Now that the GW52 is on the market, and the Main GW52 thread is several pages long, it's a bit hard to find stuff you need, so I'll try and list them here.
Firstly if you can't find one locally, Surf Sail Australia sells them online.
www.surfsailaustralia.com.au/listProductByBrand/Locosys/Windsurfing/GPS+and+Windmeter

The set up guide, usb driver and firmware from locosys is here
www.locosystech.com/en/product/gps-handheld-data-logger-gw-52.html

I've been using my test version now for several months and prefer it to the GT31, it's smaller, lighter and 5hz, giving more accurate 2 seconds and alpha results.
The speed genie scrolling screen displays, last run max with Ns max, history max with Ns max and accumulated distance.

The main down side is for the distance people, at 5hz a big distance will use up all the memory, so it needs to be set on 1hz, loosing the 2s and alpha gains in accuracy. The battery only does about 8hrs, so a quick recharge at lunch time is needed.

It has (smart logging) where it only records at 5hz above the speed genie setting, sounds like a very sensible idea, but our analyse software hasn't caught up with this concept yet and a change in frequency during an alpha will lead to it's rejection as an anomaly, so my advice is to leave it on 5hz for sessions up to 6hrs long over that set to 1hz

The scrolling rate of the speed genie display is also adjustable. The optimum setting for this will be a personal thing, for this tied old brain I need it fairly slow, otherwise I can't process the info before it disappears. For younger brains this could be frustratingly slow, waiting for the window you want to come into view.

And it's not fully waterproof, it should survive a small leak in the pouch if you notice it quick enough though.
I don't think it's as sensitive to sats as the GT31, so it's a bit more important it gets a clear sky view.

It's not configured as a standard usb memory device, you need the GW52 utility to download your data and this only works in a windows environment, Mac uses need the windows emulator.

If I've missed anything feel free to add to this.

thanks for the summary decrepit, I was mustering my strength to make sense of the many pages written in these posts and you have made that unnecessary thankfully !. Thanks also to yourself and others for all you had pioneering work the new unit, you have a lot more patience and tenacity then many of us !

I'm sure things I've forgotten to mention will slowly drop into this old brain over the next few days, well here's the first of them.

Real speed doesn't process 5hz alphas, I've found I get the best results with GPSResults. As long as it isn't a "short" alpha, GPSarPro also does an OK job. Dylan is still working on KA72

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decrepit said..
>>>> Dylan is still working on KA72

Looks like Dylan has fixed KA72, it's now giving the same alpha results as GPSResults and GPSarPro (as long as it's not a "short alpha).

I've noticed that Surf Sail Aus has a pouch for the GW52, I'm not sure if this pouch is waterproof, it may be meant for the "walker" version. If you're tempted to buy it, check with Mark about it's waterproofing.

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decrepit said..
I'm sure things I've forgotten to mention will slowly drop into this old brain over the next few days, well here's the first of them.

Real speed doesn't process 5hz alphas, I've found I get the best results with GPSResults. As long as it isn't a "short" alpha, GPSarPro also does an OK job. Dylan is still working on KA72

Thanks for pointing that out Mike. I had not noticed it before. I just ran a few of my last GW52 files in RealSpeed and, while it found Alphas, it didn't find the best ones as GPS-Results did. I had a play with the filters but it didn't help. I will investigate further.....

there are 3 different firmware files which is the correct one to use

I think it comes with the latest one installed, (V1.2G0529C). That's what I now have in my test unit.
Not sure why the earlier versions are included on their site.

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decrepit said..
I think it comes with the latest one installed, (V1.2G0529C). That's what I now have in my test unit.
Not sure why the earlier versions are included on their site.

thanks mike, so far my computer doesn't recognize the unit and I cant get past the recycle bin prompt , i'll have a good look at the quick start up tomorrow

are you using the GW utility? Have you installed the usb driver?

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decrepit said..
are you using the GW utility? Have you installed the usb driver?

installed the driver and GW utility , I cant switch the unit off and cant get any settings on the screen except padlock opened or closed ,

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keef said..

decrepit said..
are you using the GW utility? Have you installed the usb driver?

installed the driver and GW utility , I cant switch the unit off and cant get any settings on the screen except padlock opened or closed ,

I have found the best strategy in these cases it to find a young person under 25 and ask then to show you how to work it (give them the manual with the touch combinations.) Works for me!

A bit more in depth: The unit locks itself. Before you do anything on the screen you have to unlock it. Then you must immediate much the next combination to switch to GPS mode. Also, unlock before switching GPS mode off.

