Memory-Map Launches GPS Unit

50 channels? Wow! I'm impressed.

<but what does 50 channels actually mean?>

it means you should be impressed mal. it has a touchscreen too.

oh, hang on. why? especially as you only pick up about 16 satellites if you're lucky.

> <but what does 50 channels actually mean?>

It means that it can track up to 50 satellites at once.  However, given that GPS consists of a constellation of only 24 active satellites, there's not a lot of point...  Allow a few more channels for SBAS (WAAS/EGNOS) signals.

It may be that the receiver design is sufficiently versatile that the hope it will be able to use Galileo, GLONASS and Chinese GNSS systems at some point in the future.

I'll have a bit of a look around and see if I can guess what chipset it's using, or even what generic receiver design has been badged at MM (I'm guessing they didn't do the development; I could be wrong on that, though).

Parky Again wrote (see)

mm doing the development? i doubt it if they want it to work.

lol! yep, the thought of being up a mountain in bad weather and relying on any piece of software that memory-map wrote is truly scary. It's bad enough being regularly driven  into an apoplectic fit by their software in the comfort of ones own home ..  taking the clunky stuff up a mountain could only possibly appeal to those who enjoy being truly demented. 

Well, a quick google doesn't reveal an obvious OEM design, but does come up with a number of candidate 50-channel receiver designs, from u-blox, JAVAD, Topcom, etc.

The u-blox one especially looks interesting, since it claims to be 'Galileo-ready'; the Topcon TPSCON and JAVAD JNScore only seem to be GPS/GLONASS compatible.

I also found a 50-channel solar powered Bluetooth GPS receiver on ebay for £12... (MediaTek MT3).