GPSr Accessory Functions - Useful?

[+RB_Nielsen]

Does anyone ever use any of the accessory functions that comes with their GPSr. For example, my GPSr has a calendar function that I never use. It has a fishing prediction (good day or bad day to catch fish) function that I use occasionally, but find it hit/miss at best. It also has a game or two that I have not even looked at. What about your GPSr - and are there functions that INSTEAD you wish would replace them.

[+OzzieSan]

Gets used quite often on late in the day trips.

[dave and jaime]

i was actually wondering about the cities on the mag 315. can i replace bejing,china with something else? i believe that the programmimg code is c++. any suggestions?

[DARC]

Knowing when the sun will set will give you some idea when you should start to head back to your car or else face the prospect of trying to find it in the dark.

 

Fishing, Jumpmaster, Hunting, and Calculator are things that I have not had a need to use.

[+raouljan]

sunrise, sunset and moon phase is good.

 

However, I find that

menu -> menu -> celestail -> horoscope -> libra

to be worthless

 

I am kidding... but I compare my old Garmin 12 to the eTrex to the 76S and what I see is a lot more "non-GPSware" getting stuffed into these units to raise the price.

 

Memory space for maps = good, no question about that.. but in general I wish the elfs at Garmin were spending more of their time working on the front-end (antenna, receiver, GPS math) bits and less on the "fluff"

 

IMHO

 

>Personally Responsible for the Recovery of .00217% of the Benchmark Database!<--watch this number!

[Alphawolf]

I wish I could add a card for more memory in the built in digital camera! 36 pictures isn't enough!

[Alphawolf]

But I do love the Moon & Sun data! I like knowing when I need to start hiking to get to a spot to fish within 30 min. of sunrise, or knowing when sunset will be so I can be there and have my photography gear set up for some sunset shots in Canyonlands! The calendar and games are a total waste for me. I haven't been into them since my V was 2 hours old. And some of the custom fields in the trip computer are a total waste for me also. I mean come on...who really uses VMG?(and a lot of others in there) And one final note...Isn't it about time to offer a USB cord? I mean geeeez!

[Couch_Potato]

All of those accessory functions are mostly useless. The Sun&Moon is the only one worth keeping. The rest just seem to be a waste of code. I wish I could delete them off the GPSr like I can delete apps off my Palm.

 

I'm not lost!

I just don't know where I am.

[+Gimpy]

I did, just for the heck of it, play the Pong game on my Garmin V once. Why the put it on there is beyond me. But I played. Pretty doubtful I'll ever use it again, though.

 

"Gimpy"

[gm100guy]

I use the function to give the travel time and let the kids hold the GPS in the car so they stop asking me "when will we be there"

 

 

gm100guy

http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm

[gm100guy]

I use the function to give the travel time and let the kids hold the GPS in the car so they stop asking me "when will we be there"

 

 

gm100guy

http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm

[+Rich in NEPA]

 

I was vacationing on the upper Maine coast during the first half of September and the built-in tide calculations were extremely useful and quite accurate (don't want to get stuck in those sea caves at high tide!). Also, knowing the sunrise/sunset times for various days was very helpful for planning photo sessions.

 

Cheers ...

 

~Rich in NEPA~

 

 

=== A man with a GPS receiver knows where he is; a man with two GPS receivers is never sure. ===

[+apersson850]

I've used the VMG value.

I don't think it's up to one user to determine which values are useful or not at the trip computer page. I'm still longing for some more. Like timer of most recent pause (starts from zero each time your speed goes down to 0 km/h).

 

The acessories is something else.

 

Personally, I look at sun/moon quite often, do use the calendar (for geocaching related notes, for example), use the hunt and fish as a random number generator, have used the area calculation several times, do use the calculator for useful things occasionally (if I don't have any more ergonomic type available) but have only studied what the jump master could be used for.

 

My kids play with games is phones, so they may be interested in playing, if there was any game built-in. But a Gameboy or so would work better!

 

Anders

[bstevent]

posted September 22, 2002 06:21 AM  

Rich in NEPA wrote:

Celestial functions ...

 

I was vacationing on the upper Maine coast during the first half of September and the built-in tide calculations were extremely useful and quite accurate (don't want to get stuck in those sea caves at high tide!). Also, knowing the sunrise/sunset times for various days was very helpful for planning photo sessions.

 

_____

 

How DOES one read the high and low tides on an Etrex Legend? It appears that they are related to the best fishing times in the Hunt & Fish Accessory (or are they elsewhere?) but I'm not sure which of the times is which.