It sounds like you either have a USB driver issue (not the right one, or not installed correctly) or may have selected the incorrect COM port in the utility. See my first bit of advice for this as well.

thanks for your help daffy it looks like I have two issues ,one with the computer not recognizing the unit and two the touch pad in the unit it self , at this stage it's going back in the box until I have the time to figure it out

another issue I have is when I loaded the unit onto my computer it took me to the app store, and needed an app to open the BIN file, I imagine it's to load the firmware, obviously I couldn't find an app but I imagine that wouldn't have anything to do with not being able to get any displays on the screen,

when I have the utility opened there is no option of com ports, with com port 3 as the only option and being a driver issue I guess

whoa Keef, the app store??? have you got a Mac???

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decrepit said..
whoa Keef, the app store??? have you got a Mac???

no Mike I've got a pc , I also tried to load the firmware on the download page you recommended (V1.2G0529C) and it also took me to the app page with no success

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keef said..

decrepit said..
whoa Keef, the app store??? have you got a Mac???

no Mike I've got a pc , I also tried to load the firmware on the download page you recommended (V1.2G0529C) and it also took me to the app page with no success

Hi Keef, you will need to save the bin file onto your computer somewhere, don't try to open it from the web browser or windows explorer, that would cause Windows will try to find an app for files ending in .bin (binary), which is not going to work.

If you have installed the gw utility, find that through your start menu and run it. I've never seen it but I would assume it will have some way to choose the bin file you downloaded.

Don't touch the firmware! Forget it! There is no need to run any .bin file. (you need a different utility to update firmware. Are you sure you are trying to use the correct utility?)

Just concentrate on getting the GW connection utility to work. It should be plug and play after installing the usb connection driver. The COM port that appears should be the correct one for the connection.

I'm surprised how close the cheapy phone GPS was to the GW52!.

GW52 Results
2 Second Peak (kts):33.284
5x10 Average (kts):30.643
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (1)32.33
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (2)31.22
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (3)30.146
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (4)30.058
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (5)29.464
1 Hr (kts):14.542
Alpha 500 (kts):20.606
Nautical Mile (kts):22.903
100m peak (kts):32.333
Total Distance (km):44.313

Samsung Youth phone GPS Results
2 Second Peak (kts):33.492
5x10 Average (kts):30.661
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (1)32.431
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (2)31.29
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (3)30.167
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (4)29.906
Top 5 5x10 speeds: (5)29.51
1 Hr (kts):14.309
Alpha 500 (kts):20.592
Nautical Mile (kts):22.864
100m peak (kts):32.66
Total Distance (km):43.293

It is not so surprising. If both have a good view of the sky, good satellite numbers and are working as they should, you should expect them to give very similar results. What would make this comparison even more interesting is if you listed the +/- error data and run time for each of the GW-52 10 second runs so we could see if the Samsung results match up on time and are within the error boundaries (I strongly suspect they will be in this case).

The issues arise in less than ideal conditions and when you get unexpected results. With the GW-52, you have some data to show when there are errors. With the Phone, you have very little to go on to spot errors.

berowne, can you continue to compare results to add to our knowledge of this particular phone please?

Berowne, I agree with sailquick, but can you also check what happens when the phone display turns off, we'd really like to know if the results stay good or go crazy, as a lot of other cheap phones do.

Had a chat with Keef on the phone today, and it looks like my explanation of using the utility is a bit too brief.

When the GW52 is connected to the computer, it doesn't "show up" on the desktop or in windows explorer, that's why Keef thought it wasn't connecting.
You have to start the GW52 utility, and you should see this.



This is on my linux desktop, so it's not working properly. On a windows desktop beneath "connection" you should be able to select "com ports".
So far I've found the one displayed there works.
You then press the "connect button and with any luck the bottom window, where it says "Device changed" should show you connecting to the device.

Once that is successful, You can change the settings, Logging = 5hz, Min Speed, probably 0 is best, but I've set mine to 3kts, to conserve memory. Unit MN (I think they mean NM for Nautical Mile, it's just back to front). GMT = whatever your time zone is, Speed avg, mines on 10s (because then you can work out what your 5x10 is).
Spd Genie, is the lowest speed that is recorded in the scrolling best of 10 windows, ideally set just a bit higher than your max upwind speed for the session, then it only records your downwind runs.
Action spd I have on Speed. Spd Font I have large.
Not sure about the buttons, read obviously tells you how the unit is set at the moment, but do you want to hit update or reset, to transfer your settings here to the device???

There's also a "power off command", this seems to be the only way to turn the device off, otherwise it's in watch mode, which will drain the battery after some weeks, can't remember exact time, but I haven't had a problem so far leaving it in watch mode.

Once you have had a sail, you can skip this page and go straight to "Log Data" here




At "File Selection" you can hit the "Browse" button and navigate to where you want the file to be stored on your computer. Once you've sorted that hit the "Log Download" button and you should see a progress bar as it comes in.

