Garmin
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Forerunner
Forerunner 201
Older model, poor performance. Probably best avoided for OSM-usage. Compatible with GPSbabel.
Forerunner 305 / 205
The Forerunner 305 is the follow up to the Forerunner 301. Garmin managed to fix many of the bugs and design flaws that plagued the 301. The unit uses the new SiRF III chip-set and places the receiver so that if you extend your arms thumbs up the antenna is directed at the sky an ideal position for running or cycling. The unit (only 305 not 205) includes a HR chest strap, and will also record information from the optional cadence monitor making the device perfect for a multi-sport athlete. The unit comes with excellent software and compatibility with the new MotionBased.com website. The unit also includes several training profiles designed by TrainingPeaks.com
Geko
Geko 101
Basically a geko 201 but without the connector so you can't get data off it.
Geko 201
The geko is a small, cheap unit that runs off two AAA batteries with maybe 12 hours of life. It has a backlight and a 12 channel parallel receiver and can record tracks at a point per second. The standard garmin serial cable allows you to get tracks and waypoints off it with, for example, gpsbabel. See How to get data from a Geko 201. Supports WAAS and European equivalent EGNOS (May need fw upgrade to 2.50) for improved accuracy.
Good things
- Pretty cheap and small.
- 10000 point memory for track logs, with recording interval highly configurable (by time, distance, or 'auto' which works in a similar way to the eTrex; and with adjustable resolution). The auto mode has selectable resolution and only makes points when you change direction/altitude. When driving around town, auto mode only needs to create a point about every 8 seconds giving 22 hours continuous-use memory!
- Waterproof to 3m
- Happy running on Ni-MH batteries
- Fits standard Garmin serial/power cable
- Fits standard Garmin vehicle / bicycle mounts
- rather robust, my 301 dropped of the car at about 50km/h two year ago and survived.
- Should work well on the dashboard, tucked up by the windscreen. Rubberised back keeps it still. Location repeatability usually within 6ft on mine, even when it says 20ft. I put it on driver's side then try to keep it aligned with center of road.
- Cigarette lighter and data power cord combined available.
- Flourescent green/yellow front makes it easy to find.
- Small and light enough to attach to car roof with blu-tack for best possible satellite lock and accuracy.
- Clear, high-contrast display makes it easy to read on a bike. IMO, best bike option.
- Supports recording track points based on distance. These are economical for the server and give a matched resolution. The mode saves recording unnecessary points when waiting at bus stop or at a junction. I use the following recording intervals: Towns: 20ft, Unmapped countryside 40-80ft, Motorways 240ft. For these three modes, the Geko has enough memory for 38, 76-152, 454 miles respectively.
Buy one from this link, wiggle the shop will donate 10% to OpenStreetMap. Please email treasurer[at]openstreetmap.org so he can make sure the donation comes though.
Bad things
- Entering waypoint names is a real pain and they can only be 6 characters long. It's better to use a pen and paper and make a list of waypoint number (generated automatically by the geko) and what it represents, or use Audio mapping
- Keys are too small to use it with gloves
- Battery life significantly worse than equivalent eTrex, and 'remaining battery' indicator rather erratic. If going out in the cold, NiMh battery terminal voltage seems to drop causing low battery indication. I recommend UniRoss 900mah NiMh cells, they seem to have a slightly higher terminal voltage than others.
- Accuracy drops off with low battery. (i doubt this very much! User:osm@floris.nu )
- Display font used for longitude and latitude waypoint coordinates is very small. This is partially compensated for by decent screen contrast, but this might be an issue for users with poor eyesight. More committed users using the (optional) data cable to transfer the coordinates to their computers will probably not be affected by this very much.
- Don't use the "Save Track" option. This renders your data almost useless (because only few points are saved to keep storage small).
Full reset
The 201 is capable of EGNOS reception (2.50+ firmware), but depending on when you first enabled WAAS mode it may have locked onto the wrong satellites, meaning you never get a differential lock. This can be cured with a full reset, which you can do by turning the unit off, then holding down up,OK,page and power. This wipes everything, including waypoints, owner information etc. Once reset, re-enable WAAS mode via Setup->System, and leave the unit with a clear view of the sky for 15 minutes. If all goes well, you'll see the "accuracy: 14ft" line replaced with something like "diff: 7ft" and a peppering of 'D's on the satellite display.
