Optimal Garmin GPS Settings for Rando?
Tom
settings you think are optimal for navigating Rando cue sheets. If you
try to create routes that follow your cue sheets with the default
factory settings, it will be very frustrating. The direct factory
settings cause numerous aberrant route calculations by Mapsource and
the GPS unit. Optimal preference settings will minimize aberrant route
calculations but what are the optimal MapSource and GPS unit settings
for routing that follows rando cue sheets?
MapSource Settings:
Route Style
Auto routing or direct routing? Auto-Routing generates turn-by-turn
routes that follow the streets and highways on your map. Direct
Routing generates straight-line routes between waypoint. I prefer auto
routing which give me information on upcoming turns and will get me
back on route in the shortest amount of time. Some prefer direct
routing to avoid be navigated off route back to the official rando
route. Auto routing also calculates the estimated time and milage to
your next waypoint. Since I program the cue sheet turns and controls
as waypoints, this can be very helpful.
Vehicle
Bicycle or car/motorcycle? When I set mine to bicycle, mapsources
navigation calculation created all types of bizarre route aberrations.
Car/motorcycle seems to work best for me.
Calculation Style
Faster Time or Shorter Distance. "Faster Time routes often utilize
highways instead of side streets." I prefer shorter distance to avoid
auto routing to highways.
Try to Avoid
Toll roads, unpaved roads, U turns, carpool lanes, ferries, or
seasonal road closures?
I avoid Toll roads, unpaved roads, carpool lanes and seasonal road
closures. U turns are often part of a rando and ferries are essential
in the PNW. SIR brevets tend to avoid unpaved roads unless the ride
leader feels devilish!
Road Selection slider?
I set mine on the next to largest highway to avoid routing to roads
that are too big or too small. Has anyone tried other settings on the
slider?
Driving Speeds
If you use faster time calculations, it is probably important to set
the average highway speed of undesirable routes to be much slower
(i.e. 5 mph) than the desired types of roads. Since I calculate routes
with shorter distance, I don't think that I need to alter these.
Garmin GPS Unit Settings:
Guidance: Prompted, Follow Road or Off Road
I use Follow Road, which has the HUGE limitation of a total limit of
50 waypoints and viapoints. Off Road uses direct line navigation
between waypoints, which I find undesirable, but has much larger limit
of 250 or greater.
Follow Road Method: Faster Time or Shorter Distance
See above
Next Turn Pop-up: On or off
I prefer the next turn notice so I turn this on.
Off Route Recalculation: Prompted or automatic
I prefer automatic since I don't want it to wait for my reply to a
prompt. Others prefer the prompt as a notice that they are off route
then they decide whether to have the route recalculated or not.
Calculation Method: Quickest to Best
I prefer best since it usually only takes a few seconds. I guess if
you were using it while going at high speeds, quickest may be better.
Vehicle preference and route avoidance: See above.
System Setup:
WAAS/EGNOS reception: Do you turn this off to save battery life? Does
this reduce your accuracy when WAAS/EGNOS is available? Is WAAS/EGNOS
helpful at the low speeds that bicycles travel?
Matthew O'Neill
Garmin units can reduce the battery time by a significant bit due to
the calculations that the unit must preform on the WAAS data
(corrections for ionospheric/electromagnetic disturbances, timing, and
satellite orbit errors). Plus, if there is no ground monitoring
station in your region, then the features do not necessarily work as
WAAS is more targeted than GPSR manufacturer marketing teams would
like to admit. ;~) Although even if the WAAS benefit doesn't come
into play, the two US-viewable WAAS satellites act as regular
positioning satellites.
Personally, when I use my GPSR (a heavy Garmin GPS V) while cycling, I
leave WAAS off as I would rather have an extra 2 hours of battery life
than an extra foot of precision. After all, I'm not landing a 747,
I'm riding my bike and having fun.
Given how slow (comparatively) a bicycle moves, the accuracy sans-WAAS
probably has more to do with satellite visibility (e.g. surrounding
terrain and vegetation) and antenna orientation (some patch antennas
are designed to be held/mounted in a optimal orientation).
