Opteka GPN-1 Geotag GPS & Shutter Release Cord for Nikon D3, D3S, D3X, D4, D750, D700, D300, D300S, D2X, D2XS, D2HS, D200, D5000, D5100, D5200, D5300, D3100, D3200, D3300, D7100, D7000, D90, D800 and D810 DSLR Cameras (Nikon GP-1 Replacement)

I purchased this item before going on vacation to Tennessee. We were up on the smokey mountains so I'd hoped to get some good tracking information on my Nikon D300. Overall the product worked quite well and worth the money.On the positive The GPS did a good job tracking my location throughout the woods and various mountain ranges. Accuracy was spot on. I'm also quite happy that this device runs off the camera battery. Honestly, I don't want to carry extra AAA or AA batteries (or watch batteries) to power yet another device. (But see "other" notes regarding this).On my camera, I have only one remote connection which this device plugs in to. Having my own wireless remote, however, means that I cannot use both my remote and this GPS at the same time. However, Opteka was considerate enough to include their own wired remote shutter release that can be plugged into the GPS. It's not as good as mine, but honestly, given the use cases for a wireless remote, and that for a GPS, I doubt that it will matter. The Opteka remote works just fine.The product shot for this image has no relation to any camera. I thought it would be bigger than it actually was. It's thankfully small and light.On the negative, it was noted in another review that the device often blinks on/off indicating that it is in the process of acquiring your position. This occurred quite frequently leaving me wonder if my position was actually known or not. More often than not, though blinking, images did have GPS data. It's unfortunate that this fact takes the photographer away from composing images to wondering if their equipment is functioning.I was never able to get a solid green light when the GPS device was turned on inside of my moving vehicle. Speeds varied between 30 and 55 mph. It appears to me the device has trouble acquiring your position when turned on for the first time while at a higher rate of speed. To counter this, I did stop the vehicle, acquire my position, then get into the vehicle and shoot while moving without issue. Acquiring the position while walking was not an issue.The device can be mounted to your hot shoe which is nice, but what is unfortunate is that there is no way to clamp it down. It slides right in (and out if bumped). On our trip we had gone horse back riding and I spent half the time checking if my arm bumped the GPS out of the hot shoe. It did on multiple occasions. I would suggest that if you are going to have your camera dangling from your shoulder or in a position where the GPS may get bumped, you might try using gaffer tape to tape it to the hot shoe, or a clip that can be used to attach the device to your camera strap securely. On that note, the camera cable connects into the GPS via friction only. If it slips off the hot shoe, it may also easily become detached from the camera cable and lost. Thus, you are taken away from looking for photograph opportunities to wondering if you equipment is still on your person.Other notes. On my particular camera model, the device may be powered even when the camera is off. I found this out the hard way when my battery went dead for no apparent reason. I presume that this is more a function of the camera make/model than the GPS device itself, but it's worth checking on yours and make sure to turn the device off when not in use.In summary, there are more negatives here than positives, but more so only to give perspective on what to expect. I have not tried any of the more expensive GPS devices available for my camera so I cannot provide product comparisons. I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for. In this instance, for $30 dollars, I'd say it's well worth the money as long as you take a few precautions.

This is the second inexpensive GPS unit I've purchased. The first one was a Micnova that went out right at a year and was no longer available on Amazon. It was my fault; I put the camera in my camera bag with the unit attached and there was enough pressure to cause the cable to be forced against the plug on the GPS unit to break the plug off of the circuit board. I no longer leave this new version attached to the camera except for when I'm actually recording a location.As others have said, the unit can take a while to lock on to satellites. The Micnova was the same. I didn't realize how slow these were until I picked up a Garmin auto GPS a couple of months ago and it normally locks on in maybe 5 seconds and it has accuracy to 10 feet!. I also find that even in a clear area once the unit is locked on, if I move it maybe 5 feet it looses sync and searches again.I also experienced battery drain with the Micnova and this one is probably the same but I have a new camera now with a larger battery so can't make a direct comparison (I now mainly use a Nikon D610 which has a larger battery than the Nikon D3200).But, I came up with a different way to use the unit that works great for me. I normally do landscape from a tripod. I usually take a good number of pictures from the same location, and then may move to another location for another collection of pictures, and that may mean actually getting in my car and driving somewhere or at least hiking for a bit. I attach the GPS when I first start taking pictures at a location, capture a picture and ensure the coordinates are recorded, and then I turn it off (and often completely disconnect it to prevent issues with the cable). Even if I move the tripod 5 or 10 feet I don't really care about that location difference. Then in Nikon View NX or Lightroom you can copy the coordinates from the first picture that has coordinates and paste the coordinates into the following pictures up until the next picture that has new coordinates (assuming you sort the images in the same order they were taken). This is quicker than waiting for the GPS to lock up after moving the tripod 5 feet and for the most part I just want a good idea of where the camera was - it doesn't register to the nearest foot anyway.I got my copy of this GPS in October 2014. And, as others have said, the cables are problematic. I think that my process of taking the GPS on and off the camera a lot may have made the cable go out even faster, but I've actually gone through the cable that came with this unit as well as the one from my Micnova unit as of March, 2015. But I'll give kudos to Opteka - I contacted them through their web, had a reply the nexg business day instructing me to forward a photo of the cable and a copy of my receipt (attached as jpegs to the email), and they sent me a replacement.You can also buy the cable on their website for $10. I plan to pick up a couple of them. I just got the warranty replacement today and wanted to write this review about their low hassle and prompt replacement.