Etrex Range
The Etrex, Etrex Venture, Etrex Legend, Etrex Summit and Etrex Vista make up this range. Colour models have a "C" after their name, and those with an "x" can take expansion memory models - good for OSM maps and Long journeys. Some of the older black & white models are capable of displaying maps although memory is limited to 1MB on the Venture, 8MB on the Legend and 24MB on the vista. Some of the higher end models (eg: Vista, Vista C and Vista Cx) have magnetic compass and altimeter.
Since the summer of 2007, there's a new range of "high sensitivity" receivers, coded with "H".
Etrex (Yellow)
Entry level 12 channel GPS. Bigger than the newer "Geko" model. The basic (yellow) model has no base map at all. Runs on a pair of AA batteries.
Good Things
- Pretty cheap.
- One-handed use.
- Suitably splashproof.
- Very widespread, so well-supported for accessories (e.g. bike mount).
Bad Things
- The user has no control over the sampling interval at which it records tracklogs to its memory.
- This is not quite the whole story. The early eTrex doesn't have a preset "sampling interval" like (say) a Magellan. Instead, it uses an algorithm that samples more frequently when turning corners, less frequently when running in a straight line. This enables it to record much longer distances than might otherwise be expected of its (fairly low) 1500-point memory. As an example, it is just about able to fit the whole West Coast Main Line (London-Glasgow) into its memory. Richard 12:17, 3 Dec 2005 (GMT)
- Firmware past version 3.0 appears to allow you to sample based on time interval or distance. DavidS
- Basic "yellow" etrex model doesn't come with data cable, which is officially expensive, but see pfranc.com for DIY connectors for the proprietary connector, which happens to be the same as the Gecko units.
- eBay is your friend. :) You can get a combined data cable and 12v car adaptor for about a third of the price of the official Garmin accessory. Richard 12:17, 3 Dec 2005 (GMT)
- Like the Geko, waypoint names are limited to 6 characters.
- Can take a long time to acquire enough satellites to navigate, especially if you're impatient and start moving.
- Basic model will never support WAAS/EGNOS as according to Garmin, it doesn't have enough CPU grunt.
- There seam to be different eTrex Hardware. Some newer ones ship with 3.x firmware. According to the Garmin website 3.x firmware does not work on older 2.x eTrex like the eTrex Euro. So there is no way to upgrade to the 3.x firmware.
- Now to the realy bad thing: 2.x firmware saves memory by not saving timestamps of 'saved' trackpoints. So if you want to upload the track to OSM, make sure you do not save the track on the eTrex but upload the so called 'Active Log'.
My experience is that an eTrex is an excellent lightweight recording unit for countryside/long-distance use. However, it's not a good performer in city situations - partly due to the satellite acquisition time, partly because the tracklog 'compression' isn't suitable for recording city streets. As most of my recording is more OpenRoadAtlas than OpenStreetMap, I've been very happy with three years of eTrex use. Richard 12:17, 3 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Batteries
NiMH/NiCd Rechargeable batteries won't cut it as they don't deliver enough voltage (2x1.2v, rather than 2x1.5v) for more than a few minutes.
- That's not my experience at all: my yellow eTrex runs off NiMH happily for 14 hours or so. AFAICT it's the best compact GPS available for battery life, particularly if you select "Battery Save" mode. (This cycles the GPS receiver on and off, which only seriously affects signal strength when in concrete canyons.) Richard 12:17, 3 Dec 2005 (GMT)
- In my experience, the yellow eTrex doesn't handle NiMH well at all. However, the eTrex Vista has a battery type setting and works well on NiMH when it's configured for them. Christian 11:04, 30 Dec 2005 (GMT)
- Mine works fine with nimh batteries, but mine is a firmware 3+ version. DavidS
- Different NiMh cells have subtly different discharge characteristics. ie some chemistry cells have 50-75mV higher EMF than others. This can make a big difference.NickH
- Mine works fine with nimh batteries, but mine is a firmware 3+ version. DavidS
From my tests, this unit with recent firmware is almost the same as the geko except that it uses AA batteries instead of AAA (therefore longer battery life), has a bigger screen and is larger/heavier. Power consumption is similar. Input methods are identical and connectivity/ compatibility via standard Garmin connector is identical to Geko 201. Side by side tests, accuracy and tracking time identical to Geko. However, Geko does support WAAS and EGNOS where available. NickH
Etrex Summit
12 channel GPS with electronic compass and altimeter, but no mapping capability. Uses 2 AA batteries; rechargable batteries suffice.