Keep in mind that this is just my way of doing things and you should
do what fits your needs best and works well with the unit that you
have.
-Matthew O'Neill
San Diego Century Riders
www.sandiegocenturyriders.com
Harry Spatz
1. You prefer "shorter distance". The downside of this is that the GPS
might take you off the main road you were put on and route you on a small
road you would never guess it would choose in order to save a small amount
of distance. If you select "faster time" you will not get highways, if you
select avoid "highways."
2. You prefer off route calculation set to "automatic". I use this mode
when I just want to get where I am headed and don't care about the exact
route. This way if I take a detour, the GPS will calculate an alternate
route. The problem with this on a brevet is that after 20 or 30 hours of
riding, you might not be attuned to the off-route beep. If not, the unit
will automatically recompute for you and you will not realize it and think
that you are on course. The GPS will eventually take you back on course-no
problem there. The problem is that it will not necessarily take you back to
where you left the course, because it will calculate the best way to get to
the next waypoint based on time or distance, depending upon your settings,
and that might be to continue up the wrong road and cut over leaving some of
the official route unridden, and you subject to disqualification. If you
set to the "prompt" mode, you get a dialog box that says something like "off
course, do you want to recalculate". If you press the joystick it
recalculates same as it would automatically in the automatic mode, but this
way you are notified.
3. I never realized that it routed you differently whether you selected
"car" or bicycle". I will try that one.
4. My GPS has no "road selection" slider. At least not one I know about. I
have a Garmin Etrex Legend. If someone knows where this is on my unit,
please let me know.
5. My GPS will occasionally, very rarely, stop navigating. If I tell it to
recalculate, it will plan a route that DOES NOT go through all my waypoints.
I have to tell it to navigate another route and then go back and tell it to
navigate the route I am interested in to get it to run properly. I think
that this happened twice on the 400K. Anyone else encounter this?
6. The 50-waypoint limitation can easily be dealt with. If I cannot make it
between controls with 50 waypoints, I split it into 2 routes. I do the
split on a road we have been put on for miles so that when one ends I can
start the next without losing any queues. I'll start the second route .5 to
1 mile down the road to give me time to change routes in the GPS and still
have the first waypoint in front of me. It's easy to change routes without
getting off the bike. This limitation, although a pain when doing the
routing on your computer, is a non issue when actually riding the route.
The only real drawback is that while doing the first route of a two-route
segment, your "mileage to destination" is to the end of the route rather
than the mileage to the control, as it would be if you only needed a single
route to the control.
7. I turn the WAAS thing off and also turn battery saving on. I have
encountered no problems due to these settings. I use significant
backlighting during the day and the lowest setting at night. I changed my
2700 mAhr. rechargeables after 18 hours, not because they were dead, but
because I did not want to deal with them later in the dark.
Harry Spatz
gazer
for a long distance ride yet, but I have set it up and tested it out
on my commute (which I could navigate while sleeping...)
I found this page from the South Central Florida Randonneurs
particularly enlightening:
http://www.bike4one.net/scout/scout_config.html
and their recommendations for on-bike settings:
http://www.bike4one.net/scout/scout_car_bike.html
Their GPS start page is here:
http://www.bike4one.net/scout/scout.html
Testing against my commute route I agree with the following tips:
1.) Turn OFF "Off Route Recalculation" (or at least set it to
"Prompted") - this can severely mess up your route if the unit thinks
you are off-route and attempts a recalculation. Not what you want for
a brevet.
2.) Break the route into auto-routed and direct sections. Auto-
routing won't work if the route involves bike-only sections such as
bike bridges and bike paths. This is unfortunate, and I've sent a
note to Garmin suggesting that they either include bike-specific
routes in their routes, or allow for user-added roads to the routing
database.
The Florida site describes their "follow-road" and "direct"
sections here:
http://www.bike4one.net/scout/scout_routes.html
Controles are obviously a good place to switch routes, as you're
going to be stopped anyway...
