I know what my choice would be, but obviously it’s a trade off of simplicity (and possible connectivity) versus GPS high performance and logging capabilities. Their feedback and requirements have driven our team to build the most powerful GNSS receivers that are also affordable, accurate, and intuitive. Even with the accuracy issues, this is the best unit I’ve ever used for for cost, size, and usability. If you own an iPhone 2G, iPod Touch or an iPad Wi-Fi only then you'll already know that GPS is not available to you and you can't use any navigation applications.

Designed for GIS and survey professionals, the Bad Elf Flex and Flex Mini connect to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth and provide high-accuracy location data to ANY and ALL field data collection apps in your workflow. We’ll also assume you agree to the way we use cookies and are ok with it as described in our Privacy Policy, unless you choose to disable them altogether through your browser. Flex Mini is a mapping-grade GNSS that provides reliable and high-performance positional accuracy for tablets or smartphones.The only problem is the IPad needs a cell signal to download maps unless you have previously downloaded any charts you may need. I’ve heard that some developers see their iOS marine app downloaded 10 times more frequently than the same app in Android. Check out this video for a full overview of all of the features and settings in the Bad Elf Flex app. It won't maintain a fix for more than half a minute or so, and the accuracy will occasionally reach sub-1m for a second or two, but it doesn't seem to be logging any of the points I'm trying to record, and I wouldn't trust them even if it did since it regularly shows 0 of 0 satellites connected while reporting sub-10m accuracy. The fist thing is battery life, which is non-existent on any device with built-in GPS running, second is flexibility because you can geotag multiple cameras with one GPS when people are with you.

And note that as nice as Apple iOS is about distributing GPS position info to all apps, it does not seem capable of sharing accuracy and satellites-in-use detail for the GPS built into some iPads (which also cost more with the GPS).It was very fast to acquire a first fix, often doing so in less than 20secs and rarely more than 30 even when performing a cold start.

Seems to be simple to use and has a lot of features to assist in setting up local rtk as well as checklist workflow for everything.Finally, below is a screen showing the same track area as seen when I opened it to Google Earth on the iPad. Also, you are correct in that, as far as I can tell, the Bad Elf unit is discontinued, which may be problematic. I bought the WiFi-only version due to the fact that I rarely use the 3G on my phone (mostly use it on WiFi at home) and didn't think it was worth getting it on the iPad, which is even less portable than the phone due to its size. I think Dan has a great idea to attach the bad elf to a buoy on a short lead directly above the anchor, but is it waterproof (they claim to be only splashproof), and is the bluetooth signal strong enough to travel at least 150ft and penetrate into the interior of the vessel?

I've had this nearly a year, and tried to get answers out of Bad Elf several times, without much success. ArcGIS Solutions are highly customizable and can also be used for inspections, unlocking even more possibilities than we can cover here. The display is quite small and not always easy to see in some lighting conditions, however when the GPS is paired with its app over bluetooth these minor limitations seem irrelevant as any details can be easily seen in the more complete displays provided by the app.

I mean "following the correct track but around 300 meters out for ten minutes at a time" inaccurate. I’d like to have some GPS device accurate enough to detect speed changes from sail trim – changes in the 0. I've tried connecting it to ESRI mobile products, but it's like a race to try and collect a point during the short window that it drops to the required <30ft accuracy.