New 60CSx and "wandering" question

[scotthsi]

I know this has probably been covered many times before here, but I didn't see an answer suitable to my question. So...

 

I have a new 60CSx and have been out with it a few times. I know there is going to be some "bouncing around" when stopped due to the high sensitivity receiver and inherent inaccuracies. But, is there a way to automatically have the trip odometer NOT record the extra "bouncing around" distance when stopped? Say, if you are below a certain speed, then just "pin" your position until you start moving and exceed the stopped speed threshold? The wandering is fine and unavoidable, but I want to know if there is a way to not have stopped time wandering distance recorded in the overall trip distance. Yes, I could turn it off or turn the gps part off when stopped, but when it comes back on, even greater erroneous distances are added as it really "bounces around" before the lock settles down and I get a decent accuracy reading. Thanks in advance.

[+larryc43230]

I know this has probably been covered many times before here, but I didn't see an answer suitable to my question. So...

 

I have a new 60CSx and have been out with it a few times. I know there is going to be some "bouncing around" when stopped due to the high sensitivity receiver and inherent inaccuracies. But, is there a way to automatically have the trip odometer NOT record the extra "bouncing around" distance when stopped? Say, if you are below a certain speed, then just "pin" your position until you start moving and exceed the stopped speed threshold? The wandering is fine and unavoidable, but I want to know if there is a way to not have stopped time wandering distance recorded in the overall trip distance. Yes, I could turn it off or turn the gps part off when stopped, but when it comes back on, even greater erroneous distances are added as it really "bounces around" before the lock settles down and I get a decent accuracy reading. Thanks in advance.

As far as I know, there's no way to accomplish this, and I've been using my 60CSx for more than three years now. It's something I simply learned to live with.

 

--Larry

[scotthsi]

As far as I know, there's no way to accomplish this, and I've been using my 60CSx for more than three years now. It's something I simply learned to live with.

 

--Larry

 

Thanks, Larry. I can turn the track log off so it doesn't waste track points. Just wish I could do the same and not have those "wandering" points count against the trip odometer. I thought I'd try just turning it off when we sat down to have a snack for 20 minutes or so, but when I turned it back on and it was acquiring lock again...it bounced around MUCH more adding even more error. Same thing if I just turned the GPS part off and back on on the satellite status page without turning the entire unit off.

[+larryc43230]

As far as I know, there's no way to accomplish this, and I've been using my 60CSx for more than three years now. It's something I simply learned to live with.

 

--Larry

 

Thanks, Larry. I can turn the track log off so it doesn't waste track points. Just wish I could do the same and not have those "wandering" points count against the trip odometer. I thought I'd try just turning it off when we sat down to have a snack for 20 minutes or so, but when I turned it back on and it was acquiring lock again...it bounced around MUCH more adding even more error. Same thing if I just turned the GPS part off and back on on the satellite status page without turning the entire unit off.

Been there, tried that, got the same result. I'm guessing this is true for most GPS units, but don't know for sure. Then again, I don't really use the trip odometer in any way that causes this to be a problem for me, so I never worried about it much.

 

--Larry

[scotthsi]

Still, after a day of hiking and stopping to eat, look at things, etc, it's nice to know how far you actually walked.

[+larryc43230]

Still, after a day of hiking and stopping to eat, look at things, etc, it's nice to know how far you actually walked.

I use a pedometer.

 

--Larry

[scotthsi]

Still, after a day of hiking and stopping to eat, look at things, etc, it's nice to know how far you actually walked.

I use a pedometer.

 

--Larry

 

And you're going to tell me that thing is dead on calibrated for your stride, up hill, down hill, when you're fresh, tired, carrying a heavy/light/NO backpack, etc? Hmmm???

 

What about hiking to a point and crossing water via canoe/kayak? How good is your pedometer then? Not very...

[ao318]

I have a 60csx also and noticed the same. I usually don't worry about it. I am not into exact numbers when I hike just approximates. Whenever anyone asks me how far the hike was I usually tell them something like, "4 1/2 miles or so". I don't think people really care to hear, nor do I want to tell them, I walked 4.39 miles or 4.46 miles.

 

Using the "track" feature is nice and as you stated can turn that off and on again. When you get home, you can enter your track and that will give you a distance also. Compare this to your odometer and see what the average difference is for your hikes and take that into consideration when you are logging miles for your hikes.

[seldom_sn]

Yesterday, while I was trying to figure out Trimble Planning, my 60CSX spent about 50 minutes sitting on a rock in my back yard. It also made several 100' excursions into and out of my house.

 

During that time the tracklog on the card says it recorded 145 points, traveled .6 miles, and gained about 150' in elevation.

 

Looking at the trip computer for the same time, it tells me that I have spent 8 minutes moving, and 42 stopped, and that I had traveled .11 miles. (Maybe 5 trips to or from the house.)

 

Clearly, there's something in the unit that can figure stopped time. And this may be a reason for saving tracks to the unit as well as the card.