3.) If you're setting up your own route in MapSouce, you want
"vias," not waypoints. There is a limitation on how many waypoints
per route, but apparently not the number of vias. Vias are what force
the auto-routing calculation to follow the route you desire.
Unfortunately, if you import a route from something like bikely, this
means converting all of those waypoints into vias. Fun!
For some reason, MapSource isn't really clear in the difference
between vias and waypoints, as it refers to both as "waypoints." The
thing you want to avoid is having a lot of stuff in the "Waypoints"
tab in MapSource. I call the things that define the route that don't
show up in that tab "vias." I make vias by using the Selection Tool
to highlight the route, and then clicking on the route between two
existing point, and then placing the resulting "via" where I want it.
4.) Use Waypoints to identify big things - like controles.
5.) The Florida folks recommend against using the "shortest route"
setting because it acts goofy for auto-routing (as you appear to have
seen).
6.) Once you get the route to work in MapSource and transfer it to
the GPS, double and triple check it to make sure it matches the
intended course, as the calculation performed on the GPS may not be
exactly the same as on MapSource. Yes, this is annoying.
7.) Don't throw away your cue sheet. Carry a back-up map.
-jk
DANIEL
50 route point limit. But this is the best method to use so that you
put in enough points in the GPS unit so it stays on route if you
recalculate. To get around this, I break up the brevet into
multiple, shorter, individual routes. and then just put in the next
route once finished. If you do end the route at a control it is
easy.
If you don't and try and limit the number of route points you will
find your GPS recalculating a different route than the one you saw on
your screen when you entered in.
the direct routing feature is pretty much worthless for a brevet.
My best advice. Use your GPS as much as possible to learn its
idiosyncrosies!!!!!!!!!!! It is no fun trying to figure one out when
you are fatigued and it is 1:00 am in the morning.
daniel
Guidance: Prompted, Follow Road or Off Road
I use Follow Road, which has the HUGE limitation of a total limit of
50 waypoints and viapoints. Off Road uses direct line navigation
between waypoints, which I find undesirable, but has much larger limit
of 250 or greater.
Tom
per route, but apparently not the number of vias."
The 50 point limit applies to BOTH viapoints and waypoints. I
routinely start with 45 waypoints then generate the route. It if takes
me more than 5 viapoints to keep the route on the correct path, that
route can not be used for On Road navigation when it is loaded into
your Garmin. It will give you an error when you select the route and
choose Navigate.
Tom
gazer
"Follow road" has a 50 waypoint/via limit
Agreed on the direct routing - defeats the point of the turn alerts!
-jk
Beezodog
enhance your chances of having a Garmin unit follow along the same
path as a cue sheet when the Garmin unit is set to AUTOROUTE?" If so,
why are you even attempting this? There are already provisions to
upload your own routes. Why are you not reproducing the cue sheet
using your laptop software and then importing it into your Garmin
unit?
If you are running into the limitations of 50 or so waypoints per
route then set up the entire cue sheet in small sections and upload
this collection of routes into the unit and use them in the proper
order. It sounds as if you are approaching this problem from the wrong
direction.
Vik
tested it on one ride so I am no expert, but to "attempt" answer your
question the problem seems to be that the route calculation/navigation
algorithms on the PC software and in the GPS are different. So you can
setup a route on your computer and it looks great, but when you try and
navigate it on a ride you get a different route/navigation result with your
GPS. In order to resolve this you have to understand the differences
between the two and ensure that your route planning on the computer takes
this into account and that your GPS settings are such that you get the
expected result.
My first test seemed to work well, but I want to try it out a few more times
before I get too cocky. I am very lucky in that the navigation issues for
our rides in Alberta seems to pale in comparison to those in other parts of
North America.
Safe riding,
Vik
thre...@gmail.com
www.vikram-banerjee.com
-----Original Message-----
From: ran...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ran...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
Beezodog
Sent: May 25, 2007 4:45 AM
To: randon
Harry Spatz
so I will respond.
