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I Went How Fast?


LITTLEKAT

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Hi Everyone,

 

I'm very new to this game and love it already just having found my first two caches this weekend following a crash course in GPS operation. But yesterday I went out with some friends in my kayak and when we reached our destination they wanted a demo of the trip stats. OK, time moving, 1.7 hours, distance 4.9 miles, Max speed.........109 mph???????????? :rolleyes: IN A KAYAK???

 

Ok someone told me they had that problem with low batteries. Not the case here, brand new and full scale on the indicator. So my question is, how can it get such a reading? My GPS is a Garmin Etrex. Is this a common glitch with these or is it something I'm doing or reading wrong?

 

Appreciate your help.

 

Littlekat

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I have seen stuff like that before. Your GPS got itself into a position where it couldn't get a solid "fix" for a few seconds.

 

At that instant, it thought it was actually somewhere else, for a few seconds. The speed to get from your last known position, to the "false" location in the proper time would work out to be 109MPH.

 

Does that make sense?

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Thank you, yes, it makes perfect sense. But can that happen out in the open water? We were on a very big wide river, actually called Lake Lilinonah which is joined by another very large river. Unless it happened at a time that we might have been near the tree lines.

 

Nope, no decimals. First thing I checked for.

 

Actually, that's very funny. I mean, losing it's fix for a while and thinking it just caught up. :rolleyes: This is going to be more fun than I thought.

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Recently my GPSr read that my max walking speed was 14mph. Of course I thought that was pretty fast since we were on the Appalacian Trail in PA. I kept watch on it and I just couldn't walk that fast again even on the flat areas. I guess I must have lost reception in the trees and then the GPSr caught up. :rolleyes:

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Oh ya. You should have seen when I learned my lesson about this problem that keeps occuring with my Garmin. I took my GPSr up to my wife and asked why she was driving at over 100 miles per hour! Man did I get my head bit off and then the kids rolled over on dear old dad and said it was me. The dog house was looking sweat compaired to were I was. :unsure:

 

Now I know it's Garmin's fault so they owe me a vacation or something. :unsure:

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Wellllllllllllll, I wasn't upside down. I'm doing flatwater, and although they say my GPSr is water resistant, I didn't want to take the chance of doing whitewater without a dry bag. I DID have it in my PFD pocket, but the signal was strong. I had the top out of the pocket and checked the signal that way and it seemed to be good. Maybe that and the combination of an occasional brush with shoreline trees. In any case, I'm very glad to hear I'm not the only one who has had that happen. Thanks for the stories, especially the one about your wife driving over 100.

 

Thanks again, folks. I'll check back tomorrow. Nitey nite time for me now.

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I don't know if this counts, but I did take this picture of the GPS mounted on my bicycle handlebar.

From top to bottom, the numbers on the display are speed in km/hr, current time, distance to go, in km, and turn direction.

 

2268c847-a6bd-4e87-8113-6dbf9c9e6927.jpg

 

Oh, and for those who aren't familiar with SI units, that's just under 60mph, and yes, I really was travelling that fast.

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Hey, can anyone tell me what these titles at the side of the posts are like "Tadpole" etc?

For your first 10 posts, you are a tadpole (named in honor of Signal the Frog). It helps us regulars remember to cut you some slack. Then, you are a Geocacher.

 

If you have paid for a premium membership, you are a Premium Member, but can change your title to anything you'd like. If you paid for your Premium Membership during the first year (I think), you are a Charter Member.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Edit: By the way, here's a link to the thread I mentioned. Markwell is well over 4000mph!!!

Edited by Sputnik 57
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Thank you, yes, it makes perfect sense. But can that happen out in the open water? We were on a very big wide river, actually called Lake Lilinonah which is joined by another very large river. Unless it happened at a time that we might have been near the tree lines.

 

Nope, no decimals. First thing I checked for.

 

Actually, that's very funny. I mean, losing it's fix for a while and thinking it just caught up. :mad: This is going to be more fun than I thought.

Depending on fequency and at what angles are made by you the satelites and the water. The water can act one large mirror or even many, many small mirrors to the signal coming from the satelites.

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Does it make a difference if it's set on 'max speed' vs. 'actual speed'?

I mean doesn't the etrex record how fast you've gone overall? so maybe you went that fast on the way, not actually in the kayak, or if it was bought from someone maybe they went that fast, try a reset.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, I don't mess with that part of things very often....

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Does it make a difference if it's set on 'max speed' vs. 'actual speed'?

I mean doesn't the etrex record how fast you've gone overall? so maybe you went that fast on the way, not actually in the kayak, or if it was bought from someone maybe they went that fast, try a reset.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, I don't mess with that part of things very often....

4267 mph?

 

:mad:

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Not really.

 

The actual speed shows what your speed is RIGHT NOW. If you accelerate it will go up; if you decelerate, it will go down. The Max Speed will record what the GPS reaches at the point just before you decelerate, and then retain that number.

 

Think of someone speeding up and slowing down. If I start at 20mph and get up to 50 mph, and then I'm now going 45 mph, my ACTUAL SPEED is going to clock at 45 mph, and my MAX SPEED is going to clock at 50 mph.

 

56109070-d015-46d1-8069-af9e047b4ff5.jpg

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I've seen this happen before. Not often, but once in a while I'll get back from a hike to see my max speed was 300 mph. I always wondered why it happend. At one time I thought perhaps it might have come when I tripped and the GPS moved very fast in my hand as I was trying to regain my balance.

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I don't know if this counts, but I did take this picture of the GPS mounted on my bicycle handlebar.

From top to bottom, the numbers on the display are speed in km/hr, current time, distance to go, in km, and turn direction.

 

Oh, and for those who aren't familiar with SI units, that's just under 60mph, and yes, I really was travelling that fast.

Let me see if I have this straight: This was actual speed (vs. max speed)? Which means you took that picture while riding your bicycle at 96.3 km/hr? :P

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It's a bizarre difugality. I get it a lot on my little Yellow Etrex. (Is it a red one? No no no no. Is it a blue one? No no no no. It's a little Yellow Etrex.) (Thank you, Ella)

My current max speed is 306 MPH. It pops up when the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars. Which seems to be every time I turn it on. So, I ignore that feature.

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