Garmin GLO Portable GPS and GLONASS Receiver with Vehicle Power Cable

by people ...

Product Specifications

Connects wirelessly to iPad iPhone and other Bluetooth enabled smartphones, tablets and laptops
This allows GLO to lock on to satellites approximately 20% faster and remain connected even at high speed
GLO can receive position information from both the GPS and GLONASS satellite constellations, allowing it to connect to up to 24 more satellites than devices that rely on GPS alone
It offers up to 12 hours of battery life and a position update rate of up to 10 times per second (update rate may be limited by the host device)
GLO, vehicle power cable, USB cable, Li‐ion battery pack

Product Description

Style:with Vehicle Power Cable | Package Type:Standard Packaging Navigate with Garmin-caliber GPS data on the mobile device of your choice. GLO brings you the best of both worlds by combining GPS/GLONASS receivers with Bluetooth® technology so you can enjoy precise position information on your iPad, iPhone or Android device.

The Accuracy of GPS + GLONASS GLO can receive position information from both the GPS and GLONASS satellite constellations, allowing it to connect to up to 24 more satellites than devices that rely on GPS alone. This allows GLO to lock on to satellites approximately 20 percent faster and remain connected even at high speed. What’s more, GLO updates its position information at 10 times per second — that’s up to 10 times more often than the GPS receivers in many mobile devices.

Set It Up and Go Using Bluetooth technology, GLO wirelessly pairs to your mobile device. Just set GLO within range of your mobile device, and in moments you’ll be receiving GLO’s position data. It has up to 12 hours of battery life to keep your position on long trips, and charging GLO between uses is easy with the included USB cable or optional ¹²⁄₂₄ volt cigarette lighter adapter. The optional friction mount keeps the receiver safe on your dashboard and in full view of satellites.

What’s in the Box: GLO receiver USB cable Vehicle Power Cable

Product Reviews

Some Fixes & Tips

ALERT – APR 2015 – Bluetooth GPS devices stopped working under Apple’s iOS 8.3. – DO NOT USE WITH iOS 8.3 –UPDATE – JUL 2015 – Apple fixed the Bluetooth GPS problem in iOS 8.4. I confirmed the GLO works fine on both my iPad and iPhone under 8.4!UPDATE - MAR 2016 – The GLO continues to work under iOS 9. I’ve tested it with iOS 9.02, 9.1, and 9.3 and found no issues.UPDATE - May 2017 – Currently using under iOS 10.3.1. I originally bought the module to use with my WiFi-only iPad, but found today it can help my MapMyHike app on my iPhone 6 resolve my workout distances more accurately. The iPhone 6 (and most smartphones) use a hybrid GPS/Cell Phone Tower location system, which is not all that accurate for someone on foot. Added a picture to illustrate the accuracy increase on the iPhone.BACK TO THE ORIGINAL REVIEW:I bought my Garmin GLO over a year-and-a-half ago, so I have some experience. I use it with a WiFi-only iPad. The GLO is a small, long-lasting, accurate unit with fast updates and great coverage, but it lacks one simple item I think is very important: A battery level indicator in either hardware or software. The power light on the unit will blink about 20 minutes before the battery dies, but that’s not enough, IMO. Luckily from my experience it appears you should be able to count on most of the 12 hours they predict, which should outlast most devices it gets paired with. Buy a spare battery for under $20 or an external battery pack, and you should easily get 24-hour coverage!Now, I’ve had some bumps along the road: The first unit I received stopped communicating after 3 weeks, and was replaced by the one that has lasted the last year-and-a-half. I’m hoping whatever made the first one stop communicating has since been fixed in production. I also had a recharge problem when connected to an external battery pack charger, but that turned out to be the charger (I thought it was the GLO for quite some time).Before writing this review I decided to test the discharge rate of the battery. Can it still last the stated 12 hours? The first test gave me 14 hours and 39 minutes of constant communication with a GPS app on my iPad, so yes! Pretty good for a year-and-a-half old battery. A retest the next day was within a minute: 14 hours and 38 minutes!I have seen zero compatibility issues with this device. It has worked with every map program and GPS utility I have thrown at it – Apple and Google Maps, Google Earth, ALK Tech’s CoPilot GPS, Waze, and MotionX’s GPS Drive to name a few. I typically use ALK Tech’s CoPilot GPS, because like MotionX’s offering, they store maps right on the device so you don’t need an Internet connection. Since I have a WiFi-only iPad, there is no Internet connection when I travel. It will even transparently Geotag my photographs! I do wish Garmin provided a utility that, besides showing the battery level I so desire, would also show standard GPS utility info like what satellites it is using, etc. Historically this type of utility has been a great troubleshooting aid.I answered a couple of these in the Q&A section, but here are some additional fixes & tidbits:1) DO NOT USE WITH iOS 8.3 (see ALERT, above).2) The power switch sensitivity you see in many reviews was fixed in firmware in late 2013. That firmware update was stable by early 2014, so all current production models should have it. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to update mine. There seems to be a USB issue that is most commonly fixed by attempting the update on another computer. I only have one computer.3) The above firmware update also added support for up to 4 simultaneous Bluetooth connections, and gave the GLO the ability to turn off automatically after five minutes if there are no Bluetooth connections.4) The unit must be powered on to charge. Some people have dead battery issues because they do not realize that. Also, from my experience above, I would play it safe and recharge with a normal 1A power source, not an external battery pack charger. It should normally charge in a little over 3 hours from a normal 1A source, but from deep discharge it may take a while longer.5) You can geotag your photographs (embed the location where the picture was taken) on a WiFi-only iPad. Simply have the GLO turned on and connected when you take a picture (and have the option turned on under Privacy > Location Services > Camera!) Then you just need to carry the GLO in your pocket.6) Someone asked what version of Bluetooth it used, presumably so they could make sure they were compatible. I took mine apart, and it appears to have a Bluetooth 2.1 chip.Hope something here is useful to someone!