You say that there are provisions to upload your own routes and that is
true, but to my knowledge a "route" is uploaded from computer to GPS as a
set of waypoints to follow in a particular order. It does not define the
exact way that the GPS navigates from waypoint to waypoint. That is defined
by the "settings" in the GPS and by the GPS itself. So these settings are
critical. If you are suggesting that there is a way to upload an exact
route that guarantees that the GPS will follow the specific roads on the
queue sheet, we would all like to hear about it.
Harry Spatz
-----Original Message-----
From: ran...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ran...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of
Beezodog
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 6:45 AM
To: randon
Subject: [Randon] Re: Optimal Garmin GPS Settings for Rando?
Eric Vann
you have planned a route. When you perform the export function to
upload the route you have designed to your GPS unit it takes the
"smooth" paths you have drawn by hand or allowed the software to draw
on your behalf and converts them into a total of 50 waypoints which
are assembled as a route.
So when you're on the bike you are essentially doing a bit of "dead
reckoning" between waypoints. There really isn't a solution to the
problem, that is simply how GPS units work.
DANIEL
download it to the unit.
when i do that it follows the road if that function is on in the unit,
Beezodog
Tom. It sounded from his email that he misunderstand my earlier
replies.
If you are using PC-based GPS software like the Garmin application it
will let you "draw" you route using your mouse. When you are done with
the route you can upload it to your unit. When you do this a delimited
text file with up to 50 waypoints is imported into the unit. There is
in fact a universal text file format that online applications like
RouteSlip use. I believe the extension is ".GPX".
Now it sounded from Tom's original message as if he was finding out
the hard way that between these waypoints the rider is essentially
doing a "dead reckoning" activity. What you would love to have happen
is for each intersection to be a waypoint but the algorithm in your
GPS unit evenly divides the route you map into waypoints regardless of
where they lie.
In the past when following an imported route I have found it best to
keep the virtual compass visible so that I could tell when an upcoming
turn was likely.
As for your comments Daniel, I'm not certain what you mean by
"recalculate". I've got three (3) GPS units and only two of these do
AUTOROUTING. The one I wear on my wrist when biking knows the name of
the route I want to traverse and presents the successive waypoints in
the correct sequence.
Harry Spatz
250 for off-road routing, at least in my unit. The way those are used is
the question. When using "off road" (the method it sounds to me that you
use) the GPS calculates a route that does not take into account that roads
even exist. Your statement that follows tells the story:
"In the past when following an imported route I have found it best to keep
the virtual compass visible so that I could tell when an upcoming turn was
likely."
With off road routing, you never really know when or where turns will be.
The GPS can tell you what the next waypoint is and whether you are getting
closer to it or not, but cannot tell you when or where to turn to get there.
There is no accurate information as to how far it is to the next turn or how
far it is to the next control. You could be on the wrong road, perhaps
running parallel to the correct road, and the GPS will give you a false
feeling of assurance that you are getting closer to the next waypoint on the
proper route, when you are really getting closer to the waypoint on the
wrong route. With off road routing, there is NO verification that you are
on the correct route. Off road routing is the only option for units that do
not hold memory for maps and thus do not have each road in its database.
Tom and I both use auto-routing. That means that the GPS will route you on
roads, thus knowing exact distances to the next turn, the next control etc.
If you stray off route it tells you right away. The problem arises when you
plot an exact route in Mapsource and the GPS's auto-route program does not
route you in exactly the same way as Mapsource, changing the route slightly.
This is what Tom is talking about. Garmin ought to have a method of
plotting an exact route in Mapsource and uploading the route into the GPS.
They don't. All you can do is upload waypoints and the order you want them
navigated. They call that a "route", but it really isn't since the GPS has
a roll in determining exactly how it is navigated.
