Reviews
Transplant
EMTAC Bluetooth Trine GPS Receiver
Dedicated
GPS systems are great if you know exactly what you'll need the
GPS device for. But what if you simply want a general purpose
GPS receiver that you can use with a variety of devices and for
a variety of purposes? Then it'd make a lot of sense to take a
close look at Transplant's terrific little Emtac Bluetooth ãTrineä
GPS receiver. It's very small, just 2 x 3.6 x 0.9 inches, and
it weighs less than three ounces, so it's never in the way and
you can easily carry it in a pocket or just about anywhere. In
fact, it's smaller than my cellphone. The unit has a replaceable
1,000 mAh Lithium-Ion battery that's good for six hours of continuous
use and often a bit more. The little ãTrineä indicates its status
via three lights. A green one for GPS, a blue one for Bluetooth,
and a red/yellow one for charging. The green one blinks while
it's trying to lock on to a satellite and turns solid when it
has a fix. The blue one blinks nervously while looking for a Bluetooth
connection and at a slower pace once it's found one. The basic
ãTrineäcomes with a charger and a leather case. Optionally available
is an external antenna (US$30) that plugs into the ãTrineä to
boost the signal, and Y-cable DC chargers for a variety of handhelds.
The package runs a rather pricey US$249.99, or US$279.99 
for
a WAAS-enabled version. A GPS receiver by itself, of course, is
useless. It needs software to interact with. The ãTrineä works
with a wide variety of GPS and mapping software both on PCs and
handhelds, including a couple of our favorites, Mapopolis and
Pharos OSTIA. As far as reception goes, after some less than stellar
experiences with GPS receivers that constantly whined and complained
about weak signals, the Trine never let us down. Even without
the external antenna, the unit's reception is excellent, even
if it doesn't have a clear line of site to all those satellites
up there. In fact, it even worked just fine when we carried it
in a pocket. The price of the Trine is high, but you get what
you pay for. In this case a small and handy GPS receiver with
unbeatable reception.
ö Kirk Linksy
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