Works like a charm

I use this with my iPad Air 2 to provide GPS information when flying my DJI Phantom 3 Pro. This unit gives much more accurate GPS location information than using WIFI connection. Since my iPad does not have cellular functionality, an external GPS receiver is necessary when not connected to WIFI. This unit is small enough that I keep it in my shirt pocket when using it.

Great unit for 1-2 devices, any more YMMV.

It’s a good unit for up to 2 Android phones, 3 is pushing it… don’t have a fourth nor do I wish to even investigate a fourth Android device. See below for my reasons why. I don’t have any current Apple iPhones to test on this unit, because I’m tired of playing cat-and-mouse jailbreaking iPhones.Battery life is excellent, the included belt clip is nice, but don’t expect it to go on a duty belt, etc…The non-skid pad available for this unit is excellent, even when it gets dusty. The sleeve which the GLO slips into creates a sort of suction cup effect on the bottom of the non-skid unit and it even sticks to textured dashboards nicely.My Android Escapades…The latest firmware for the Garmin GLO which is 2.70 I believe, theoretically supports up to four (4) bluetooth devices. For Android users such as myself your GPS application better support direct connecting to the Garmin GLO unit itself or your GPS helper application better support “insecure” connections.I have successfully connected up to three Android devices - Nexus 6P, Samsung Galaxy SII, and a Samsung S5 Active. However, it’s more miss than hit when connected all three phones.For example I use Bluetooth GPS Provider, even though if you delve deep into Garmin’s FAQ support site, they specifically mention Bluetooth GPS and enabling “insecure” connections in the workaround section of Preferences. If you long press on the screen where the strength bars appear initially, you’ll get your NMEA stream. Upon the first phone connecting, you’ll be able to see what appears to be 10Hz updates or 10 updates per second. Now, when you connect your second phone, you’ll most likely notice a small hiccup on the first phones NMEA stream as the GLO negotiates the bluetooth connection handshake, etc… When it comes to the third phone, well all bets are off. Sometimes you’ll connect just fine, sometimes you’ll connect fine for awhile, and sometimes you won’t be able to connect at all. Again, this is my experience.So running Waze and Google Maps on my main phone, a speedometer app exclusively on the second phone, and Inrix Traffic and Uber Rider app on the third phone. The speedometer app goes nuts. Examining the NMEA stream on all three phones reveals that the GLO is having troubles send 10Hz updates to all three phones. One phone will completely stop for awhile, then a burst of updates comes thru, then another phone will have paused and then a burst of updates appears.Bottom line for me, unless they come out with another firmware update (more on that) is that this unit is not good for over 2 Android devices. It’s a YMMV situation.If you’re using this for 1 or 2 devices only. It’s a great unit. Rock solid performance.Firmware updating. To update the firmware on this unit you must use Garmin’s WebUpdater. There is a version for Windows XP and on 7,8, etc… and a legacy version of XP and earlier. There’s also a version for MAC.I have no experience with the MAC updating process, but for Windows you’ll need the latest version of Microsoft’s .NET framework, which “shoud” be backwards compatible with all