation GPS receiver and I've never had issues getting an accurate lock and navigation in any canyon/tree cover situation. Just spent 2 weeks in death valley exploring many of the canyons there and reception was always perfect. My US GPS only tablet (pretty ancient) lost lock about 3 or 4 times during that that trip, witness by straight dead reckoning segments in the track logfile that covered nearly 1000 miles.

I would seriously look at just purchasing a dedicated new tablet (some of the samsung units are cheap and offer multi constellation receivers). That would be cheaper and a better overall solution that tossing money at a external puck to make up for a gps-less tablet... Plenty (if not more plentiful) excellent Android navigation apps to choose from.

cheers,
george.

 

[MrMikeyG]

Thanks. Any and all user input is appreciated. I did actually read your post, my logic was that the Dual unit in the original post was a "modern" puck so maybe ok?
I like the idea of a single device though without having a bluetooth link.

 

[MrMikeyG]

Minor update; The Dual xgps unit that started this thread does not have glonass. To get that, you need to jump to the Dual Xgps160 which costs $175. I think that puts me into Galaxy tab A7 lite territory. It took me a while to get to a product page that actually held/listed the gps connectivity of the common tablets. I already own an ipad mini(wifi only), which is why I was thinking of a bluetooth gps unit. The initial Dual unit posted above is $99 which is a pretty small outlay of funds when viewed against the Land Cruiser habit in general.
I'm stopping at Costco this evening to put hands on the couple of Android tabs they stock to double check specs and pricing. This could keep my ipad functioning indoors as an expensive kindle.

 

[SmoothLC]

Minor update; The Dual xgps unit that started this thread does not have glonass. To get that, you need to jump to the Dual Xgps160 which costs $175. I think that puts me into Galaxy tab A7 lite territory. It took me a while to get to a product page that actually held/listed the gps connectivity of the common tablets. I already own an ipad mini(wifi only), which is why I was thinking of a bluetooth gps unit. The initial Dual unit posted above is $99 which is a pretty small outlay of funds when viewed against the Land Cruiser habit in general.
I'm stopping at Costco this evening to put hands on the couple of Android tabs they stock to double check specs and pricing. This could keep my ipad functioning indoors as an expensive kindle.

I'm in the same boat, was looking at the Samsung tablets to replace an old S2 I need to replace. Let us know what you choose.

 

[MrMikeyG]

I grabbed a Samsung Galaxy tab a7 lite. Costco in my Area (Seattle) has them for 169.99 with a $40 "rebate." If you're familiar with Costco that means $129.99 but sales tax is charged on the $169 or some crap. I always forget to double check that math on my receipts. I did consider the Tab A8 series, but for navigation duty, I didn't think I needed Atmos sound, and a 10.2 inch screen. When compared to my phone, the 8" screen on the tablet seems huge. The other gotcha here is that now I need a whole other case of some type and probably a ram mount.
Oh, the Costco bundle does include a "book style" case for the tablet. Much like the very simple cases for Amazons Kindle. The included case feels pretty cheap and is entirely plastic/vinyl (no cloth) and feels like garbage in hand. I also thought there was a small micro sd card included, but there is not.