High-tech walking

David Cotton said:

Having just finished my walk around the coastline of Britain (see www.coastwalk.co.uk/) I am
currently considering doing another four or five weeks walk.

Congrats on the walk ! I'll take a look at the site next time I'm logged on.

...snip...

Quoted message said:

my next walk I would like to be able to mostly camp out. This means that I would need 2-4 GB of
storage - far too much to use via cards.

I don't know what format cards your camera takes but I just read an article in this months PCW that
said the 4GB cards are available, price quoted was a steepish £1000 though :-(

Quoted message said:

I am considering using some form of digital wallet device, such as the minds@work digital wallet
(although I believe that they are no longer in business), or another device by ?Archos? (sp?) who
do a drive that allows you to download to CD-R. Although the weight and form factor of these are
not too bad for a backpacking trip, I am concerned about the ruggedness of such devices,
especially the ones based around 2.5" hard disc drives. Does anyone have any experience of these
devices in backpacking use over a sustained period?

I've no direct experience of them but I once did an investigation into disk drives for a firm I
worked in who had a need to operate a machine in a high-vibration adverse environment. The upshot
was that the 2.5 inch devices are apparently the best bet out of all the readily available rotating
media. This is because the parts are lighter weight and hence proportionally stiffer and so are less
affected by g-forces. In any case, I doubt that it will come to any harm while it is not powered up
as the head should be securely parked under these circumstances. Note as well that they get quite a
reasonable bashing in their normal application in notebook computers and there seem to be relatively
few complaints.

...snip...

Quoted message said:

Psion 5 that I use to write notes up atm. Ideally I would love to be able to author my website in
the tent and uplaod it to the server every night, but that is a long way in the future (or until
GPRS upload prices and data transfer speeds become more reasonable).

Orange do a service in the UK called "all you can eat" internet access. This is a misleading name
because you only get 100 or 200 Mbytes per month(don't know which - can't read my own handwriting
:-(). The service costs £52.87 pcm and you can phone them on 07973 100345 if you want to know more.

hth,

--
Boo

David Cotton said:

on my next walk I would like to be able to mostly camp out. This means that I would need 2-4 GB of
storage - far too much to use via cards.

I suppose that depends on how much cash you're prepared to spend?

How about 4GB for 1400 USD, or 4x1GB for 1240 USD:

desktopdarkroom.comdigitalfilm.htmlOpen ↗

(This was the first site I found, so you can probably do better).

I'd probably go with a few of the smaller sized cards rather than one jumbo one. It'd be a bit
annoying if you trod on your only card with your size 14 Scarpa's.

Martin.

(David Cotton) said:

Having just finished my walk around the coastline of Britain (see www.coastwalk.co.uk/) I am
currently considering doing another four or five weeks walk.

Typically I take around fifty pictures a day on my Olympus C5050Z (a reasonable 5MP camera for
someone who mostly just points and shoots such as myself), making a total of 18,000 for the last
walk. I have enough cards with me to store six ro seven days photographs before I need to download
them to my PC. On the coastwalk I had motorhome backup for most of the time, so this was easily
accomplished, but on my next walk I would like to be able to mostly camp out. This means that I
would need 2-4 GB of storage - far too much to use via cards.

Are you being sponsored by Duracell ;-)

Two possibilities:
a) Carry just a few cards (I guess something like 512Mb CF?) and some stamped envelopes. Post
full cards to a trusted person who can empty them and post them on to somewhere you can
collect en route. You could allow 4 days for turnaround, say. Have one card in the post, one
in use, one spare.
b) Some form of jukebox might be more cost-effective and give you some music to listen to as well.
Some will also let you record, so you could keep a diary. The small 2.5" HDs in these are pretty
rugged. This will also eat batteries, however. So...

Are you being sponsored by Duracell :-))

PS Sorry for the accidentally emailed copy of this...

--
John Mail john rather than nospam...

"David Cotton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Having just finished my walk around the coastline of Britain (see www.coastwalk.co.uk/) I am
currently considering doing another four or five weeks walk.