Good Things
- Not too expensive.
- Has a electronic compass and altimeter.
- One-handed use.
- Suitably splashproof.
- Supports WAAS/EGNOS.
Bad Things
- Like some other etrex models, waypoint names are limited to 6 characters.
- Can take a long time to acquire enough satellites to navigate, especially if you're impatient and start moving.
- Only has a 10,000 point track memory, and saved logs limited to 750 points each.
- Serial cable is optional.
Etrex Legend (Blue)
Very glove/mitten unfriendly UI.
For more on using an Etrex Legend (Original B&W version) see Blackadder's page
Etrex Legend CX
Comes with only a USB port for communications, and works well with Windows. Mac OS X support was promised by Garmin 'in 2006' but is still only partial(May 2007) The latest version of GPSBabel+ steps in to provide support for Mac/Linux users. Also, the unit can be put into USB mass storage mode, so you can just grab the GPX files off the data card without installing any software, which is actually easy and efficient.
Extracting GPX logs
First, you need a relatively recent firmware (since August 2006) If your software version is older than 2.50 then you need to upgrade - see the Garmin website for instructions. Then ensure you're saving tracklogs to the onboard data card. Setup -> Tracklogs -> Setup -> Save to data card
To extract GPX tracklogs without bothering with GPSBAbel, Setup->Interface->USB mass storage while connected via USB to your PC or Mac - the data card will appear as a new drive or volume. Tracklogs can then be drag 'n dropped to your computer.
Price
Approximately 180 GBP including VAT in May 2007 (ebuyer.com) Potential purchasers could consider alternatives of Venture Cx and Vista Cx.
Venture Cx appears to be identical technical specification to Legend Cx (March 2007, Garmin Website), but cheaper shop price (150 GBP from ebuyer.com) Packaged "extras" included in price differ between Legend Cx and Venture Cx, being USB data lead (essential for computer connectivity, but appears to be very standard computer lead), copy of MapSource (useful though not essential, is included with Garmin's commercial mapping software), small MicroSD card (but given how cheap these are now, arguably not worth much).
Vista Cx adds electronic compass and barometric altimeter to Legend. Barometer has its uses, particularly navigating in mountain areas if GPS signal lost (tree cover, deep valleys, etc), and as a pressure trend monitor (weather forecasting). Probably not a useful upgrade for a road and lowland footpath navigation device.
Good things
- You can upgrade the supplied MicroSD card from the default 64Mb to 1Gb, for approximately 10GBP (May 2007). Daily track logs can be automatically saved to this card.
- EGNOS capable, so good precision. Quoted 10-16 feet accuracy can be down to 6-9ft on occasion. The map screen is customisable so you can add an accuracy field to the top of the map for instant feedback as to whether you're recording garbage or not.
- Good battery life. Takes 2x AA batteries. Garmin claim 32 hours on NiMH rechargeables, much longer on battery save mode.
- USB Cable included
- Waterproof - Submersible to 1 m depth, rugged.
- Quick first fix - 15 secs warm start, 45 secs from cold, 2 minutes for complete auto locate.
- Satellite visibility screen means you can see immediately whether you've got a good lock if you're in an urban canyon.
- Can take uploaded maps, so can take OSM maps!
- Does negative altitude, tested in the UK (Norfolk Broads), with indicated heights of -12 ft at minimum.
