App and Firmware Updates Available
The latest Bad Elf GPS utility app was approved by Apple and went live in the iTunes App Store last night. Download it here.
This version (2.0.16) includes a ton of great features and configuration options requested by our customers for the Bad Elf GPS Pro, as well as some bug fixes. After you download the new app, be sure to do the firmware upgrade to 2.0.44.
New configuration options:
- GPS Pro can power up automatically when connected to external USB power
- Battery saver turns accessory off when idle for configurable time
- LCD backlight can be configured for "momentary on" or toggle mode
- All major international timezones now supported (including :15/:30/:45 min TZs)
- SBAS/WAAS/EGNOS corrections can be disabled
- LCD displays cardinal heading (NE, SW, etc.) with numeric value in GPS Heading field
- Configuration settings, firmware updates, and datalogged trips can be secured with a passcode lock
- Pairing can be configured to be anonymous, allowing any iOS device to pair without the need to confirm the pairing by pressing a button on the Bad Elf GPS Pro.
Several new datalogger features and options:
- Logging can be configured to start automatically on power-up or when connected to USB power
- Added 10 sec, 30 sec, and 1 min logging intervals
- POIs now include a numeric identifier for easy reference with field notes
- Bluetooth can be automatically disabled at startup to conserve power
- Exported GPX and KML log files now include hardware information
- Smart filter thresholds have been revised downward to: Flying 50mph (80kph/43kts),
Driving 10mph (16kph/8.7kts), Running/Cycling 4mph (6.5kph/3.5kts), Walking 1mph (1.6kph/0.9kts)
Several bugs are also fixed in this release:
- Fixed issue causing high-temperature firmware lock-ups
- App now stops using background location services when Bad Elf GPS plug-in hardware is removed
- Fixed parsing bug affecting high-resolution (> 1Hz) log files containing POIs
- Fixed parsing bug affecting single digit latitude/longitude values
All of these are explained in more detail in the App's help pages, just click the question mark button in the Configuration panel. And as always, please contact us if you have any questions or feedback.
19 Responses
Brett
Hi Lukas,
Thanks for the feedback and feature request! Passed along to the developers for consideration in a future firmware update.
Best regards,
Brett
Thomas
Thank you. Will wait until March.
Lukas
Please add support for Mac OS X, Windows 7/8, Android and for Windows 8 tablets and you will have the best product on market.
Jack
My iPad mini with a Bad Elf GPS on a commercial airliner trip showed the altitude, speed and direction, but would not show the tracking of the flight on the maps downloaded for ForeFlight. Is there something that can be done to have the tracking of the flight work also????
Brett
Hi Jack,
You might be running into a known bug with iOS6 if you can see the GPS data in our app but not other apps like ForeFlight. Drop a note to support@bad-elf.com and we’ll walk you thru the steps to fix.
-Brett
Rustygears
You guys rock! I started with the dongle, then the “pre-release” of the pro and haven’t looked back. Took the download Friday. I love the momentary option for the backlight. It’s little things like that which distinguish a product from competitors and contribute to its overall elegance. I still can’t get over the killer battery life, which for me is a trip from LAX to RJTT, upmto 13 hours at 2 Hz update, no light. In the dozen or so trips since last fall, it has never come up short. Amazing. The big guys can’t do that!
One observation though. The data transfer over Bluetooth is so slooooow. How come? The data rate is reasonable and the position log files should be pretty compact and easily compressible for transmission. It takes about 15-20 minutes to transfer a trans pacific flight log. That’s kinda unreasonable, no? How about enabling USB transfer? That should scream, no?
Thanks and keep up the amazing work!
Brett
Thanks for the kind words and your support!
Although we got about a 7X speed improvement in our firmware/app update back in Nov, I agree that it can still feel like eternity for large logs, especially when recording at 2-10Hz. I was hoping to take another pass in this update but we ran out of time and we didn’t want to hold onto all the other new features for any longer. But it’s high on the list for the next release, which should be more of a minor update in terms of new features.
Keep the feedback and suggestions coming, we really appreciate it.
Brett
Correct – most of the updates are related to the GPS Pro. We did fix a bug in the app that would keep the background tracking feature enabled even after the plug-in dongle was removed, so that’s been fixed.
Brett
We did fix a bug that could lock up the firmware in the GPS Pro in high temperature environments, but this wouldn’t crash 3rd party apps like Tom Tom. So it’s probably unrelated, sorry. There’s really nothing our accessories can do to cause 3rd party apps to crash, other than possibly expose bugs through normal location updates. You should probably contact their support to see if it’s a known issue.
Ian Whitley
“Fixed issue causing high-temperature firmware lock-ups”
I note the comment re the latest update.
I have my itouch with bad elf mentioning high temperature causing Tom Tom at to shut down. I thought this was because I had new on car charger
But could have been a fault and this will fix it?
Brett
The plug-in Bad Elf GPS dongle does work with Apple’s Lighning-to-30pin adapters… more details here. And of course we have had lots of requests for a Lightning solution… watch our blog for any updates over the next few months.
Brett
Yep, working on it! Hoping to have some updates on mounts in the March timeframe.
Thomas
Thanks for the new improvements. Could a non-slip mount for the Bad Elf Pro be next? Something that would keep it stationary, protected from direct sunlight, and exposed to satellites when in a glider or power plane would be great!
Jim
This is just for the new Bad Elf Pro, not the original 1.0, right?
Chris Woodard
Love the new updates. Great job!
Stewart
Will the 30pin work with the iPad mini/Lightning adapter? Any plans for a direct Lightning interface?
Thanks.
Brett
Hi Agustin,
We are certainly getting a lot of requests for Android support, but as you know it’s a bit of the wild west in terms of drivers, BT support, app support, etc. But we are looking into possibly supporting non-iOS platforms in the future, and at some point will do a blog post with our plans.
Thanks!
-Brett
Ryan M
Awesome! Numbered POI and great attention brought to the LCD light! I’m super happy with this update. I don’t think there could be a more perfect logging & bluetooth GPS. Great product support.
Agustin Lobo
Nice device, are you planning support for android?
Regards,
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