Typically I take around fifty pictures a day on my Olympus C5050Z (a reasonable 5MP camera for
someone who mostly just points and shoots such as myself), making a total of 18,000 for the last
walk. I have enough cards with me to store six ro seven days photographs before I need to download
them to my PC. On the coastwalk I had motorhome backup for most of the time, so this was easily
accomplished, but on my next walk I would like to be able to mostly camp out. This means that I
would need 2-4 GB of storage - far too much to use via cards.

I am considering using some form of digital wallet device, such as the minds@work digital wallet
(although I believe that they are no longer in business), or another device by ?Archos? (sp?) who
do a drive that allows you to download to CD-R. Although the weight and form factor of these are
not too bad for a backpacking trip, I am concerned about the ruggedness of such devices,
especially the ones based around 2.5" hard disc drives. Does anyone have any experience of these
devices in backpacking use over a sustained period? I am not that bothered about waterproofness as
waterproof bags can be brought for them and I would only be using them indoors / inside a tent,
but the susceptibility to usual jogs and jolts inside a rucksack does bother me.

There are many other aspects of this high-tech walking topic that I want to investigate, but at
the moment I am hampered by the fact that portables (especially ruggedised ones) are relatively
heavy and cumbersome, and that battery life is very limited when compares to my Psion 5 that I use
to write notes up atm. Ideally I would love to be able to author my website in the tent and uplaod
it to the server every night, but that is a long way in the future (or until GPRS upload prices
and data transfer speeds become more reasonable).

On another point, does anyone have a good way of downloading GPS track logs from a Garmin ETrex
to a Psion 5? There are several packages on the web but does anyone have any experience with any
of them?

Many thanks, .David.

Sorry David, I don't know what kind of card your Olympus takes, but if it's Compact Flash, you could
always invest in a Microdrive or two (or 4 in your case). These are available in 1GB at the moment
for around £116 each (www.scan.co.uk - look for their "todayonly" offers for reduced prices).
Certainly "rugged" enough for your proposed usage and much lighter than a digital wallet. 2GB and
4GB cards will be available soono - and will be a lot cheaper than £1000 each!!!!

--

druidh

Not FAR to respond. . . . .

Quoted message said:

On another point, does anyone have a good way of downloading GPS track logs from a Garmin ETrex
to a Psion 5? There are several packages on the web but does anyone have any experience with any
of them?

Many thanks, .David"David Cotton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

"]news:[email hidden]...

I have used PSIGAR5. I had 2 walking holidays this year. In each case before I went I loaded my
route in a GPS in blocks of three days walking. I then downloaded each of those sets of three days
into the PSION. Every third day I copied the waypoints, and the track log down to the PSION 5MX, and
up-loaded the route for the next 3 days.

The only problem was that once I got home and copied the data from the PSION onto the PC, the track
log transferred without any problems, but the only way that I could copy the waypoints, without
losing the waypoint comment was to upload the waypoints file up into the GPS and then download it to
the PC from there.

Five years ago had anybody said that it would ever be possible for me to go walking on my own I
would have laughed at them. Brain damage has left me with most of my intelligence, but with great
difficulty in recognising anything, and totally unable to visualise anything even for a split
second. In those days I could not go out for a days walk on my own. A friend suggested that I bought
a GPS. It has totally changed my life. If I am more than 2 miles from home I even have to use it for
where to get off the bus. Now I even lead walks for my local walking group, or rather the GPS leads
the walk, I just carry it and do what it tells me to do.

Michael Perryman in address replace swen with news

PSIGAR5

homepage.ntlworld.compsigar5.htmOpen ↗

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Quoted message said:

"David Cotton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I am considering using some form of digital wallet device, such as the minds@work digital wallet
(although I believe that they are no longer in business), or another device by ?Archos? (sp?) who
do a drive that allows you to download to CD-R. Although the weight and form factor of these are
not too bad for a backpacking trip, I am concerned about the ruggedness of such devices,
especially the ones based around 2.5" hard disc drives. Does anyone have any experience of these
devices in backpacking use over a sustained period? I am not that bothered about waterproofness
as waterproof bags can be brought for them and I would only be using them indoors / inside a
tent, but the susceptibility to usual jogs and jolts inside a rucksack does bother me.

