Promote Systems GPS Receiver GPS-N-90 for Nikon D90, D5000, D5100 and D7000 Cameras

I haven't had the Promote Systems GPS receiver long, but I found it easy to set up and use, though I cannot say that I fully understand how I got it to work. I suggest that you read the user guide and work with your camera before heading out the field. There is a menu option in my Nikon that I had to adjust to get the geo coordinates to show up. Also, the GPS draws significant power, so it seems to be engineered to capture position only when the shutter release is partially depressed and it needs time to find and process the satellite signals. So, set up the shot early to get the GPS primed (it remembers the last satellites, etc.) so that it can then quickly determine position for each shot.The cord is a bit short but you can clip the unit to your camera strap rather than use the flash mount. If the unit is on the flash mount, you cannot use the built-in flash on many Nikon DSLRs. I don't need GPS indoors, when I usually engage the flash so it's not a major issue.I used to use a hand-held Garmin GPS and then had to match up photo timestamps with my "tracks" to get positions. I think that was more accurate but it was a lot of work. The Promote Systems GPS is a good, inexpensive way to make your life simpler.

[Two updates: 2/7/2012 and 8/20/2015]Out-of-the Box Review:Promote Systems lived up to the wonderful reviews about their customer service. I had difficulty recognizing whether the unit was functioning when it arrived yesterday, so I contacted them by submitting a ticket on the Promote Systems website (not Amazon's). They replied by e-mail within a few hours giving me the information on where to look in the camera's menu for the GPS indicator to tell if it was operational. I used the information and verified that it was working just as all the favorable Amazon reviews discuss. (For other newbies: the GPS indicator on the D7000 is in the camera's topside LCD screen just to the right of the rectangular meter indicator in the center of the display. It says "GPS" and it will flash while acquiring satellites and go steady when they have been acquired.)Just as important, the reviews here on Amazon that talk about the amazing customer service from Promote Systems are spot on. Not only did they help a newbie learn how to use the device, but they offered to take it back if it wasn't working. I didn't even have to ask. But it does work so I won't be sending it back. I look forward to a lot of painless geotagging for a long time to come. (Sure beats carrying a Garmin Nüvi around and taking notes; or worse, going back on Google Maps and trying to reconstruct a location with no on-site coordinates.)A helpful hint for those who complain about how tight the GPS input on Nikon cameras are. There is a little raised area in the camera's GPS input slot which corresponds to a groove in the N-90's plug. Line them up before trying to push the plug in and you can't go wrong. Use reasonable care pulling it out again gripping the plug and not the cord. The N-90's cord is reinforced at the plug and at the device. It is very substantial. There's no reason to think that it should fail as so many of the competing brands' cords are reported doing.Add (2/7/2012):I hate it when people give an out-of-the-box review the day after a product arrives as I did back in August 2011 for this unit and then don't update their review. So this is an update to report that I have not encountered any difficulties with the device to date. OTOH, I am not a daily user so it hasn't had much opportunity to fail.A use note: if your Promote GPS ships with the camera strap holder use it. Since the Promote does not provide compass headings it doesn't matter what direction it faces. Putting the device on the camera strap frees your hot shoe so that the flash unit can pop up whenever needed and gets the device out of harm's way (I think it's more susceptible to damage when mounted in the hot shoe). Also the cable doesn't have to stretch as far or as awkwardly as it does when the unit is mounted in the hot shoe.Add (8/20/2015):I hadn't used the Promote for a number of months because most of my shooting is local. But I tried to use it on a few occasions recently and I interpreted that it never acquired satellites and was broken (because the "GPS" indicator in my camera display kept blinking and never went to the steady state that indicates a lock). This morning I went to the Promote site with the intent of submitting a service ticket but then I decided to try the RTFM method of problem solving ("Read the F'ng Manual"). I couldn't locate my little paper manual so I downloaded the .pdf manual from Promote. (Recommend you do the same if you've misplaced yours.)Problem easily solved. When the receiver has been out of use for a long time it takes longer to acquire satellite readings. The camera's meter times out before the lock on occurs. When you turn the meter back on the GPS indicator will remain flashing (and this will go on in a never-ending loop). The manual describes several methods to make sure the meter doesn't time out before the Promote receiver locks on to the necessary satellites. They work.

After having borrowed a GPS unit for a trip to Iceland in 2012, I knew I needed to add one to my camera bag on a permanent basis. The ability to embed geolocation data in your photos allows you to accurately track where each photo was taken and also import the data into Google Maps, Panoramio, etc.) - this is a great feature!However, I didn't want to drop ~$300 on Nikon's unit for my D7000. I did some research and came across the Promote GPS unit. It is small and light and fits snugly onto your camera's hot shoe. I found the unit to be highly accurate with synchronization times to be very reasonable. (I did have some problems establishing a lock in dense urban environments with tall buildings, but I think that's a limitation of the laws of physics, not the device!)The device is directly powered by the camera, but power usage was low and did not seem to significantly increase the rate of drain on the battery. I was able to shoot hundreds of exposures across several hours at a time with the device turned on.I do have one gripe, which prevents me from giving the product five stars. The unit connects to the camera via a short cable that terminates in a right angled (90 degree) plug. The location of the HDMI port directly above the GPS port requires that the plug be angled downward to prevent it from interfering. However, this causes the cable to create a "U" bend as it has to return to the top of the camera where the unit is located, and the bend extends past the bottom of the camera, making it a bit awkward if you want to try and set the camera down on something while shooting. Hopefully they'll switch to a plug that sticks straight out (like the Nikon unit) in future versions.All in all, I feel this product represents a terrific value - it functions as advertised for a fraction of the cost of the Nikon unit!