[Loadstone] Initial Impression

[Michael O. Hanson]

I recently got the Wondex mentioned on Loadstone.  My initial impression is 
that it might be useful at speeds one would walk.  I would not say that for 
certain at this time.

I don't believe it is as good at picking up direction changes at slow speeds 
as the Holux M-1000 or any Royaltec.  Those are the gold standards in my 
experience.  I have no experience with globalsat or Garmon receivers.  I 
believe it is safe to say the Wondex is superior to the QStarz QBT-118 
unless there is a fix for that particular receiver.

I was interested in the Wondex's relatively long battery life (up to 20 
hours according to the documentation), , short charging time (three hours), 
and its ability to turn off and turn back on once the user starts moving. 
Those could be useful features.  I have forgotten to turn my receiver off 
and paid for it later.  I have not tested this receiver's battery life at 
this time.

The price is reasonable on buygpsnow.com (about $60 US at this time).  I 
believe this price is some kind of discount but can't remember how much.

I would not buy this receiver based on its ability to acquire signals more 
rapidly than other receivers.  That is not impressive enough to justify the 
expense in my opinion.  Downloading data to a blue tooth receiver from a 
computer does not seem to be worth the trouble to me.

The documentation states that it can be used for surveying.  According to 
the calculations Loadstone performs, I would not recommend its use for 
surveying at this time.

 There is one possible drawback to this receiver.  It has a push button 
switch.  This makes it somewhat more difficult but not impossible to use 
without sight.  If anybody is interested, I will be happy to create a log 
using this receiver or send more information once I have the opportunity to 
experiment with it.