As an Archos user I can assure you its perfectly rugged (so far!). I use mine to listen to MP3s (and
radio) whilst hiking, D/L pics if required and as an emergency camera (1.3MP but OK). Battery life
(LiIon) is OK getting @ 6 hrs with MP3 but are *not* easily replaceable (have to send unit back to
Archos) so I've added an external battery to take life to @ 18 hrs. It behaves like an ordinary hard
disk when plugged into USB on a PC. Mark

On 28 Oct 2003 17:15:26 GMT, [email hidden] (Martin Carpenter)

Quoted message said:

David Cotton said:

on my next walk I would like to be able to mostly camp out. This means that I would need 2-4 GB
of storage - far too much to use via cards.

I suppose that depends on how much cash you're prepared to spend?

How about 4GB for 1400 USD, or 4x1GB for 1240 USD:

desktopdarkroom.comdigitalfilm.htmlOpen ↗

(This was the first site I found, so you can probably do better).

I'd probably go with a few of the smaller sized cards rather than one jumbo one. It'd be a bit
annoying if you trod on your only card with your size 14 Scarpa's.

Martin.

Not least of which you cannot be sure the camera can write to a 2GB+ card - only a few new ones can.

The hard drive based stuff is fairly rugged - you could drop it onto turf etc without any real
problems, although concrete, rocks or an exposed tree root may be another matter. The big problem
would be if it got wet.

Suggestion - carry two weeks supply and mail them home. Get someone to dump them off onto a PC, wipe
the cards and then post them back to do to be picked up general delivery from a post office?

--
79.84% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The other 42% are made up later on. In Warwick -
looking at flat fields and that includes the castle.

"michael Perryman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On another point, does anyone have a good way of downloading GPS track logs from a Garmin ETrex
to a Psion 5? There are several packages on the web but does anyone have any experience with any
of them?

Many thanks, .David"David Cotton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

"]news:[email hidden]...

I have used PSIGAR5. I had 2 walking holidays this year. In each case before I went I loaded my
route in a GPS in blocks of three days walking. I then downloaded each of those sets of three days
into the PSION. Every third day I copied the waypoints, and the track log down to the PSION 5MX,
and up-loaded the route for the next 3 days.

Ah thanks. I am not too bothered about downloading tracks onto it, but I do want to be able to save
walked tracks, so it looks as though I shall have to d/l and register psigar5 then ;-)

Quoted message said:

Five years ago had anybody said that it would ever be possible for me to go walking on my own I
would have laughed at them. Brain damage has left me with most of my intelligence, but with great
difficulty in recognising anything, and totally unable to visualise anything even for a split
second. In those days I could not go out for a days walk on my own. A friend suggested that I
bought a GPS. It has totally changed my life. If I am more than 2 miles from home I even have to
use it for where to get off the bus. Now I even lead walks for my local walking group, or rather
the GPS leads the walk, I just carry it and do what it tells me to do.

That's a great achievement then - congrats! It is amazing the way that common pieces of technology
can help people in strange ways - I would never have guessed (although with hindsight it seems
obvious) that a GPS can help people in your sitauation!

Yours admiringly, .David.

--

coastwalk.co.ukcoastwalk.co.ukOpen ↗ - a 6266.5 mile walk around the coastline of Britain

michael Perryman said:

Quoted message said:

On another point, does anyone have a good way of downloading GPS track logs from a Garmin ETrex
to a Psion 5? There are several packages on the web but does anyone have any experience with any
of them?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Many thanks, .David"David Cotton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have used PSIGAR5. I had 2 walking holidays this year. In each case before I went I loaded my
route in a GPS in blocks of three days walking. I then downloaded each of those sets of three days
into the PSION. Every third day I copied the waypoints, and the track log down to the PSION 5MX,
and up-loaded the route for the next 3 days.

