How fast must you walk to keep the new units oriented

[zjdeere]

I have found that with my current GPS Garmin III, I have to walk (nearly a trot) at a pretty good speed to keep the unit oriented. The speed is fast enough where my young children don't keep up very well, at least not untill we get close to the cache.

 

I will soon be purchasing a new unit, probably the Garmin GPS Map 76. Can anyone tell me how fast they move to keep their newer unit oriented. It seems like when I last checked the speed on mine it was around 3.5 mph to get a reliable orientation. Thanks!

[Couch_Potato]

I have an eTrex Legend and it stays oriented even at a slow walk, less than 2mph. I have no experience with the GPS76 so I leave it up to others to comment.

 

If having correct orientation at slow speeds is a primary concern buy a unit with an electronic compass. They stay oriented even as a dead stop assuming that it is calibrated correctly and it is held completely flat.

 

I'm not lost!

I just don't know where I am.

[+KYtrex]

I have a Garmin Etrex basic. When I first bought it, it behaved like your GIII. I had to walk at a pretty good clip for it to work. I bought a computer cable and updated the firmware to the latest and that solved the problem. Now all I have to do is take a couple of steps and it starts pointing the right direction and showing speed as soon as I start moving. You might want to check your firmware version and see if Garmin has an update. You can also read about the changes from one update to another and it should tell you if they have improved your problem. One last thing, I just took a quick look at Garmin's firmware updates for the III+ and didn't see anything mentioned about improving low speed accuracy. You still might want to look for yourself, though. Good luck

 

KYtrex

[Geonavigator]

Check the setting on the "speed filter". Go to Main Menu... then... Setup...units...at the bottom...Speed Filter... try..."Auto" setting to speed corrections. This is the option on the Map76S.(GPS111 ?) The MAP 76S is two seconds to correct position and direction. Without changing position and the Electronic Compass on, any change horizontal direction of the GPS, will record as a heading change.

[+Gloom]

With my 315 I could almost crawl (provided I have good reception) and it'll keep my heading. However little things such as bringing it up from my waist can affect the direction of travel. It's pretty touchy.

 

----

Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

[+park2]

I find the coverage affects this a lot. If I'm on the bald prairie, it only takes a couple steps, but with big wet trees around, it really struggles to figure out where I am going.

 

BTW I have a Vista and before had a G12, both acted similarily.

[+Team Hoijong]

I have magellan 310.. and i don't have any problems..

 

When i want a compass reading from the magellan i just walk strait for 5 meters at normal walking speed and then stop and look at the compass reading.. it works fine for me..

 

Don't mather how far you get from home, you will always get back there to get out again

[+infosponge]

With my Meridian, with decent WAAS conditions, it usually only takes two steps to handle a 45 degree turn and re-orient properly. It might take 4 steps to re-orient to a 180 degree turn.

If I'm near the cache and circling and stopping and changing direction a lot, I usually just rely on the solar position indicator to make sure the compass is (roughly) aligned.

[+Waterboy]

I waited a few days to answer this question. I wanted to do some field testing with my Garmin III plus. Since this unit only orients itself by calculating a difference in position, it appears that it is the distance you travel, not the speed. The time to update is also dependent on the Expected Position Error or EPE.

 

In other words the orientation will update itself approximately twice as fast when walking at 3 mph than when walking at 1.5. It will update faster on an open field than in thick foliage.

 

I do not know about your Garmin III, but the three plus will update the orientation while traveling at 0.5 mph, but it takes a long time.

[+apersson850]

My Vista usually requires a movement of a few meters, or sometimes a fraction of a meter, to determine which the new heading is.

 

Anders