Gday Kevin
I have a unit and have done a lot of testing with it,
as part of writing the patches for the Meade firmwares.
The StarGPS system "just works",
but does come in two flavours ( when talking Meade 497s )
Ref
http://www.stargps.ca/index.html
so be sure what yr getting when pricing locally.
If you buy just the receiver unit, it will plug into the Hbx
and set date time etc using Meades std serial commands.
It requires no modifications to the Hbx firmware
Caveat
If you have a 497EP or Audiostar type handbox,
the basic firmware
must be patched for it to work,
as the Meade serial commands for date setting
are seriously damaged.
This patch is free, and can be downloaded from
the Starpatch site ( and several other locations )
If you get the "full system", ie GPS unit and handbox code,
you get more functionality, as special code gets loaded into your
handbox that allows the gps to fully integrate into the Meade
firmware, so you get visible signal strength data etc as the unit fixes.
You also get a fully functional version of the StarPatch loader,
which massively speeds up the loading of firmware and patch updates,
( and is MUCH more robust than Meades ASU program )
Andrew