Bad things
- Doesn't do NMEA
eTrex Legend HCx
Essentially the same as the Legend Cx, except it has a higher accuracy chipset. It is generally accurate to about 5m with WAAS/EGNOS enabled. Make sure to get the HCx version. Very good GPS. Andrewpmk 16:27, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
eTrex Vista (Silver)
-- Zeb 13:59, 2 Apr 2006 (UTC): The old top of the range model before the colour (C) and colour expandable (Cx) models were introduced. Difference with the lower models is that it has a barometric altimeter. Uses a serial connection to transfer data - newer models use USB. When it detects low batteries it automatically shuts down, which can be rather irritating, especially in cold weather when it is best to remove batteries and place under armpits until warm. Need to pack the battery case to stop batteries vibrating out of contact whilst cycling.
-- Lorp 10:10, 28 Jun 2006 (UTC): I bought one in Sept 2003, and was pleased with it for a while. It feels sturdy and I was confident using it in the rain. (I shelled out for this model since I really wanted an integrated compass.) Although I used it in all weathers, I gave it only very light use overall until this year. Tracklog memory is adequate for a good day's hiking or cycling. It suffers from a common complaint in its tracklogs, in that it continues to record points even when accuracy drops off or signal disappears entirely - thus at a T-junction, tracks can head straight on into buildings, then veer back to the direction travelled afterwards. (I wish the accuracy was recorded with each tracklog point!!!) In mid-2006 I gave it more intensive use, hanging from my neck on a bike in the rain. And it performed very poorly. The batteries would keep losing contact, causing me to have to stop and wait for reboot and signal if I wanted to record tracks. Packing the battery case helped somewhat. Towards the end of that trip, the screen started to behave erratically. A few sharp jabs would sometimes cure it, sometimes not. Again very annoying and dangerous to have to do on a bike. Finally, signal strength was affected by being underneath my body; when I realized this I tried to balance it on my shoulder or throw it over my back (which was less clever since then I couldn't tell if it had shut off with the aforementioned battery contact problem). Just bought a RoyalTek RBT 2010 Bluetooth SiRF III, about which I'll report later.
-- DrMark 20:30 4 June 2007: Vista Cx: I bought this following the final end of my old Vista, it is a vastly better unit for not that much more money. It takes a micro-SD card so you can have a variety of maps, or a single huge one. I use a (£20) 1Gb card & the original 64Mb. It has a USB interface, & is waterproof, it's been robust so far (>6 months), including use with a bike mount. The above points regarding tracklogs are unchanged, but I find it works better in a pocket than the old Vista. It does work with osmgarminmap. The inbuilt Garmin world map is poor. The altimeter needs at least daily calibrating if you want to use it seriously. The compass is good but more sensitive to local variations than a traditional magnet one, it often disagrees with the calculated direction.
Vista HCx
--Rgmerk 00:14, 1 November 2007 (UTC) This unit is similar to the Vista Cx, but uses a higher-sensitivity chipset to make getting fixes easier. Color screen is quite good. Has multiple modes for different types of AA batteries, including one for NiMH rechargeables. Mine came included with a USB cable for transferring data to your computer. Track logs and waypoints can be saved to the internal memory (and can be extracted with gpsbabel). Waypoint name length unrestricted. Tracks can also be saved as GPX format on a micro-SD card, and then extracted by putting the unit into USB Mass Storage mode. Mkgmap untested at this stage.
Richard B 13:05, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
- I've recently received a Vista HCx, and have thus-far found it to be excellent. Signal lock seems to occur pretty quickly. I've even got acceptable signal lock indoors. Seems to perform well in the car. Mine came with a USB cable, and a piece of software which is capable of taking tracks from the GPS unit and saving them as GPX (no gpsbabel seems to be required), as well as a bracket for attaching the unit to a bike. The unit will take up to a 2GB microSD card for extra storage - and these seem to be getting fairly cheap these days. Will do up to 10,000 trackpoints without the microSD card. Not tested capacity with the microSD card yet.
I can confirm that one can log an excess of 10000 trackpoints to the microSD card. Stok 20:21, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
Colorado
The latest toy from Garmin, shipping the first units now (February 2008). A very nice device with an apparently very fast and accurate chip: from boot-up to a lock-on takes only about 30 seconds, magnitudes faster than an etrex Vista C (but on a par with the newer Garmin H eTrexs). It is very well-built unit, with quite a substantial feel to it. The main case is metal and it does not have the glued-on rubber protection that proved such a problem with the etrex series.
