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#1
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GPS for training
I believe this has been covered before, but just a quick note saying that I've
been using my GPS as a hiking odometer and I like it. I can go off trail, up and down steep hills taking whatever sized step suits the terrain and not worry about it throwing my distance off. Can also be used biking, skiing, blading, paddling, etc. I put it in a fanny pack and forget about it, works great. Can also be used for Geocache hunting! (why I have it in the first place). That's all. jw milwaukee |
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#2
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which GPS unit do you use? Does it take HR input too? Does it upload to a
computer for storage and analysis? Does it overlay your track on a map? Bob "J999w" wrote in message ... I believe this has been covered before, but just a quick note saying that I've been using my GPS as a hiking odometer and I like it. I can go off trail, up and down steep hills taking whatever sized step suits the terrain and not worry about it throwing my distance off. Can also be used biking, skiing, blading, paddling, etc. I put it in a fanny pack and forget about it, works great. Can also be used for Geocache hunting! (why I have it in the first place). That's all. jw milwaukee |
#3
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Garmin eTrex ... bottom of the barrel, dirt cheap, basic unit. Doesn't read
palms or read biorhythms. I've seen it as low as $49.95 but can be had right now for $83 according to Froogle. jw |
#4
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J999w wrote:
I believe this has been covered before, but just a quick note saying that I've been using my GPS as a hiking odometer and I like it. I can go off trail, up and down steep hills taking whatever sized step suits the terrain and not worry about it throwing my distance off. Can also be used biking, skiing, blading, paddling, etc. I put it in a fanny pack and forget about it, works great. Can also be used for Geocache hunting! (why I have it in the first place). That's all. jw milwaukee My wife got me a small one for my birthday. I've used it rollerskiing, running and paddling. Paddling was most interesting with the GPS. You could immediately see when you got in/out of wind, current, deep water, etc. I did notice that the elevation differed by about 75-80ft paddling across a lake:-) Probably not going to rely on it to map the birkie... Marsh New Brighton, MN |
#5
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Marsh Jones wrote:
My wife got me a small one for my birthday. I've used it rollerskiing, running and paddling. Paddling was most interesting with the GPS. You could immediately see when you got in/out of wind, current, deep water, etc. I did notice that the elevation differed by about 75-80ft paddling across a lake:-) Probably not going to rely on it to map the birkie... Which is why you'd really want a GPS with built-in barometer if you do any kind of activity where a 3D track log is useful. All the higher-end Garmins (with an S for Sensor suffix) have this. Using this together with OziExplorer allows me to get really nice elevation plots from trips I make. Terje PS. The real use for a GPS is Degree Confluencing, not that upstart GeoCaching stuff. :-) http://www.confluence.org/ Terje (Scandinavian regional coordinator) -- - "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching" |
#6
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I did notice that the elevation differed by about 75-80ft paddling across a lake:-) Probably not going to rely on it to map the birkie... Marsh New Brighton, MN great test on a lake! no wondering if you 'think it is level.' i've always been suspicious of the altitude feature of my garmont/timex unit. people who really care about elevation use an altimeter. some units come with a 'barometric' altimeter built in. however, on one circuit hike of afton state park, a unit with an altimeter placed the parking lot at some 50(?) feet higher than when we had started. we wondered if the approaching storm was enough to lower the pressure that much . . . jim -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
#7
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"jim farrell" wrote in message
... .....however, on one circuit hike of afton state park, a unit with an altimeter placed the parking lot at some 50(?) feet higher than when we had started...... I've raced on ski courses like that. The finish is right beside the start, but you feel like you have done twice as much climbing as you did downhills. Scott |
#8
