Garmin Glo - Remote GPS - Excellent :-)

oilburner

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The Garmin Glo is so much better than my smartphone's inbuilt GPS that I now can't imagine being without it.

For those who don't know: the Garmin Glo is a Remote GPS receiver that can be positioned anywhere in the vehicle, and then simply uses Bluetooth to connect to your smartphone or tablet (up to 10 devices simultaneously in fact) and a free Bluetooth GPS app to provide a location signal to mapping software. It can stay permanently connected to power via a USB cable, or have its internal battery charged and run for about 12 hours afterwards (so you can even carry it about in your pocket if you like).

If you are struggling to get a signal you can easily stick the Glo in a skylight at the rear of your motorhome if you want, and the Bluetooth will still happily connect with your phone in the cab. But the GPS receiver is so much more powerful than the phone's inbuilt GPS that I simply stuck it in the glovebox, with sundry things piled on top, and it never once missed a beat :) It's designed for marine or aviation use, so is much more powerful than any phone or tablet's inbuilt GPS. And because that can then be left switched off permanently, it's doesn't risk overheating the phone's battery, another bonus.

When switched on the Glo reliably and consistently finds satellites and location in 2 or 3 seconds, rather than the minutes my Android smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Note) sometimes takes.

When driving it has never lost our location irrespective of trees, buildings, cloud whatever (unlike the phone's inbuilt GPS which would often struggle and drop out, usually at the most inconvenient moments)!

The only problem is that not all mapping software is mature enough to be happy with the Bluetooth Mock GPS that the phone then uses, meaning I now don't want any mapping app that only uses the device's inbuilt GPS because I don't want to bother turning that back on again. My own preferred navigation app is Copilot Caravan which works perfectly with Mock GPS, as also does OsmAnd which I also have installed, so I'm happy.

The only problems I have encountered are with the WildCamping app, which doesn't use Mock GPS (although Phil promised me in a support ticket that the next version will). This means I can't auto-locate my position on the WildCamping app without switching the phone's old and slow internal GPS back on again :-( In practice that's not a problem though, because I generally know roughly where I am anyway so when I find a POI I want to go to I just copy the lat-long coordinates across into CoPilot Caravan (and at some point I'll install them all on that, as I already have on OsmAnd). And this coordinate copying is necessary even if I do switch the phone's internal GPS back on, because the WildCamping app can't send the coordinates to CoPilot for routing anyway (only to Google Maps & Osmand on my phone). So the only new problem Mock GPS causes in practice is that I can't easily contribute new POIs should I wish to, because of the way the WildCamping app goes about this! Getting to existing ones isn't really a problem, or at least no more than it was before :)

If you shop around a little you should be able to get a Garmin Glo, complete with cables etc., delivered to you (in UK) for under £90. And based on the 4 week trip I've just returned from, that's £90 very well spent indeed :)
 
I have one to, excellent back up for my Garmin 760 satnav. I use mine with maps.me and OS Maps for UK use on an ipad.
 
Use one with my ipad. You just connect to bluetooth and all the sat nav programs automatically use it, don't need to install any software.

Also means you can buy the cheap non 4g ipad (4g versions have internal gps but are quite a bit more expensive).
 
Have used it with Copilot successfully in France but on a couple of occasions Copilot “locked” and needed rebooting.
 
Have used it with Copilot successfully in France but on a couple of occasions Copilot “locked” and needed rebooting.

I had no problems with Copilot beyond those of my own making: The device was running low on memory, and I had too many apps running simultaneously. The solution was to move some files off the device onto the SD card, and the problem went away. The Park 4 Night app was simultaneously affected, and resovled, by simple housekeeping. Copilot (I have the paid-for Caravan version) otherwise behaved impeccably over the last 4 weeks.
 
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For reporting new POI locations you could use an app such as GPS Status, then share the location via email to poi@wildcamping.co.uk ...

I can easily extract the lat-long coordinates from my Bluetooth GPS app, Chris, no problems at all there (and it's much more accurate than the phone's GPS too). The only problem, irrespective of phone v. Glo or accuracy etc, is that doing so requires that I actually be in that location at the time. It's not ususual for me to make POI contributions after the event, whether due to lack of signal or simply because I was otherwise occupied at time.

I'm getting off my review topic here, but do you think that the next version of the Wild Camping app will make adding POIs easier, e.g. by putting the crosshairs over the location (which is how Park 4 Night works with its blue dot, as I'm sure you know) rather than actually being there?
 
Hopefully Phil will pick up and answer your question ...

I'm sure you know this but you don't require mobile internet connection at a location in order to submit it. Irrespective of what app is used if you share the location via email the email will remain in the Outbox till a connection is available.
 
I do not have the extra Glo device

But I find my phone's Gps accuracy very very good.
I have just checked my location using Google maps and maps me.
They both show me to be in the same place (maybe 3 metre difference).
The location is also verified by a nearby building.
I track all my stopovers using mapsme and have not noticed any undue inaccuracies.

So for me extra item and no advantage.
The main time high accuracy is vital is when driving and lane directions help or 2 very close turnings.
I find my Tomtom start25 very good.
 
But I find my phone's Gps accuracy very very good.
I have just checked my location using Google maps and maps me.
They both show me to be in the same place (maybe 3 metre difference).
The location is also verified by a nearby building.
I track all my stopovers using mapsme and have not noticed any undue inaccuracies.

So for me extra item and no advantage.
The main time high accuracy is vital is when driving and lane directions help or 2 very close turnings.
I find my Tomtom start25 very good.

Phones tend to operate worse in towns with buildings, that's where a more accurate device shows. Using 2 separate apps to locate yourself on a phone should give the same answer since they're both using the same data/gps unit.

I'd say phones are good enough. I only bought one so I could use my ipad.
 
I use a GLO with an Ipod to navigate the plane with a dedicated program, very good accuracy BUT it is small and I lose it all the time needing to turn the house upside down everytime, it turned up in a friends sofa once, having slipped out of my trouser pocket when I sat down there. I need to add a biggish allow plate glued to it. good life on the battery as well.
 
I'm sure you know this but you don't require mobile internet connection at a location in order to submit it. Irrespective of what app is used if you share the location via email the email will remain in the Outbox till a connection is available.

Of course, but my point is that I don't always think of it at the time. Sometimes I'll arrive late, or early but with other activities in mind, and then in the morning we'll head off. It may not be until the following evening (or later) that I sit down and think to myself that I could offer you the POI, by which time it's miles behind us.

The problem is now compounded by the fact that because I have been driving using Glo I need to switch on my phone's GPS, which cannot find a signal in my living area so needs to be in the cab, and then wait 2 or 3 minutes for it to locate. This is now an extra step simply because the Wild Camping app can't use mock GPS (although Phil has told me that the next version will). It really would be very useful to submit simply by lining up the crosshairs over a map location, rather than being forced to be there and then wait while the phone's GPS figures it out too...

And I suppose that is a valid comment as part of a Glo review, because it perhaps makes it less likely that members with Android and Glo (or any other external GPS setup) will be submitting POIs to you.
 

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