I have been on the long quest for a great gps logger to carry around on my hikes and travels. I am a shutter bug by nature and on my last trip to Europe Took over 700+ photos and I would of taken more but my 8 gig memory card took a dive 2 day into the trip. Over the past 6 months I have tried out my combination of hardware and software solutions (original post) before finally buying a GiSTEQ logger to take on my trip to Europe with me. I originally saw a link on Engadget a few days before my trip and quickly contacted the company and ordered one.

My experiences with the GiSTEQ device was pretty positive over all but I did find one annoying factor and that was the time it takes to sync up with satellites and start logging data. Every day of our trip, I had to stand outside for what seemed like a few minutes for it to finally sync up, some times this was faster and im sure it was the various locations I was standing at that didn’t help. This is probably due to a lot of the tourist places are in locations where a lot of buildings tower over you. Now I don’t know that much about satellites but I’m guessing that was one of the issues.

The software that comes with the logger is still what I call it in the early stages, while it works most of the time it lacks a lot of the features that I use (Google earth/maps exporter). I have been in contact with them and they assure me they are working on versions to add some of the features that I use and as of the June 7th a new version is out but I haven’t had time to check it out yet.

Never fret though, You can export your gps logs to .nmea format and use software such as RoboGeo to take advantage of more features for geo tagging your photos such as export to Google Earth/Maps, Shape file, DXF file, Mapoint and many other options.

Their is a new gps logger in town I’m trying to get my hands on as well QSTARZ BT-Q1000 GPS which incorporates also bluetooth technology. The GiSTEQ is just a logger but the QSTARZ is both a logger and can be used with other mapping software for trip/route planning.

Over all i pretty happy with the GiSTEQ and as they improve the software I might use it more and more, but for $99 you cant beat the combo of hardware and software that comes at that price.

I took this was a little cool 3.9 mile hike a week ago which is close to Phoenix Lake in Ross, California (Marin). Most of the hike was shaded and only walked about a mile on a fire road before really getting into the Hidden Meadow area. This is a pretty simple hike and takes you around a cool little meadow area, the climb inst to bad either about a 600 foot elevation change.

One thing about this hike is it gave me great views of Mount Tamalpais. If your looking for an easy hike I would recommend this, but be aware the first mile on the fire road can be littered with mountain bikers but you shouldn’t find any on the trail once you get going.

Below are some is a screen cap of the hike, and of course the links below will lead you to the Google Maps and Google Earth viewable options.

These Links below will show my hike path along with photos taken during my hike.

• Hidden Meadow Hike in Google Maps with Photos
• Hidden Meadow Hike In Google Earth
• Free Google Earth Application