Rating: 
Summary: Geode GPS Module
Review: An excellent and useful module for the Handspring PDA. I enjoyed it while the company supported the product with their map database software. I cannot find the company to get updated software (Madison River Technologies). I do not believe that the module is available. The company either does not exist anymore or they are not making the module or supporting software. I see no point in tryimg to locate this product much less trying to purchase it.
Rating:
Summary: Shades of grey
Review: As with most things, there are good and bad points. The Geode is no exception.I've been using my Geode GPS since I got it in early February of '01. My experience has been largely positive with the Geode GPS unit and the GeoView software. Keep in mind that I've never played with any other GPS units. I am, however, a longtime PDA user and I've had my Visor Deluxe for approximately 18 months now. Pros:
- For me it DOES get locks pretty quickly (1 minute or less) in good conditions. Good conditions means ...open sky. A good 360 view.
- It keeps locks in semi-heavy forest/tree cover. Very heavy and it's spotty. All GPS units supposedly suffer from this problem to one degree or another.
- The software rarely crashes. Software shouldn't crash or it should crash pretty darn rarely. I'm using v1.3 of the Geode/GeoView software and it has been very stable for me.
- I like the maps. Lots of people seem to "complain" about the maps. I think they're fine. Good enough for me.
- It works. It gets locks, gives me accurate lat/lon, somewhat accurate altitude information (depends on amt of satellite locks), etc. It's a GPS unit. Cons:
- The compass. Even if it was reliable and you didn't have to reset it when your batteries died, I still wouldn't use it. I have a compass that does just fine for that sorta thing, so it's not a big deal. - The software. It could stand some feature bloat and general improvement.
- The MMC slots don't work.
- Fortunately there are commercial car adapters available and lithium batteries can be bought in bulk. :) All in all, I'm pretty happy with my Geode GPS unit. I wish the MMC slots worked! And the software could use some more features (bread crumbing et al.) and some tweaking (get rid of the pointer, use a small "x" icon). However, I've used my GPS unit in the city, in all kinds of dense NW forests and in a variety of weather (below freezing & above 95 degree F) and it has functioned very well. That being said, I can not recommend that anyone buy the Geode GPS unit at this time. GeoDiscovery needs to get their ...stuff... in order first. Once you, a prospective buyer, determines that GeoDiscovery is a fit company ...go for it! I think you'll be happy.
Rating: 
Summary: 1 star is too much for the Geode
Review: DO NOT PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT! I purchased a Geode from Geo Discovery, and regret my purchase. I cannot get any response from their customer relations. The Geo Discovery Tech Support phone number was pulled from their website. After 30 minutes, the Geode would not power on. I warn you, you should not purchase this awful excuse for a GPS.
Rating:
Summary: Geoid hardware and software behind the times.
Review: I have purchased several of these Handspring GPS springboards, and the Geoid though twice the price has the least functionality of any of them. First the compass, requires that you calibrate each time you are in a different environment. This requires that you go through a compass set up process that includes holding the unit level and spinning slowly around in a circle. This quickly grows annoying as you have to set it whenever you use the unit. I tried calibrating in my car, and the unit never would calibrate. Whether intended or not, most people will be buying this unit for use in the car. Since it was unable to be calibrated in the car, the icon showing the direction of travel never did work accurately. The identity of streets are a mystery until you actually select them with your stylus. Again, when trying to drive to a location this is akward. You either have to pull your car over everytime you need a street name, or you pull this manuever off while driving. (Nearly impossible in a shaky car). To navigate to a point, their is no ability to indicate where the point is in reference to your current location. So your only option is to zoom out to the extent that you can see both your location and the target location. This makes it increasingly difficult to select a certain road, and identify which one to take to your target. In conclusion, there are better springboards available for half the price. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: ....
Review: I purchased my Geodiscovery in January, 2001 from Amazon.com. Overall the product is a great idea. The downside list is below. 1. Product will not power on anymore. 2. Warranty is for 1 year, no response from Geo. 3. When the product was working, they were never able to get the memory chips to work. This limited you to downloading maps to the Handspring (max 8megs). 4. Will you still be able to download the maps? .... 5. When you did download the maps the geo worked very slowly. 6. The overall map interface was not very good; they were starting to improve it in Version 1.3. 7. The WAAS system for getting a fix on your location did not appear to be as accurate as the web site claimed. Based on my experience I would not mix my Handspring with a global positioning device again. Maybe you will have better luck with it than I did.
Rating:
Summary: A [amt] PIECE OF JUNK!
