Counterfeit products and u-blox brand misuse

u-blox has detected counterfeit u-blox modules that are sold through non-official sales channels and internet platforms, such as ebay or AliExpress. The products look very similar to the original u-blox products, but they come from sources that copy our designs and use chipsets that are not sold by u-blox or one of its authorized re-sellers. In more extreme cases, there are false claims that modules have u-blox GNSS chips inside.

Under the following links, you can check out a few examples of counterfeit NEO-M8N modules:

• Not a real M8N I think?
• Was this a real NEO-7?
• Is my M8N module using Real M8N?

None of the counterfeits that claim to be a u-blox product or to contain u-blox products meet the expected performance and quality standards as warranted by u-blox. Here is a selection of issues that such counterfeits exhibit:

• Modules with wrongly denominated positioning engines (e.g. u-blox 7 instead of u-blox M8)
• Weak sensitivity and overall performance
• Poor material and manufacturing
• Insufficient and inappropriate memory to allow firmware upgrades
• Incorrect memory type (i.e. ROM instead of Flash, so the module is not upgradeable)

u-blox cannot provide any support for such counterfeit products and will decline any warranty and liability claims.
u-blox exclusively sells chips and modules through its authorized sales network. Only products sourced through these official channels are original u-blox products that meet the u-blox specifications and carry the u-blox warranty. Support is only available within these channels.

We therefore strongly advise to purchase u-blox products through the official sales network only.