But the software appears not quite as refined as the last editions for the etrex series -- after a few weeks with it I would go as far as saying that the unit should have never left the factory gates with such buggy software. It is not only that a lot of the nice touches are lacking, such as change of display colours at night, different sounds for events, such as loss of satellite lock etc, changing number of data fields shown....but the unit has on several occasions just frozen on me (hard reboot required), it turned itself off without warning as it just eats through batteries, sometimes it never gets a lock on satellites, even if it can see eight or so. Battery life is supposed to be quite reasonable, but I have found it to consume a pair of rechargeable AAs in less than three hours and that without doing much with it and then it just goes off without a warning. For some issues raised a software update has been published by Garmin. I assume others will follow soon.
Like the etrex series, the Colorado collects tracklogs, which can then be downloaded to computer. While previously the data came in the proprietary gdb format, it now comes in GPX format (with GPSBabel this was never much of an issue). It is not possible to store the tracklogs on the SD card, however, the Colorado has 380MB of free memory where tracklogs can be saved. According to Garmin support the saved tracklogs contain the same information as the orginal track, so no dropping of points and removing of timestamps and elevation. The documentation says up to 20 saved tracks are supported. Track-back is not available, nor is it possible to paint tracks in different colours. It would be good if Garmin added the GPS accuracy, number of satellites, or HDOP/VDOP as a field to the GPX data -- that would allow screening out unreliable data.
The Colorado shares with the etrex series the annoying habit of extrapolating a track for about 90 seconds after a satellite lock is lost -- leading to those tracks straight up a hillside when travelling in mountainous countries or urban canyons. Other units, such as the GlobalSat Datalogger, do not do this and turn off track-logging as soon as contact with satellites is lost -- Garmin should at least consider this behaviour as an option as it is nothing but cosmetic gimmickry that is difficult to edit out.
Some issues with, particularly with the display of streetnames and battery life, have been fixed in an April 2008 software update (2.5.1) and the Colorado now shows streetlabels ok. There are a couple of tools that allow the combination of multiple external maps into a single one. The hillshaded basemap is quite nice, but it is a shame that it comes in one with the road basemap, meaning that with OSM data on it, you will get the quite inaccurate and rough garmin basemap and OSM data at the same time.
The unit comes (in the Colorado 300 edition) with a digial elevation model as a base map, together with a much enlarged road set, for the entire world. Map display is, compared to an etrex Vista C, extremely fast and zooming in, done with an ipod like wheel, is quick.
There is a issue tracker for the Colorado at [1] for those who need to know more.
Edge
Edge 305
SiRF III based receiver with barometric altimeter. Does 3 hours logging at 1Hz, alternatively configure it to decide which points to save. Sealed unit with rechargeable battery, which can be replaced at cost by Garmin when battery finally fails. Maps cannot be transferred to this device but it can display your location relative to waypoints and your intended route.
The Edge 305 and the included software does not support GPX files, rather it uses .crs (only import, export in .crs is only possible with older versions of the included software) and .tcx files. The .crs files can be translated to and from .gpx - but you'll need additional free tools, such as GPSBabel for that. Once updated to the latest software, this unit is fine for someone interested in reusing lots of downloaded tracks or uploading tracks. Further advice on this topic can be found at Frank Kinlan's website
The Edge 305 is a unit designed specially for bicycles, it comes with a good - small and functional - bike mount. The 305 is also available in HR and/or Cadence versions. The HR version comes with a wireless belt to measure heart rate. The Cadence version comes with wireless sensors to measure wheel rotation and pedaling cadence. Be aware, however, that its not possible to fit the cadence sensor on many mountain bikes. The speed measurements from the wheel sensor are only displayed when no GPS lock can be established (e.g. in tunnels) - hence it does not help to avoid the frequently very imprecise speed information displayed in areas with bad GPS reception (e.g. dense forests). The wheel rotation sensor also has to be mounted very close to the spokes and seems to have been designed with racing bikes in mind - not mountain bikes.
