GPS - Should I upgrade

On 4/4/04 6:09 pm, in article
[email hidden], "Alan"

Quoted message said:

I have used my Garmin Etrex successfully for a number of
years on day walks. I am about to embark on a long (for
me) walk - 100kms over 4 days and wonder whether the Etrex
will be able to hold all the track data. I am rather sad -
I like reliving a walk after the event - almost get as
much pleasure.

Should I upgrade?

Well, if you want to we-live the tracking I suppose you
might find it a very good investment !!!

--
Andy Howell Birmingham, UK

Alan said:

I have used my Garmin Etrex successfully for a number of
years on day walks. I am about to embark on a long (for
me) walk - 100kms over 4 days and wonder whether the Etrex
will be able to hold all the track data. I am rather sad -
I like reliving a walk after the event - almost get as
much pleasure.

Should I upgrade?

Depends. Can you alter how the eTrex stores track points?
For example, can you set a time interval for each
trackpoint? If so you can divide the time you expect to be
walking by the number of points available so that they will
last the whole trip (fine tuning as you reach the end). Not
ideal but it can work. Don't know if the eTrex can do this.

Some GPS units can drop points by distance, so you could
divide the distance by the number of track points, but I
doubt the eTrex can do that.

However, if you enjoy recording tracks as much as I do then
I'd definitely recommend an upgrade, since this may not be
your last long walk.

Best models which offer lots of track points are the Garmin
Geko (201 or
301), Vista and 76, Magellan's Meridian and the
Lowrance iFinder.

If you'd also like to eventually get the new GPS OS mapping
that is about to become available, then the Garmin 76CS and
the Magellan Meridian seem to be the best options, so decide
whether you want topographic mapping or not and upgrade with
that in mind.

Paul
--
wilderness-wales.co.ukwilderness-wales.co.ukOpen ↗
wildwales.fsnet.co.ukwildwales.fsnet.co.ukOpen ↗
photosig.comuserphotosOpen ↗

Alan said:

I have used my Garmin Etrex successfully for a number of
years on day walks. I am about to embark on a long (for me)
walk - 100kms over 4 days and wonder whether the Etrex will
be able to hold all the track data. I am rather sad - I
like reliving a walk after the event - almost get as much
pleasure.

Quoted message said:

Should I upgrade?

If you already have, or are going to get, a PDA (pocket PC
etc) of some kind, you could take that along and dump your
tracks into that. For simple track, route, and waypoint dump
and restore I'm sure there are free or very cheap utilities
for any PDA.

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

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

Quoted message said:

I have used my Garmin Etrex successfully for a number of
years on day

walks.

Quoted message said:

I am about to embark on a long (for me) walk - 100kms over
4 days and

wonder

Quoted message said:

whether the Etrex will be able to hold all the track data.
I am rather

sad -

Quoted message said:

I like reliving a walk after the event - almost get as
much pleasure.

Should I upgrade?
--
Alan

I've got the Etrex Summit, it can store 10 tracks. The snag
is each track is a finite x long (I haven't worked how long
x is yet!), on a typical 6 hour day, I may need to save two
tracks. The trick is catching the active log as it creeps
towards 99%, if you can save it there and then (98 then
99%), it's a more efficient use. As this is rarely the
case, I often save at 70 or 80%, so "waste" the track
memory. I've used the track memory on a four day walking
trip in Torridon and recorded all the walking fine. Emails
to Garmin suggesting they bring out a software upgrade have
met with no joy.

KRO

Alan <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I have used my Garmin Etrex successfully for a number of
years on day walks. I am about to embark on a long (for me)
walk - 100kms over 4 days and wonder whether the Etrex will
be able to hold all the track data. I am rather sad - I
like reliving a walk after the event - almost get as much
pleasure.

Should I upgrade?

The Vista will store all the track points for that
distance, I'm sure.

I haven't used the Summit since I bought a Vista, except for
a few comparisons, and apart from storing many more track
points it seems to use them more frugally, but enough to
ensure an accurate track.
--
Gordon