Two months ago, we took a look at the ATP Photo Finder geotagger. While the idea behind it was solid, it ultimately lacked polish and had several deal-breaking flaws experienced mainly during a trip to Japan. Things like incompatibilities with RAW file formats, slow signal acquisition and failure to tag most JPEG files (or worse, corrupting them), really put this that product in the dog house.
With Geotagging being more than just the when and where of a picture these days, as social media has really clinged on to this feature, I’m hoping that one of these geotaggers works well. This time, we’re hoping that the BT-Q3100 nano GPS Travel Recorder by Qstarz is what we’re looking for.
What’s In The Box
Along with the Travel Recorder and its software (on a mini-CD), you get a USB cable for syncing and a car cigarette lighter charger. I find it a bit surprising that they would include a car charger but since the Travel Recorder does not take batteries, this might make charging on the go a bit more convenient, especially on long road trips.
Features
Unlike the Photo Finder, there is no built-in card slot for you to tag your photos. Instead, you have to use the included software to do so. Which is Windows only so for Mac uses such as myself, you’re out of luck.
Powering the Travel Recorder is a MTK GPS chipset which Qstarz claims will acquire a satellite signal in 35 seconds which, if true, would be a massive improvement over the Photo Finder. The interesting thing is that along with the true GPS chipset, the Travel Recorder makes use of ground level, assisted-GPS in much of the United States, Europe and Japan.
Although I can’t find any real information regarding the actual capacity of the flash memory in the unit, the official Qstarz specifications say that you’ll be able to record 200,000 locations and the battery lasts for 12 hours on a single charge.
Interestingly, one of the selling points Qstarz emphasizes is that the BT-Q1300 Travel Recorder has the ability to sync up with a Bluetooth-enabled PDA. However, I can’t remember the last time there was a PDA on the market as they have been made largely redundant by netbooks and smartphones, most of which are already GPS enabled. If you happen to have an old iPAQ or Dell Axim lying around, you can probably rig up a makeshift navigation device. For the rest of us, the Travel Recorder also has software for use with Bluetooth-enabled laptops.
First Impressions
The Travel Recorder is quite a bit smaller than the ATP Photo Finder, which was already a compact package. You can easily slip it in a pocket or make use of the keyring to turn it into a somewhat awkward sized keychain. Qstarz also refers to the Travel Recorder as “Ultra Beautiful” which is certainly in the eye of the beholder. The black with gold swirlies may float some boats but I can’t say I’m a fan. Less is more, people.
Three LEDs at the top of the device indicate its status. The yellow equals a GPS signal lock, blue indicates the Bluetooth is on and green means the battery has a charge.
There is only one button on the unit itself and you differentiate what you want it to do by pressing it for various lengths of time. Turning the Travel Recorder on requires a 4 second press while a 2 second press enables the location logging function. Making a record of a location for use with geotagging is a simple press and release. I honestly found this really annoying and would’ve really preferred to have seperate buttons for these functions.
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Testing
I told myself that the 35 seconds to acquire was absurdity and that there was no way it would be able to give me a yellow light in that time. However, that’s actually rather accurate and the Travel Recorder does get a signal pretty quickly, even indoors. This is in contrast to the ATP GPS logger that couldn’t get a signal in downtown Tokyo.
To test out the BT-Q1300, I turned on the log function and took a drive around the city, sticking my head out my sunroof every so often to snap a picture of a landmark.
The software package is pretty robust, allowing you to map entire journeys using the Travel Recorder’s log and Google Earth. The BT-Q1300 even tells you your speed and altitude at various times. It is easy to use and has only a few buttons with hover-over tooltip descriptions for what they do. Reading the unit’s log gave me a very accurate map of my 12km drive.
Geotagging your photos is simple too. Click on the button to add a folder of media and your photos will automatically be geotagged as long as your camera is set to the correct time to match the Travel Recorder (which gets its time from the GPS according to which time zone you’re in). There’s another button to embed all this information in the EXIF. It’s all pretty much one click operation. There’s even quick upload to Flickr.
As a contrast to the ATP tagger that we reviewed earlier, everything worked and none of my photos were corrupted as a result of geotagging. You can also export for use in Google Earth. While there is still no support for camera RAW files, the software does support PNG and TIFF formats, which are an upgrade from JPEGs for most photographers. However, you’ll still have to convert your photos from RAW before you can use them in the Travel Recorder’s software.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
The BT-Q1300 is a much, much better product than the previously reviewed ATP Photo Finder. In stark contrast, the GPS lock was easy to acquire and maintain, the software worked well and was robust while remaining simple to use and most importantly, none of my photos were eaten in the process.
While I don’t mind the styling too much, the one-button operation makes things more difficult than they really should be. I can understand how they wanted only one button to try to maintain aesthetics but I’d really prefer function over form in this case.
Apart from that, the Travel Recorder is rather fantastic and works exactly like it should. At only $99.00 US, it’s a very good value and should add some fun for journeying photographers. Definitely recommended.
Pros
- Works. Geotags photos properly and no corrupt files.
- Compact. Can fit easily in a pocket or bag.
- Fast GPS lock and works even if you’re not in a wide open field.
- Software is has plenty of useful features and easy to use.
- Great value at $99.
Cons
- The gold and black is a miss.
- I’d like more than one button controlling things.
- No RAW file format support.
Overall Rating: 8.0 / 10.0
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Qstarz BT-Q1300 Nano GPS Travel Recorder Photo Gallery
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