Edge 705
Bicycle GPS navigator based on SiRF III with barometric altimeter.It has a color screen wit map. Includes ANT+Sport connectivity to support wirless heatrate monitor(can be included in package), cadence/speed sensor(can be included in package), power meters and other Edge 705s. Have 512Mb of onboard memory and micro-SD slot. And it is waterproof (IPX7).
This device is dedicated for sport activity, mostly for bicycles. It includes courses(based on one your tracks) and workouts to hel you to train even with virtual partner, showing on map. It has auto-lap feature great for measuring you results.
It also have 4 modes:
- Map. Can be combined with up to 4 data fields.
- Two bicycle screens with up to 8 data fields
- Altitude screen (can be switched off)
Data fields includes Accuracy, Ascent, Bearing, Candence (Current, Average, Lap Average), Calories, Descent, Distance, Elevation, Grade, Heading, Heart Rate, Laps count, Power, Speed, Sunset, Sunrise, Time and others, so you can set up it as you want. It also have auto day/night switch based on sunset/sunrise time.
You can use it with Garmin training center to download your tracks, upload workouts and courses. You can view graph of your heatrate/cadence/etc.
Good Things
- A lot of built-in memory
- Customizable screens
- Virtual partner
- Waterproof
- Good screen
- ANT+Sport support
Bad Things
- A little big price (starting at $499 with only heartrate sensor)
- Does not support realtime transmition of GPS data to computer
- No magnetic compass
GPS16 receiver module
- 12 channel receiver only.
- The device is an 8cm diameter, 4cm tall puck.
- Designed to be used with an external computer, attached to the outside of a vehicle
- Exists in an "A" version that gives fixes at the rate of 5Hz (requires some level adaptation electronics)
Good Things
- Receiver is pretty good, gives the precision in meters and DOP numbers
- On a clear sky, in an open area, precision can be down to 2m !
- Receives WAAS/EGNOS
- Should be firmware upgradeable for gallileo
Bad Things
- Requires an external computer
- Comes with a useless RJ45 plug (that I replaced with a 7 pin XLR)
- Rather expensive at 175 USD
- Just had a look at the Technical Specifications and compared the GPS16 RJ45 pinout with the unsual Cisco/Sun/etc RJ45 serial pinout --- they are completely different (Frank 08:37, 31 Dec 2005 (GMT))
GPSMAP 60C(S)x and 76C(S)x
Totally insane GPS unit in every regard. SiRFstar III chipset makes signal lock indoors possible. Ability to load OSM data as a map (OSM Map On Garmin -- possibly works for other Garmin units as well). The GPSMAP 60 and 76 are sister series with identical firmware, but different outside layout. The 76 series is profiled more towards marine use, it should also float if dropped in water. The S(ensor)-models contain a fluxgate compass and barometer. The 60 series are well suited for outdoor sport ( paragliding, bike, hiking, ... )
Connectivity can be provided by GPSBabel (GPSBabel GarminX - (new version of July 06) if you don't want to use the Windows software. Tracks can automatically be saved on the microSD card using very little space. When saving a track on the microSD, you'll keep all the timestamps and height information! With modern version of the firmware (>=3.1) You can also put the unit into a "USB Mass Storage Mode" where it just behaves like a SD card reader. In this mode, the GPX files just show up in a drive on your PC, and you can upload directly to OSM. For Mac OS X (PPC and Intel) users there is also LoadMyTracks which can download/upload tracks from/to the device.
Last firmware 3.60 firmware update (February 18, 2008).
- waterproof (untested)
- Route finding capability.
