ChannelGoods Portable Mini GPS with Keychain for Outdoor Sport Navigation Tracker Location Finder

My wife and I have been taking fairly long walks regularly and I just wanted something to tell us how far we had walked, how far away the car was and at what direction it was, so that we could see when we should start back. It sounds silly, but sometimes you can lose your sense of direction when you are in the woods or somewhere you are not familiar with.I also thought that if one of us can't continue, we could call for help and give our co-ordinates over the mobile phone. Be prepared for the worst you see.This cheap and basic device seems to do the job.It seems pretty robust with a strong coated plastic case and tactile surface. It is fairly easy to read the display, although some of the information is in rather small characters. I can read the stuff that I am interested in without glasses.The controls are a bit fiddly to operate and not altogether intuitive. But I was able to use the basic features without any real difficulty.I think it is fair to say that, while the instructions are not pidgin English, they clearly have not been written by someone with full command of the language. e.g. "Its high-sensitive direction indication guide user to go back original departure position...". Still, you can get the gist of it. The manual is a single sheet, but it is fairly comprehensive and all in English, sort of.The lithium battery seems to hold it's charge for many hours.Setting the time is rather strange. The manual says that it comes set to Beijing time plus 8 hours The instructions then say that you set it to GMT plus or minus what is appropriate. I found that I had to set it to plus 13 hours to get the right time. You can select miles or Km for distance and input geographic coordinates manually, although it does seem a rather fiddly process.So it is a bit flaky, but it does the job and it is quite cheap compared to many other GPS devices.In case anyone thinks otherwise I am neither a Vendor of this nor a competitive device.

Originally looking for a multi-purpose GPS device on a budget for use with Geo-Caching and route finding while out walking! I found this and having read all the reviews for this product from various other sellers as well, I decided to purchase from TaTa-mall at the best price. I haven't used any other GPS/SatNav before, using only travel route software on a PC, like Google Maps.Arrived well packaged, very promptly, well in advance of target delivery date.This gadget uses the principal of setting or recording a route of up to 16 Points of Interest (POI) and records the direction & distance you are away from each of them based on your current location (assuming you can receive satellite signal connections). You have to select each POI individually and separately to get this detail. It will display a 'compass like' directional arrow until you reach those coordinates.Other buttons allow you to see the distance/time covered since start, clock (satellite time), speed & current elevation, current coordinates. Also a settings option for miles/kms, time zone adjustment, clear POI, reset defaults etc.The instructions are quite basic and do need some understanding of GPS terminology to figure them out especially with regard to the POI (Points of Interest) setting. Seller was quick to respond to query but not that knowledgeable about the product.Charging of battery via USB on PC was quite quick and battery life is good, you can turn it off to conserve power then back on again as required and it will remember the POI settings you have made and after a short while re-establish direction required (although you will lose any time/distance to date).Please note that although instructions say use Google to obtain POI coordinates, Google Maps uses Decimal Degrees but the Mini GPS needs Degrees, Minutes and Seconds! So the Google coordinates will need to be converted before entering as instructed as a new POI. There are various sites that you can get this conversion but obviously this needs a little work before you want to use the gadget for that purpose. Upon query, Seller states it uses WGS84 datum system.Also, if these POI are pre-set before journey they do not display a record label (that you get when at a POI and record the coords at it) but they will overwrite any pre-existing on that POI number. So you probably need to make a separate 'backup' note of the 16 POI locations if this is a concern.In conclusion, fit's in the pocket nicely when walking and good value for money so far!

I wanted a simple GPS device for measuring distance travelled (I wasn't too fussed about being shown current coordinates). I have a proper GPS running watch that tracks and stores the route you've taken, gives pace etc, but this Mini GPS keyring looked perfect for simply recording my distance travelled when I didn't want to use my watch. Plus, for under £20 it was a bargain. However, it simply didn't work. I tried it on two routes and the distance it displayed was 4 miles over the actual distance travelled. The seller was excellent and sent replacement device, but again the keyring over calculated the distance by around 50%. If the device had lost signal it would have undercalculated distance, not over calculated, so I am not sure how it had got it so wrong. On all my tests it claimed to have GPS signal (the tests were in two different parts of the country).Unfortunately, this makes the device useless - inaccuracies of this magnitude I think would make it unsuitable for any user's needs. After trying the replacement I sent it back and got a full refund.