IMHO if you want to do away with the queue sheet entirely and use the GPS
only, for navigating a brevet, you cannot do so with any degree of assurance
with off road routing. Only auto-routing with tedious route checking of the
GPS against the actual route will do. There is no "dead reckoning" using
this technique. There is an actual verifiable route. I plan to have one
for every mile of the 381 miles for our upcoming event.
You said:
"What you would love to have happen is for each intersection to be a
waypoint but the algorithm in your GPS unit evenly divides the route you map
into waypoints regardless of where they lie."
The GPS does not divide the route into waypoints. It is quite the opposite.
You give the GPS the waypoints and it concatenates a route from those,
unfortunately differently from Mapsource and depending upon GPS settings.
You could put a waypoint in at each and every intersection, splitting it up
into 50 per route and having lots of routes, but you would probably end up
in the loony bin.
Harry Spatz
-----Original Message-----
From: ran...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ran...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of
Beezodog
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 4:14 PM
To: randon
Subject: [Randon] Re: Optimal Garmin GPS Settings for Rando?
NickBull
GPS. They work pretty well, nearly all the time. But they still
occasionally come up with novel approaches to brevet riding,
particularly if you were in a hurry when you put the route into
MapSource. Thus, the single most important thing to know about using
your GPS is:
YOU STILL NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE CUE SHEET.
Follow along the cue sheet as you ride. When the GPS tells you to
turn, check the cue sheet to make sure it told you to turn, too. Then
you'll avoid wrong turns, and you'll have some idea where you are on
the cue sheet if the batteries die.
These are the GPS Settings that I've settled on after more than 5000
miles of riding with GPS, including BMB. These settings work well in
Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,
Vermont, Quebec, and the little bit of New Hampshire and New York that
BMB goes through. Maybe other states have road-building quirks that
would make these settings suboptimal.
For me, almost the whole point of buying a GPS is to use it in
"AutoRoute" mode and have it tell me where to turn to stay on the
route specified by the cue sheet. Having it in "Direct" mode is
little better than just riding with the cue sheet and no GPS, since
there is nothing to tell you that you missed a turn. On twisty roads,
the straight line that it paints between where you are and the next
viapoint is unlikely to be in the same direction you're riding. It
could even be pointing almost the opposite way.
In MapSource:
I'm using City Select North America v.7. I think the only substantive
difference between this and City Navigator North America is the file
sizes for the maps. Why Garmin maintains two similarly-named software
packages that have identical descriptions on their website is beyond
me.
The philosophy behind the settings below is to tell MapSource you're
on a really fast bicycle and would prefer to ride on highways. Then
you set enough viapoints into the actual route that it forces
MapSource to autoroute you where you actually want to go.
Edit->Preferences->Routing
Use Auto-Routing
Vehicle Type: Bicycle
Try to Avoid: Toll Roads, Carpool Lanes
Calculation Style: Faster Time
Road Selection: Prefer Highways
Driving Speeds: Default
Some things that are not entirely obvious in making a route in
MapSource
I make waypoints for the crucial locations (start/end, controls,
springs, big climbs, summits). These can be made on the fly while
you're making the route, you don't have to make a bunch of waypoints
first and then add them to the route.
So make a waypoint for the start/end control. I make the symbol on
controls a bicycle. Right click on the waypoint and select "Begin
Route". Now follow the cue sheet and click at the turns. After each
click, you'll need to scroll the screen around to make sure that
MapSource didn't find a "better" way to get to the turn than the cue
sheet's way. If it did, click Ctrl-Z to undo the point and then click
on the road just after MapSource's wrong turn. This should force
MapSource not to take the wrong turn. Now click where the cue sheet
says to turn and check that MapSource did it right, this time. If
not, undo the point and go stick a point after MapSource's next wrong
turn. Keep doing this until MapSource correctly autoroutes the
segment. Repeat for the next cue ....
If you want to add a WayPoint (like the next control), just click on
the WayPoint tool button and click where you want the waypoint to be.
