Unwanted Miles DeLorme PN20 and Others

[ruko]

Scenario: I trail ride with GPS on my bicycle, taking my bike to the trail head by car. At the end of the ride, I shut the GPS off, load the bike and drive home. When I turn it back on at home to look at my track, it adds the miles from the trail head to my home when it gets a satellite fix. These are useless straight line miles traveled in my car with the GPS turned off which I don’t need or want. I have experience with a Magellan, a Garmin Etrex Venture and a DeLorme PN20. The Garmin, which I sold to upgrade, did not add the miles traveled in the car. When it was off it was off. Both the Magellan and the PN20 add the unwanted miles when they get a satellite fix. I have tried disabling the GPS, pulling the batteries, saving the track before the unit gets a fix, etc. Nothing works.

 

Question: I am curious if anyone knows of a high quality mapping handheld GPS receiver that does not do this?

 

Thanks.

[+GOT GPS?]

Is this problem on the Trip computer screen, or the Tracklog itself?

 

On the older Magellans, the Trip computer screen would under report the distance, plus all Magellans, had one long unsegmented tracklog, you had to segment yourself, to see what you hiked, versus what you drove. I been through 3 Colorados, and the last one, had a big problem with the tracklog, even after a full reset, and loading the latest firmware. Some of the latest Garmins, have Trip Odometer problems like the Magellans, due to the Mediatek chip, I believe. The new eTrexes, and the Colorados, are having problems with accuracy, I believe, due to the Mediatek chip.

 

A good all around GPS for many uses, like Autorouting and hiking, is the Map60CSx.

[PerryB2]

On the PN-20 the Trip Odometer does not add in extra miles while the GPS is off and the track log does not either.

[ruko]

Is this problem on the Trip computer screen, or the Tracklog itself?

 

Thanks for responding,

 

This is the trip odometer, and the device or overall odometer. It adds the miles to both. It does not add them to the track log. The reason I don't want these worthless miles recorded is I want to keep track of the total miles ridden on my bicycle for the year and I want to store them on the GPS unit. I could do this with the lowly Etrex Venture.

[ruko]

On the PN-20 the Trip Odometer does not add in extra miles while the GPS is off and the track log does not either.

 

Right, not when its turned off but when it is turned back on in another place. It remembers where you were when you shut it off and when you turn it back on in another place it will add the distance between those two points. Try it. Example, drive 1 mile with the unit turned on, shut it off and drive back to where you started. Now turn the unit on, let it get a fix and then check your mileage on the device odometer and trip odometer. You will see 2 miles. DeLorme says this is the nature of the unit. I'm waiting for Garmin's answer on the 60cs.

[+Klemmer]

I agree. My ole' Venture did a better job in that one respect (but not 50 or so other functions).

 

After I hike or bike, I save the track on my PN-20. Sometimes I download them to Topo USA, or not. One tip: while the track is in the GPS, highlight it on the track menu, and hit enter. You get the miles in the track, as well as other data about it (date/time saved, trip time). I'm pretty sure my Venture or Meridian didn't do that.

[PerryB2]

On the PN-20 the Trip Odometer does not add in extra miles while the GPS is off and the track log does not either.

 

Right, not when its turned off but when it is turned back on in another place. It remembers where you were when you shut it off and when you turn it back on in another place it will add the distance between those two points. Try it. Example, drive 1 mile with the unit turned on, shut it off and drive back to where you started. Now turn the unit on, let it get a fix and then check your mileage on the device odometer and trip odometer. You will see 2 miles. DeLorme says this is the nature of the unit. I'm waiting for Garmin's answer on the 60cs.

Using your example, on my PN-20 the trip odometer will only show one mile. I’ve checked it. The device odometer will show two miles. I don’t know what could be different about your unit. FW version? Something in setup?

[ruko]

On the PN-20 the Trip Odometer does not add in extra miles while the GPS is off and the track log does not either.

 

Using your example, on my PN-20 the trip odometer will only show one mile. I’ve checked it. The device odometer will show two miles. I don’t know what could be different about your unit. FW version? Something in setup?

 

I have the latest FW. Maybe I am mistaken about the trip odometer. I'll try it again tomorrow. I sure wish it didn't add those useless miles to the device odometer. It makes the device odometer mostly worthless in my case. If I'm mistaken about the trip odometer I perhaps can use the trip odometer as the device odometer and zero out the device odometer at the beginning of my rides. I'll leave the trip odometer alone and just let it add the total miles.

[ruko]

On the PN-20 the Trip Odometer does not add in extra miles while the GPS is off and the track log does not either.

 

Using your example, on my PN-20 the trip odometer will only show one mile. I’ve checked it. The device odometer will show two miles. I don’t know what could be different about your unit. FW version? Something in setup?

 

I have the latest FW. Maybe I am mistaken about the trip odometer. I'll try it again tomorrow. I sure wish it didn't add those useless miles to the device odometer. It makes the device odometer mostly worthless in my case. If I'm mistaken about the trip odometer I perhaps can use the trip odometer as the device odometer and zero out the device odometer at the beginning of my rides. I'll leave the trip odometer alone and just let it add the total miles.

