GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver (Black)

I wanted a simple, inexpensive, but accurate GPS receiver to use with Google Earth's "real-time GPS" function. This GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver works perfectly for that use. It is small and unobtrusive and the long cord allows it to be placed on the dashboard of my car. With my laptop in my car and the GlobalSat BU-353-S4 plugged into its USB port my position is shown very accurately in Google Earth. I have taken a number of test drives and this GPS receiver updates my moving position with just a little delay (it may be Google Earth that is causing the delay). This GPS receiver is so accurate that if I drive one direction on a two-lane road and then drive back the other direction, the route lines in Google Earth can be seen to be separate and right over the corresponding lane used. Please note that for this setup to work - without any currently active internet connection - the satellite imagery must have been previously loaded into the Google Earth cache (do an internet search for "google earth offline" and follow links from there; it is possible to create multiple caches of different areas). The GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver comes with a small but handy application, GPS Utility, which can be used to check the functioning of the receiver. The app displays a sky map of all of the GPS satellites detected and the signal strength, as well as the raw data stream from all detected satellites. It also provides data for current longitude, latitude, heading, elevation, and speed. Please note that it appears that the computer port used by this GPS receiver cannot be used by two applications at the same time - only one app can access the GPS satellite data at a time - so if running Google Earth "real-time GPS" the GPS Utility app will not receive the GPS data at the same time. In summary, this GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver works perfectly and is exactly what I was looking for. It should work for any "GPS aware" application (such as Google Earth).

This is by far the most pleasant surprise I've had in an electronic purchase in a long time. The unit it smaller than it appears to be on the photos, but that's a good thing. I realize this kind of device is at the mercy of whatever software is used, and I was lucky enough to borrow a few tablets, phones, and laptops with different navigation programs to test. For our vacation trip, I ended up choosing my wife's Surface as the hardware with Microsoft Streets & Trips (Not one of the programs we tested was excellent, and the MS product was the lesser of all evils). The one other thing I'll say about the Surface is, even though the screen is large, the "touch" part was maddening in a moving car, and the attached keyboard was also hard to use. Now, the GlobalSat: 1. I tested it at home, first inside, away from any windows. It pulled in enough satellites to put me about 10 feet from my actual location. (I was in the middle of the room, and it placed me on a wall). I used Google Earth here, but did not choose to use it in my car later. 2. In comparison with my phone GPS, the GlobalSat was always 10-20 feet better. 3. The weatherproof GlobalSat has a magnet that should withstand hurricane winds, and the USB cord is plenty long. On the trip, I sometimes forgot to put it back on the roof when I got back to the car. While I drove, it was dangling near the floor. The accuracy was about the same, but I would lose the voice-directions (not the fault of the GlobalSat). 4. It took the device around 30 seconds to give me a location after a cold boot. 5. I dropped it several times on macadam and concrete and it never skipped a beat. 6. It was recognized by all the programs I tried. My endorsement of the GlobalSat BU-353-S4 is unequivocal. If you don't want the limited real estate of a Garmin or Tom Tom screen, this is the unit to pair with a larger Android or a Windows device (Never used an Apple product). It worked with my 7" Acer notebook and my wife's new 10" notebook. The car we drove didn't have the optimal space for these, but other cars may.

You can use map apps in Windows, but if you want to use the best ones out there installing an Android-x86 operating system is necessary, it can be set up to dual boot with Windows, it seems the one that works the best for map subscription apps is Phoenix OS, this one installs itself. The important thing is if you do not have a touch screen the app needs to have zoom buttons. When setting up the OS, PL2303GPSInfo.apk needs to be installed. This used to be available on Google Play Store but can be found at apkpure.com, then to enable developer options go to settings/about tablet/build and press the build entry 7 times, a notice will appear that you have developer rights. Go to settings/developer options and scroll down to Select Mock Location App, double click and select PL2303GPSInfo. The OS is now set up to receive data from the GlobalSat BU-353-S4, the PL2303GPSInfo needs to be running in the background and GPS started inside the app with the USB-GPS plugged in of course. If you are using it outside, the LED on the puck will be blinking indicating a fix. There are a few very good map apps out there for Android, the good ones have a subscription service and, again, if you don't have a touch screen they need to have zoom buttons.