Consumer grade (and price!) GPS+GLONASS receivers?

RetiredInNH · 2011-08-13T19:05:46.000Z

I am vacationing in the Alps, and trying to add hiking trails to the OSM database. In deep alpine valleys (definitely not canyons) I often lose the satellite signal, and looking at the satellite display see that most are low on the horizon, blocked by the walls of the valley. If there were twice as many satellites available there would be no problem!

A Google search produced, amongst many other links, this: How will GPS/GLONASS Chipset Integration Help the Consumer?. Their conclusion:

In the end, the consumer gets a GNSS receiver that is smaller, cheaper, more reliable, more accurate and more efficient.

There seem to already be high end products that use both GPS and GLONASS satellites; does anyone have any information as to how soon we may expect consumer versions?

RetiredInNH · 2011-08-13T19:19:48.000Z

I should have done more surfing before posting!!

eTrex® 30:

The new eTrex series is the first-ever consumer-grade receivers that can track both GPS and GLONASS satellites simultaneously.

chris66 · 2011-08-13T19:53:36.000Z

Cool, let us know your experience with that device (if your buying it).

RetiredInNH · 2011-08-14T18:39:37.000Z

It appears that GPS + GLONASS is going mainstream faster than I had anticipated … GLONASS gets Nokia backing, aims to rival COMPASS:

The world’s largest phone maker by volume, Nokia aims to release its first cellphone supporting GLONASS as well as GPS next year, the head of GLONASS operator NIS GLONASS told Reuters.

“It is possible that already by the end of next year most Nokia cellphones will be equipped with chipsets supporting both GLONASS and GPS, and we hope other vendors will follow,” Alexander Gurko, chief executive of NIS GLONASS, said in an interview.

With both Garmin and Nokia supporting the new chips I would guess that their usage will spread fast.