[ruko]

On the PN-20 the Trip Odometer does not add in extra miles while the GPS is off and the track log does not either.

 

Using your example, on my PN-20 the trip odometer will only show one mile. I’ve checked it. The device odometer will show two miles. I don’t know what could be different about your unit. FW version? Something in setup?

 

I have the latest FW. Maybe I am mistaken about the trip odometer. I'll try it again tomorrow. I sure wish it didn't add those useless miles to the device odometer. It makes the device odometer mostly worthless in my case. If I'm mistaken about the trip odometer I perhaps can use the trip odometer as the device odometer and zero out the device odometer at the beginning of my rides. I'll leave the trip odometer alone and just let it add the total miles.

 

I did my example and the unwanted miles are definitely added to both the trip and device odometer. I had on the large text screen with the speed, trip and device odometer showing. I turned the unit on after the trip and the instant a fix was received, both numbers changed before my eyes. Got any ideas why yours doesn't do this and mine does? Think it's because I am not saving the track?

[PerryB2]

<Think it's because I am not saving the track?> I don't "Save" the tracks on the GPS.

[Grasscatcher]

Stop and think about what you are asking for.......A GPS that doesn't lock onto satellites and determine your position EXCEPT when you "WILL" it to.

 

Sorry, but that AIN't gonna happen!

 

When you get back to the house, download the track and edit out that part that you don't like.

 

If you "Clear" the track log before your ride and "Save" the track at the end of your ride. that "saved" copy of the track won't have the "tail" that you don't like , but it also will be limited to 500 trackpoints and will not have the elevation and speed data for the track.

When you download your GPS to your PC you will have two copies of the track. One will be the "saved" copy described above, and the other will be the "Active Log"

The "Active Log" copy will have "ALL" the data....but will also include the "tail".

Just edit off the unwanted portion, rename the "Active Log" to ...whatever....and go on your merry way and be happy!

[+benjamin921]

I usually save my tracks or turn off the track recording when done riding, exchange it to the PC and clean it up if I have to but never get those long straight lines like I used to on the Garmin. Try saving the track when done or just turn off the recording.

 

.. but it also will be limited to 500 trackpoints and will not have the elevation and speed data for the track.

The PN-20 will store up to 10,000 points no matte what. The Garmin will do only the 500 points if you rename it.

[ruko]

<Sorry, but that AIN't gonna happen!>

 

Beg to differ sir. My Etrex Venture Garmin did not do this. I logged over 8000 bicycled miles on that unit before I sold it to upgrade to the PN20. When I shut the Venture off in one place and turned it back on in another place it did NOT ridiculously record the straight line miles, "as the crow flies", between the two points. This is the same kind of performance I was expecting going to the PN20 from a relatively low end Garmin. The PN20 has probably 100 times the capabilities in all areas over the Venture except for the device odometer, which is worthless.

 

So, yes it can happen! And I did not have to "will" the Venture to do it, it just did it all by itself.

 

I want to keep track of miles ridden on my bicycle with a workable odometer and GPS capabilities, which I could do with the Venture, and I don't want to have to download, delete what I don't want, edit this and that, etc.

[+benjamin921]

Weird. I always had that straight line on my Garmin until I started saving the track when I was done riding. I got so used to doing that, it has always been what I have done for the past 5 years or so.

[GPS-Hermit]

That is what I do as well - I save the track, give it a name and then load it back in or veiw its miles on the menu.

 

If you download the track to a map program you can adjust all your stop clusters, side bouts, turn arounds and rogue points and reload it back into the GPS as well. It will look much better and is a better track to give your friends.

[+GOT GPS?]

Does the PN-20 create a new tracklog segment each time it is turned on?

 

If the GPS does not show you the same value on the Odometer/Trip Odom, as the last time you used it, as it is acquiring the satellites upon startup, then it sounds like it maybe depending on the tracklog itself to determine how far it has gone each second.(just guessing at this).

 

To get better answers with these problems, with using the PN-20 as a bike computer, go check out the Delorme Forums here:

http://forum.delorme.com/viewforum.php?f=9...9d7ff71b26cc985

 

Best place to get answers.

[+qlenfg]

In looking at the big picture, it appears the GPS is assuming it lost signal and its doing what its supposed to do when it regains the signal -- connecting where it was last with where it is now. Not that it should actually do this when you intentionally power it off, but apparently it is.

 

Not sure about the Delorme models, but with Garmins if you save the track you can view the track in Mapsource and it will tell you how long it is -- a possible work-around if the trip computer records the total mileage.

[+Team DeLorme]

My apologies for the delay in replying to this thread... we have confirmed the bug that the original poster described and have fixed the problem for the next firmware release. This update is scheduled to release in mid-summer to correspond with desktop work currently in progress. Thank you for your help in identifying the problem as well as your patience while we address the issue.

 

Chip Noble

Team DeLorme

[+Klemmer]

Now there's a response for you! Thanks Chip! I've seen the same thing with my PN-20, and just learned to live with it. But fixing it is good, too! I usually look at the tracks on the computer anyway.