I purchased this unit to add GPS to my iPad, and also to be able to use GPS when my iPhone 4 is in airplane mode.
This product works great, exactly as described. You simply plug the unit into the iPad/iPhone/iTouch and it adds native GPS support to every app. I can't emphasize that enough, the apps you already own work great with it, they don't need to be updated at all to work.
The bad elf gps collects and keeps an atlas of the GPS satellites on board the unit, so even from a cold start it finds it's position very quickly. This is a high performance GPS too, it works at altitude in a jet aircraft just fine, even at 35,000' at 500 mph, when the native iPhone 4 GPS couldn't even find it's position. (Refer to any airline's policies on portable electronic equipment before operating any iDevice inflight, but I'm sure you knew that.)
Of course this GPS draws it's power from the iPad/iPhone/iTouch, so it does drain the battery some. My experience using an iPhone 4, using a program called Skycharts Pro, with a constant screen full bright updates (worse case) was that it drained 15% of the battery life an hour. Since the iPad has a much bigger battery, I expect excellent battery life using this unit with the iPad's glorious 10" screen.
If you have access to a power source, you don't even need to be concerned about battery life, it has a USB type plug and cord included that you can use to power/charge/sync the iDevice while using the GPS. The only small downside is that my car charger uses a docking plug, I have to buy a new car charger that I can plug a USB cable into instead, an input 30 pin connector would have been better in my opinion.
I am recommending this product to anyone who wants to add GPS to their apple devices, or those who change devices every year, as this device can transfer as newer iPads & iPod touches enter the market. Bad Elf GPS Receiver for iPod touch, iPhone, iPad and iPad2 (66-channel, SBAS/WAAS, 10Hz)
I recently got a Bad Elf GPS for my iPad 3G and use it with ForeFlight, WingX and other aviation Apps. Fantastic! Finally, I can maintain lock while I am flying and it outperforms the built-in GPS in the iPad 3G model. Initial lock takes about 30 seconds and is accomplished while I am doing my run-up and pre-takoff checklist. It maintains lock and this morning I tested it to 12,000 feet where the iPad 3G built-in GPS would often lose lock. I use my iPad with a kneeboard made for it and the Bad Elf does not get in the way. No problems with having the Bad Elf maintain lock with it being located on the iPad kneeboard (flying a high wing aircraft). Terrific device and a great addition to the iPad for aviation purposes.
I live in a rural area where AT&T doesn't bother to have coverage so I have an iPod Touch and an iPad WiFi. I'm fine only having data access through WiFi, but I really wanted to have GPS to use location aware apps. I was happy to find out about the Dual GPS and the new Bad Elf GPS add-ons for an iPod Touch. I decided to go with the Bad Elf since it would also work with the iPad.
So far, I'm pretty happy. I was worried about battery life on the iPod Touch since mine is an old 1G and the battery is getting on in years. I haven't had a chance to run it down entirely yet, but I'm not noticing any drastic impact on battery life. (The iPad has *plenty* of battery so that is not an issue). I did get a New Trent IMP500 external battery with the Bad Elf which seems to work well with the Touch+Bad Elf. So, if I need really long battery life I'll have that as an option as well.
I tested the Bad Elf vs. a couple Garmins that I have. The Bad Elf has a new MTK chipset, one of my Garmins has a slightly older MTK chipset, and the other Garmin has a SirfStar chipset. Both the MTKs outperform the SirfStar. I did find that the older MTK Garmin slightly outperforms the Bad Elf in both satellite acquisition time and accuracy (I'm theorizing that the Garmin MTK has a larger antenna than the very compact Bad Elf??). Still, I'm pretty happy with the performance of the Bad Elf.
One benefit to the Garmin over the Bad Elf + Touch is that the Garmin's screen is much easier to see in sunlight than the Touch. The screen on the iPod is just too reflective in sunlight to be pleasant to use.
The Bad Elf itself seems to work quite well, but the real benefit over a dedicated GPS like a Garmin is having access to a wide variety of location aware apps. The interface on these apps is often many times better than the Garmin interface...although not always as there is a lot of variation in the App Store. So far I've found MotionX and Gaia to work well.
I updated this review on Nov 11, 2010. My goal was to use navigation or other location-determining apps on an Apple iPod Touch 4G without requiring a Wi-Fi connection. This little GPS was the solution. I found a navigation app that put an entire map and POI database on my iPod, so that fit the "...without requiring a Wi-Fi connection" navigation condition.
I have charged the Bad Elf's internal battery and my lock-up times are currently in line with the product specifications. The little goodie maintains satellite lock inside a moving vehicle. It seems to lock even faster when my iPod Touch is stable in its new mobile mount.
I think operation might be more convenient if the GPS itself did not plug into the iPod, but optionally had a short length of ribbon or other cable so it would dangle as a dongle. The accessory charge cable included with the GPS is a rather large bundle, but one could substitute a more compact cable with the right current-handling spec's.
Bad Elf does warn that one should externally power the iPod or other device because the GPS drains the iPod Touch battery quickly. I confirmed that.
For the price, I think it is a great, needed addition for what the iPod Touch 4G lacks in accurate location-determining, especially "off the network." - Iphone - Gps - Ipod Touch - Apple'
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