[gpsd-users] BR-353-S4

[Gary E. Miller]

Yo All!

I ordered a Globalsat BR-355-S4 (RS-232) and the vendor assumed I could
not possibly want that, so they shipped me the BR-353-S4 (USB) instead.
I thought I had the RMA done, and then their QA reversed it again.

The S4 means it has a SiRF IV chip instead of the previous models SiRF
III chip.

While waiting for them to understand that I expect to get what I ordered,
not what they think I need, I have done some testing with the BR-355-S4.

The short review: DO NOT EVER BUY ONE!

The long review: took a long time (not the spec 45 seconds) to cold
start.  It will only see a few sats when placed adjacent to a south
facing window.  The USB packets seem to stack up, so the reported time
jumps around by 6 seconds or more every few seconds.

So, with a sample size of one, the SiRF IV seems inferior to the SiRF
III in handling low signal levels, and the Globalsat USB seems demented.

The big selling point of the SiRF IV is the lower power needs.  Looks
like they made that happen at the expense of sensitivity and timeliness
of fixes.

In summation: DO NOT EVER BUY ONE!

In other news, my Holux 213U lost its cookies on the leap second last
Friday and is not sure what the leap second correction should be,  It
randomly now guess 10 to 12 seconds.  Ugh...

RGDS
GARY
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Gary E. Miller Rellim 109 NW Wilmington Ave., Suite E, Bend, OR 97701
        address@hidden  Tel:+1(541)382-8588

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