Garmin batteries

twager said:

Looking to buy rechargeable batteries for my gps but do not know which
type to get...Any advice appreciated..

I use 900ma NIMH rechargeables (garmin geko 301). A pair of these lasted
10 hours last weekend and still had charge at the end of the walk.

--
Mike
Some pictures of the Scottish highlands here http://www.prog99.com

On Thu, 11 May 2006 07:09:47 +0100, twager <[email hidden]>
wrote:

|Looking to buy rechargeable batteries for my gps but do not know which
|type to get...Any advice appreciated..

The highest capacity you can find, and lots of them. A charger in the car
is a good idea. Love my MAHA which charges them individually.
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk> Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

Look for NiMH on ebay, try this guy http://stores.ebay.co.uk/component-shop

I bought four 2600mAh NiMH batteries for a fiver.
They last 20 hours in my c60.

"twager" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Looking to buy rechargeable batteries for my gps but do not know which
type to get...Any advice appreciated..

--
Regards
Ted Wager G3TPI
High Peak UK
Using Mepis 6 Linux

We also have that garmin 301 and find that it chews through the AAA
batteries at a fantastic rate - on a good days walk normally get
through the best part of a set.

As previous people have said get the highest capacity ones you can
find!

James
http://www.wheresthepath.com

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from
the wonderful person twager <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

Looking to buy rechargeable batteries for my gps but do not know which
type to get...Any advice appreciated..

Well, it'd help to know what model Garmin, and thus whether you need
AAAs or AAs. I've found (cheap) VapExTech AAs (from Ebay) work as well
as more expensive Ansmann or Uniross models, but for heaven's sake get a
decent charger. Something smart enough to measure the cell voltages
(individually!) and stop when they're done - a timer version WON'T do it
right.

You can get 2600mAHr AAs and 900 mAHr AAAs now, although whether that
least 100mAHr (which is 35% of the cost, and 10% of the capacity) is
really worth paying for it up to you. Beware inflated claims though!

Oh, in case it wasn't obvious, you want NiHM not NiCad, and you need to
keep them topped up. My old 1500 or1800 mAHr cells will go completely
flat in ~3 months if stored. The newer ones (2200mAHr and up) seems to
last better, but they're still best fresh from the charger.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Google may be your friend, but groups.google.com posters definitely aren't.

twager <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Looking to buy rechargeable batteries for my gps but do not know which
type to get...Any advice appreciated..

Of equal (or maybe more) importance is the charger. Avoid those which rely
on a timer to end the charge. The best type will have a separate charging
circuit (and end point detection) for each cell.

Maha chargers are very good, I have the 401 which can also be used in a
car, see: http://www.mahaenergy.co.uk/acatalog/c4011fw.html

Present rechargable batteries do not work very well at low temperatures,
but a new battery from Sanyo has exceptional low temp performance. It is
not yet available in the UK though, but should be before the winter. See
the graph 2/3 of the way down this page:

http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4-eng/0511/1101-2e.html

73 John G3ZTY (Ex)

WheresThePath.com said:

We also have that garmin 301 and find that it chews through the AAA
batteries at a fantastic rate - on a good days walk normally get
through the best part of a set.

301, that's the one with the compass isn't it? Those electronic
compasses eat batteries like a very hungry thing that hasn't eaten in
a long while. Most users set them to only be on when they are
stationary if at all.

Quoted message said:

As previous people have said get the highest capacity ones you can
find!

NiMh ones have less memory effect than NiCd but it is best to keep
them in sets and rotate through the sets you have to keep them in good
condition. A really good charger also helps, the MAHA mentioned
elsewhere is good as it individually monitors each cell as do those
made by Ansmann.

--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from
the wonderful person twager <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

Looking to buy rechargeable batteries for my gps but do not know which
type to get...Any advice appreciated..

Well, it'd help to know what model Garmin, and thus whether you need
AAAs or AAs. I've found (cheap) VapExTech AAs (from Ebay) work as well
as more expensive Ansmann or Uniross models, but for heaven's sake get a
decent charger. Something smart enough to measure the cell voltages
(individually!) and stop when they're done - a timer version WON'T do it
right.

You can get 2600mAHr AAs and 900 mAHr AAAs now, although whether that
least 100mAHr (which is 35% of the cost, and 10% of the capacity) is
really worth paying for it up to you. Beware inflated claims though!

Oh, in case it wasn't obvious, you want NiHM not NiCad, and you need to
keep them topped up. My old 1500 or1800 mAHr cells will go completely
flat in ~3 months if stored. The newer ones (2200mAHr and up) seems to
last better, but they're still best fresh from the charger.

I'm running 2700 mAh Ansmanns in my digicam now. Seems like there's
another capacity increase every couple of months at the moment.

druidh

WheresThePath.com said:

We also have that garmin 301 and find that it chews through the AAA
batteries at a fantastic rate - on a good days walk normally get
through the best part of a set.

I always need two sets of 900mAh batteries on a full hill day with my
Geko 201 (i.e. no power-hungry compass) - six hours is the most I get
out of a pair. That's with decent batteries, charger that charges each
battery individually, and recharging immediately before use. There
seems to be a bit of variation between individual Gekos, and mine seems
to be of the hungrier variety. I don't blame it for that, after all I
don't miss out on a feast when I have a chance either...

Quoted message said:

As previous people have said get the highest capacity ones you can
find!

Indeed. And make sure you pair them up according to (actual, not
nominal) capacity: A good one and a dodgy one together make a dodgy
pair!
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales

Rudi Winter said:

WheresThePath.com said:

We also have that garmin 301 and find that it chews through the AAA
batteries at a fantastic rate - on a good days walk normally get
through the best part of a set.

