Earthmate LT-20 GPS with WIN7?

[Kurt Hulst]

I did go ahead and ordered a Pharos 500 GPS puck and will follow up with its performance. I am not supposed to get it till the 29th.

Meanwhile, after starting this post I searched around more on the forum for information on GPS's. There is a sticky on the top of the Equipment topic http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?27058-GPS-Tech-Common-GPS-issues

I did receive an email from Delorme stating that they were not going to pursue updates for there Serial Emulator as serial ports have become obsolete and everything is USB so there is no feasibility in producing updates at this time.

 

[Brett Roberts]

Are you using Win7 32 or 64-bit?

I have Win7 32 on my laptop, and have no trouble using the DeLorme Serial Emulator provided it is opened "as an administrator." You might try that. I'm using the LT-20 within Street Atlas, GR3, and SN simultaneously under this method.

 

[Kurt Hulst]

Pharos GPS-500 and Xport work Great on WIN7 32bit!!!!!!!!!

Are you using Win7 32 or 64-bit?

I have Win7 32 on my laptop, and have no trouble using the DeLorme Serial Emulator provided it is opened "as an administrator." You might try that. I'm using the LT-20 within Street Atlas, GR3, and SN simultaneously under this method.

Brett, I tried this route and it was a no go. I have a Win7 Professional 32 bit system.

So instead I just received my Pharos GPS-500 this afternoon. Hooked it up and Windows found the necessary driver and installed it. The receiver is working flawlessly with the USB serial splitter Xport (a free program) allowing me to run all the programs I used to run with the Delorme Emulator and LT-20 puck, which I can no longer use on WIN7 pro 32 bit. My Delorme Street Atlas, Gr3, and Spotter Network are all working simultaneously, no more headache.

Xport does have an updated version specifically for WIN7 (32bit only) Link to download

You can find the Pharos GPS-500 puck on Amazon here However i got mine for $20 and I am seeing the only selection for $24 or more now. I am sure you could just keep a watch for a price change if your in the run for a new receiver.

 

[Aaron Dooley]

Hey guys,

I wanted to append this thread with some new information.

I have always had the Delorme Earthmate USB GPS puck and always been mostly good using the Delorme Serial Emulator except the flaky nature of the Serial Emulator stopping and having to reset or restart the entire computer. Like others on here I finally broke down and am moving all my computers to Windows 7 64 bit which presents a problem for not only the Serial Emulator software but also the driver for the Earthmate in Windows 7.

I'll make a long story short and tell you to save your time looking on the Delorme threads or internet for help on how to make it work because it won't. Having said that, with Windows 7 64 bit it basically means the two units I have had for years are no longer good for what I am doing. So, after researching everything on the most bang for your buck units that are puck style and NMEA compliant to be able to split into multiple COM ports I decided on the GlobalSat BU-353-S4 which is the new version of the BU-353 but with twice the channels, SiRF Star IV instead of the older chipset version III. I wanted to let everyone know there was a better/newer unit on the market for slightly more money.

I just purchased on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008200LHW/ref=ox_ya_os_product) for around $45 and the older unit is going for around $25 (http://www.amazon.com/GlobalSat-BU-...ie=UTF8&qid=1355376249&sr=1-1&keywords=bu-353). I plan to either use whatever software comes with it to split, or if no software, use GPSGATE or XPORT.

The unit has software and driver support for all recent/current versions of Windows as well as MAC so if you wanna save time and get the right unit that is suppported and works then go with this unit. Here is the software/driver downloads page: http://www.usglobalsat.com/s-24-support-drivers.aspx

Here is a YouTube comparion between the BU-353 & the BU-353-S4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDzCgsNPKjI

Here is the link to the new one: http://usglobalsat.com/store/download/688/bu353s4_ds.pdf

Here is the link to the older one: http://www.usglobalsat.com/store/download/62/bu353_ds_ug.pdf