Nokia GPS Module LD-4W Review

Introduction:

For some, the use of a GPS is a daily routine. These devices are intended to help you find your way when in another city, area or country, by indicating your precise current location, if you have the corresponding map installed that is. Another advantage of using such a system is that it can advise you on traffic, road conditions etc. The Finnish company Nokia presents to your attention Nokia Bluetooth GPS Module LD-4W. The device has a beautiful design and it can be used while walking or driving. It is equipped with a SirfStar III-LT chipset, which for the moment, is probably the best on the market.

In the box you will find:

Design:

At first, the new Nokia GPS Module strikes us with the clean, stylish design. With dimensions of 3.26 x 1.45 x 0.3 inches (82.9 x 37 x 7.8 mm), LD-4W is the slimmest of all such devices made by the Finnish manufacturer. The people from Nokia have chosen black varnished plastic for the front and rubber-coated surface for the back to be made of. On the sides we can see the same material, but in grey.



The three indicators and the opening for the wearing accessories are located on the front panel (and of course you can see the opening from the back side too). The only button (power on/off) is on the top of the device. The charging port is hidden under a lid, located on the bottom side of the GPS.



Wearing:

You can put the Nokia LD-4W on the car window, attach it to your belt or keychain; this is done by using the suction-cup, key ring and belt clip provided. Each of those fits tightly in the opening on the GPS, holding it firmly in place.

Carrying the device, attached to a keychain is not very convenient, since the key ring provided is very big and takes up a lot of space. The device stays firmly in place, when using the belt clip and you almost do not feel its presence, when walking or sitting. The suction cup sticks very good to a window and it is nearly impossible for the module to fall down.



What makes this GPS module interesting is the claim of the manufacturer, that it is water resistant and you have nothing to worry about if it rains or you get splashed by a car on the street. Nevertheless, Nokia is warning that you should not fully submerge the device in water, and if that happens, you should wipe it down and let it dry.

Performance:

The Nokia LD-4W’s built-in chipset is SiRFstar III-LT. In contrast to its predecessors, it’s the most power-efficient and smallest, manifestation yet of SiRF's flagship SiRFstarIII architecture.

The SiRF III architecture allows the equivalent of 200,000 correlations, in contrast to the older ones which used sequential search process allowed a few hundred to a few thousand only. This increases the GPS sensitivity and allows it to work in many indoor environments, through urban canyons, and under dense foliage. SIRF III chipset supports both WAAS in the US or EGNOS systems in Europe for even better accuracy.

For the purpose of our test we used the widely-popular TomTom Navigator. After starting the application for the first time, we set TomTom for other NMEA GPS and after about 1 minute we have a location lock! The time it takes for the GPS to acquire its location for the first time is called cold start and the 1 minute we got was a good result. If the navigation application is closed and the restarted, the GPS needs just a little over five seconds to reacquire its location.

In comparison to the previous model LD-3W, the battery life of the LD-4W is decreased, due to its small size. According to the official data, the device can be used for up to 10 hours of continuous tracking and up to 4 days in standby mode.

Conclusion:

Overall, Nokia LD-4W is a beautiful and compact GPS module, which can be used daily while driving or walking. It is small enough to conveniently carry it in your pocket. Since it is using probably the best chipset on the market at present, you can be sure that the device will not let you down, even when there is a thick fog.