Which GPS ?

Thanks for all the replies.

Nick

Phil Cook <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

AJH said:

druidh said:

Some of the car systems use intertia to "estimate" position in the event
of a signal loss.

Some also take a feed from the speedometer.

It helps the Sat Nav to know that if you are in a car it must be on a
road.

I used my Sat Nav to help a truck driver who stopped to ask where Gate
Road was today. I had no idea, and my G/F couldn't find her A to Z, so
I got in the car and programmed the road name and town in.

It told me to " Continue along the road for 300 yards and you will reach
your destination". :-)
--
Gordon Harris

druidh <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

JRS said:

It may be bulky and a bit dated but the Magellan Meridian range have
excellent reception. I get reception in the house away from the window
and heavily forested areas have not often created a problem. I also
like the SD expansion as I keep street level mapping on Europe on it
as well so if I get really lost at least I can wander towards the
nearest road!
Jon

Via the unpassable river and the 1,000 ft cliff no doubt :-)

Over the bridge and down the lift.
--
Gordon Harris

Chris Malcolm said:

This can be a useful way of setting a waypoint where there is no
signal. Walk to it in a straight line at a constant speed from a place
of good reception.

Quite. But when you mark a waypoint, does it record your location when you
press the Mark button, or when you press save? I've wondered about this
when marking a waypoint whilst driving. Doesn't the altitude continue to
fluctuate until you press save? Or am I thinking of averaging a waypoint?

Paul

Chris Malcolm said:

This would be possible, and IMHO a good idea, but AFAIK no current GPS
does it. I suspect it may have something to do with standards such as
NMEA, i.e., GPS position should be calculated purely on the basis of
GPS signals. The problem is that if the altitude was wrongly
calibrated, as will often be the case at switch on in poor reception
conditions, the consequently wildly wrong altitude will give a wildly
wrong position.

Ah yes, of course.

Paul

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful
person Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

GSV Three Minds in a Can wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My =60C= is a bit hit & miss in those conditions too, especially
when the trees are in full leaf &/or have just been rained on.

No altimeter in yours?

Nope, that's why it's a 'C' and not a 'CS'. 8>.

Quoted message said:

Never really tested this, but I think a GPS with an altimeter should
work better in forests.

I'm not convinced - either that having altitude will get you a better
fix, or that the CS is smart enough to use altitude that way anyway..

As the owner of a Vista-C with altimeter, I don't think I've noticed any
clever location fix from having a barometric altitude reading.

The main benefit of the barometric models that I've found is that the height
reading carries on working when the rest of the unit is in a "GPS hole", be
it surrounded by high rocks or concrete, or lots of leafy trees. So, if
following a map, one has an altimeter which was calibrated fairly recently
(around the last time the thing saw a collection of satelites).
If one adds in the magnetic compass which Garmin barometric models have, its
a complete navigation package without a GPS signal (though the magnetic
compass does eat batteries at an alarming rate).

Of course, the GPS electronic compass is duplicated in my traditional Silva,
so is far from essential. However, if one happens to have the GPS to hand
for navigation rather than the compass, and isn't worried about the battery
life, one might as well use it.

I've found it quite useful when walking in the Swiss alps where rock
overhangs and thick trees can lead to lost GPS signals. Because of the
amount of ascent needed on day walks, I find the altimeter more use than
compass for most navigation in that it tells me how much further I have to
go to reach a given place. When walking in those places, I tend to have
the altitude displayed on the main GPS navigation screen at all times in one
of the configurable boxes.
In other places, I'll select different boxes.

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

Phil Cook said:

It helps the Sat Nav to know that if you are in a car it must be on a
road.

Not much good on my car then ;-).

12xl still does ok for my but the gadget freak in me wonders about
60CS.

AJH

AJH said:

12xl still does ok for my

12 did fine for me for many years.

Quoted message said:

but the gadget freak in me wonders about
60CS.

GPS heaven!

I know it ain't cheap, but every time I switch it on I'm amazed by how
vastly superior it is. 256 colour icons? Amazing! Okay, strictly speaking
they're not necessary, but if you're into GPS, they are an absolute joy to
look at, you can even define your own "user" icons!

Not to mention the really useful stuff, like roads and contours! And all
the loads of other things...

For a beginner, not necessary, for a dedicated GPS fanatic, you can't do
without one! ;-)

Trust me, if you are really into GPS, you won't be disappointed.

Paul

Nigel Cliffe said:

As the owner of a Vista-C with altimeter, I don't think I've noticed
any clever location fix from having a barometric altitude reading.

Can't say I have either, nothing provable anyway, but I'm pretty sure I've
had better tracklogs with my 60CS than my GPS12, in the same areas. Maybe I
should check my archives and make some real comparisons?

Quoted message said:

The main benefit of the barometric models that I've found is that the
height reading carries on working when the rest of the unit is in a
"GPS hole", be it surrounded by high rocks or concrete, or lots of
leafy trees.

Very true. I am reminded of a recent trip to the waterfall valleys where I
descended into a deep forested valley and got very bad reception. When we
reached the campsite the reception was so bad that I wasn't sure whether I
could trust the GPS or not. I hadn't lost the signal completely but it
wasn't good.

Anyway, I marked the campsite and the next day when I switched it on the GPS
gave quite a different position (when I was able to get a good enough
signal). The altitude was of course, completely different (altimeter,
pressure change, not a good enough signal to trust the GPS altitude for
calibration). The contour lines on the GPS map didn't match, they seemed to
indicate that my altimeter was wrong, but on such steep forested ground, I
couldn't trust them. The map? Well my 25k had the lines so closely spaced
that I just couldn't make a determination. Later, when I got home, I
studied the map with a magnifying glass, and determined that the original
GPS altitude was spot on, and the GR, as far as I could tell. Later
readings were more suspect.

