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Holding an eTrex Vista HCx with my hands reduces signal?


nfh

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Last weekend I went for an 8Km jogging and while lacking a better way to transport my Vista HCx, I held it with my hand for the entire run.

 

I opened the GPX track on Google Earth and the track doesn't seem as smooth as I would expect.

 

If one carries the GPS on his hand (as well as swing it back and forth while running), can that significantly affect the GPS signal reception?

 

By the way, is there any accessory (Garmin or any other brand) that enables one to carry the GPS unit on the arm or wrist?

Edited by nfh
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Depending on how you hold it, you could indeed be blocking the signal. Don't think swinging your arms would affect it as much as that would.

 

I bought a Foretrex 301 specifically for hiking and cycling. Wear it on my wrist when hiking -- and a bit of of plastic foam wrapped around my handlebars, it fits nicely there.

 

I don't know of any shoulder straps made specifically for Garmin GPS -- but you might look more generically at sporting good's/runners stores for something that could hold a cellphone in the right position (upper arm, shoulder).

Edited by lee_rimar
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lee, I was holding it with my right hand, in no particular way (back of the device to the palm of my hand, so that I could take a peek at the map once in a while).

 

jmundinger, can you provide me any link for that product, so that I can find a place where it is sold?

Edited by nfh
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I have found that the back and forth motion of the arm when running can throw off the signal and result in a inaccurate distance. I also have a belt clip that can be used. If I want to measure out a running route I will hold the GPSr steady and bike it.

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I have found that the Etrex HCx likes to be held face up and at a "bent arms length" from the torso for accurate readings. Also, Garmins default logging routines are pretty good for "general purpose" tracking, but for the best results I have found that setting the tracking log to 1 or 2 seconds (time) rather than distance or heading gives much more accurate results for tracks that are less than a few hours long. Like "lee_rimar", I also purchased a Forerunner (I got the 305) for running, biking, and hiking. It is much better suited for "turn it on and forget about it" operations. It seems to be less particular about antenna orientation, and it has the SirF chipset which I like much better that the Mediatek chipset found in the Etrex HCx. I almost always use them together and compare tracks after an adventure.

 

When I hike, I wear the Etrex on the top of my back pack's shoulder strap which points the antenna at the sky (for the most part), and the only obstruction that blocks it's view of the satellite constellation is my big fat head. Even so, I still think the tracks laied down by the Forerunner are smoother and are for the most part more repeatable than those laid down by the Etrex.

 

I love my Etrex, and would buy another in a heart beat if I lost the one I have now. However, I would also say the same thing about my Forerunner 305, and my Tomtom One Xl. Each has a task that it does best, and each has a week link that the other unit fills in perfectly for.

 

For now I would suggest you set the track log to record once every second (roughly the same cadence of your run), which should take the arm swing out of the equation, and check your results again. You may find that the results are within acceptable tolerances for measuring the distance of your run. Oh yeah, don't trust the trip meter for distance measurement (very inaccurate), and don't save your track! Load it as an "active log" directly into Mapsource and then save it there. Saving a track on the unit can seriously degrade the track accuracy if it has too many points (some sort of rounding routine is used to save memory space).

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[...] Oh yeah, don't trust the trip meter for distance measurement (very inaccurate), and don't save your track! Load it as an "active log" directly into Mapsource and then save it there. Saving a track on the unit can seriously degrade the track accuracy if it has too many points (some sort of rounding routine is used to save memory space).

 

I never rely on saved tracks for viewing the path where I passed. To do that I copy the GPX files that are created on the microSD card (those GPX files have all the information, as opposed to the saved tracks).

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