I've tested it on my D3200, and had a good chance to compare it to Nikon's original GPS, the GP-1, which I'm using on my D5100.Does it work?Yes, it does - exactly the same way as Nikon's GP-1. The camera can't see any difference between the 2 units.Is it solid?The build quality is a bit more flimsy than the Nikon unit, but again, it's a lot cheaper. I've read somewhere, that the cable isn't the best quality, but I've had no issues so far (14 days of quite intensive testing)Is it fast?No, none of them are fast, It takes about a minute to lock on to the satelites, the Nikon is marginally faster (only a few seconds). A good feature on the Opteka is a small LED on top of the unit. Blinking: searching for position. Light on: found position. Light off: switched off. Good feature, with the Nikon GP-1 you have to check the back of your camera to see, if the GPS indicator is blinking or not.Is it precise?Yes - both units seem to pinpoint roughly the same location (the Opteka seems to think, that the height above sea level of my garden is about 1 meter higher than the Nikon does, don't know why).Is it practical to use?No, not as practical as the Nikon, and a minus to the Opteka. Nikon includes a holder for your GPS, mounting it on the strap, which leaves the hot shoe free. A plus to the Opteka is the included shutter release cord (if you like a cord remote... I don't, and stick to my ML-L3 wireless)ConclusionRecommended.

I take a lot of photographs, particularly of wildlife and scenery and I don't always remember exactly where I took them.. I thought about getting a genuine Nikon GPS to record my location but was put off by the £200 price tag. I saw this one and it had good reviews and is almost 1/6th of the price. Is it any good? Well I opened the box and put it on my D7000 and it took a couple of minutes to locate satellites, I then took a couple of photographs in my flat. When I loaded the photographs onto Google it was spot on, even to what room I was in. It even shows you the altitude above sea level although I'm not sure how I will use that information. As previously mentioned in other reviews it's a bit ungainly and of course it prevents the built in flash from popping up but I think this would be the case with the genuine Nikon one too. As a bonus it comes with a shutter release cord too which would cost you a further £18 or so. All in all incredible value and works perfectly.PS. Nikon, I love your stuff but how do you justify charging almost 6 times as much?

I had bought a Fuji camera with GPS built in and I liked the fact it showed me where I had been when I had visited Thailand. I saw this device and the price of the Nikon one. At almost £200 for the Nikon and under £35 for this one I thought, "Can it be any good?" For the price I thought it was worth trying. It is small and sits neatly on top of my D300s. I've only taken a couple of photos in the garden after it locked on to a satellite. It took under a minute to do this. After the shots I opened the photos in Picasa and hey presto! The map at the left showed where I had taken the pics. It positioned me on the shed roof rather than standing on the patio (about 3 metres from where I actually was) but so what. The literature does say give or take 10 metres. I'm off to Singapore soon so hope it will work as well when I am there. If it does and it lasts, it is well worth the money. As far as the moan from some about the cable at right angles, I don't see the problem. Just be careful as I am sure people are with their precious equipment. PS, the remote release is a handy little extra!

I've only used it a couple of times and it worked just like they said it would, It arrived well before the date given, (don't know how they do it so fast) I use it on my Nikon d7000 with no problem, yes the little door has to be open for the wire and I had no problem with it, but if you were doing photography in a crowded environment say at a sporting event I could see it being a concern of course the answer would be to take the first photo with the GPS remove it, takes a second, and carry one shooting that way you would know where that group of photos were shot, Just an idea.I'm now using it on my d800 the plugin is different and lot more robust, (it comes with different attachments) my only criticism is that it is slow, of course it helps if you remember to switch it on, but even then it took more than a couple of minutes for the flashing green light to stay on and I was on a hill in the open.

**** UPDATE **** STILL using this after 3 years on my new D5300. Faultless as ever! - Taken over 90,000 images using this GPS! ****------- Received less than 24hrs after ordering from Amazon via Collect+. Awesome. I use a D300 Nikon - GPS device was very small. I connected it using the 10-pin cable (D300) and USB-micro(Opteka). Once you identify the 'alignment plastic lug' you have a screw connector to keep the cable secure (a big relief). Fits in to the hot shoe neatly. Crib-sheet was included. Powered D300 on and then flicked Opteka on-switch. It took 35 secs on a cloudy evening to connect in a built up area. Took photos and loaded to Picasa - it identified my location immediately within about 3m. Stunning device - VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Update - also tested in Crete - took 30-40 secs each time to connect - accurate within c. 3m on Google maps when tracked - a great item!