Promote GPS – A good GPS alternative for Nikon shooters

I wrote in my last post how my Geotagging workflow has evolved. For some time, I had been using an external GPS logging device (AMOD AGL3080). The device is super simple to use and simply records your location, adding a data point at intervals you select, and saves them in a standardized text file. I then used a piece of software to match up the time/date stamps on my images with the tracklog data and write the location data to the IPTC data of the image file.

Easy enough, but a multi-step process nonetheless and requires the use of a batch-tagging application before importing the images into my management software (Aperture). Heaven forbid I should want to tag the images after I had imported them into Aperture. That was just a PITA – until Maperture Pro came along. But that was yesterday’s post.

What if the camera wrote the location directly to the image BEFORE it left the camera? That certainly would be ideal, and camera’s like ‘s Coolpix P6000 do just that. But I use a D300.

The Nikon camera line (at least the higher-end models) have included location tagging capability for quite a while, but the hardware involved was cumbersome to say the least. Cameras like the Nikon D300 (D200, D700, D3, D3x, etc.) all have a Nikon proprietary 10-pin port that allows for attaching devices like remote releases. This port can also receive data from an external device like a GPS. In the past, Nikon manufactured the MC-35 GPS cable ($164.00!!!) that connected this 10-pin DIN connector to a 9-pin serial connector. Yes, I said 9-pin serial connector. So, if your GPS device was made in the last decade you could (probably with ANOTHER a cable proprietary to your GPS device) take the serial output of the GPS and connect it to the serial input of the Nikon cable. A workable solution and nicely enough, the Nikon camera could see this data, indicate its status on the display and tag the images with the location. Workable, but ugly. Spaghetti central. Clumsy. Non-elegant.

Fortunately several manufacturers saw the opportunity here and produced their own Nikon-specific GPS devices. In addition, there was no shortage of clever DIY-ers coupling off- the shel GPS modules with Radio Shack project boxes and third-party eBay Nikon cables to come up with a more elegant solutions. I had considered doing the DIY thing myself, but by the time I was ready to take the plunge, the cost of ready-made units had approached the parts cost. Indeed word spread of Nikon introducing their own GPS unit as well, and thus I decided to wait until the field cleared up a bit.

In the third party world, the first GPS unit of this type that seemed well-recommended by the internets that I encountered was the Geotagger N2 (or it’s earlier variants) sold through Nikonians.org and others. At $250 plus shipping it is a little more than an impulse buy and there were other options. After comparing some of the lesser-priced models (which may essentially be rebranded versions of the same thing – I don’t know) I had essentially narrowed my search down to the Macsense Geomet’r brand tagger for Nikon cameras at about $150. At $150 bucks I could justify the purchase and rationalize the convenience factor (vs. my AMOD workflow) for the price. However, I knew Nikon had something in the works and I figured I’d wait.

Nikon introduced the Nikon GP-1 GPS unit about the time of the release of the D90 camera. It offers not only compatibility with the 10-pin equipped Nikons, but the newer D90 (and D5000) via an interchangeable cable. It looked like the thing to have, and I waited to see where the street price would fall. At the time that I was ready to take the plunge, the GP-1 sold on Amazon for about $250 – about the same price as the higher of the aftermarket units that I had been considering, but $100 more than the non-OEM unit I had settled on. With that, I headed off to Amazon and searched for Nikon GPS and found something new (at least to me). There was a new player on my list, the Promote GPS-N-1.

The Promote GPS looks just about like any of the others. It’s a square block that sits in the hot shoe via a plastic foot (there is no electrical connection to the camera via the hotshoe) or (as I have done with velcro) can hang loose and attach to your camera strap. It connects to the Nikon camera via a short length of cord and the aforementioned 10-pin plug. It’s not nearly as sexy looking as Nikon’s own unit, but it seems to work well. In this review I’ll make some comparisons to Nikon’s GP-1 solely based on my research of the various units on the market. I have no first hand experience with Nikon’s GPS.

The Promote has a power on/off switch to force the unit off (it is powered from the camera batteries themselves) to avoid draining your camera when not in use. This is its only control. Simply plug the unit into your camera, turn it on, and look a the GPS indicator on the top of your camera. When it is flashing, the GPS is acquiring its location, when solid it knows where it is. Pretty simple.

In my own home I find the Promote GPS can lock on to its location in about 30-40 seconds without much trouble. Mileage may vary in different situations, as I am usually near a window throughout most of my house. Outdoors it is the same and quite tolerable. Once the GPS is on and functioning, it is very quick to acquire a signal if it loses it (while traveling through a tunnel, or in a larger building, for example) and remains active as long as the camera is on if configured to do so. Shutting off the power on the camera or the power on the GPS itself will require re-acquiring the signal. In my experience this never requires more than 30-40 seconds, provided a signal is available.