- Cool color screen to display colored roads
- Shipped with a 64MB or 128 MB microSD card ( can be extended to up to 2 GB )
- uses 2 standard AA batteries and work well with Ni-MH batteries
- Autonomie of around 15 hours with AA and 10 hours with 1800mah Ni-Mh batteries
- funny gps-games ;)
Good Things
- can do (OSM Map On Garmin)
- logging interval can be set to x-meters,x-seconds or automatic with 5 scalings from most-often (best when driving) to least often (best by foot)
- very readable colored screen even with background lighting set off, extremely well readable in direct sunlight
- The cable is well established standard USB cable ( found with camera, phones, usb hub ) so no problem to find a new one if you lost it
- Works like a charm in USB-mass storage mode, just like an usb key, no more pain to get the gpx track file on linux & any OS that support USB keys
- I replaced my garmin 60 ( yellow one ) by the 60CX and I don't regret, GPS signal is faster to acquire, almost perfect in heavy foliage and ok in urban areas
Bad Things
- price (350 quid, 290 if you search online, even cheaper in the US)
- sometimes fails to reacquire locks after a longer tunnel while WAAS/EGNOS is turned on (no problem when disabled; fixed with firmware v3.00 --GabrielEbner 20:09, 7 September 2006 (BST)), but this cannot be confirmed by all users.
- 'only' 10,000 trackpoints of log in the internal memory (not a massive problem when you choose the interval well or frequently back up to a laptop; since firmware v2.71 you can automatically save tracklogs as GPX on the microSD card -- that's 100 days with 1 pt/s and a 1G card --GabrielEbner 20:09, 7 September 2006 (BST))
- trackpoints don't save the estimate precision (which can sometimes be off up to 100m)
- Unit can't save barometrical data while being switched off.
- be sure you have turned off "lock on road". (Setup -> Map -> Lock On Road = Off) otherwise your location can be very jumpy if you are walking next to a road. (and your GPX files will probably be contaminated with copyrighted map data! Daveemtb 16:20, 15 February 2008 (UTC))
- sucks batteries quite a bit faster than the eTrex models
- The microSD card saved GPX tracklogs "ONLY" store Lat/Long/Elevation and Time. (Dropping useful data like vertical/horizontal "dilution of precision".)
- when changing batteries in the dark, it is difficult to feel the correct orientation (you can't put them in in the wrong way, though)
Links
GPS 60
- Price - Around £120 (€199,00)
- Channels - 12 Parallel
- Memory - 1MB internal
- Battery life - 28hrs (2*AA)
28hrs seams a bit exagerated to me, I would better say 15hrs with standard AA and 10hrs with nimh accus Sletuffe 14:28, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
This is an excellent unit, good value for money, nice features, rugged design. Excellent accuracy. Highly recommended, I've recommended this unit to a few people recently - I might buy one myself. I have just ordered two.Nick 21:01, 3 Apr 2006 (UTC)
Good Things
- Large Screen (3.8cm * 5.5cm, 160 * 240, B/W), easy navigation through well designed menus.
- One-click waypoint storage with large and extensible set of icons.
- Track recording has some nice features - three different frequency settings for logging. The map feature is also quite useful for checking your tracks as you record them.
- Consider that this unit is only £40 more expensive than the Gecko 201.
- The unit is apparently waterproof and submergable (as the unit I have belongs to the university, I haven't tested this feature)
- Supports EGNOS, WAAS and Differential (D)-GPS
- Accuracy - The stated accuracy is 15m. I recently carried out some quite detailed analysis of the performance of this unit and found the standard deviation of points recorded to be less than 2.1m. The test site was Regents Park London, so not exactly ideal conditions.
- Software - Ships with Garmin's MapSource package. Easy to setup on XP, fast to download data. Conversion from proprietary Garmin format to GPX using something like GPS-Babel is required. It's perfectly suitable for OSM and works nicely with gpsbabel or viking.
- Supplied with a USB cable. (The Mapsource CD contains Windows drivers for use with this cable.)
- The USB cable is highly standard and found on most usb hub, camera : so not much money to spend if you lost it
- Inside software vers configurable for any kind of sport ( you display what you want, as you want in almost any units you want) ->
Hspeed,Zpeed, alt, direction, distance to. ( too bad, it misses the gliding ratio ! )
Bad Things
- Worst problem with OSM is the limitation of the 10000 track points (true on all garmin 60xxx garmin units ) wich gives your ~6 hours of recording with one point every 2s ( usefull if you want to detect every roundabout and turns ) But having a nearby laptop greatly increase this !
- Design - Unit is quite large
- Software - MapSource is very crude. Mac compatibility seems to be a bit of an issue. gpsbabel works good.
