dcha Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I and some friends hiked the Cactus to Clouds in Palm Springs last Saturday, we started from the Museum trailhead at around 475 ft elevation and finished at Mt. San Jacinto Peak at 10834 ft elevation. That means our net gain is around 10359 ft elevation, but at the end, the "Total Ascent" on my GPS reports only 9773 ft, I don't think it is correct. To my understanding, Total Ascent is the sum of all uphill sections. Obviously during the hike there are parts of the trail were decending and then up again, so the Total Ascent must always be higher than the net gain, but it was not in my case. The "Total Ascent" definition in the manual was "Total distance ascented". I did not quite get it, what does that "distance" mean? A vertical distance, or elevation? I don't think the Total Ascent of GPS is wrong? but I'm not sure how Garmin computes to that value. Does any one have an explanation for it? DCHa Quote Link to comment
+Alan2 Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 What was the highest elevation stored? Did it equal the 10834? Quote Link to comment
Hertzog Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 (edited) Thats some hike! I did San Jacinto as a day hike from Idlewild (Humber Park) once, and that was when I was much younger and in a lot better shape! People have reported problems with the total ascent in the past, but I thought it had been corrected in the latest software; perhaps not. For it to work properly you would need to have it on and getting a good track continuously, so that might be your problem. Oops; when I wrote the above I was remembering problems in getting reliable milage readings in the trip computer under marginal track conditions. Since the altimeter is primarily barometer based, I wouldn't think good GPS tracking would be necessary for good altitude readings, but turning it on and off during the hike might have affected the results. Edited October 17, 2006 by Hertzog Quote Link to comment
kb9nvh Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Was autocalibrate on or off for this hike? For short term (1 or 2 hour) walks I turn mine off for the most accurate elevation. Seems like yours was off by quite a bit though... Thats some hike! I did San Jacinto as a day hike from Idlewild (Humber Park) once, and that was when I was much younger and in a lot better shape! People have reported problems with the total ascent in the past, but I thought it had been corrected in the latest software; perhaps not. For it to work properly you would need to have it on and getting a good track continuously, so that might be your problem. Oops; when I wrote the above I was remembering problems in getting reliable milage readings in the trip computer under marginal track conditions. Since the altimeter is primarily barometer based, I wouldn't think good GPS tracking would be necessary for good altitude readings, but turning it on and off during the hike might have affected the results. Quote Link to comment
dcha Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 >What was the highest elevation stored? Did it equal the 10834? GPS Max Elevation that shown when I was at San Jacinto peak was 10831 ft, it was very accurate indeed. >...you would need to have it on and getting a good track continuously... The 60CSx is equiped with a barometer, so all elevation related data works independently without a need of locking on any satellite, as long as you calibate it, it work quite well. I drove to work today with the unit on but turn off GPS (no locking on satellite) Elevation, Total Ascent, Total Descent, etc... all function correctly. With track log data Altimeter page will chart out a nice graph with Elevation and Time scales, but it is not necessary. >Was autocalibrate on or off for this hike? I always leave the autocalibrate on. For a long hike like this, autocalibrate works extremely well. In fact, when I got home I downloaded the track data onto a TOPO map and compare the track data vs. elevation contours of the TOPO map, they are matching quite well. By the way, I have a very detail track log of the "Cactus to Clouds" trail that we hiked on Oct 14, thanks to the 60CSx that allows me to log data onto Memory Card. I set the track log to record data in 2 second interval and collected over 27000 data points. I converted the track log data into Google Earth track and it looks very nice in Google Earth. If anyone interest it, I can email or upload it in both Google Earth or GPX format. Thanks for all the reponds, but I'm still puzzle the problem??? DCHa Quote Link to comment
Hertzog Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 By the way, I have a very detail track log of the "Cactus to Clouds" trail that we hiked on Oct 14, thanks to the 60CSx that allows me to log data onto Memory Card. I set the track log to record data in 2 second interval and collected over 27000 data points. I converted the track log data into Google Earth track and it looks very nice in Google Earth. If anyone interest it, I can email or upload it in both Google Earth or GPX format. Thanks for all the reponds, but I'm still puzzle the problem??? DCHa Given your results, I would say there is still something wrong with the total ascent algorithm. Version 2.7 of the software was supposed to have fixed problems that had been observed, but there was quite a bit of discussion on the forum following the 2.7 release to indicate there were still problems (you can get a feel for it by doing a search on the forum for "total ascent" (with quotes)). I would suggest that you submit a bug report to Garmin on it. Good to see that the 60CSx works so well in the mountains and forests; did you have an external antenna? I was hiking in Canada this summer (without external antenna) in a heavily forested region. I never lost track, but had some wild track excursions going in, probably because it was using reflected signals. Coming out on the same trail it did pretty well. I for one would definitely be interested in seeing your track files. Quote Link to comment
DogFleazJR Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 By the way, I have a very detail track log of the "Cactus to Clouds" trail that we hiked on Oct 14, thanks to the 60CSx that allows me to log data onto Memory Card. I set the track log to record data in 2 second interval and collected over 27000 data points. I converted the track log data into Google Earth track and it looks very nice in Google Earth. If anyone interest it, I can email or upload it in both Google Earth or GPX format. DCHa TrailRegistry is a great place to record tracks like these for use by other hikers. It is certainly not perfect since the site seems to be a part-time hobby by the moderator and the data is user supplied, but I have found several useful tracks there. http://trailregistry.com Quote Link to comment
dcha Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 (edited) >Good to see that the 60CSx works so well in the mountains and forests; did you have an external antenna? I was hiking in Canada this summer (without external antenna) in a heavily forested region. I never lost track, but had some wild track excursions going in, probably because it was using reflected signals. Coming out on the same trail it did pretty well. I for one would definitely be interested in seeing your track files. Yes, I used Gilsson external antenna velcro it on my backpack shoulder trap, it worked very well. Any way, I don't see any option to attach a file on this message, please send me a PM with your email address and I will email the "Catus to Clouds" track to you, or do you know how to attach a file to this message forums? By the way, is there any program or shareware out there that can compute the "Total Ascent" or "Total Descent" from the track data? DCHa Edited October 21, 2006 by dcha Quote Link to comment
beautyisgod Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Where I can find mountains for Canada? like which one is the highest and where is the location? I want to find if there is one close to my place, then I want to take a hike Quote Link to comment
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