One nice feature of the Promote GPS-N-1 that I don’t believe you’ll find in the Nikon unit or any but the higher-priced aftermarket units is its ability to hold a position. Whereas most GPS units I’ve seen provide no data when they have lost signal, the Promote GPS will hold the last acquired location until it can regain a new satellite connection. This is particularly nice if you find yourself moving in and out of buildings and the like. You may not be able to pinpoint your location inside of Fort Knox, but at least you’ll be able to locate the building you burgled those gold bars from! As far as I know, this seems to be one of the often reported drawbacks of the Nikon GP-1 system. The loss of acquisition and thus the loss of any data whatsoever. And, as I mentioned before, the Promote GPS seemed really good at acquiring a signal inside of many buildings. Something I don’t see very often in other reports.

It is interesting to see how Nikon has addressed the use of these devices in cameras made even before they produced their own unit. The D300 menus have a GPS option that will display the location when the unit is attached – yet another affirmation that everything is working properly. Also, Nikon addresses power usage with these attached devices as well. The Nikon cameras essentially supply power to the external port anytime the meter is active. In the GPS menu, the user can select whether or not to automatically shut off the meter (and thus the power supply to the GPS) after some interval or to leave it on as long as the camera is powered on. With a GPS device attached, turing off the Auto Power Off option will prevent the GPS from shutting off on and having to re-acquire a signal when the meter wakes up (i.e. a half-press on the shutter).

Given that the GPS draws its power from the camera battery, it is reasonable to consider how that affects battery consumption. I usually use my D300 with an on-board EN-EL3a battery as well as the MB-D10 battery grip filled with NiMH AA cells. In that configuration, I can practically shoot forever. I carry my D300 with me every day and rarely think about charging my battery – maybe every couple weeks or so. Things are different with the GPS installed – different, but not debilitating.

On a particularly active couple of days, shooting sports with the GPS in constant use, I can drain the battery grip in 8-10 hours of shooting. I’ve never had the camera go dead on me, as it reverts to the internal LiON battery when the grip goes flat, but it does make sense to have an extra battery around (which I almost always do anyway). If I was trapped on a desert island and somehow my camera was my only source of life support I’d probably take it off of the camera, otherwise I’d just plan on charging my batteries every few days instead of every few weeks.

The Promote GPS is not without its drawbacks. Having this little brick on your hotshoe all the time isn’t always the most ideal scenario. The plastic shoe (and thumbscrew) result in an adequate, but not failsafe, mounting system. It’s possible to knock the device out of the shoe and I would be careful not to overtighten the plastic thumbwheel on the plastic screwthreads. The device is light enough and solid enough that I wouldn’t expect it to fall out, but nevertheless it would be nice to see it just a little more secure. Unlike the Nikon GP-1, Promote provides no facility for attaching the GPS to your camera strap. I engineered my own solution, as I am fortunate to use a Lowepro camera strap with a built-in patch of velcro near the end of one side. A strip of my own self-adhesive mating velcro on the bottom of the GPS unit holds it securely to the strap and out of the way. I also like the fact that the cable is only about 6″ in length. Long enough to comfortably plug into the camera from either the strap or the hotshoe without being so long as to prove cumbersome.

I’m not a big fan of the plug that Promote has chosen to terminate the cable. The Nikon 10-pin receptacle is robust in that it provides for screw threads that allow a ring on the mating plug to securely tighten down, holding the connection in place. Even my cheap eBay cable release has a threaded metal ring to assure that the plug won’t fall out of the camera. unfortunately, the Promote GPS uses an all-plastic plug without any means of locking into the camera. On more than one occasion I found the plug backed out of the camera just enough to lose connection and shut down the GPS. It has left me nervously in the habit of squeezing the plug into the connector on occasion – almost subconsciously. The fit is tight, but it is possible to snag the cable and pull out the plug or have it work lose. I really wish they had used the screw-lock mechanism built into the camera.

Lastly, and this is the case with many of the accessories available for the 10-pin connector on the camera, you can only use one device at a time. Nikon had the forethought to include a secondary connector on their GP-1 for the use of a remote cable release. Granted it doesn’t work with the more sophisticated Nikon remote releases, but at least there’s an option. With the Promote GPS plugged in, there’s no option to use a remote cable release – at least not without a specialized (and expensive) 10-pin Y-cable. Back to spaghetti! I suppose in cases where a cable release is important – landscapes with the camera locked down on a tripod and the like – it would be reasonable to pop on the GPS for a reference shot to get the location and then to remove it for the bulk of the shoot. But that’s a little cumbersome and not ideal. I suppose I’ll cross that bridge when I get frustrated by it.

All in all the Promote GPS-N-1 is, for me, the best option for an add-on GPS for the Nikon DSLR family. At it’s core it is fast and functional and has as good GPS performance as can be expected. Perhaps it is not as convenient as the Nikon OEM GPS, but all-in-all it’s a solid performer.