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Forkeye

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Posts posted by Forkeye

    62sc Proximity Alarms

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Noticed today with V4.oo on my 62sc that the proximity radius is always in miles no matter what I set my units value to under settings

    When I checked my etrex 30 the radius is stated in the units selected ie: Metric. Statute Yards etc.

    Can someone double check their 62 for me to see if theirs has this issue too. Thx

    Garmin Etrex 20 "Adventures"?

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by Forkeye

    You can load Adventures from Basecamp onto your GPS and then follow them. You can download Adventures on Basecamp, or make your own. A downloaded Adventure is basically someone else's trip track/route. They can come with photos, waypoints and notes about places along the way, so you can go and do/see what they did. In Basecamp under the Find tab you will see Garmin Adventures, you can download them to Basecamp and then send them to your GPS and see the photos shown on your map page and also when you use photo viewer. On Basecamp you can play them and the map cursor moves and shows you the notes and photos along the track/route.

    Compass Calibration broken on eTrex with v3.20?

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Once again I have managed to calibrate my Etrex 30 compass at least 6x over until I was tired of doing it with no problem tonight with V3.20 software. I don't know why some units don't seem to operate correctly. I would like to see a poll as to who has issues and who doesn't. The compass did seem to run a very long time with V2.80 without needing calibration, it seems to require it a little more often with V3.20, but I have yet to have the calibration operation fail. I figure 3 seconds per revolution when turning it during the calibration process. I have lots of real compasses too. Just puzzled as to why so many units seem to have compass problems.

    Garmin eTrex 20 v. eTrex 30

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by Forkeye

    For the most part the compasses on both my 30 and 62sc have been fairly reliable, but of course fairly isnt good enough for an aircraft .I always carry my Suunto compass when hiking, its always correct. All you really need is a device that has good maps and gives your position and the positions of other waypoints that you may want to know and the direction to them. Guess the 20 fits this requirement fine ,some people just like to have all the features offered I guess. These electronic compasses are for recreational use only. I used to use my gps 12 and a real compass and always find my mark, in fact I can covert my geo cache co-ordinates into MGR ,use a topo map and a compass with a romer on it and find most caches ,its kind of a little more of a challenge and fun to do.

    Compass Calibration broken on eTrex with v3.20?

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by Forkeye

    I have noticed my etrex 30 compass seems to be about 8- 10 degrees in error all the time while my 62 sc compass is about 4-5 degrees in error and in the opposite direction from my etrex 30. So I decided to use the user declination adjustment on both to make them both read more accurate

    ie: N points to north, instead of using the True setting.

    I got my declination value from a web site that checks my ip address to find my declination and then double checked it against a topo map and used a Brunton a Suunto and a Nexus compass as reference for True north ( 3 different compasses)

    I am able to adjust the 62sc compass more accurately this way but not my etrex 30 compass, it stays the same no matter what user value I use and yet I think I read somewhere where the Garmin compass if properly calibrated should be accurate to 2-4 degrees. But testing shows other wise.I know that these gps get their declination value from some software and that , that value always remains constant over the years so depending where you are it can become inacurate

    Garmin gpsmap 62s vs etrex 30

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    I have never had a reception problem with my Etrex 30 in the bush, the quad is probably slightly better, but for hiking the size for me is the issue. I used to take my 76csx hiking too, and it worked fine, but was too big. But that's my own personal opinion. I just think that the reception difference is not worth being concerned about here, you should focus on unit size , screen size for bad eyes, button layout both are going to work fine.

    Garmin gpsmap 62s vs etrex 30

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by Forkeye

    I have the Etrex 30 and use it for hiking and really like its small size,it has very good reception, power consumption and one handed use and I also notice a slight decrease in accuracy when I turn Glonass off, but we are talking maybe 3-4 meters if that and sometimes none. I also have the 62SC and a lot of times their accuracy is the same. I think the real benefit to Glonass when hiking is just being able to receive more satellites if you are in a spot where reception could be a problem like behind mountains ,thick forest, etc. Map drawing on the 30 is a little slow when panning a high detail map, but fine when actually navigating and looking at the map, but this has never made me wish I didn't buy it. I wouldn't worry about any accuracy differences between them for hiking or anything else for that matter, lets face it, when you are out their hiking its not going to be a perfect world and your maps and any co-ordinates that you get wont be perfect either, you need to look around and use your brain.

    The 62 series is a great unit to, but bigger, heavier and uses more power, has a larger screen and mine takes geo tagged pictures too, which looks cool on Base Camp, but for hiking I usually take my 30,mainly because its smaller and lighter, as the weight adds up fast when you start putting all your other gear together. Good luck in your choice.

    SGS3 didn't quite work out for me

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Once you have found a few caches you might start to see things like a detective,..ie: where would you hide a cache?..in a natural hollow of a tree or stump,under something..what doesnt look right? nature doesnt leave pieces of wood all lined up to cover something..eventually things stick out from a distance and then maybe like me all you might look for are puzzle caches because the norm is now too easy,thats why I dont understand the need for 1-3 meter accuracy.If I can walk right to it so all I have to do is bend down and pick it up,then its kind of lost its fun for me.

    Garmin Etrex 30 Altimeter Malfunction

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    I would try it somewhere else,mine has always been pretty steady. Was it windy? Make sure auto calibration is off as maybe it is signal distortion and altimeter is set to variable.They are hard to find now,but you could buy a Thommen ,temperature compensated altimeter for 2x what yours cost,they were the gold standard ,accurate to +/- 5-10 meters.The accuracy people are expecting from these small units is abit much.Survey crews still spend thousands for their gear.

    dumb 110/220 voltage question...

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by Forkeye

    If you have inexpensive chargers that only use induction to change the voltage the true RMS voltage will be lower because the frequency of the source is lower. It won't be much but in a cheaper charger it could make a difference.

     

    Sorry RMS voltage is 70.7% of the peak voltage of a sine wave and has nothing to do with frequency

    Inductive reactance is directly proportional to frequency,but impedance will determine current flow in an A.C. circuit :blink:

    GPS for Wooded Areas

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by Forkeye

    Two followup questions:

     

    1) Assuming I buy an ETrex 20, which map package? 100K US or 24K regional? SD or DVD (how would I even load a DVD onto the unit?)

    2) Which GPS units actually have quad helix antennas? Most product descriptions are not that specific.

    You load the maps you want using Basecamp,24k is far more detailed than US topo,but you can get free maps at GPS file depot.What area of the USA are you in.I have the free Nortwest topo and it is good,better than Garmins

    Any Garmin maps get the DVD or I dont think you can load it on your computer and use it in Basecamp or Mapsource

    I think only the 62 series has a quad helix ant.,but any ant. differances are not very noticable on the newer units

    Additional GLONASS Garmin Units?

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    How much accuracy does a person need? For hiking etc things are already good enough,for geo caching what do you need? Walk right up and just bend down and pick it up,wow thats a hard game to play now,I only do puzzle caches already because its too easy otherwise,life is a picnic since SA was turned off,we used to find enemy positions with just a topo map and compass decades ago,now a few feet off is too much!

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