Difference between revisions of "GPS receivers and cables"

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* Basic Garmin Etrex if just starting out, no maps and limited to 2 hours flight logging but cheap at around £50 on Ebay
 
* Basic Garmin Etrex if just starting out, no maps and limited to 2 hours flight logging but cheap at around £50 on Ebay
* Black and White Garmin Etrex Vista if want a map, around £130 on Ebay
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* Black and White Garmin Etrex Vista if want a map, around £130 on Ebay.  Unfortunately you can't move to the next waypoint on the route without physically going through it - not good.
  
  

Revision as of 20:09, 13 October 2007

Choosing the right GPS receiver

Recommend going for black and white displays as:

  • Colour displays are hard to read and have less battery life
  • Colour (TFT) displays need a backlight to read them in daylight, kills battery life


Also consider:

  • how much active logging memory it has
  • how frequently it logs a point
  • whether you want a map
  • does it record height as well as position, some old units don't


We like the following GPS receivers for hang gliding:

  • Basic Garmin Etrex if just starting out, no maps and limited to 2 hours flight logging but cheap at around £50 on Ebay
  • Black and White Garmin Etrex Vista if want a map, around £130 on Ebay. Unfortunately you can't move to the next waypoint on the route without physically going through it - not good.


Suggestions for mounting GPS on hang glider:

  • On basebar using gps bike holder and longer screw (note, the garmin thread is not metric but imperial) - not good if towing
  • Modify a car kit to fix to your existing vario if a large old one like mine


Cabling

Manufacturer's cables are expensive, it's where they make profit margins. You can get cheap equivalents from pfranc 'open source' hardware suppliers here


Tips

  • Watch out when saving tracks on some units. The Garmin Etrex series remove the altitude from traces when 'save' to internal memory. Just leave everything in active memory.