Considerations for future GPS mezzanine revisions

[lbdroid]

1. A 1.8V GPS module, like U-Blox Neo-M8M
   ** This module's performance is a night and day improvement over the G.top013 you're using.
2. Stackable (including high-speed)
3. Eliminate unnecessary circuitry (level shifter, usb-to-uart debug, etc.)
4. Ability to disconnect GPIO lines that are not needed for the application so as to not interfere with stacked boards.

5) Price. I know that economies of scale aren't kicking in yet, but $75 is FAR FAR more than you can justify, especially since in the end you're competing with USB GPS modules like VK-162 (contains a u-blox chip that performs far better than adafruit/gtop) and costs about $15.

Neo-M8M price breaks are as follows;

< 10 | 33 USD
10 - 49 pcs | 19.19 USD
50 - 99 pcs | 15.78 USD
100 - 249 pcs | 12.63 USD
250 + | 8.85 USD

[mwelling]

We will never be able to compete with the VK-162 price.

The Neo-M8M module only consists of a portion of the cost of the system as it does not provide a built-in antenna. If we use stacked design it would block the use of an on-board antenna.

As for removing the UART header, it is funny because I was just told to add it on the revision.