Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.  And you know what you know.
And YOU  are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets.  Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

               -- Dr. Seuss, "Oh, The Places You'll Go."

As Dr. Suess said, only you can decide where to go next.  Of course, sometimes, that does not always mean you will know how to get there.  Was that a left at the next light or a right hand turn?  Are we lost?  Yes, you will never get to the places you are going if we leave the directions up to chance…or memory.  For that, you will want to check out the Freedom Keychain GPS Receiver from Proporta. 

So, let’s take a look at the Freedom Keychain GPS Receiver.  Proporta claims that it is the smallest GPS receiver ever made.  Now, I am not sure if that is true (especially since they recently released an even smaller one), however, it certainly is small enough to slip right into my pocket. 

The shape of the receiver is somewhat odd.  It actually reminded me of a lump of coal, particularly with its rubberized black surface.  One one end is a keychain, which means it is ready to be used as a much more than ornamental key fob.  Of course, this is great if you have nothing else on your keychain except a car key or two.  Add a few extras, however, (such as the security key fobs used by most cars today) and this will quickly weigh you down.  I found that while the GPS receiver easily fit into my pocket, it was still far too cumbersome to add to my keychain.

The controls on the GPS receiver are about as minimal as they can be.  On the side is a power switch.  Obviously, this is used to turn the receiver on or off. 

On the front is a rubber plug.  Pull this out to reveal the mini USB slot which can be used with the included charger to recharge the internal battery.  The receiver includes a USB plug and a car charger, so your battery should be ready to go at any time.

Finally, there is an LED light.  This light flashes various patterns and combinations of blue and orange to communicate the GPS signal status, Bluetooth connection status, and battery status.  I found deciphering the messages relayed by this light was more difficult than understanding Morse Code in sign language.  I just could not do it without a cheat sheet.  There is really no good reason for combining all of this information into a single light instead of three separate lights.

The first thing you will want to do (after charging the battery) is connect this receiver to your mobile device.  Uhm…good luck with that.  I found that while it paired and connected just fine, configuring the receiver and device to communicate with each other was like firing an arrow at a moving target in a windstorm.  Eventually, if you were lucky you might stumble upon the correct settings.  I got lucky on my last attempt.  Now, in fairness, a large part of this difficulty was likely related to Windows Mobile and not the GPS receiver.  Still, these things MUST be easier to connect.

Once you have stumbled upon the settings which will allow your device to speak with the GPS receiver, it is time to get moving.  I tested this GPS on a recent trip, and found that it was amazingly accurate.   The GPS receiver does not include any software or maps.  As such, I decided to test it with two free alternatives.  Here you can see the results on:

Windows Live Search

Google Maps

I was fairly impressed.  Google Maps seemed slightly more accurate, however, Windows Live seemed to be faster to load and track my position.  Regardless, Sirf Star II chipset in this little GPS worked at least as well as my other, more traditionally sized Navibe Bluetooth GPS receiver.  Although I did find it to be very small, It was a little bulky to tie onto my keychain on a regular basis.  Additionally, understanding the messages coming from the blinking light can be far too difficult.  In the end, I found the Freedom Keychain GPS Receiver made it easier for us to find our way to Grandma’s house…and isn’t that what is really important?  So choose your road, and set your destination.  The Freedom Keychain BT GPS is ready to take you wherever your feet may lead.

Name: Freedom Keychain GPS Receiver

Available From: Proporta

Price: $129.95

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