M8N GPS Upgrade for £14

[BillHally101]

Hi everyone upgraded my GPS to an M8N with this £14 unit from Banggood. During a test flight last night I was seeing between 19 and 20 Sats which is very pleasing indeed compared to the original Rev A board my Solo came with.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Bill

 

[gn1000]

Does any M8N GPS module fit or do you have to look for something specific? Then there's the question of reliability. The mRo one is quite expensive but i believe drops straight in, while the here one is more complicated to install and set up.

Does anyone else have any feedback regarding ease of install and reliability for cheap options such as this. I wouldn't want to lose or crash my 3dr with GoPro on it due to a sub par GPS mod.

Regards,

Graham

 

[gn1000]

Just did a search and found the one you bought on eBay for £17.87 free delivery and another one marked BS-280 for £16.59 free delivery.

Please keep us informed as to how this performs for you

Thanks

Graham

 

[BillHally101]

If you want simplicity and plug and play then the mRO unit is the one for you. If you don't mind doing a little bit of soldering then this mod is easily achievable in a few minutes. There is no setup required as the baud rate of this unit is exactly the same as the original. The NMEA stream outputted is also the same so plug it in and go. My mod included some secondary screening that was very simple to install but is not needed if you don't want to do it. I already have been using these GPS units in my other long range FPV aircraft for over two years now with out issue. I did not get my unit from Ebay, it was from a Chinese supplier but maybe what is on Ebay is the same.

Bill

 

[gn1000]

It was this one Bill

172725195067

 

[BillHally101]

It was this one Bill

172725195067

Flew four batteries through my Solo this morning every flight showed me 19 to 20 Sats locked and Solo behaved impeccably the whole time. Locked on in around 20 seconds with Solo ready to fly within 30 cant complain at that.
Was running some search and rescue for a mates plane that did a fly away earlier, I am loving this Solo!!!

Bill

 

[gn1000]

Apart from quicker lock and more satellites would a knock on effect be better stability. Any other benefits?

Graham

 

[BillHally101]

Apart from quicker lock and more satellites would a knock on effect be better stability. Any other benefits?

Graham

Yes and position hold especially! My Solo has that locked in feeling in position hold as it receives that much more positional information than with say 9 Sats. In GPS terms more is definately better no doubt about it.