James Branch
I started my I.T. life back in 1987 with a Commodore 64, swiftly moving to the Amiga 500 and 1200, but got my first (What I could call 'real') PC in 1991.... a Packard Bell 486 DX running Windows 3.1 and from then on, I was hooked!
I've been working in the I.T. sector in the U.K. for over 10 years now. My career started as a junior technician for Sage Software (Working in house as part of the I.T. tech teams, not developing their software as such) repairing PC's and doing the boring jobs that nobody really wanted or could be bothered to do! It was my first taste of work in the I.T. sector since leaving college (Where I studied I.T. and Business believe it or not!) so as far as I was concerned, I had the best job in the world!
After a couple of years I left Sage as a Desktop Support Engineer and worked for a number of I.T. companies, with most of my concentration and dedication being aimed at PC, Server and Network support/design.
I'm currently working as part of a two man I.T. support team, so tend to get my hands dirty with not only network design and support, PC & Server repair/maintenance, but I also maintain VoIP telephone systems, have mastered Sharepoint (MOSS/WSS Design, Document Library and Workflows), setup Virtual Servers using VMWare & MS Virtual Server, systems administration, Unix maintenance, and I like to dabble in SQL now and again.... just for my sins! :)
I tend not to go very far without my iPod shuffle and can't live without my Blackberry 8820 - it's like an extension to my right (or even left!) hand!
As you can probably gather, I'm also addicted to gadgets.... I have quite an impressive collection of toys now, which seem to take up too much space at home! I've gone through more digital cameras that I care to think of, had far too many Palms, games consoles, smart phones and an impressive of collection of PC's and laptops! Not a bad thing though, I think anyway!! My wife might think otherwise! :)
When I'm not playing with gadgets or on the internet, I'm spending time with my gorgeous wife and three kids (All boys!) who'll no doubt grow up to be gadget freaks too, I hope! :)
You can always find me checking e-mail, Twittering or mooching around Facebook, or indeed finding the next gadget(s) to review!
James
If you do what I do everytime you go out and forget where you’ve parked your car, or have major trouble in finding your way back to your hotel, then worry no longer. The ECCO GPS Keychain will help to show you the way.
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Firebox states it’s not an active item on their web site.
-OR- if you have android or Iphone install a car locator app that basically does the exact same thing. Prices range from free to $3.99 save $$$
PROFIT 🙂
That’s a pretty awesome little GPSr unit! Too bad that it will not work in the main place it would be useful: multi level shopping centre car parks! Also in reality you would get out of your car and then need to wait for a minute or two for the thing to get a location lock before you could record where you are leaving your car.
@Mark – Here is the link for the item on the site, it’s available at the moment: http://www.firebox.com/product/2387/ECCO-GPS-Keychain?via=cat
@gheymann – At the moment, I’m not an Android, or iPhone owner… Blackberry yes, so unless there’s a BB app I can use that would save some $$’s then I’d opt for this.
@Damian – Although I haven’t reviewed it, I’m guessing it may lock onto to a GPS signal pretty quickly… plus, I have kids and have to sort out a few things before I get out of the car anyway, so by the time I’m ready to go shopping or whatever, the signal will be locked in. I guess everyone is different though!
@Jay Not a Blackberry user but a quick check reveals
Car Finder by Neosistic http://ow.ly/1h23S there maybe others as well.
All – the good news is that this is usable where cell phones are not. Try leaving your car at the top of a mountain and hiking around for a few hours.. finding your way with a cell phone would be impossible unless you’ve got reception.
Jay- it doesn’t matter how quick a unit will lock onto a signal if the signal is not there (as in a multi-story or underground car park). The GPS signal is extremely weak and it takes very little to block it.
@Dave – Great point there…. my BB provider in the UK is T-Mobile. It’s definitely not the best provider and loses it’s signal quite often!
@Andrew – Point taken. Although, I think if you park in an underground car park or multi story you’d have a better idea of where you parked as most floors are numbered. Plus, they’re typically not as large/wide compared to a normal outside car park, where it would be much harder to locate your vehicle. I do think the ECCO would struggle underground though, for sure! 🙂
Your other commenters mentioned the disadvantages of this ECCO.
The biggest advantage of having a separate unit is that the GPS device has its own battery and doesn’t drain your smartphone battery. This is particularly interesting if the GPS device has data logging capability and stays on all the time, since it’s much easier (needs less signal power from satellites) to maintain a lock than to acquire a new one, so its quite possible to get a location if the GPS already had a lock, while it may take minutes or even hours to acquire one.
There are other similar devices that are much cheaper:
Bushnell Backtrack (http://www.bushnell.com/products/gps/backtrack/)
Grand daddy of cheap simple waypoint finder gps devices. Larger than keychain.
Navin miniHomer (http://www.semsons.com/namiwagpspof.html)
Less than half the cost, waterproof, supports datalogging. User interface isn’t as simple though.
GlobalSat GD-101 GPS Director (http://www.semsons.com/glgdgpsdi.html)
About half the cost, waterproof. User interface isn’t as simple and its a lot larger than keychain size. GlobalSat’s is not a newcomer to GPS devices.
Navibe BackTrack GPS (http://www.buygpsnow.com/Navibe_BackTrack_GPS.aspx)
Less than half the cost, waterproof, temperature. User interface is not as simple and its a lot larger than keychain size. This is a rebranded QStarz QFinder GF-Q900, QStarz has been around the block too.
An alternative idea: GPS tracker. You can get a GPS tracker with cellular interface for roughly $150-$200. You can send it a message and get back its current location. Never have to remember to hit a button when you leave the car (on the other hand, maybe car is in poor cell signal area), but you need a second GPS device to find your car, but that device could be your phone (but then, maybe poor GPS reception won’t allow your phone to acquire a lock).