[pxpaulx]

I'd signed up on their web site to be notified when they are 'in stock' and got such a message in the last couple of days.
as of this mnute the web site shows the item 'in stock', though confusingly the older language about pre-ordering is still displayed.

I saw that too, typical, haha. I'm sticking with my provantage.com order - worth a little wait for a $50 savings.

[rvannatta]

I saw that too, typical, haha. I'm sticking with my provantage.com order - worth a little wait for a $50 savings.

We'll see what happens. I ordered one tonight. After sending me an email saying they were in stock and showing them 'in stock' on their
website if it's a big lie.

[KansasHorizons.com]

FWIW Amazon has a lower price and a shorter delivery time now.

[rvannatta]

FWIW Amazon has a lower price and a shorter delivery time now.

They usually do, although the last time I made a significant purchase the best price was at one of the site sponsers, Adorama from whom I purchased a ring flash.

I didn'tcheck last night, but this morning at least the Amazon price and the Pentax USA price are both exactly the same, $249.95
except that Amazon offers 'free delivery', and Pentax usa dinged me for $10.95 shipping.

PentaxUSA is 1st business day shipping, and since I ordered on a Friday night, it's possible that Amazon could be faster because
sometimes they ship over the weekend. Amazon is also based in Seattle while Pentax USA comes out of Denver and since I'm in NW Oregon, I'm a 1000 miles closer to Seattle than Denver.

---

Last edited by rvannatta; 10-08-2011 at 09:07 AM.

[KansasHorizons.com]

They usually do, although the last time I made a significant purchase the best price was at one of the site sponsers, Adorama from whom I purchased a ring flash.

I didn'tcheck last night, but this morning at least the Amazon price and the Pentax USA price are both exactly the same, $249.95
except that Amazon offers 'free delivery', and Pentax usa dinged me for $10.95 shipping.

PentaxUSA is 1st business day shipping, and since I ordered on a Friday night, it's possible that Amazon could be faster because
sometimes they ship over the weekend. Amazon is also based in Seattle while Pentax USA comes out of Denver and since I'm in NW Oregon, I'm a 1000 miles closer to Seattle than Denver.

That was short lived.

Please note that the price of Pentax GPS Unit O-GPS1 Hotshoe Mounted Accessory GPS Unit for Pentax K-5, K-r has increased from $212.41 to $249.95 since you placed it in your Shopping Cart.

[rvannatta]

I received a notice of shipping from PENTAXUSA today. they don't say shipped 'from where', but do say expect a 7 to 10 day delivery time.

[iCrop]

Mine arrived yesterday. I hope the weather is clear this weekend...

[CDW]

I ordered mine yesterday from Provantage.com. I received an order confirmation with a projected ship date of Oct. 23rd. My use will be for night sky photography with the K-5. I sure wish that capability was functional with my 645d :-(.

Hopefully, someone will post some operational details when they have a chance to try some night sky shots.

[northislander]

I got mine last Thursday, however tonight is the first night I'v had with no clouds. I gave astrotracking a go and its not that hard to do just finding the right exposure is the hard part Im going to need some practice with that.

[rvannatta]

I received a notice of shipping from PENTAXUSA today. they don't say shipped 'from where', but do say expect a 7 to 10 day delivery time.

follow UP: My GPS1 unti arrived 10/15/11 mailed from a distributioni center in Shelton Ct 06484. I've been out and taken a couple
of photos with it, it found 6 satellites in my front yard and was quite happy. Like other GPS units however, it doesn't like trees and has trouble maintaining contact with satellites in the forest, and doesn't work at all inside my house. The elevation information, as with all GPS units is the least accurate. The first readings are I believe consistent with the expected margin of error,
but to 10-15 meters high.---at least as compared to the USGS determined elevation

[DAZ]

I to have noticed that the HDOP drunk walk is about 10-15 meters and the PDOP is about 5 meters when it is first started but when it gets the WAAS data the drunk walk can get down to 1-3 meters for HDOP and 1-1.5 meters for PDOP.


Also if you try to take a photo before the cold start or warm start it will (as you would expect) not get any GPS data for the photo so don't forget to count before your first photo when you turn on the GPS and the camera.


DAZ

[rvannatta]

I to have noticed that the HDOP drunk walk is about 10-15 meters and the PDOP is about 5 meters when it is first started but when it gets the WAAS data the drunk walk can get down to 1-3 meters for HDOP and 1-1.5 meters for PDOP.


Also if you try to take a photo before the cold start or warm start it will (as you would expect) not get any GPS data for the photo so don't forget to count before your first photo when you turn on the GPS and the camera.


DAZ

I haven't been holding my breath for the best case GPS accuracy around here. There as so many trees that you are constantly losing contact with the satellites but I am familar with that issue.

[DAZ]

The trees do bring up a problem with WAAS. You need to see at least 1 of the 3 GEO satellites for 2-15 minutes (more like 10-15) to get the data. After you get the data the ionosphere data it should be good for the day. The space vehicle health, ephemeris and clock errors should not change much for the day but could. So after you get the data you should be good for the day.


As there is a WRS close to us (Auburn, Washington) this helps with accuracy.


The camera will give a symbol when it has a good 3D fix (it will even put it in the EXIF) but will not tell when it has good WAAS data. It will embed in the EXIF the lat, lon, height (in meters), number of satellites it is tracking, speed (in km/h), the direction the camera was pointing and lastly the GPS date/time.


DAZ

[rvannatta]

The trees do bring up a problem with WAAS. You need to see at least 1 of the 3 GEO satellites for 2-15 minutes (more like 10-15) to get the data. After you get the data the ionosphere data it should be good for the day. The space vehicle health, ephemeris and clock errors should not change much for the day but could. So after you get the data you should be good for the day.


As there is a WRS close to us (Auburn, Washington) this helps with accuracy.


The camera will give a symbol when it has a good 3D fix (it will even put it in the EXIF) but will not tell when it has good WAAS data. It will embed in the EXIF the lat, lon, height (in meters), number of satellites it is tracking, speed (in km/h), the direction the camera was pointing and lastly the GPS date/time.


DAZ

thanks, It's helpful to understand the 15 minute wait. Is there anyway to devine if it has good WAAS data?

[DAZ]

thanks, It's helpful to understand the 15 minute wait. Is there anyway to devine if it has good WAAS data?

Good question (scratch head). The short answer is not that I have figured out. There is an indication on the unit that it is working. There is a indication on the camera that it is getting 3D data (but that seems to come as soon as it sees 4 or more satellites usual in about 30 seconds so that doesn’t mean it sees any augmentation data). In the EXIF data it will say the number of satellites and if it is actively tracking but I haven't been able to determent any way to see it has the WAAS data. I only assume it has gotten the data because the drunk walk seems to get very small from what it looked like in the first minutes of when I firsts turned it on and the accuracy seems to be very good when I can compare it to some known landmark but this is all after the fact when I go back and look at the photos.


What I do is turn the unit on and leave it on as much before I want to take photos as I can and hope it has the data. Out in the open with a good look at a WAAS satellite it should get the data relativity soon. This would be something for Pentax to add in a bios update.


DAZ