Give the WayPoint its name, maybe pick a symbol, decide if you want it
to be a "Proximity Waypoint" (if you're not sure exactly where it is,
then setting it as a Proximity Waypoint let's you put a circle around
the waypoint and the GPS will alert you as you enter and exit the
circle -- but Garmin only thinks you could ever possibly need a
ridiculously small number of proximity waypoints, maybe 15). Click on
OK. Click on the Route Tool button. Now right-click on the Waypoint
and select "Add to Route". Keep on truckin'
I usually start a new route at each control, unless there is a segment
with very few turns between controls. As I'm coming in to the
control, I'll tell the GPS to start navigating the next route so it's
ready to go by the time I'm done with the control. I give the routes
sequential names like "1Start to CtrlAirmont" "2CtrlAirmont to
CtrlShepSweet", etc. The GPS won't show you the whole name, but
enough to figure out which one you need.
If you set more than 50 points into a route, then the GPS will _not_
be able to calculate the route in autoroute mode. So as soon as you
see you're getting close to 50 points in a route, stop by pressing the
Esc key and start a new route. I usually try to stop at 45 so that I
can add more waypoints later if I need to add information or correct
an auto-routing error that I didn't notice as I made the route.
I like to know where the "big" climbs are and how long they'll go on.
Once you've got your routes set up, you can use Garmin's USTopo to
look at the profile of the route, and then set waypoints that tell you
how long and how high you're going to climb, and where the summit is.
Solving problems:
Sometimes you want to select a waypoint, but no matter what you do,
MapSource gives you options to do with selecting the route. Go to the
Waypoint tab, click on the waypoint and click on "Show on Map". Go up
to the "Select Map Scale" and set it to 80 feet. You'll be able to
select your waypoint.
Sometimes you want to select a route (for example,to extend it) but
you're finding it difficult to do so. Again, set the scale to 80
feet, and right-click on the route close to its end, but not at the
end. You can usually get a menu that will have an "Extend Route"
selection.
Hey, don't forget to select the maps around your route (highlight all
the routes and right click to get the menu option for Select Maps
around Route). For that matter, check for any points where the route
goes close to the edge of a map. Select the Map tool button and click
on the map that hasn't been selected. I've occasionally had routes
that MapSource thought stayed in a given map, but then the route went
off the map into never-never land.
Don't forget to download everything to your GPS. After the ride,
upload from GPS and save it with an appropriate name.
And if you make any changes to anything in MapSource, you have to
download everything again. You can't just download a new map, because
it wipes out what is there.
Before you download, go to the "Trip Computer" page on the GPS, click
the button that gives you the sub-menu, click on Reset, then Select
All, and reset the whole GPS. That way you know there's nothing in it
left over to confuse you from a prior ride, and you also know that the
only stuff that will be in it is whatever you are currently
downloading. So make sure to download everything you need.
Settings in the GPS:
I have an eTrex Vista CX. It has built-in altimiter and compass (I
thought this might be useful for hiking, when I might lose satellites
more often). You can add memory, so I put in a 1/2 gigabyte. I think
the software settings are pretty similar between the Garmin models
that do autorouting.
The most crucial settings are the Routing settings. So click the
Setup icon then the Routing icon.
Guidance Method: Follow Road
Follow Road Method: Faster Time (just like in MapSource)
Next Turn Pop-Up: On (that's the whole point of this whole exercise)
Now select the little button at the bottom of the screen labeled
"Follow Road Options"
Off Route Recalculation: Prompted (otherwise, when you miss a turn, it
just recalculates without saying anything, and it'll get you back on
route, but you've just violated the rule about "if you go off-route,
then you must return at the point where you went off-route" --
further, you might miss a secret control, then ride the remaining 500k
of your 600k, through hellish heat, torrential downpours, biblical
insect plagues, etc. only to find out you DNQ'd back at the 100K
secret control.)
Calculation method: Best Route (I don't know how much difference this
makes).