Unfortunately this is an old version of the utility, the new one doesn't have the "log Clear" button, but if you're trusting enough you can tick the "Auto clear" button. I'm afraid, I don't like deleting data until I'm sure the copy action has worked.

thanks for the chat Mike, it's starting to come together now the utility is much clearer, with the gt-31 the information was in the unit , with the GW52 the information is in the utility and on the puter , I guess you just need to forget about the abc and think like a computer

It looks like this in windows XP.

But you COM port is quite likely different. Opps, and I set to MN (nautical Miles)

Yes you can see mine is an old version it doesn't have "speed history" definitely turn this on!

Hey guys... I'm happy with mine, and all works well.
EXCEPT turning it Onto and Off of GPS mode is fekin tricky.

Also, is the firmware worth upgrading?

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sailquik said..
It looks like this in windows XP.

But you COM port is quite likely different. Opps, and I set to MN (nautical Miles)

Looks more like Windows 95...

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berowne said..
Hey guys... I'm happy with mine, and all works well.
EXCEPT turning it Onto and Off of GPS mode is fekin tricky.

Also, is the firmware worth upgrading?

Last time I looked it came with the latest firmware. So as far as I know, no.
You get used to the touch screen after a while, I can almost do it first try every go now.

If using KA-72 Dylan was actually responsible for getting them to add the option back in during the testing phase of the SBP Header tick this is on the latest Utility down load. I was having loads of problems loading my files onto KA-72 until Dylan set me right.
The GW-52 is now working very well its worth buying one the only problem is I seems to have connection problem of the device to my Windows computers at times it won't recognize the device on both windows8 and 7 if I change USB ports it comes good.

I spoke to a new owner of a GW-52 down the beach yesterday (Dave) I think his name was he told me he has been having problems also with his GPS not connecting to his Mac computer at times. Anyone know the reason why this might be happening?

Been having big problems with my GW-52 connecting to my two computers turns out it had some corrosion in its USB port with a small spray of WD-40 and a wiggle it seems to be working a treat. I did get some moisture in my OB dry bag which turns out it had a small cut in the front window anyway if this happens to yours this is a fix. Could be a problem in time if the ports corrodes not so bad if kept dry but as it turns out with mine it didn't get at all wet it just got a bit damp in the bag the device was rather dry when this happen. I heard a few people have been having connection problems to their computers so hope this helps.
Vando suggested this action so thanks.

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Glynn Merrit said..
Been having big problems with my GW-52 connecting to my two computers turns out it had some corrosion in its USB port with a small spray of WD-40 and a wiggle it seems to be working a treat. I did get some moisture in my OB dry bag which turns out it had a small cut in the front window anyway if this happens to yours this is a fix. Could be a problem in time if the ports corrodes not so bad if kept dry but as it turns out with mine it didn't get at all wet it just got a bit damp in the bag the device was rather dry when this happen. I heard a few people have been having connection problems to their computers so hope this helps.
Vando suggested this action so thanks.

Just received my GW-52 today. My plan for the USB connector is to duplicate what I have done with my Sony Sbh70 Bluetooth headset (used with the GPSLogit/Alcatel setup). On the Sony I fill the USB charge port with silicon O-ring grease - same stuff I use on the o-ring gaskets on the housings for our SCUBA dive cameras. Keeps the water/moisture out of the port while the USB cable easily plugs into the port making good electrical connection (not an original solution - I think it was mentioned before somewhere on this forum). Works great on the Sony which is in direct contact with a lot of salt water , so should be over-protection for a device in a waterproof bag. Only downside is getting a little silicon grease on your fingers when filling up the charging port, and a little grease on the connector. Here on Bonaire EVERYTHING corrodes like crazy so I may start using this on all my USB connections .

Have used the GW-52 four or five times in the past two weeks since receiving it in the post from WA.

I can honestly say that I'm not overly impressed other than the fact being is that it allows me to post my GPS data. I managed to update the firmware without any drama and noted the slightly improved display functionality but not much else. I've noted that my peak speed etc does not display for the day - rather if I stop and take a break, the device will partially reset the displayed information and simply give me the results from my last few runs (or since I recommenced moving at a speed greater than 1 knot). Further to this, the interface is 'clunky' to say the least. It reminds me of installing peripherals 15 years ago to a PC.

As for the corroded USB port, it's just another mark against this device that has cost me close to $300 and has given me not much more than my Canmore. I've kept it 'double bagged' since using it and am glad I've done so.

I suppose the good thing is that I am getting slightly comfortable in using the device so if any others are having problems perhaps I can somewhat assist.