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Track Logs


Daxcor

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- 50 reversible routes

- 10,000 point automatic track log

- 20 saved tracks (500 points each)

 

Ok so this is what the specs are on the gps that I want to buy. what I am concerned about is just how far I can go on this capacity. How often does a track point get logged?

500 log points doesn't sound like much.

 

What I am doing is trail riding with my quad and want to log all the trails that I go on. Some of my rides are like 40-50 miles. I need somone who has done this to put these numbers in to perspective. The Magellan Explorist has unlimited track point via their SD card but the Garmin is fixed.

 

thanks in advance

Brad

(lost in the forest with a gps with dead batteries)

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On Garmin units, you can set the track frequency to a set time, a set distance or auto (which seems to set a point whenever you change direction). When you "save" a track in the GPSr, the unit compresses your track info as needed to retain only the trackpoints that are needed to give you your route. If you load your active (unsaved) track to the computer, it will load all of the points (up to 10,000).

 

The 60C (and similar units) are capable of 10,000 track points, but for some reason, the default is set to 3,000. If you really want to get more breadcrumbs, you have to go into the setup feature and increase the number of track points to 10,000.

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There are Problems with the 60C/CS 76C/CS and the Explorist.

 

With the Garmins, you have a problem with not being able to Download the Active tracklog, till you get to a computer, to download the active tracklog.

 

The problem with the Magellans in general, is that the GPS units do not have an elasped timer, and a less than accurate Trip Odometer.

 

I have gone on long trips with both the Map60C, and the Map76S, and both of them have a 10,000 point active tracklogs, and I had plenty of space left over by the end of the trip. I had used the GPS with the Tracklog set to Normal Recording Interval.

Edited by GOT GPS?
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- 50 reversible routes

- 10,000 point automatic track log

- 20 saved tracks (500 points each)

 

Ok so this is what the specs are on the gps that I want to buy. what I am concerned about is just how far I can go on this capacity. How often does a track point get logged?

500 log points doesn't sound like much.

 

What I am doing is trail riding with my quad and want to log all the trails that I go on. Some of my rides are like 40-50 miles. I need somone who has done this to put these numbers in to perspective. The Magellan Explorist has unlimited track point via their SD card but the Garmin is fixed.

 

thanks in advance

Brad

(lost in the forest with a gps with dead batteries)

I believe the smallest distance setting for track recording on the 60CS is .01 mi, or 53 ft. So..... a 50 mi trip with a track pt. every 50 ft (most detailed) would use just about half your available "active" track points. Of course if you recorded a track point every 100 ft, you could double your travel distance.

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I don't have my 60C with me right now, but I know it gives you lots of interval options based on time or distance. I'm pretty sure you can do one point every minute. Do the math and that comes out to 6.94 DAYS of constant tracking - 24 hours a day! If you do twelve on and twelve off, then that's two weeks of tracking.

Edited by Neo_Geo
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The "auto" setting on the Garmins will go even farther than either the "time" or "distance" options, especially when driving. As someone else mentioned above, in auto mode, it only drops a breadcrumb when you change direction. So if you're driving down an arrow-straight highway, it may not mark anything for several miles. Or when you're hiking up a set of switchbacks, you might get 3 or 4 points close together at the turns, and only 1 or 2 points on the straights.

 

Auto mode also has a 5-step granularity from "most often" to "least often." I keep mine set in the middle, or "normal." When I get home from a day of caching, I upload and save all my tracklogs. After an 8-10 hour day, with a combination of driving and walking, I typically see between 4,000 and 6,000 trackpoints, or roughly half the capacity of my 60C.

 

If I'm on an extended trip, and unable to upload for several days, I'll try to "save" the tracklog every 2,000 points or so. Saving distills all the active points down to a 500-point saved track. From what I can tell, it does this by straightening out the almost-straight sections, and removing some of the close-together points in a turn. The result is typically more than adequate to tell where you've been.

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When I had my original Garmin GPS12 with only a 1024 point tracklog this was a continual problem. My solution was to use my Palm PDA and GPilotS a freeware app that allows you to backup the tracklog onto the PDA.

 

I don't think you're going to have problems with the 10000 point tracklog with your 76CS but if you've already got a PDA for paperless caching it's another option. I still use it on trips to save each days data separately.

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- 50 reversible routes

- 10,000 point automatic track log

- 20 saved tracks (500 points each)

 

Ok so this is what the specs are on the gps that I want to buy.

 

OK, so you are out running your quad in the backwoods. You need massive track

storage (because the topo map upgrades do not show all the roads) so you can

track all the roads, and make your own maps of your dirt bike trails. Autorouting,

is probably not all that important, and if your at all like me, you'd be happy with

mega track storage. Routes are not much use, and auto-routing is not going to

help you very much. Here is what I'm running:

 

Lowrance iFinder PhD GPS

OziExplorer - Useful for track editing / waypoint / icon editing

MapCreate 6.3 Topo - Useful for upgrading the background maps.

- Useless for track editing.

 

I'm pretty much doing what your wanting to do. So far ONLY LOWRANCE GPS's

are able to work for my purposes. In my map pic, you'll see lots of 'extra

tracks'. Each track has different display properties on the GPS, as well as on the

computer.

 

RED = road that I haven't biked on. (plotted from maps)

GREEN = Trail , not safe for biking / quading on

BLUE = Mainline roads that go somewhere.

PINK = Spurs

 

I have 'WELL OVER' 10,000 trackpoints in my GPS. I find your parameters rather

limited. Look at the lowrance line of GPS's, and you'll end up SAVING BIG MONEY,

and getting a GPS that is superiour to both Magellan or Garmin for what you are

trying to accomplish.

 

I'm running an iFinder PhD, but even the iFinder H2O has the following characteristics.

 

One Hundred track each storing up to 10,000 points in each track.

- Each track can store lots of segments (start/end points)

Each track can be displayed differently on the GPS.

1000 - Waypoints

1000 - Icons

100 Routes consisting of 100 waypoints.

 

If you examine the below map, you'll see that for backwoods dirtbiking, roads

(aka tracks) are the most useful things to store, and I've never bothered with

routes. Also you can see that the lowrance antenna is handling the thick forrest

canopy on Vancouver Island quite nicely.

 

I would expand the track storage your asking for, it's pretty small, and I've seen

some GPS's that do not support segmented tracks. That small section of mountain

is about 10,000 points. My maps are well above 10,000 points.

 

Magellan and Garmin do not make GPS's that are able to match the amount of

track storage in an H2O.

 

Kindest Regards,

---- MegaMapper ----

 

beaufort.jpg

Edited by megamapper
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The automatic logging works something like this:

 

Take the two most recent track points.

Draw a straight line through them.

The projecting of this line, in the direction you are moving, as a prediction of your future whereabouts. As long as you keep moving along the line, not deviating more than a certain tolerance, no new track point will be logged. But when you do deviate more than you are allowed to, a point is logged, and the process begins all over again, with that point and the point before it.

The tolerance is given by the settings, like normal, more often, less often and so on.

 

But it's not just deviations in a 2D position that will render a new point. Deviations in speed or elevation may also cause this. Or even deviations in heart rate, if your GPS is a Forerunner 301.

Hence driving perfectly straight can still spend track points, if your speed is changing all the time.

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