I have been using the Holux M-241 data logging GPS for two months now and have been experimenting with it. It's an interesting product that's likely to be most useful to photo hobbyists and nerds in general.

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a data logging GPS, the basic idea is this. You have a small battery operated GPS device that records it's location at regular intervals, (every five seconds by default) along with the time that it was at that location. When the GPS data is retrieved, you have a record that can be superimposed over a map to show when and where the the GPS was. In particular, Google Maps makes it easy to use this data with aerial maps. Photographers can match the GPS data with the time stamps on their digital photos to know exactly where and when a picture was taken. Jealous spouses and parents suspicious of their teenagers can hide the data logger in a car to record where a vehicle driven by their spouse or child has been. You get the idea.

Most data loggers have only minimal controls; an on/off switch, and a couple of LED status lights. The Holux M-241 is unusual in that it has a small LCD display to display various bits of GPS information. This LCD data expands the usefulness of the M-241 over other data loggers. The Holux M-241 also has a bluetooth transmitter so that it is constantly providing a stream of GPS data to any nearby paired devices.

The Holux M-241 is aimed at the photography market of "geo taggers", people who want to record where their photos have been taken. The case of the M-241 has even been designed to look like a slightly oversized Kodak 35mm film cartridge in Kodak yellow. It houses a single AA battery that Holux claims to provide up to twelve hours of life. On the side is a dot matix LCD display that can display the GPS status and remaining number of recordable data points in memory, the time, the latitude and longitude in DDMMSS.dd format, your speed bearing and altitude, and either the distance you've traveled, or the direct distance back to your starting place. These displays are cycled through with two rubberized buttons. The use of the buttons is a little confusing at first, but their use is logical, and not too hard to get used to.

For most people, the Holux M-241 is only as useful as the software that comes with it, and the software that comes with the Holux is pretty weak. The included software includes a driver that lets you extract the recorded data from the GPS. Even though the M-241 has a USB interface, Holux didn't consider using a simple USB mass storage interface to make the recorded data directly accessible from most computers. The included software works only under Windows and has a distinctly Windows 3.1 retro look to it. There is also a seven day trial software package Maps2Go that supports only Nokia, and Symbian mobile devices so I can't tell you how well the software works.

Fortunately, there are quite a few free or moderate cost software choices out on the internet for working with the data from the Holux M-241. The included software lets you convert data log in a variety of formats. The chip set manufacturer has a driver that works with an Apple Mac to get the data from the Holux M-241. You can find a bunch of programs on the internet that will let you convert the GPS data into other "standard" GPS formats, and will directly transfer the GPS data to your digital photos. I found that the Delorme "Street Atlas USA" has a Palm application included at no additional cost that lets me connect the Holux M-241 with bluetooth to my Palm Treo 755p Smartphone and show real time GPS information superimposed over local maps.

One other problem with the Holux M-241 is that the 35mm film cartidge shape is just too cutesy. The GPS antenna works best when it's pointed skyward, but the display has to read while the "cartridge" is on its side. The Holux M-241 comes with a good quality lanyard that keeps the antenna pointed up when you wear it around your neck, but if you have it on the dashboard of your car so that you can the read display, the rounded sides of the cartridge let it roll around too easily.

One plus for the Holux M-241 is that it has a handy route distance traveled featured. If you're out taking a walk, reset the distance traveled to zero, and you have an instant pedometer or trip odometer and it's very accurate.

Recommended: No