Mobile Phone GPS for Fitness and Outdoor Recreation by Trimble

(Prices and plans, see page 2).

Pros:

• Automatically updates your online training log.
• Solid GPS accuracy.
• Download maps while outdoors.
• Excellent interface/utility with online services and PC.

Cons:

• Many choices/options and pricing can be confusing.
• Limited number of carriers support service.
• Does not replace dedicated in-car GPS.

Trimble is a Sunnyvale, California-based firm that provides "positioning solutions" to customers around the globe. It's an interesting company because it is so diverse, offering GPS for engineering and construction, agriculture, fleet management, and defense. Trimble brings its technical expertise to the consumer market in a suite of products marketed under the Trimble Outdoors brand.

Trimble made its Outdoors products available on GPS-enabled Blackberry phones earlier this year, and all three applications; AllSport GPS, Geocache Navigator, and the Trimble Outdoors navigator are reviewed here. I tested the services with a new Blackberry Curve 8130 with integrated GPS under AT&T's service. The applications work on about 50 other phones under various carriers (see page two of this review, and Trimble Outdoors for Blackberry link under suggested reading).

Overall, this is an impressive suite of products that work well, and look great on the Curve 8130's sharp, color, 2.5-inch diagonal screen. The on-phone applications do some amazing things in concert with Trimble's online services, as you'll see later in the review.

AllSport GPS is truly useful as a fitness and training aid, and the Geocache Navigator was very accurate on the Blackberry in my tests, and has a lot of features geocaching enthusiasts have come to expect in a good handheld GPS.

One of the three on-phone applications in the GPS suite, Trimble AllSport GPS, measures workout distance, elapsed time, current speed, average speed, elevation, and calorie burn. You simply select AllSport GPS from your phone's menu, select your activity (running, walking, road biking, mountain biking, trail running, and snowboarding/skiing are supported as categories), and the activity data screen appears.

Press "start" when you begin your workout, and the phone will show your data as you progress. When you choose to stop your workout tracking, the phone automatically stores the data to its own memory, and if you have signed up for the AllSportGPS online service, the phone will automatically send your data to AllSportGPS. This is a nice convenience. Within AllSport GPS online, your workout activities are listed by date and time. What's more, you can display a nice route map of your workout (powered by Google Maps) and show the map with streets, satellite images, or topo features. You can even click to view in Google Earth if you have Google Earth installed. AllSport GPS creates a detailed training log, has an outstanding mapping utility, and lets you share workouts and routes with others.

One advantage of the Trimble system over a typical handheld GPS is that you can download maps over the cellular network while you are out on a workout. Just select street, satellite, or topo map from your phone's menu, and it will deliver the map/images of your current location to your screen within seconds.

The GPS Pack places three application icons in your phone's menu, one of which is the Geocache Navigator. This application is specifically designed for the sport of geocaching.

Geocache Navigator lets you locate caches near your present location (distance is provided) or enter cache coordinates manually. You may also locate caches by "near address," "near intersection," or by cache code.

Geocache Navigator displays the names of nearby caches and their distance. Once you have selected a cache, you can find your way to it using a:

• compass screen with speed and heading display.
• "radar" feature that shows your position and distance relative to the cache.
• map screen that includes a street or topo map (downloaded on the fly when you are outdoors) or even aerial photos.

A "details" option lets you view complete details listed with the cache, including type of container the cache is in, difficulty, terrain, location coordinates and description.

I was easily able to locate a number of caches near my home, and Geocache Navigator's features did a good job of describing and helping me find a cache. GPS accuracy was outstanding, taking me within approximately 15 feet of the cache.

The Trimble Outdoors phone application is useful for hiking or other outdoor activities. It includes a "navigate" screen with compass display, including speed, heading, and altimeter. You may also add and store waypoints.

The "map" screen shows current street map, topo map (different scales may be selected), or aerial photo of your location. You may also track your travels, and upload or download trips from Trimble Outdoors. The "find a trip" section of Trimble Outdoors includes an outstanding selection of well-documented trips you may download directly to your phone.

Overall, the Trimble GPS Pack provides outstanding functionality and impressive integration between a GPS-enabled mobile phone, automatically connected resources, such as maps, routes, and geocaches on the fly, and terrific online utilities based at AllSport GPS and Trimble Outdoors.

If Trimble can be faulted for anything, it's for providing you with too many options that can be a little confusing until you do your research and determine what you need and how you will connect to it.