Hello,
What are the technical differences between the U-Blox EVK-FP9 and the SparkFun GPS-RTK-SMA?
(The U-Blox has an aluminum enclosure and the SparkFun is an open PCB.)
https://content.u-blox.com/sites/defaul … 021832.pdf
Also, any recommendation for a good field enclosure for the SparkFun PCB?
Peace,
Jay Zebryk
Zebryk Engineering
Southbridge, Massachusetts
There will be little to no technical differences between the EVK-F9P and the SparkFun GPS-RTK-SMA. It mostly comes down to price / availability / support.
Price: You can come to your own conclusions, but I argue price is always tied to availability/support (it’s the old adage - cheap/fast/good - pick two).
Availability: Similar to price. We have lots of stock ready to ship. u-blox, for better or worse, does not focus on their EVKs as a mainstay. They are in the business of modules, not EVKs.
Support: u-blox support is pretty amazing, but our GNSS library (https://github.com/sparkfun/SparkFun_u- … no_Library) is very mature.
Of course I will argue that the connectors on the GPS-RTK-SMA are more convenient, the RTCM radio connections called out, our hookup guides superior, etc, etc.
good field enclosure for the SparkFun PCB?
I don’t mean to be glib but that’s why our RTK line exists: https://www.sparkfun.com/rtk_surveyors
Assuming you are doing an embedded project, then you’re really asking for something lower complexity than a RTK unit, but more expansive than the EVK metal enclosure to house the other devices composing your system? You’re welcome to use the similar Hammond Enclosure 1553BBK and our gcode (https://github.com/sparkfun/SparkFun_RT … /Enclosure) to mill a similar device. I’ve found the 1553BBK to be fairly well balanced between that cheap/fast/good trifecta.