|
Review by Bob Trello
Price £144.99 inc VAT
Introduction
Holux
are no new comer to the GPS Market. Holux currently operate out of Taiwan, and
also have a UK presence at Holux-UK.com.
Holux have a complete range of GPS Receivers, but most of them mainly support the
Pocket PC. Holux do have one which supports the Palm M500/505, and that is
the Holux GM-251+.
 The Holux
GM-251+ has been available for more than a year, and is a GPS Sleeve, similar to
many of the Pocket PC based sleeves, where you slot the Palm M500/505 into the
sleeve and it utilises the bottom serial connector. It also has a fold out
patch antenna which allows you to angle the antenna to get optimum position.
Box
Contents
When
you open the box (which is very small), you find the Holux GM-251+ sleeve, along
with a 12 volt car charger that plugs into the right hand side of the GPS Sleeve
and the accessory plug will plug into your in-car accessory socket.
Unfortunately the Holux GM-251+ isn't kitted out with any windscreen or vent
mount, making it a little difficult to use in the car, although most mounts that
you find reviewed at Pocket GPS will work with this, especially the mounts that
have retracting side walls.
From a
size perspective, the GM-251+ is as wide as the Palm M500/505, but about 12mm
longer than the Palm (at the base of the sleeve).
Which Palms are supported ?
The
GM-251+ supports the Palm V, Vx, M500, M505, and the IBM Workpad C3, C500, C505.
Powering the GM-251+
Powering the GM-251+ can be done through several ways. Firstly using the
in-car charger which will power the GM-251+, or you can use 3xAAA batteries
which Holux suggest should give you approx 6 hours battery usage. Holux
have also included a backup battery that will hold Satellite data for approx 60
days if there is no power to the sleeve, which should result in quicker TTFF's.
Performance
TTFF's
are quicker than I would have expected as I have never used a GPS before.
The first fix took around 12 minutes but from what I understand, this is normal
when coming out of the factory, but subsequent fixes took around about a minute
when the receiver had been powered down for 4-5 hours.
Mapping Programs
There
are only a few mapping programs available on the Palm OS, but thankfully one of
the better ones is from TomTom. TomTom have two products available, one is
Route Planner which gives you AA style Atlas maps of the country, but no detail
when it comes to inner city travel
TomTom Route Planner
The
other product is TomTom CityMaps which doesn't give you AA style Atlas maps, but
does give you city cover right down to the nearest street you are on.
TomTom CityMaps
Optional Antenna
The
Holux GM-251+ doesn't come with an external antenna like most of the Holux
range. If you do need one, then you can purchase the Holux Active Antenna
(A-10003) which has a magnetic base and allows you to fix this to the outside
paint work of the car.
Technical Specifications
|
Acquisition
time: |
Warm start: <
38 seconds
Cold start: < 45 seconds
Hot start: < 8 seconds |
Dimensions: |
3.32" x 6.69 x
0.98" |
|
Update rate: |
1 second
continuous |
Weight: |
90g ±10g |
|
Accuracy: |
Position: 5 -
25m CEP.
Velocity: 0.1m/s
Time ± 1us |
Antenna: |
Built-in with
external MCX connector |
|
Altitude: |
Velocity:
515m/s
Acceleration: ± 4G |
Power: |
6 hours use
from 3 AAA batteries. |
|
LED
function: |
Off: unit
powered off
On: Unit searching for satellites
Blink: 3D fix obtained |
Temperature: |
Operating:
15°C ~ 60°C
Storage: -20°C ~ 85°C |
Summary
The Palm OS is still limited compared to the ever
advancing Pocket PC, but as a Pocket PC user that really found the battery life
of the Pocket PC poor, and decided to migrate to the Palm the Holux-GM251+ is an
ideal option for me. The Holux GM-251+ comes in at around £154.04 and can
be purchased direct from Holux-UK.com
however, be aware that you do not get any software with this, just purely the
GPS Receiver, so adding on another package like TomTom RoutePlanner will set you
back an extra £40 and a further £40 if you require city detailed maps as well as
Atlas style maps. This will give you European maps, but still brings the
total cost to around £234. This is a lot to pay for a Palm version when
compared to the Pocket PC you can get an all-in system for around the same price
with full Voice Navigation. If you are wedded to your Palm, then this is
an ideal solution for you like me.
|
