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All together now.....AAawwwwww!


Hairy Little Dwarf

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At the moment,I am between GPSr's having sold my toy eTrex and waiting for a 'proper' GPSr icon_smile.gif

 

It's amazing how big and lonely the world is when you don't know your exact lat/long at any given time!

 

...and incredibly mundane when you are unable to hunt caches and have to seek the trusty Geocaching.com to vicariously enjoy others findsicon_wink.gif

 

The notches are being scratched in the wall already....

 

Hairy Little Dwarf

icon_rolleyes.gif

(cacher stuck in limbo - although if I had a GPSr on me, I would know where Limbo is)

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The time you really need your GPS is when you are out in the bush, under the canopy of the bush you are in which dramaticly reduces the amount of signal from the satellites available to your GPS receiver.

 

Unfortunately that is the time your eTrex will let you down. It's a great little unit, some of the features are awesum, the problem is, it's deaf when it comes to receiving weak signals.

 

Whats the point in having a GPS with you when you are tramping if it's not going to perform when you really need it. I upgraded my (bought new) eTrex to a (bought second hand) GPS12 and was immediately able to locate 3 caches I'd been unable to find previously, and the coverage at those caches isn't heavy.

 

Before selling the eTrex I took both units side by side into one of the caches mounted on a perspex bracket, the GPS12 maintained coverage all the way, the eTrex lost coverage only a short distance into the track.

 

Whilst at the cache I ate lunch, and left both GPS units running side by side (for over 10 minutes), the GPS12 had a full complement of satellites and a 3D fix, the eTrex didn't have a single satellite locked. This bush wasn't particularly heavy either, it even had a clearing where we were sitting.

 

So there's my reasons for encouraging people to buy GPS12's, and for discouraging eTrex's. I'd hate to think a geocacher (or anyone for that matter) would be tramping in bush using an eTrex for navigation purposes, they simply aren't up to the task. Besides that, you can buy a second hand GPS12 unit for less than a new eTrex whilst supporting a geocacher. So thats what I promote.

 

Hopefully that clarifies ,my stand on eTrexs icon_biggrin.gif.

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My Map76S maintains good lock, easy to see where you are on the map screen - even though Garmin Mapsource maps are really old it does have most of the old gravel roads. Wouldn't be without it for driving in the unknown. Hard to justify the price for just Geocaching though.

 

If anyone in Chch wants to evaluate the 76S, just send me an email.

 

Ciao,

Brent

 

hmm3grin1orange.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by tgsnoopy:

The time you really need your GPS is when you are out in the bush, under the canopy of the bush you are in which dramaticly reduces the amount of signal from the satellites available to your GPS receiver.


Ok, I will have to concede that this is true when in the bush. The constant loss of signals does play havoc with the trip count and track log. Bernadette and I did the Manawatu Gorge Walk which is through quite heavy bush. When we had finished the walk the trip count said we had done 854km - not bad for 3.5hrs walking icon_wink.gif

I am still hanging out for the Magellan Meridan Platinum when they get the NZ maps sorted - these apparently have even better antennas than the GPS12 (same quad helix type antenna as Brentc's Map76S which should be very good)

Cheers

Nick.

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Originally posted by tgsnoopy:

The time you really need your GPS is when you are out in the bush

.....clipped....

Whats the point in having a GPS with you when you are tramping if it's not going to perform when you really need it. QUOTE]

 

That's why I never rely on a GPS. A Map (even a saturated one) and a compass - as long as you know how to use them will save you long after the forty spare GPS batteries you took in have been used icon_smile.gif

 

A GPS is a Nav AID, not a panacea (besides, Panaceas are much dearer).

 

Hairy

(Now with a nice new GPS icon_smile.gif

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Good point, and yes I have quite a collection of Topo maps, and a compass with me most of the time. But boy that aid sure makes life easy. Hmm, I'd be stuck for days before I exhausted the spare batteries I carry with me. Ah well, as long as the satellite signals are there, I'll be a lazy boy. icon_biggrin.gif

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One of my tricks is to turn around now and then and look back where you have come from. This is very useful if you have to backtrack for any reason.

Another good trick is finding north using your watch- face the 12 to the sun, north is halfway between the 12 and the hour hand (the shortest gap ie at 4 oclock north is at 2oclock)

Try it, it really does work!!! If you have a digital watch you have to imagine that your watch has an hour hand!!! icon_biggrin.gif

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...Unless you are tramping on one of those weekends when daylight saving kicks in/out icon_wink.gif

 

When you go really feral, there's only two times you need to worry about: Daytime & night-time!

...'course it also helps to keep track of how long you've been in, or nice people in bright raincoats come looking for you, eh Steve? icon_smile.gif

 

A friend helps you move house. A REAL friend helps you move a body!

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The Garmin Rhino's will not be offered for sale in NZ at this stage. It is illegal to import them. They contain UHF transceivers operating on the US FRS frequenecies. Operation of these units will interfer with commercial radio operations and render the operator liable for a fine up to NZ$100,000.00 and the importer up to NZ$250,000.00 icon_eek.gif. Please don't import any of these units.

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quote:
Originally posted by tgsnoopy:

Operation of these units will interfer with commercial radio operations and render the operator liable for a fine up to NZ$100,000.00 and the importer up to NZ$250,000.00


Nuts, I thought these would be very cool, especially if enough people got them (as Brentc said, lots of potential for GPS games) - but those fines are a little steep!

