GlobalSat BU-353 Waterproof USB GPS Receiver

The GlobalSat BU-353 GPS Receiver has a number of features which differentiate it from other similar purposed GPS receivers on the market the most notable of which is waterproofing. Apart from the obvious advantage of being able to use the device with confidence in a marine environment it also gives it extra robustness for moisture and spills which may be encountered in commercial environments.

GlobalSat BU-353 GPS Receiver

The BU-353 assures accuracy with the excellent SiRF Star III GPS chipset combined with an active patch antenna and WAAS support.

Most of the GPS receivers for GPS enabling notebook PCs, smartphones, tablets and the like haven’t had a lot of thought put into mounting and typically come with a short USB cable. GlobalSat have given their BU-353 a magnetic mount, a non-skid rubber ring, a suction cup (supplied loose) and supply a usefully long 5 foot USB cable all of which help make mounting easier.

To make use of the BU-353 navigation software is required. Software options have been kept wide with the device compatible with most NMEA compliant (NMEA 0183 protocol) third-party software such as Garmin’s Mobile PC software.

The GlobalSat BU-353 can come packaged as the BU-353-RB or BU-353-W which are the same GPS receiver packaged in different retail boxes. The BU-353-RB is intended for Mac users as includes a demo version of Route Buddy mapping software. The GPS receiver comes with both Windows and Mac drivers on CD-ROM in both packaging options. The device is compatible with Windows XP/ Vista/ 7.

It was good to see that the GlobalSat support forums had a number of active company moderators answering queries.

Review Summary for GlobalSat BU-353 Waterproof USB GPS Receiver

A lower price than other GPS receivers (for laptop PCs, PDAs and smarphones), a solid SiRF Star III GPS chipset and patch antenna for accuracy combined with features like a long USB cable, magnetic mounting capability and a waterproof casing give the GlobalSat BU-353 a strong market advantage.