So, starting with good reception and good calibration, then going into a bad
reception area, I'd sooner trust the original readings, than any subsequent
ones (on the next day).

Quoted message said:

So, if following a map, one has an altimeter which was
calibrated fairly recently (around the last time the thing saw a
collection of satelites). If one adds in the magnetic compass which Garmin
barometric models
have, its a complete navigation package without a GPS signal (though
the magnetic compass does eat batteries at an alarming rate).

Well, my 60CS is claimed to have a battery life far longer than I've managed
to test so far, even on a whole weekend, so although I rarely use the
compass, I wouldn't be worried about switching it on for a while if needed.

Quoted message said:

Of course, the GPS electronic compass is duplicated in my traditional
Silva, so is far from essential.

Tradition? Pah! (you can tell I'm [censored] again)

Quoted message said:

However, if one happens to have the
GPS to hand for navigation rather than the compass,

So let me see, my GPS is switched on, attached to my rucksack strap, a few
inches away. Yep, I'd say it's "to hand". My compass on the other hand,
now where's that? Hmm... probably stashed away in some cupboard back at
home. Not what I'd call easily accessible. :-)

Quoted message said:

Because of
the amount of ascent needed on day walks, I find the altimeter more
use than compass

I think Roger agrees with that. On a steep climb, how much *higher* is
usually more important than how much *further*.

Quoted message said:

When walking in those
places, I tend to have the altitude displayed on the main GPS
navigation screen at all times in one of the configurable boxes.

I always have the altitude displayed. Even when I'm just driving! I find
it more interesting than mundane data like speed, for instance.

Paul

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

Quoted message said:

No altimeter in yours?

Nope, that's why it's a 'C' and not a 'CS'. 8>.

Doh!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Never really tested this, but I think a GPS with an altimeter should
work better in forests.

I'm not convinced - either that having altitude will get you a better
fix,

It will.

Quoted message said:

or that the CS is smart enough to use altitude that way anyway..

It doesn't, apparently. :-(

Paul

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Paul Saunders" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Because of
the amount of ascent needed on day walks, I find the altimeter more
use than compass

Quoted message said:

I think Roger agrees with that. On a steep climb, how much *higher* is
usually more important than how much *further*.

Yes. It was the reason I went for a barometric version gps in the first place.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When walking in those
places, I tend to have the altitude displayed on the main GPS
navigation screen at all times in one of the configurable boxes.

Quoted message said:

I always have the altitude displayed. Even when I'm just driving! I find
it more interesting than mundane data like speed, for instance.

I don't always bother with a gps when driving but if I do it is normally
set for to display speed so I don't need to slow down so much for the
speed cameras.

--
Roger Chapman
Exiled in Essex

Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I always have the altitude displayed. Even when I'm just driving! I find
it more interesting than mundane data like speed, for instance.

Be sure to watch out for these new altitude cameras|!
--
Gordon Harris

Gordon said:

Be sure to watch out for these new altitude cameras|!

What? Altitude cameras? I want one!!!

Paul

Paul Saunders said:

Chris Malcolm wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This can be a useful way of setting a waypoint where there is no
signal. Walk to it in a straight line at a constant speed from a place
of good reception.

Quoted message said:

Quite. But when you mark a waypoint, does it record your location when you
press the Mark button, or when you press save? I've wondered about this
when marking a waypoint whilst driving. Doesn't the altitude continue to
fluctuate until you press save? Or am I thinking of averaging a waypoint?

On my two eTrexen the waypoint parameters are set when you hold down
ENTER and the waypoint detail screen comes up, and remain without
changing as you move on, including altitude.

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Chris Malcolm said:

On my two eTrexen the waypoint parameters are set when you hold down
ENTER and the waypoint detail screen comes up, and remain without
changing as you move on, including altitude.

Ta.

Paul

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

AJH said:

druidh said:

Some of the car systems use intertia to "estimate" position in the event
of a signal loss.

Some also take a feed from the speedometer.

It helps the Sat Nav to know that if you are in a car it must be on a
road.

.... especially as even 98% of 4x4s <spit> are never taken off-road.
--
Chris Hill

Chris Hill said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It helps the Sat Nav to know that if you are in a car it must be on a
road.

... especially as even 98% of 4x4s <spit> are never taken off-road.

Does the verge of the A5 by Gwern Gof Uchaf count?
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Chris Hill said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It helps the Sat Nav to know that if you are in a car it must be on a
road.

... especially as even 98% of 4x4s <spit> are never taken off-road.

Does the verge of the A5 by Gwern Gof Uchaf

Bless you!

Quoted message said:

count?

Probably not, I'm afraid.
--
Chris Hill

Chris Hill said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Chris Hill said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook

Quoted message said:

>It helps the Sat Nav to know that if you are in a car it must be on a
>road.

... especially as even 98% of 4x4s <spit> are never taken off-road.

Does the verge of the A5 by Gwern Gof Uchaf

Bless you!

Quoted message said:

count?

Probably not, I'm afraid.

I feel a THWACK coming on :-)

--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Chris Hill said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Chris Hill wrote:

>In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook

>>It helps the Sat Nav to know that if you are in a car it must be on a
>>road.
>
>... especially as even 98% of 4x4s <spit> are never taken off-road.

Does the verge of the A5 by Gwern Gof Uchaf

Bless you!

Quoted message said:

count?

Probably not, I'm afraid.

I feel a THWACK coming on :-)

Haven't had one of those since I used to post to alt.fan.pratchett, and
that was... *mumble* years ago.
--
Chris Hill