Calculate Routes for: Bicycle (if you set it for car while doing some
errands in town, then you'll get some really weird routing on your
next brevet. Then even when you eventually figure out that the GPS
has become flaky on this brevet because you forget ot reset it back to
bicycle, and you do so, you still get weird routing. That's because
with some of the settings, you have to switch the GPS off and back on
for it to modify its behavior.)
Avoid: Toll Roads Unpaved Roads (unless the brevet is using them)
Carpool Lanes
OK, that's it for Routing settings. Other settings don't seem to
matter as much.
In "System Setup" I'll set it for "Battery Saver" but then the next
time I go to use the GPS it seems to come up in "Normal" So I only
occasionally bother to change it back to "Battery Saver" and even
then, the batteries still seem to run out way faster than Garmin says
they should. I have WAAS set to disabled to help the batteries last
longer. I usually just use the Alkaline batteries that you can get
nearly anywhere. On short, local rides I'll use rechargeables, but
they don't seem to last quite as long.
On "Page Sequence", I only have "Trip Computer", "Map" and "Active
Route". This makes it easy to flip to the page I want. The only
other thing I look at is the altimiter, but that's just on
interminable climbs when I want to know how close I've gotten to the
top.
I have the altimiter set to "Auto Calibration" and Barometer Mode set
to Variable Elevation.
Next, for some reason Garmin has setting that you don't set in the
Settings icon. Specifically, go back to the Main Menu screen and
click the Tracks icon and then click Setup. I set "Wrap when Full"
on. For Record Method, I use "Distance" and set the Interval to the
smallest possible, which is .02 mi. I set it this way after looking
at the tracks that it made when set to record by a time interval,
where I found that when you're going downhill fast, there can be very
wide spaces between the dots in the track. I wanted to try to get
more-accurate altimiter readings and thought that recording at a
constant distance would help it be more accurate than at a constant
time (but varying distance). Who knows. I'm probably running my
batteries down faster, storing such a huge number of points. And on
the 400K, the track wrapped and erased the first 50 k from working
memory, so I had to download the track directly from the memory card
to restore all of the track info. Doing this was only possible
because I had clicked on the "Data Card Setup" button at the bottom of
the screen, and then set "Log Track to Data Card" to "on".
Using the GPS:
If you had the GPS on while driving to the start of the brevet, or you
went for a little toodle round the parking lot before the brevet, then
you may want to go to the "Trip Computer" screen, bring up the sub-
menu, and click Reset. DO NOT click "Select All" unless you want to
leave your GPS in the car. The stuff it has selected by default is
almost certainly the stuff you want to be Resetting. Click "Apply"
Next, go to the Main Menu, toggle down to the Routes icon, select it,
then toggle to the first route that you want and select it, then click
on Navigate. It'll display the "Calculating" icon and eventually beep
at you to tell you it's ready.
While I'm riding, I usually have the Map page displayed so I can see
what's coming up. Sometimes the GPS will pop up a "turn coming"
screen and it's hard to tell exactly where to turn. This'll get
better with experience -- but even today, I made a turn a half a block
too early. It displays the "turn coming" screen for too long after
you've made the turn (why can't it tell, it's got a built-in compass,
so it knows I've turned) and if you're doing a "QR" "QL" sequence then
it doesn't get the QL part up fast enough for you to get over in
time. Oh, well, it'll display "Off Route. Recalculate?" and you say
"No" and do a U-turn and get back on route.
When you get to the end of a route, you'd think that the GPS would
flash its screen, beep at you, maybe fire off some firecrackers to
tell you "We're Here!!!!" No, it just stops routing and assumes
you're smart enough to recognize at 3 am that you've arrived at an
unlit control in the middle of nowhere.
On May 24, 9:36 am, Tom <tgm_u...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Harry Spatz
GPS, I verify it from the GPS, instruction by instruction using the screen
that shows you each step of the route as the GPS plans to navigate it. This
screen is called "Active Route". Do you trust that the Mapquest route and
GPS route will match? If so, then this is why you add the caveat about
watching the queue sheet. They won't match in all cases. I only needed to
consult the queue sheet 2 or 3 times in the course of the 400 k. That was
when the GPS told me to turn and I did not have a specific waypoint there
telling me to turn. In all three cases the GPS was correct because a
waypoint a little farther up forced the turn, but I wanted to make certain.
