I don't have a specific project in mind but was interested in the viability
of "hacking" it. It's easily available, has a built in antenna, a neat
little enclosure, a display, and is no more expensive than an OEM module in
small quantities. It would be interesting to find out what module it uses or
if it is a proprietry unit specific to that model (which of course probably
wouldn't use NMEA sentences). The lack of serial interface available to the
end user is quite likely just a marketing thing though. If it had one they
would be doing themselves out of sales of the higher spec'd (priced) models.
James
It's a safe bet that it uses some form of commercial chipset at the
very least, so the processor would just be interpreting the NMEA
string from the chipset, as you'd be silly to design it any other way.
So it's probably hackable in this respect, but like I said I wouldn't
even bother. The screen is useless, you can't even get a basic GPS
position displayed on it.
For less than $50 more you can get a full GPS (say the Garmin eTrex
Yellow) that will do everything under the sun, and there is plenty of
info on how to hack the firmware in those too. So if you want some
hacking fun, I'd go down that path.
If ultra low cost is what you want then stick with the OEM modules.
Dave.