I always need two sets of 900mAh batteries on a full hill day with my
Geko 201 (i.e. no power-hungry compass) - six hours is the most I get
out of a pair. That's with decent batteries, charger that charges each
battery individually, and recharging immediately before use. There
seems to be a bit of variation between individual Gekos, and mine seems
to be of the hungrier variety. I don't blame it for that, after all I
don't miss out on a feast when I have a chance either...

Does the 201 not have a battery saving mode like the 301?

I keep the compass turned off on mine.

--
Mike
Some pictures of the Scottish highlands here http://www.prog99.com

Mike said:

Does the 201 not have a battery saving mode like the 301?

It has, but it doesn't keep a good lock in battery saving mode.
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales

A lot of people have mentioned different chargers. Although i bought my last
set of batts fro ebay, i origonally bought my charger and batts from
Jessops.

Take a look at their web site for charger/battery deals - they're cheap and
you can buy them locally.

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from
the wonderful person twager <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

Looking to buy rechargeable batteries for my gps but do not know
which type to get...Any advice appreciated..

Well, it'd help to know what model Garmin, and thus whether you need
AAAs or AAs. I've found (cheap) VapExTech AAs (from Ebay) work as well
as more expensive Ansmann or Uniross models, but for heaven's sake
get a decent charger. Something smart enough to measure the cell
voltages (individually!) and stop when they're done - a timer version
WON'T do it right.

And for weight watchers without cars, but access to mains, the little
Uniross "Globe Trotter" mains travel charger is nice, having the basics for
cell voltage detection (about 80gms, 85*40*35mm when collapsed, charges AA
and AAA cells, in pairs, one or two pairs at a time). It costs around £20
if you shop around.

The UK adaptor plug is a bit suspect - mine has split around a join line,
though I was able to make a field repair which has lasted 6 or 7 uses over
the last two weeks (and will probably work fairly indefinitely). I've
reported it to the supplying shop, and await their reply on replacing that
part.

For home use I have a bigger faster charger, but for carrying on trips, even
with the adaptor plug failing, I'll keep using the Uniross.

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

In message <[email hidden]>

Mike said:

Rudi Winter said:

WheresThePath.com said:

We also have that garmin 301 and find that it chews through the AAA
batteries at a fantastic rate - on a good days walk normally get
through the best part of a set.

I always need two sets of 900mAh batteries on a full hill day with my
Geko 201 (i.e. no power-hungry compass) - six hours is the most I get
out of a pair. That's with decent batteries, charger that charges each
battery individually, and recharging immediately before use. There
seems to be a bit of variation between individual Gekos, and mine seems
to be of the hungrier variety. I don't blame it for that, after all I
don't miss out on a feast when I have a chance either...

Does the 201 not have a battery saving mode like the 301?

I keep the compass turned off on mine.

I have the Geko301. The unit is set to "normal" mode, I don't use
"battery save" mode because of the limitations of loosing lock in poor
conditions. I have the altimeter set to auto-calibrate. The compass is
turned off most of the time and can be activated with the shortcut long
button press if needed. In addition I have the unit set to revert to GPS
compass at a fairly low speed, and not to switch back to electronic
compass until stationary for a minute.

A set of NiMh cells generally lasts me for about 7 hours. I usually
carry two spare sets of cells for a long days outing. The Geko 301 plus
several sets of AAA cells is a lot less weight than my old Summit plus a
couple of sets of AA cells.

Mike
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
<\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
"> || _`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

In message <[email hidden]>

Roger said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from Mike Clark <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

A set of NiMh cells generally lasts me for about 7 hours. I usually
carry two spare sets of cells for a long days outing. The Geko 301 plus
several sets of AAA cells is a lot less weight than my old Summit plus a
couple of sets of AA cells.

Hmm. Do you drill holes in your equipment where possible and cut off
unnecessary features and excessive lengths of straps and laces? The
reason I ask is I have just weighed my old Summit and a pack of 4
batteries and they measure just half a lb on the kitchen scales. Ergo
your "lot less weight" must be considerably less than 8 ounces.

It varies on what I'm undertaking.

If it is simply a days walk in the UK then often the biggest factor
about weight are choices of whether I take the SLR and extra lenses or
make do with the compact zoom, or I take the 8x32 or the 8x20 Leica
binoculars.

If I'm going climbing then of course the size of the rack makes the
biggest impact. UK cragging my rack would usually be quite extensive,
but for an alpine route I'd probably trim it down to a much smaller
size.

For multi-day walking, or ski-touring I'm a lot more obsessive about
weight. I keep a spreadsheet with all the items I'm likely to be taking
and then can see immediately the overall estimate of weight. As I've
replaced various items over the years I've usually managed to get
lighter replacements, sometimes with a higher spec. Some of the big
savings have been in clothing, particularly shell jackets. This year I
purchased a Rab Event jacket which was several hundred grammes lighter
(and packed smaller) than my ME XCR jacket, which itself was a
replacement a few years ago for a much heavier ME 3 layer taslan gortex
jacket. Other significant savings have been in taking a superlight
ice-axe, and superlight alloy crampons.

Mike
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
<\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
"> || _`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

Ted Wager said:

twager said:

Looking to buy rechargeable batteries for my gps but do not know which
type to get...Any advice appreciated..

Thanks to all who replied...Batteries now in use...

It would be interesting to learn what batteries and in particular what
charger you opted for ... ?