I code the waypoints so I know what mileage to look at on the queue sheet to
corroborate the GPS.
Incidentally, I get around 20 hours of battery life with 2700 mAhr.
rechargeables if the weather is not cold. I have the Legend model-no
compass or altimeter. I use battery saving, no WAAS, and 5% backlight at
night and 30% during the daytime.
Harry Spatz
-----Original Message-----
From: ran...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ran...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of
NickBull
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 9:38 PM
To: randon
Subject: [Randon] Re: Optimal Garmin GPS Settings for Rando?
NickBull
suggest, but it takes a lot of time to do it carefully. And once you
actually start riding, the GPS will sometimes produce different
results than it did when you checked it at home. There's no way of
knowing exactly what the GPS will do until you ride it. On BMB, I
could have ridden without a cue sheet -- the GPS was never wrong.
This was particularly useful during the torrential downpour on the
third night, when I could only see my cue sheet if I stopped, and even
then with considerable difficulty. I couldn't see the BMB arrows
painted on the road because they were under water. But on one of our
recent DC brevets, the GPS kept trying to get me to turn up dirt
roads, even after I had told it to avoid unpaved roads (but I hadn't
switched it off and on--once I did, it didn't take me down dirt roads,
any more). I think it'll be several years before the technology has
been worked out enough that you could just leave the cue sheet behind.
Forgot to mention in my prior message -- if the route turns back on
itself (e.g. in an out and back segment of a brevet), it's best to
start a new route at the turnaround, else the GPS may get confused
about which way you're going on the out and back.
I used to get 24+ hours of battery life, but I think my current
setting of "record a trackpoint every 0.02 miles" really wears the
batteries out. Now that we're doing longer rides (600K +), I'll
probably set to "Auto".
> ...
>
> read more ยป
erp4599
owners of older models that have limited fixed memory in their
devices. Those users need maps divided into smaller chunks. Think of
it as a budget, with a very small budget you must be selective about
what you spend it on. OTOH, when using units with SD cards, you can
load entire states without batting an eye.
Eric Peterson
erp4599
I assume that you first had to remove the card from the GPS unit and
then load it into a card reader. Is this correct?
Is there some way to access data on the memory card without removing
it from the GPS? I half-expected the card to be accessible (only half
because after all it is Garmin) on the PC via the GPS, but have not
found this to be the case.
Unlike regular SD cards, these micro-SD cards are not designed to be
frequently removed from the devices they are used in.
On the GPS, I can see lots of GPX files on the memory card, but the
only thing you seem to be able to do from the GPS is delete files. Am
I missing something?
Eric Peterson
On May 26, 8:37 pm, NickBull <n_njb...@verizon.net> wrote:
DANIEL
first of all ALL garmin unit are not equal.
i use a Garmin 60CS. i plot routes on the PC and then download to
unit. once the route is on the gps
i page to a route page, highlight my route and then click on
Navigate, then the unit screen takes
a while "calculating" the route. if i am not at the start location,
the unit will then calculate a route to the start and then
calculate/follow the downloaded route via route points and included
waypoints. AT THIS POINT YOU CAN PAN SCREEN AND CHECK TO SEE IF ROUTE
IS CORRECT AND FOLLOWS CUE SHEET.
Heres a big HINT, When plotting the route on the PC. Use a small
scale like 0.2 mile, this way your route points will be exactly where
you want them. Use enough route points to force the unit to stay on
daniel.
NickBull
via the PC, but have found no way to do that. My micro-SD card came
with an adapter for an SD slot in my 8-in-1 memory card reader, so
that's how I access files on it.
jo...@johnandjuliet.com
Selecting this and the unit turns into a storage device allowing you
to access the card while it is inside the unit.
Beezodog
Check out the October 2004 articles.