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great test on a lake! no wondering if you 'think it is level.' i've always been suspicious of the altitude feature of my garmont/timex unit. people who really care about elevation use an altimeter. some units come with a 'barometric' altimeter built in. however, on one circuit hike of afton state park, a unit with an altimeter placed the parking lot at some 50(?) feet higher than when we had started. we wondered if the approaching storm was enough to lower the pressure that much . . . jim -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- Not hard to imagine, actually. Barometric pressure varies about .1" per 100ft (Not exact, but close enough for eyeballing stuff). A fast moving front can raise or lower the barometric pressure by several tenths in a very short time period. I'm still curious about the update period for the barometric units. I wonder if they can be accurate enough to handle the short, quick transitions at somewhere like the Birkie at ski speeds. Hiking, they certainly should. In any case, they are all cool toys. I'm still not sure I'll take it to the BWCA next week, though. Marsh |
#9
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Marsh Jones wrote:
I'm still curious about the update period for the barometric units. I wonder if they can be accurate enough to handle the short, quick transitions at somewhere like the Birkie at ski speeds. Hiking, they certainly should. In any case, they are all cool toys. I'm still not sure I'll take it to the BWCA next week, though. The barometer is used together with the GPS signals to compute a new 3D position every second, but as you note, it is possible that a very short/quick dump might be skipped entirely. At the same time as the barometer is used for short-term altitude differences, the GPS altitude is used to calibrate the barometer, with a time constant of about 3 hours. Terje -- - "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching" |
#10
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Early this summer, I purchased the Timex "Bodylink" This is a watch/heart
monitor and gps system. I've found it to be very accurate. Here's a couple of points on it. The watch is very easy to operate. The various function buttons actually make sense. (This hasn't always been true for Timex watches in the past.) The heart rate monitor works very well. As soon as you have the chest transmitter on, the watch starts displaying HR. I've had problems with Polar HR monitors in the past. They often wouldn't start displaying accurate HR until 10 to 20 minutes into an activity. One negative about the Timex Bodylink is that although it records average HR, time in certain HRzones, etc., it does not record max HR. The gps part (Timex calls it a Speed/Distance Sensor), is a small plastic device (3" x 3"x 1.5") and probably weighs about 4 ounces (just guessing.) It comes on an elastic arm strap, but can also be clipped on to a fanny pack, belt, etc. When the gps device is on, the watch can display a ton of information: distance traveled, speed, pace, etc. (all in either miles or kilometers). The watch can display three readings at once, and you can toggle through a bunch of choices: HR/elapsed time/distance travled; HR/time/pace; HR/lap time/speed (too many options to list here. I use it all the time on my bike as a bike computer. I attach the gps device to my saddle bag and then strap the wrist watch on to the handle bars where I can easily view it. The odometer/distance readings are dead-on accurate. If you are reading your speed/pace, you are seeing your speed/pace of about 10 seconds ago. I haven't used it for running as much, since just after I received it, I suffered an ankle/tendonitis injury. So I haven't been running this summer. I have used it on my few rollerski outings, with the gps device clipped to a water bottle waist belt. The pace info was really helpful. I've even used it on a couple of lake swims by putting the gps device in a small waterproof plastic "otter box" and attaching the box to the strap on the HR transmitter. Was able to get the distance of certain lake swims that I like to do. The gps device is "water-resistant" but not water proof. As far as negatives: I already mentioned that it does not record Max HR. It only records one workout at a time. If you start a new workout, it will erase all of the old data. The watch does record all of the "laps" you want of any workout You do need relatively open sky overhead. The gps device will frequently lose its signal in heavy tree cover. The watch will do "pace and distance smoothing" if you select this option. I assume this means that it averages out your speed and distance to make up for missed satellite signals. The gps device works on two AA batteries. The watch will tell you when they are getting low. I change them about once a month. I'm looking forward to using this winter on the snow! Rick Mitchell "J999w" wrote in message ... I believe this has been covered before, but just a quick note saying that I've been using my GPS as a hiking odometer and I like it. I can go off trail, up and down steep hills taking whatever sized step suits the terrain and not worry about it throwing my distance off. Can also be used biking, skiing, blading, paddling, etc. I put it in a fanny pack and forget about it, works great. Can also be used for Geocache hunting! (why I have it in the first place). That's all. jw milwaukee |
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