Quoted message said:

The only problem was that once I got home and copied the data from the PSION onto the PC, the track
log transferred without any problems, but the only way that I could copy the waypoints, without
losing the waypoint comment was to upload the waypoints file up into the GPS and then download it
to the PC from there.

Quoted message said:

Five years ago had anybody said that it would ever be possible for me to go walking on my own I
would have laughed at them. Brain damage has left me with most of my intelligence, but with great
difficulty in recognising anything, and totally unable to visualise anything even for a split
second. In those days I could not go out for a days walk on my own. A friend suggested that I
bought a GPS. It has totally changed my life. If I am more than 2 miles from home I even have to
use it for where to get off the bus. Now I even lead walks for my local walking group, or rather
the GPS leads the walk, I just carry it and do what it tells me to do.

I asked elsewhere a year or so ago about the use of GPS for Alzheimer's sufferers, but the general
opinion was that if they were bad enough to get lost they were too bad to be able to learn how to
use a GPS.

My Dad didn't suffer from Alzheimer's, but after a few strokes he lost the ability to learn new
geography, which meant if he visited a new house he could never remember where the loo was, or if he
went out to buy some [censored], he'd never be able to find his way back. But he certainly could have
learned how to operate and follow a GPS.

So it seems there is definitely a category of people with (for one reason or another) handicapped
navigation but who could profitably learn to use a GPS.

Quoted message said:

PSIGAR5

Quoted message said:

homepage.ntlworld.compsigar5.htmOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

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IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Mark Cavendish <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"David Cotton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I am considering using some form of digital wallet device, such as the minds@work digital
wallet (although I believe that they are no longer in business), or another device by ?Archos?
(sp?) who do a drive that allows you to download to CD-R. Although the weight and form factor
of these are not too bad for a backpacking trip, I am concerned about the ruggedness of such
devices, especially the ones based around 2.5" hard disc drives. Does anyone have any
experience of these devices in backpacking use over a sustained period? I am not that bothered
about waterproofness as waterproof bags can be brought for them and I would only be using them
indoors / inside a tent, but the susceptibility to usual jogs and jolts inside a rucksack does
bother me.

As an Archos user I can assure you its perfectly rugged (so far!). I use mine to listen to MP3s
(and radio) whilst hiking, D/L pics if required and as an emergency camera (1.3MP but OK). Battery
life (LiIon) is OK getting @ 6 hrs with MP3 but are *not* easily replaceable (have to send unit
back to Archos) so I've added an external battery to take life to @ 18 hrs. It behaves like an
ordinary hard disk when plugged into USB on a PC.

Ah thanks. I think that I may invest in one of these and a 1GB CompactFlash card - such a
combination should be able to make me manage with walks from 1 week to six months fairly well ;-)

I am a bit curious about this battery problem - do you mean that you cannot take the battery out of
the unit at all? And how mych does the external battery + charger coast and weigh?

The only problem with such a scheme is the amount of work I would need once I finish to generate the
website after six months in the wild!

Many thanks, .David.

--

coastwalk.co.ukcoastwalk.co.ukOpen ↗

On 2 Nov 2003 04:40:03 -0800, [email hidden] (David Cotton)

Quoted message said:

Mark Cavendish <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I am a bit curious about this battery problem - do you mean that you cannot take the battery out of
the unit at all? And how mych does the external battery + charger coast and weigh?

Its a bit of an odd one: the manual describes how to remove the battery and install a new one but
Archos will not supply a replacement (and no one else has them; proprietary size). Concensus is that
due to the dangers of LiIon batteries (they can catch fire, explode and lithium is very poisonous)
Archos won't risk being sued. 3 recent examples of Nokia mobiles exploding/catching fire would, I
guess, confirm their potential fears.

External battery packs come in a number of flavours from DIY (4 x NiMH batteries which works OK, but
no voltage regulation, so slight risk) to LiIon (which I use: Power Runner, 7.2Ah, 350g)

Mark