Meridian Question

[Guest ctrem76]

Hello Everyone,

 

This is my first post and i have a 2 simple Questions.

 

I have been reading everyones post about the meridan line units. Well I was hoping members could give me some feed back on which unit to buy the Gold or the Platnium model?

And is the compass/altimeter worth the extra 1 month plus wait and price difrence?

 

All suggestions will be greatly appriceated and thanks to all

[Guest navdog]

The compass/altimeter is only an issue if you think you might use it. I like those features on my Vista because I do a lot of hiking and camping. But for gecaching it is not necessary.

Although having the compass and the display of distance to cache on one page/screen is very helpful in closing in on the cache location when you get close.

 

[This message has been edited by navdog (edited 18 October 2001).]

[Guest brokenwing]

I should also point out that the Platinum does not say it has a Barometric Altimeter. It claims to have a Barometer only.

 

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http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching

[Guest davestill]

quote:

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brokenwing said:

I should also point out that the Platinum does not say it has a Barometric Altimeter. It claims to have a Barometer only.

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Here's what it says at the magellan site:

quote:

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Barometer tracks baromtric pressure like a weather station.

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Yes, what's up with that? I can't imagine a barometer by itself being all that useful. I'd guess that this really will be an altimeter, and that significant detail got lost somewhere.

 

Dave

[Guest prv8eye]

quote:

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Originally posted by davestill:

Here's what it says at the magellan site:

quote:

---

Barometer tracks baromtric pressure like a weather station.

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Yes, what's up with that? I can't imagine a barometer by itself being all that useful. I'd guess that this really will be an altimeter, and that significant detail got lost somewhere.

Dave

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Dave,

I hope you're right about the details. A barometer is used to predict weather. Maybe the Platinum will only give you an indication that it's about to rain .

 

Gus

[Guest jeremy]

quote:

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Originally posted by prv8eye:

Dave,

I hope you're right about the details. A barometer is used to predict weather. Maybe the Platinum will only give you an indication that it's about to rain .

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An altimeter is a barometer. It's an aneroid barometer that specifically measures altitude.

 

Jeremy

[Guest ClayJar]

quote:

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Originally posted by jeremy:

An altimeter is a barometer. It's an aneroid barometer that specifically measures altitude.

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[Ed. Note: Engineering degrees make people sticklers for details.]

 

To be a bit more correct, an altimeter would be an aneroid barometer which specifically measures barometric pressure and displays a computed altitude based on a known pressure/altitude pair (the calibration) and a function for pressure as a function of height.

 

(I'm going to have to break out my reference books to satify my curiosity as to the temperature dependence of the pressure/altitude function.)

[Guest jeremy]

Hoo boy

[Guest brokenwing]

point. Magellan only claims this is a barometer, not an altimeter. They claim it's like a weather station, afterall.

 

On another note, there are altimeters that are not barometric, what do you think the altitude display on your GPSR is?

 

brokenwing

 

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http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching

 

[This message has been edited by brokenwing (edited 19 October 2001).]

[Guest brokenwing]

point. Magellan only claims this is a barometer, not an altimeter. They claim it's like a weather station, afterall.

 

On another note, there are altimeters that are not barometric, what do you think the altitude display on your GPSR is?

 

brokenwing

 

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http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching

 

[This message has been edited by brokenwing (edited 19 October 2001).]

[Guest navdog]

All that said and done:

A true barometric altimeter is not as useful or important as an electronic compass. The gpsr with propoer sat lock gives you elevation and it looks like the Meridians can give you elevation profiles if you have the Topo CD installed, which is a similar function to the Vista and Summit altimeter.