Shaun Van Poecke wrote:
cross posted to rec.boats.cruising

Hi all,
Im looking at getting a cheap(ish) setup for my boat, i have a couple of
laptops with navigation software and charts, so what im looking at is a
couple of GPS units to hook up to them. Ive seen GPS receivers with serial
or USB connections that plug straight into a laptop, but these things cost
as much as or more than a basic hand held GPS. are they any better?

What im probably thinking is one basic handheld unit (maybe garmin GPS 72)
and one receiving antenna to plug straight in to the laptop. any ideas on
this setup?


For a receiver that is both very good and very flexible, look at the
Holux GR-213 cabled receiver. It has the SiRF III chip set and has
excellent sensitivity and speed.

http://www.holux.com/product/search....el=grandsonson


The GR-213 comes in two models. One model is for USB use only. It has
a one piece cable with a USB connector on it and the slightly over sized
USB plug houses the serial to USB bridge device.

The USB model simply plugs into the USB port (after a driver is
installed for the serial to USB bridge), the receiver gets its power
from the USB port, the system creates a virtual COM port, and any
application that will use serial COM ports gets its data there.

There is also a model of the GR-213 that has a slightly shorter cable
with a PS/2 (mini-DIN 6 female or socket) connector on it. The PS/2
connector has the power pair (3.5-5.5VDC), a TTL pair, and the RS-232
Tx/Rx pair on it.

The PS/2 model also comes with a cable with PS/2 male and the USB
connector described above (housing the serial to USB bridge). The
versatility in this model lies in the fact that it can be used on a USB
port and you can also buy a number of different adapter cables for it
too. The adapters attach to the PS/2 connector to supply external power
to the receiver and to adapt the RS-232 output to a DB-9M COM port or
many of the various proprietary connectors on PDAs.

Some people see the cabled receivers with the PS/2 and want to plug them
into mouse or keyboard ports but that won't work of course.

The GR-213 model that uses the PS/2 connector and various adapters is
very versatile. Hard to beat for performance and versatility.

There are several brands of cabled receivers that use the PS/2 connector
as a midstream connectors for adapters. Holux, Altina, and Rikaline all
use the same pinouts at the PS/2 connector and I have used those
receivers and adapter cables interchangeably.

The Haicom receivers (which are sold in a number of different branded
housings and styles) use a different pinout at the PS/2 connector and
won't work with the Altina/Holux/Rikaline cables.

The GR-213 receivers are pretty good buy too. Easily found in the
$60-$75 range on eBay and from Internet sellers. I was amazed at the
receiver sensitivity with the small antenna/receiver housing. I have a
Garmin 76Cx with the SiRF III chip set and the GR-213 was just and fast
and sensitive in my highly unscientific "seat of the pants impression"
testing.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)