Review: I've had my Geode for about a week. It has only connected with satellites a couple of times. It is constantly "Looking" for satelite contact. I can watch the life being sucked out of my batteries in maybe 10 minutes! I used 12 batteries in one week! It freezes my Visor deluxe. When I turn off my Visor the geode stays on, when I unplug the geode module my Visor freezes. Did they even test this thing? I keep getting fatal errors on my Visor. I've also had problems with the map software. Try to call Geodiscovery support, the phone lines have been disconnected. The corporate phone works but all the mail boxes are full.(Hummmm) sounds like trouble.I called Handspring and asked them about geodiscovery. They said they haven't had any complants about the geode GPS module. They did give my another phone number that on was disconnected also. Something sounds fishy here. You can't get a return RMA number to return it! Not only have I wasted time trying to get the stupid thing to work. I've already wasted a day trying to figure out how to return it! If you want to spend your hiking trip standing around looking at your geode equipped Visor watching your batteries go dead, buy it. Or just flush [amt] down the toilette. I'm also returning my Handspring Visor. I don't want to support a company that can't give honest information to their customers. My real rateing is -5
Rating:
Summary: Geode GPS Module
Review: REad the reviews here (which I didn't) It has poor performance, and it does not comply to NEMA data, so don't bother trying to import your waypoints into a database. Besides, If you do buy it, don't every plan on hearing from customer service. I've been trying 6 months for a return, including trying to call and fax, and nothing. AVOID THIS AT ALL COSTS.
Rating: 
Summary: Had a lot of promise... business went bankrupt early
Review: The Geode had a lot of promise. Unluckily, GeoDiscovery went out of business before it those promises could be fulfilled. I do extend a lot of credit to the developer team who helped pull together as much as possible as GeoDiscovery was laying them off to help out the user community. Many of the developers continued to answer questions and work with users LONG after their paychecks stopped. But... sadly that was 2 years ago. GeoDiscovery is now defunct, their website gone and no support to be found. The Geode community did pull together and compile an archive of all the software that was available before GeoDiscovery's website died. I maintain the archive... which is available at davoice.net. The archive is about 1.2 gig in size, so no one in their right mind has been willing to host it online. So for the forseeable future, it's only available by mail on CD. On the davoice.net site, there is also a relatively inactive forum for Geode users. I do try to answer the odd question that arises every so often. Basically for all hardware except that which shipped directly from GeoDiscovery as they were shutting the doors, the best firmware is version 1.3. For the last hardware revision, 1.4beta works fairly well. Either way, the MMC slots never worked and NMEA connection was non-existant in 1.3 and flakey at best in 1.4beta. Blessings,
Daniel
Rating:
Summary: Had a lot of promise... business went bankrupt early
Review: The Geode had a lot of promise. Unluckily, GeoDiscovery went out of business before it those promises could be fulfilled. I do extend a lot of credit to the developer team who helped pull together as much as possible as GeoDiscovery was laying them off to help out the user community. Many of the developers continued to answer questions and work with users LONG after their paychecks stopped. But... sadly that was 2 years ago. GeoDiscovery is now defunct, their website gone and no support to be found. The Geode community did pull together and compile an archive of all the software that was available before GeoDiscovery's website died. I maintain the archive... which is available at davoice.net. The archive is about 1.2 gig in size, so no one in their right mind has been willing to host it online. So for the forseeable future, it's only available by mail on CD. On the davoice.net site, there is also a relatively inactive forum for Geode users. I do try to answer the odd question that arises every so often. Basically for all hardware except that which shipped directly from GeoDiscovery as they were shutting the doors, the best firmware is version 1.3. For the last hardware revision, 1.4beta works fairly well. Either way, the MMC slots never worked and NMEA connection was non-existant in 1.3 and flakey at best in 1.4beta. Blessings,
Daniel
Rating: 
Summary: Geodiscovery is practically out of business
Review: The Geode has high accuracy because it uses WAAS. But release 1.3 (the latest release) draws maps slowly, does not support color and does not use the industry standard NMEA interface (necessary to use the Geode with mapping software not made by Geodiscovery). Release 1.4 is just a beta and it greatly improves drawing speed and does support color. But the NMEA interface rarely works and this prevents use of the Geode with 3rd party mapping software. Also, the battery life is poor -- only about 3 hours -- and the MMC slots do not work.
Perhaps what is worst is that Geodiscovery support is not functional at all. They do not return phone calls or emails. So if you have a problem, you are out of luck. I think that the Magellan Companion ($150) is the best bet right now. It does not use WAAS. However, if you really want the 2-3 meter accuracy, you can get the Sky Golf GPS (looks a lot like the Companion and costs $400) which does use WAAS.
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