Archives for 2005

Garmin US TOPO 24K Review

November 20, 2005 By Rich Owings 5 Comments

24kcomparison_2

UPDATE: This product has been discontinued. Read my review of Garmin’s new nationwide Topo US 24K maps.

One of the frustrating things about backcountry use of GPS is having to live with "as the crow flies" routing. That’s not so bad when you’re off-trail, but on trail, I’d prefer my GPS tell me that its five trail miles to the destination rather than three "as the crow flies" miles. The crow can fly, but I can’t.

On one of my last outings, I had a chance to try out Garmin’s US TOPO 24K which shows contour intervals closer to USGS 1:24,000 scale maps than their USA TOPO (1:100K) product, hence the name. During one outing, I happened to be on the dividing line between these two coverages, as captured in the screen shot to the left.

Clearly, this enhanced level of detail is desirable, but having routable trails excites me just as much. I couldn’t trick my GPS into capturing a screen shot of a route, Us_topo_24k_route_1 but the image to the right comes from the MapSource desktop. You can see that the software routed along the highway and a trail, but that it had to do "line of sight" routing where one trail was not on the map. It was really nice to know just how far I had to go to the next junction.

The formal name of this product is US TOPO 24K – National Parks, and you can purchase it for the eastern, central or western U.S. But as I discovered on this trip, it covers more than just national parks. The images shown here were not captured in national parks, but in the San Bernardino National Forest.

Filed Under: Garmin, Software, Software Reviews

Garmin eTrex Venture Review

November 19, 2005 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

Etrex_venture_7

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For more current recommendations, please refer to our handheld GPS buyers guide or our Garmin handheld GPS comparison chart.

The Garmin eTrex Venture was the first GPS I ever purchased. I chose it because, unlike the basic eTrex, the Venture comes with a cable allowing you to connect it to your PC, for only a few dollars more. I eventually upgraded to a mapping unit, but I still think the eTrex Venture is a good choice for a GPS newbie, or for anyone on a limited budget.

28 reviewers gave the eTrex Venture an average 4-1/2 out of 5 star rating on Amazon.

Here’s what others are saying:

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, GPS Reviews, Handheld/Sport

Creating Custom Maps for Lowrance GPS Receivers

November 16, 2005 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

In another of our continuing series of the best of the boards, this jewel comes to us from Groundspeak, the geocaching message board. In a Lowrance vs. Garmin response, I said…

…if you want to create your own maps, you can do this with the 60CS. With the H20, you can only add tracks. Lots of them, granted, but it is still a significant limitation, especially if you want to add contours.

To which Hoary, a geocacher from Massachusetts said…

There is a significant progress in regards of building your own maps for Lowrance iFinder. More details in Yahoo! MapCreate Format Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mapcreate_format/

Sure enough, information is posted there on a new tool, MP2LCM. I covered how to obtain data and create MP files in my book, GPS Mapping – Make Your Own Maps, but the ability to transfer those custom maps to current Lowrance units is a new development. Now I haven’t tried this yet, so if you have, chime in and let us hear your thoughts. Congratulations to the MapCreate Format group for all their efforts.

Filed Under: Best of the boards, Lowrance, Software

GPS Reception in Canyons

November 13, 2005 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

Sheep_canyon_1 I just returned from vacation, during which time I tested a Garmin GPSMap 60CS and Magellan Meridian Platinum side-by-side to check for accuracy in a canyon. Canyons, both natural and urban are notorious for the phenomenon known as multipath — the reflection of signals off canyon walls. GPS receivers work by calculating the time it takes for signals to be received from GPS satellites, so signals bouncing off canyon walls are delayed slightly, thereby introducing error.

The test was conducted in Sheep Canyon (picture at right), in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Sheep Canyon is not a tight slot canyon, but it is a canyon nonetheless. I must have had good satellite coverage, because I never lost the signal lock the entire day.

Anza_borrego_tracks_1 To see visual evidence of the difference between reception in the two units, check out the tracks on the aerial photo to the left. The Garmin track is in red, the Magellan in blue. I have one caveat here…It appears that the Garmin collected much more detail, but the Magellan is my wife’s GPSr, and I’m not as familiar with it. Once I saw this image, I checked and discovered that the Magellan was not set to acquire as detailed of a tracklog as possible. Apart from that, the most interesting thing I see is that both units recorded at least one stray track point, far away from our position. On the basis of this, I’d rate their performance as comparable.

This canyon wasn’t tight enough to reduce reception much, but the topography did contribute to the stray track points. You can visit my other website to see the entire tracklog and geocoded photos, and this page on GPS Tracklog provides more information on geocoding photos with TopoFusion. Finally, stay tuned; over the next week or so I’ll have some more posts related to our GPS vacation.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware, Magellan, Trip report (TR)

Garmin StreetPilot c330 Review

November 10, 2005 By Rich Owings 4 Comments

Streetpilot_c330

UPDATE: Most of the several generations old StreetPilot series, including this model, has been discontinued. For a more current recommendation, check out our Auto GPS buyers guide or go straight to our Garmin nuvi comparison chart.

The Garmin StreetPilot c330 is a popular automotive navigation device, from a company known for great customer service and intuitive menus.

