Laptop GPS World

Has anyone done, or read a comparison of the gps that comes with S&T 2007/2008 and any other laptop USB gps.
I have read about other USB GPS hardware in posts at LaptopGPSWorld, but I don't remember reading an endorsement of the Micrsosoft GPS. Is it as good, not quite as good or worse than other options?

Boots, that's a good question. The "new" GPS receiver included with Microsoft Streets and Trips 2007 and 2008 versions is based on the powerful SiRFstarIII chipset. SiRFstarIII chipset was first introduced to market in 2005, if memory serves. It's predecessor, SiRFstarII, was the chip used in many (most?) GPS units in earlier days.

At the time when first SiRFstarIII based GPS receivers started to sell, there were numerous user comparison tests posted all over the Internet . The improvement in sensitivity to week satellite signals was very much noticeable actually even without doing any elaborate testing. For example, while GPS receivers based on the SiRFstarII chipset needed to sit on the dashboard, close to window, to get a good enough fix on satellite signals, units based on the SiRFstarIII chip would work quite happily even when placed in less optimal locations, such as a car's glove compartment, or on the car's floor, or even in the driver's pants pocket .

Since the introduction of the SiRFstarIII chipset, manufacturers other that SiRF introduced new generations of their chips, too. I think they all are at pretty much at the same level today. Perhaps SiRFstarIII still has a slight edge.

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Marvin Hlavac

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