 

I guess if they are ever made for NZ frequences then you will have to buy them NZ retail and they will be at least twice the price that Brentc quoted icon_frown.gif

 

I wonder if HLD has got his GPS12 yet and how he has found it compared to the eTrex?

 

Cheers

Nick.

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Well, I've never heard of anywhere near that size fine being applied. In fact if you imported one or two I doubt you would get much more than an written warning and ordered to have the transmitter disabled.

 

However, they are the maximum fines that could be applied. It's a nice unit, and it is likely that they will be modified and imported (or visa versa) at some stage in the future, please be patient. icon_wink.gif

 

I did of course need to point out the legal situation with these units to hopefully prevent someone falling into a difficult legal situation. I'd hate to think someone imported one of these and was caught out.

 

The other side of the coin is that there are already a reasonable number of FRS radios here in NZ being used and causing interference. Fortunately they are usually only used intermittantly causing short bursts of interference (usually by children, as a toy).

 

Fortunately the genuine channel users aren't usually on exactly the same frequency, have higher power transmitters (9dB or 8 times the output power) and are able to over power the illegal devices. As commercial operators usually have CTCSS tones in use they don't even hear the interference. Some people claim they don't interfer because of this, however it's the real problem.

 

Occasionally you'll end up with a situation where the two legal users are a reasonable distance apart and have low level signals between themselves as a result. Then a pair of illegal FRS users might appear close to one legal user and have a stronger signal than the person he's trying to talk to. As the legal users are likely to be using CTCSS tones, they won't hear the overpowering illegal signal and won't hear the other legal user intermittantly whilst the illegal users are transmitting. This could have serious safety implications.

 

Never fear however, NZ has RFS29 frequency allocations close to the FRS frequencies. FRS radios have been modified to operate on RFS29 frequencies, and it is being looked at for the new Garmin Rhino's. We just need to be patient because these things take time. icon_smile.gif

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Yes Nick, I got the 12 about 2 weeks ago now.

Although up to now (apart from some playing...er, sorry, preliminary tests) seems to be on a par with the eTrex, haven't done any bush work yet.

 

So far, there are goods and bads (IMHO).

The 12 is noticably more substantial, but I find the keys much easier to use than the yellow (eTrex "designed" to be operated in left hand but try as I might could not get comfortable with it)

The alphanumeric naming of waypoints on the 12 is easier. The eTrex looked nicer icon_smile.gif and had a quicker pickup of satellites. Averaging of waypoints with the 12 is a nice touch, but not essential.

 

At this stage (haven't done any caches yet) I would call them evens - a genuinely unbiased opinion there icon_wink.gif

 

Hairy

 

A friend helps you move house. A REAL friend helps you move a body!

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Just returned from bashing up a stream looking for old copper mines. Previously, the Etrex left me on my own and sulked, once it lost its lock...that's it.

 

The 12 however, whilst complaining occasionally of poor lock(usually when I was trying not to fall down waterfalls hidden in Parataniwha) still held me to 15m accuracy and picked up satellites quickly once I was right way up. This was under 80% broadleaf canopy, mostly Puriri and Mamaku.

 

I have to say, if my 12 was abducted by aliens, I wouldn't reconsider an eTrex...but time will tell.

 

Hairy

Although, T-Rex fans will appreciate statistics:

100% of my previous cache finds were with the Yellow. I have currently found no caches whatsoever with the 12 icon_wink.gif

 

A friend helps you move house. A REAL friend helps you move a body!

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The Garmin Rino may not be available here but Benefon GPS/GSM mobile phones are now available.

 

See www.benefon.com for details of the Track, Track Pro and Esc! phones. The Esc! is a pretty cool bit of kit with its built in maps but unfortunatley costs just over $2000 retail. If anyone is interested though please talk to me before buying one, I may be able to save you a bit.

 

I've been doing some work on tracking these through the www.wherearewe.co.nz web site and have been thinking about recreational uses for them as well. I've got a Track Pro that I would be willing to loan if anyone has any ideas for a game based around it.

 

If anyone wants to try tracking my phone get in touch and I'll give you the number and SMS command you need to send it.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

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quote:
Originally posted by gazzanic:

I've been doing some work on tracking these through the http://www.wherearewe.co.nz web site and have been thinking about recreational uses for them as well. I've got a Track Pro that I would be willing to loan if anyone has any ideas for a game based around it.


Hey now that is very cool, gosh the SDK's are expensive... I wonder if the Geocaching Fox Hunt was played with one of these?

Just out of interest, what is the phone you have worth (I want to upgrade my phone, 'tho by the looks of it, this does not have GPRS icon_frown.gif) and does anyone actually stock them to have a look at?

Cheers

Nick.

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The Track Pro, which I would recommend above the Track One, has a recommended retail of $1670 plus GST, get it through me and I'll save you a bit plus you'll help the WhereAreWe site out. I'm not sure what the SDK is but I can find out if you like.

 

I believe the phones are available in selected Vodafone outlets, contact me off list and I'll find out your nearest stockist.

 

I think that Benefon are working on a GPRS version but don't quote me on that.

 

Cheers

 

Gazza

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I am using a magellan gps 320, I've only had it for a week or two, so far it is performing well, has some great features in it including nz cities, towns, airports, nav aids (nautical), etc, heaps of map screens where all are user customisible, etc. etc. icon_smile.gif

 

One thing is I am curious as to wheather anyone else is using one and how they find it.

 

cheers

 

Stoney

 

It's worth a crack....whats there to lose....

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