previous versions of the .NET framework. Buuuut, it’s not. Installing the latest version of WebUpdater results in an error message stating that it needs a certain version of the .NET framework which isn’t installed, but which it will install for you and then continue installation, which it does not. So, I reverted back to the legacy version of their software. Installation went fine, but then it wanted to update to the latest version, which if you were having problems with the latest version anyway, you’ll definitely want to avoid updating the legacy version, because you’ll end up right back where you started. Once you’ve installed the legacy version you’ll connect your powered on GLO to your computer and then hopefully (usually) the software will identify your GLO and then check it’s firmware and/or update it.I had contacted Garmin’s web support and they suggested trying to use another computer to update the firmware or contacting them directly at their 888 number, which I see little to no use as if they couldn’t explain it to me in a web response, what would the possibly be able to tell me to do on the phone.

Replaceable battery, but confusing charging process

The GLO connects via Bluetooth to your Android or iOS device. For my Samsung S5, I can either use Bluetooth GPS with mock device location enabled, or depending on the app - it can be used as an external GPS device. It allows up to 10 Hz refresh, but I mainly see it working at about 8-8.5 Hz (which is better than the 1 Hz for built-in GPS units). The battery charging is very confusing. Apparently I have to keep the device on in order to charge it via the USB port. If I shut it off while connected to a charger, it will not charge properly. A low battery condition is indicated by a rapidly blinking LED that alternates between green and yellow. The manual says this is a sign of a bad battery or a battery error but that is not true. Once the device is on, it can be charged. The charging indicator is shown by a slowly alternating yellow/green LED. Once it is fully charged, it will stay amber.I bought the belt clip and used it with my RAM mount and belt clip adapter. I’d say it is OK - it’s not 100% secure but this is a GPS and not an accelerometer or camera.I’m running firmware 2.90Overall: ⁵⁄₅ stars

easy operation, quick to connect

Light, easy operation, quick to connect, reasonable boot time, quick recharge time and good battery life.

Four Stars

that is really good product and shipping is really fast.. ^^

DOES NOT WORK WITH WINDOWS 10

Does not work with Windows 10. You know, that obscure OS that was released two full years ago. You won’t find this information on the Amazon product page.

Fast lock, even inside

Great unit, fast lock even inside. The product shipped fast and was packed well.

Great!

This works great right out of the box.

Great for flying drones

I use this to fly my drones. This little thing has vastly improved my gps accuracy on my preprogrammed flights.

works as promised…generally

my android phone is a samsung galaxy grand prime value edition, rooted. I also use bluetooth gps app to link the glo and the phone.

Improve your SA!

Works well in and around the Pacific jet routes up to FL400 (have not tried higher, yet). Battery lasts entire 10+ hour flight.

The Garmin GLO is better for my purposes than the XGPS160

The Garmin GLO is better for my purposes than the XGPS160:- When used with the Gaia GPS iPhone app (iPhone 7) while driving in the car, XGPS160 track logs often have…