Garmin Glo 2

My iPad doesn't have inbuilt GPS, so when I added the OS mapping service, OutDoorsGPS to see what I was flying over, which is also brilliant by the way, I needed to get a separate GPS unit. After searching the pilot's sites, I found this one. So lucky, not only does it do what it says on the tin, but it is also trouble free, very easy to run (switch it on and get your iPad on Bluetooth and that's it). The iPad picked it up even before I had opened the app and immediately got a fix, good battery life, although it is early days yet, works fine in the cockpit and in a wood if you go walking. Very easy to use in the field, swap pages and press record. You then get a complete log, stats and all, of exactly where you have been so you can do it all again, save the file to the web and send the GPX file to friends for their GPS. Accuracy in with a clear view of the sky is about 3m, in a wood about 5 to 10m depending on the thickness of the canopy. It is brilliant for tracking your flight and seeing where you have been, although the accuracy is not so good, but of course, it is designed for ground use so you expect that. I would recommend it for OutDoorGPS as the maps are standard OS so they too are very accurate. All in all, a brilliant purchase.

Great bit of kit

I purchased this to use with a wi-fi iPad Mini 6, which does not have GPS to use it in a motorhome and give me a decent sized screen for navigation maps such as Google. Only the cellular iPad supports GPS fully. I charged the GOL 2 fully and, after powering up, my iPad found its bluetooth connection easily and paired to it without needing to enter any codes. The GOL 2 locked on to satellites quickly when placed on the dashboard. I used the supplied USB cable to link it to an adapter in a 12v socket. I could easily have left it unplugged to run just on battery for @13hours quoted runtime. A longer dedicated 12v cable terminated in a 12v plug could also be used. The first test was a 130 mile return journey. I found the accuracy for using maps notably superior to the GPS on my Samsung phone with pinpont location, very fast re-routing after a wrong turn and all live traffic updates, such as congestion, shown. Others have reported that it's best used with an offline map, which may sacrifice these updates, but for me it worked perfectly in live mode. For that it's still necessary to have some form of internet connection for the device that is using the GOL2 + mapping.app I have this available via a Vision Plus Status 570 with built in wi-fi, but you could just as easily use a phone as a hotspot or a mi-fi unit. The price may seem a bit on the steep side, but I can now set up a screen on my iPad that just has the apps & widgets I need when driving and even configure a split screen to display maps + a BBC Sounds radio channel. All that has saved splashing out hundreds of GBP to have a new multimedia head unit with DAB radio fitted to a 10 year old vehicle.

Works great but with no native android support you have to rely on third party apps that have a habit of either disconnecting or not reconnecting when you move your device out of Bluetooth range. Apart from that it's great.

I bought this because I changed my car and the new one, a Skoda Octavia Estate, has a heated and heat reflective windscreen. For some time I've used a cheap tablet fixed to the dashboard to run the MemoryMap application and use the OS 1:25000 scale Explorer mapping. Although this worked fine in the previous car it didn't in the Skoda, probably because the windscreen blocked the GPS signal. This Garmin gadget fixed the problem and I now have a very good GPS signal and the tablet has the position as soon as its screen comes on from sleep. The Glo 2 sits at the back of the car inside one of the windows (it's and estate so that's easy) with power provided all the time from the outlet in the luggage compartment. As it's always powered up the position is always available to the tablet. I run an app on the tablet to make it take its position from the Glo 2 rather than the tablet's internal receiver.

Next day delivery, smaller and neater than I expected. Bluetooth connected immediately and a few minutes for a GPS fix and that was all there was to it! Hint Make sure the box on application for using an external GPS is ticked. Battery can stay on charge in iPad and Garmin GPS by wired connections whilst two communicate by Bluetooth, a useful capability as real time mapping applications are heavy on battery power.

The Garmin is a great unit. I am a photojournalist and plan all my trips around the world with pins on Maps.me. Many places I go to have poor or no telephone reception, including the North Yorks Moors where I live. This makes using phone GPS useless. I use Glo with an iPad and iPhone. It was very easy to set up and accuracy is amazing. The lights on the unit don't do quite what the instructions say, so don't panic if you get flashing lights that say there is a system error when using the USB charging lead as it seems to be ok. Thanks to Amazon for answering my question about its compatibility with Maps.me so quickly, it has solved a big problem for me as my iPad is the no SIM version. 5 stars to everyone.

Great device but not working direct with Google maps, but it works with certain apps that are available for android or iphone.