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Reviews For: DigiTraveler™ Personal GPS Navigation System

Category: GPS receivers for APRS

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Review Summary For : DigiTraveler™ Personal GPS Navigation System
Reviews: 2MSRP:
Description:
Discontinued Radio Shack GPS unit. Catalog # 20-1601
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.radioshack.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0024.5
K8SRB Rating: 2005-01-09
Still works great Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Correction to my previous post.

Jon, KC9AXZ, brought to my attention that the specs for the DigiTraveler indicate that it is 16 channel rx. I checked the specs and Jon is right, it is 16 channel and not 12 channel rx as my post indicated.

73, de Stan


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Earlier 5-star review posted by K8SRB on 2005-01-08

Last summer when the units went on sale for $29.95 with xMaps, three sets of cables for various PDA's, I decided to give it a go. I had Palm m-130 and the cables come with it worked great. The other cables did not fit my m-130 so I cut off the PDA end and added a plug for my laptop (db9), a plug for D7g HT and one for my D700. The units worked great so after few weeks I went to RS stores looking for more. I found one other after checking with a dozen or so RS stores.

The unit runs on internal 3 AAA cells, or from 6 volt DC. It uses 3 wires for data, TX, RX and GRD. Firmware indicates that it is a Sonny made receiver. From reading about it, I was under impression it is a 12 channel receiver and not a 16 channel as the previous review has indicated. Will have to do more investigating on that subject.

I also have Garmin GPSV, so I did some comparing as far as lock on time. I placed both units on the dash board and power up at the same time. In most cases both units, Garmin and DigiTraveler, lock on in about the same time.

Being able to operate from internal battaries for an extended period of time, I found it very handy to run Kenwood D7 Ht (on intenal batt) and DigiTraveler as APRS station while riding around on a motorcycle.

The DigiTraveler is not water proofed.

The xMaps that are included in the package do a very good job even with a slow m-130. You can zoom to a street level. I store my maps on a removeable memory drive, but when I am navigating, I place that specific map into PDA's internal memory for faster scrolling.

My DigiTraveler stays on the dash, mounted with two suction cups all year around. I have not noticed any problems from summer sun hitting the unit. I had some conserns at first, since it is made from dark plastic, but then, it is only $29.95, and it lasted through the first Ohio summer.

I tried to find more info on the unit and I did find that the DigiTraveler was package as PDA or notebook configuration. The only difference between the two are the cables and maps.

I don't have any negative remarks, for the units work and work very well. By making up different cables it is very flexible and can be used with different equipment.

73, de Stan, K8SRB
KC9AXZ Rating: 2005-01-08
Early to tell Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just got this unit. It has been discontinued for some time. I bought it used from another amateur. The unit was in "like new" condition. I bought this unit to replace my Garmin eTrex Legend. I didn't like the idea of keeping my Garmin in the truck all times. The DigiTraveler is a 16 channel unit. It has no display, and wired up to my TinyTrak3 with no problems. I did modify it unit a little (details on my website) so I could power it from my TT3. This is a good unit, if your looking for a full time APRS GPS. I haven't ran this GPS on a PDA or laptop (I don't have software), so I can't review on that performance.

Jon KC9AXZ
www.kc9axz.com