How much is the earth mate, and where can I get it? Casey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael May" <MikeMay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2004 2:23 PM Subject: [gps-talkusers] Earthmate versus Magellan John, Here is an announcement of the Earthmate we sent out a while ago. It describes the details of the Earthmate relative to the Magellan 310 and Sportrak. Announcing a new GPS receiver for the BrailleNote GPS from Sendero Group Delorme Earthmate One of the strengths of the BrailleNote GPS is its ability to use the latest state-of-the-art commercial GPS receiver. This allows users to have the highest performance and accuracy rather than being tethered to a built-in receiver. Sendero Group has selected the Earthmate to be the newest receiver shipping with Sendero's BrailleNote GPS systems. The Earthmate's benefits versus other receivers are as follows: Rapid acquisition time: The Earthmate acquires satellites quicker than the Magellan receivers. Its cold start time is listed at 45 seconds, warm start 38 seconds and hot start 8 seconds. Poor satellite visibility may reduce these acquisition times but rarely more than 2 minutes. Simplicity: The Earthmate does not have any buttons. It has one slide switch for turning power off and on. It is clear when it is on and when it is off. Small and Convenient: The Earthmate receiver itself is not much bigger than a pocket watch. Even with the battery pack it is slightly smaller than the Sportrak or Magellan 310. It offers the option to have the small receiver on the shoulder strap with the battery pack inside the Accessory Pouch. This requires additional cables. A suction cup attaches to the cord so the receiver can be secured to a window. Battery Power: The Earthmate comes with a rechargeable battery pack with AC and 12-volt chargers included. Each charge last about 10 hours. Charge the unit up every night and there is no need to wonder if your GPS receiver batteries are running low. You may also use standard triple A batteries in the Earthmate. The Earthmate does not have an audible battery alarm like the Sportrak does. Sensitivity: The Earthmate chip set has additional processing to improve tracking amongst buildings. It is more accurate than the Magellan 310. The Earthmate like the Sportrak can get up to 3-meter accuracy with the extra WAAS satellites. It also has Egnos for use in Europe once that system is operational. The 310 does not have WAAS or Egnos. You will even get position information indicated on the Earthmate with 1 or 2 satellites. Note: The BrailleNote GPS Receiver Type should be set to Garmin when using the Earthmate. This setting provides a slight improvement in GPS processing speed by the BrailleNote. The warranty for the Earthmate is 60 days. The warranty period for Magellan products is one year.