Holux GM210 VS. LeadTek 9531

[morten]

Hi Forum,



Sorry for cross-posting (also in Holux) but I want everbodys oppinion.



I'm considdering bying a GPS reciver, it needs to be a mouse type I can hide away under my dashboard.



I have narrowed down to to recivers:



The Holux GM-210 for 1248,- DDK (£ 114) or

The LeadTek 9531 for 999,- DKK (£ 91)



Since the price gab is so smal it is'nt realy the issue.

So the question is: whith one is the best?



The LeadTek is based on the old SiRF Star ONE chip but has a very good reputation, while the Holux is based on the newer SiRF Star TWO chip, but what is the difference?

Power consumsion is'nt realy important since it will be powered from the car, but is the new chip more precise or sensetive?



From what I can tell TTFF is about the same.



Yours oppinions will be appriciated.




_________________
/Morten

Denmark

[PeterB]

morten,

1) I have been told by Leadtek that the current release of 9531 is SIRF 2. I have tried both versions and can't tell the difference.

2)I'm not sure about hiding your mouse UNDER the dashboard. Next to the windscreen with a complete view of the sky would be preferred, and it depends on your car windscreen construction. You would have to experiment to find the best position.
_________________
PeterB, Kent, U.K.

[Dave]

Morten, Peter is correct, the older Leadtek 9531's started shipping with SiRF II back late last year, so most retailers hopefully would have the newer chipset by now.



But, and here's the big but. Does it really matter ? 90% of all GPS applications are configured to use NMEA, most never even touch SiRF. Some applications like TomTom Navigator 2 don't work with SiRF II if you travel West of Meridian (the vertical line that runs through Greenwich UK and Western France). I think if you asked most people in the forum here you could count the people on one hand that use SiRF. Don't get me wrong, there are some benefits to using SiRF but they are so miniscule that in most daily uses you wouldn't notice a blind bit of difference between using NMEA or SiRF.



What I would suggest is don't go out of your way to purchase a SiRF II receiver, because you really won't see any benefit over the SiRF I. If a SiRF II receiver is cheaper than a SiRF I, then purchase it, but personally I wouldn't go out of my way to spend more money on a SiRF II receiver.

[morten]

Hi PeterB,

Thanks.



1) Nice. I will go for the LeadTek then (all thow I think it's the old release the supplyer has).



2) Under is maby the wrong expresion. What I meant was: under the top cover, or inside the dashboard if you like ;)

Regarding the windscreen, I don't think this is a problem on my old Vectra '94 (Cavalier in UK) ;)

(New cars are expensive in Denmark)




_________________
/Morten

Denmark

[morten]

Dave, Thank you, your help is very much appreciated.



It wasn't so much the interface protocol I was wondering about, but more the chip it self.

But from what I can understand the isn't really any difference to sensitivity or precision (or am I wrong?)




_________________
/Morten

Denmark

[Dave]

Correct. The main differences you'll see are rather than a 2 second re-acquisition fix on NMEA you'll see fractions of a second on SiRF II. Although 2 seconds is 2 seconds, you still really won't experience much of a difference. Most people are more than happy with the re-acquisition time under NMEA if you lose signal.



From an accuracy point of view, you'll get within 15 meters of your location, sometimes shorter than this. If you want around 5 meter accuracy then you can use WAAS/EGNOS/DGPS but the receiver needs to support this. This is where you start cross referencing satellite signals with signals from ground stations. In Europe we use EGNOS and it's still not 100% live as such at the moment, and you won't experience within a few feet accuracy with EGNOS in the city where you've got lots of tall skyscrapers.



In my book, NMEA does just fine.

[TheBoyGroucho]

Just a FYI...I've been using a Holux GM210 for over nine months and it has proved to be very fast, accurate and reliable. Holux (UK) provide excellent technical support with emails replied to, virtually by return.

[HOLUX UK Tech]

Hi all,



Just to set the record absolutely straight about Holux SiRF I and SiRF II chipsets:



There is a significant difference between the two chipsets of SiRF I and SiRF II. Okay, so we're supposed to say that and we can hear you saying "yes, and it's all marketing bull." Well actually, no it's not - the GPS market place is quite buoyant enough without us having to invent "the next model" just to get you guys, and gals, to part with your hard earned moolagh.



SiRF II works far better in terms of speed of acquisition, speed of re-acquisition and also its ability to work with just 1 satellite! On a more technical note the Kalman filters are far superior under SiRF II which increases the performance over SiRF I. All of this is true irrelevant of whether you use NMEA or SiRF protocol; it is a function of the SiRF II chipset, not the difference between the protocols.



Please note that ALL Holux SiRF II based GPS receivers are enabled for EGNOS out of the box and will automatically switch out of EGNOS mode if the signal is unavailable or unreliable.



Dave's "big but" (erm... not meant offensively Dave) about not using SiRF over NMEA is perfectly correct inasmuch that most software doesn't use/work with SiRF (earlier versions of Destinator were actually better when SiRF protocol was used though). However, Dave's statement could be interpreted such that you can only take advantage of SiRF II if you use the SiRF protocol which is not quite true. SiRF II advantages are still available through the NMEA protocol. If you compare our GM-270U (a compact flash GPS using the SiRF II chipset) with any other SiRF I GPS you will find a MASSIVE difference to the point that the GM-270U will work indoors - yes you did read that correctly, indoors. And that is still in NMEA protocol mode. The real world application of this is that Athermic windscreens aren't such a problem.



Hope that this helps increase everybody's understanding and if you have any further queries or questions then please don't hesitate to ask us.



We look forward to being of service to you all in the future.


_________________
The HOLUX UK Technical Support Team.

Holux Navigation Aids ".....Get there."

[morten]

Thanks HOLUX UK Tech,

that was exactly the answer I was looking for!

Reading the specs. it dosn't look like the is much diffrence between them, other than the SiRF II using a littel less power.



Fortunatly I haven't bought the Leadtek yet, and now I will deffently go for the Holux GM-210 insted
_________________
/Morten

Denmark

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