Do you think that the Grove has a genuine Ublox Neo6-M GPS ?
Yes
No
Maybe
You got ripped off
No opinion
0voters
:twisted:
My Grove GPS is labelled E-1612-UB instead of a genuine Ublox NEO-6M GPS. I note that the E-1612-UB has reported issues on other boards. I’m having problems with my unit - incomplete data or missing $/cr/lfs. I’ve tried different baud rates but some sentences still seem garbled. How do I obtain a 100% free replacement Grove GPS with a real Ublox NEO6-M instead of this E-1612-UB clone ?
:roll: UPDATE:
Looks like it is a relabeled Ublox NEO6 or at least a good clone. I was finally able to get my Arduino UNO to receive the GPS data reliably after correctly initializing the GPS and port speed to 4800 bps. With the simple interleaved receive/send loop I am using, the SoftwareSerial library seems to have issues keeping up with sustained input data rates over 4800.
The Ublox web site provides detailed technical info, design documentation, and whitepapers. for all their products, and was my primary reason for purchasing the Grove GPS. Your web site still indicates, in words and photos, that the Grove GPS uses a genuine Ublox Neo6-M GPS.
Although it may make sense to you to save a few dollars by using similar major components, you have a responsibility to inform your potential and current customers of such changes. It is a very poor business practice to substitute major components before changing all the sales, marketing and product literature. Failure to do so reflects badly on your company - changes like this make it look like bait-n-switch marketing. Just saying that you are sorry for making the change isn’t good enough.
So far, I have been unable to determine the actual manufacturer of the E-1612-UB or find any online technical literature about this Neo6 clone.
Please provide me, and all Grove GPS customers, with the link to the manufacturer site for the E-1612-UB. I require downloadable access to the full E-1612-UB specs and detailed technical info - in English. Also, please detail all of the differences between the E-1612-UB and the Neo6-M.
And please immediately change the Grove GPS sales and marketing literature, including web site photos, to make the change for a Ublox GPS to the less costly E-1612-UB clone crystal clear. The web site still shows the Grove using a Ublox GPS module.
Actually , I are also discontented what they had done . Neo6-M is more professional GPS IC and have more documentation , and this is the main reason that customer care about , I thought the main reason is that this new IC cost low price , but it can not just change the IC ,but the price and information still continue to use .
Sorry about this , I have contacted to our market , and will find some documentation of this IC .
Yes, component cost and profit margine too often trumps other factors, and the resulting product can be quite different from the one originally designed and initially marketed. Sometimes the substituted product’s quality, reliability, documentation, etc. is poor. But there can be a bright side - the less expensive cloned product may be better than the name brand original. It may also be an unbranded OEM equal to the original, possibly produced by a licensed sub-contractor.
I’ll continue to experiment with the E-1612-UB version. My hope is that it may even have more features available that the Ublox Neo6-M.
So far the E-1612-UB seems to process commands and responses as specified by the Ublox Neo6-M doc.
I hope that you are able to locate the actual manufacturers info and documentation for the E-1612-UB and pass it along to us.
In addition, it would be nice if the Grove GPS had an antenna amplifier chip to improve sensitivity. I wish it had the battery backup (now forced to gound) and the other i/o pins exposed. I know that space is tight on the Grove board, but the underside is empty and has room for pads to expose the other i/o and battery pins.
Dear customer,