Hi,
I recently got hold of the latest prototype of the above data logger that is being manufactured by a Mumbai firm. In looks it is an unimpressive rectangular box without a display. It is meant purely for logging trackpoints and waypoints. It claims to be 32 channel and has 4 MB RAM.
It has 1. power/lo battery LED 2. Satellite LED - glows red on satellite acquisition 3. Computer/Memory full LED 4. Waypoint LED
1. Power button 2. Computer button 3. Waypoint button
It runs on a Nokia cell phone battery and can be charged with a standard nokia charger. There is a serial port and a screw to attach an antenna.
The antenna comes with a 3 metre cable and has a powerful magnet. A serial cable is provided with two outlets - one for downloading the GPS data and the other for direct instrument to computer reading. The cable also has a bell-push for recording waypoints.
Usage: in a car, stick the antenna on the roof, the instrument inside and tape the way point bellpush to the steering wheel - similar arrangement for a bike. Walking, keep the unit in a pocket, the antenna in a shirt pocket and the waypoint bell push in your hand.
Getting data: Connect to a PC using a serial-usb cable. Type cat /dev/ttyUSB0 > filename.txt, and the data is transferred. It can be converted to gpx format using:
http://nrcfosshelpline.in/confman/browser/branches/sparc2gpx/ sparc2gpx.py
Accuracy: Much better than my old garmin 72. I had walked around on the footways of a park with the device this morning in heavily overcast conditions with heavy tree cover - the paths marked here are without tweaking - just join-the-dots:
http://openstreetmap.org/edit?lat=16.6938&lon=74.4613&zoom=18
Incidentaly the device also has the logo of FSF India on the top, so I suppose this signifies that everything in the device is free software.
The device is not in production yet, but I am reviewing it because I feel that efforts like this need to be encouraged - very good job of adapting a device for the use of the enthusisastic mapper.
caveat: I am not an employee of sparc systems nor do I get commission from them.