- If you want to navigate to a lat/long that you have input yourself, it is quite a long winded process. The only way that I can find to do it is to edit the Lat/long of an existing Waypoint
- Waypoints are a bit limited :
- 2 fields of 10 et 30 chars max ( enough in many case, but more problematic if you want to store a phone number, fuel price, exact adresse, etc. )
- 1000 waypoints max, this is a bit low if you want every gas stations in europe !
GPS12XL
1996-vintage device, still available. First generation of modern 12-channel receivers, which gives good performance except in difficult situations like wet jungle, deep canyon roads and next to cliffs.
Has 6-40V supply, so convenient to power from the car (just wire it up with a Pfranc connector), includes facility for external aerial, although I have never found it necessary. Designed with a sailor's mentality so altitude is not stored in waypoints or tracklogs. Powered by 4AA cells, and uses 2W when running so 4 alkalines give about 5hrs runtime. (power consumption has improved enormously in the decade since this was launched, but actual GPS performance has not changed that much).
Memory is shared between tracklog and waypoints so as you fill up waypoints over the years the tracklog length is reduced.
- 20 routes, 512 waypoints, 1024 tracklog points.
Good Things
- Wide power supply range
- Robust, reliable and waterproof (has pressure-change membrane to stop screen cracking at high temperature and altitude). Mine has been to 20 countries, soaked, banged, dropped, overheated.
- NMEA output, averaging, all the basic functionality you need
- Configurable tracklog (1s to 1hr period or auto)
- External aerial option
- Loads of datums, a useful range of co-ordinate systems and a 'user datum' option mean you can reference it to maps in most places in the world
- Good internal antenna
- Can be set to make audible beeps when a waypoint is approached. (12XL; not 12)
- UI is usable wearing ski gloves/mittens.
Bad Things
- Waypoints only have 6 chars - this is very tiresome/cryptic.
- High power consumption compared to modern units
- Doesn't save altitudes in waypoint or tracklogs so you need to write them down for waypoints, and saved tracklogs are flat
- Too old to understand WAAS or DGPS
- Doesn't do Lambert projections (France pre 2000ish maps)
- Large and quite heavy by modern standards
Conclusion
This is a good quality device and still useful, especially for tracking in a vehicle. For battery-powered use you would be better off with something that has lower power consumption. The lack of altitude saving is its most serious limitation, but the altitude is in the serial stream, so if you use something else to log the data, then it is a perfectly good GPS, and very handy if you need to fit an external aerial. Don't pay much for one, but don't dismiss it as uselessly ancient.
This is still a good mountaineering GPS Unit, because you can use it with your mittens on, and it is very robust. Stick an external antenna on the top and then keep it in an inner pocket (for warmth and hence extended battery life) listening for the beep when you got to where your snowhole last was.
GPS III
Circa 1997, these units are still plentiful in the used market. 12-Channel receiver. 10-32v power input, or four AA internal.
Good Things
- Wide power supply range
- NMEA output
- Configurable tracklog (by time, distance travelled, or "resolution" - new points are only created when you deviate from your course)
- Aerial can be removed and remote-mounted
- Visual alarms (time, off course, arrival)
- Accessories (interface cable, mounts, etc) are still readily available
- Waterproofed to IPX7 standard
Bad Things
- As with other Garmin models, waypoints only have 6 chars.
- Grayscale lcd display
Nüvi 200
Track logging only available in software version 3.40 as a hidden feature and was removed in later versions. Recording interval is always one second. Battery life supposedly 3-5 hours, tested to be at least 3 hours.
Good Things
- Megabytes of memory available for tracks; 10 000 points fit in a MB. Models with the smallest preloaded maps have even a GB of free memory.
- Cheap for a full navigator
- Charging possible with a normal USB cable
Bad Things
- No altitude information
- Location seems to wander around in the most challenging urban environments with tall blocking buildings, at least more than in somewhat more open spaces where performance is great. Most likely the unit is too eager to use reflected signals. These errors can be mitigated by standing still at some intermediate points or corners of better reception to let the tracked position settle to the correct location.
- Might not be that easy to add notes for editing when tracking
Nüvi 370
Good Things
- SD card slot