Unlike the c320, the c330 comes preloaded with City Select maps for North America or Europe. Step up to the c340 and the unit will announce upcoming street names and add optional FM TMC traffic alerts.

Over 100 users have contributed reviews of the StreetPilot c330 at Amazon.

Compare prices on the Garmin StreetPilot c330

Here’s what others are saying:

Filed Under: Auto, Garmin, Garmin auto GPS, GPS Reviews

Garmin Forerunner 301 Review

November 7, 2005 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

Forerunner_301

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For more current recommendations, please refer to our GPS for runners post.

Hands on with the Garmin Forerunner 301

I had the opportunity to try out a Garmin Forerunner 301 recently when I used it to test out the online mapping software provided by Motionbased.com. The Forerunner is a very nice, lightweight (only 2.6 ounces!) GPS receiver that straps to your wrist. Ideal for runners, this flagship Forerunner model includes a heart rate monitor as well.

Now I go at outdoor activities fairly aggressively, but I consider myself an explorer, not an athelete in training. And while the Forerunner was a lot of fun, it is best suited for those wanting to track their heart rate and performance. It is not a great navigation device. Sure, it can point you in the direction of a waypoint, or navigate along a route, but most GPS receivers have much more flexibility when it comes to navigation. The 301 suffers from a limit of 100 waypoints, and you cannot upload tracks to it. But here’s an amazing statistic…the 301 is the top selling GPS on Amazon! I’m betting there are a lot of runners and lightweight backpackers who consider this the ideal receiver.

Filed Under: Garmin handheld GPS, GPS Reviews Tagged With: Garmin Forerunner 301, GPS for runners

Magellan RoadMate 760 Review

November 1, 2005 By Rich Owings 2 Comments

Roadmate_760_3

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide or check out our other Magellan auto GPS reviews.

The North American version of the Magellan RoadMate 760 comes with built-in maps of the US, Canada and Puerto Rico (pre-loaded European maps may be unlocked for an additional fee).

An update of the RoadMate 700, the 760 adds a text-to-speech feature that announces upcoming street names, and a SmartDetour feature that makes it easy to navigate around construction zones and stopped traffic.

Dozens of consumers have posted reviews of the RoadMate 760 at Amazon.

Compare prices on the Magellan RoadMate 760

Filed Under: Auto, Garmin auto GPS, GPS Reviews, Hardware, Magellan

Garmin GPSMap 60CS Review

October 27, 2005 By Rich Owings 3 Comments

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UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For more current recommendations, please refer to our handheld GPS buyers guide or our Garmin handheld GPS comparison chart.

Regular readers of GPS Tracklog may recognize the Garmin GPSMap 60CS as one of my personal GPS receivers. It’s my favorite workhorse in the stable at this point, and is highly visible in posts here and on the cover of my book, GPS Mapping: Make Your Own Maps. The 60CS has it all — a bright color screen, turn-by-turn routing capabilities, on screen maps (separate purchase required), an electronic compass, and a barometric altimeter to accurately track elevation gain.

I’m planning to review quite a few of the current crop of GPS receivers over the next month or two, and it only seemed fitting to start with the 60CS. I highly reccomend it on the basis of two years of personal use. The menus are intuitive, and Garmin has an excellent reputation for customer service. The 60CS does double duty as a great ruggedized unit for the backcountry or a dashboard companion for highway navigation.

57 reviewers gave an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars at Amazon, which said the 60CS “is packed with navigational features, but Garmin knows that a great device has to go beyond a simple color display to be the cream of the crop. With that, Garmin has upped the ante on this lightweight, rugged, waterproof unit, offering a 256-color, highly reflective display that provides easy viewing in almost any lighting condition, including bright sunlight. This transreflective TFT, 2.6-inch diagonal screen provides excellent viewing while maximizing your battery life (up to twenty hours with typical use).”

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, GPS Reviews, Handheld/Sport, Hardware

Downloading GPS tracks from MotionBased.com for trip planning

October 24, 2005 By Rich Owings 1 Comment

As promised in last week’s review of MotionBased software, I’m going to show you how to use their site to download tracks for trip planning. Recently, I was trying to find a good map for Annadel State Park, a little slice of mountain biking heaven in Santa Rosa, California. My wife and I used to ride there all the time before we were married, when she lived within a stone’s throw of the park. About the time I lured her away, there was a massive reconfiguration of the trail system.
An opportunity came up to ride Annadel again recently, and I really wanted a detailed map so I could plan to ride as much single-track as possible. I turned to MotionBased and searched their extensive trail network for MotionBased users who had mountain biked Annadel, which turned up nearly a dozen tracks.

I was able to download .gpx files for each one. This feature is a bit hidden, so let’s look at how to go about it. Go to MotionBased.com and click the Trail Network tab. Use the Quick and Advanced Filters to narrow your search. In my case I chose Cycling (Mountain Biking), Recreation for event type and California for location. I then narrowed the location to Santa Rosa using the advanced filters. This brought up 11 records for Annadel, which I selected using the check boxes. The next step is to click on the left side of the screen to select Map View instead of Table View. Your screen should now look something like the thumbnail to the right.

As you can see, there is a Google Map image on the left and a list of selected tracks on the right. Click the Info link next to one of the tracks and a balloon will appear on the map, providing an option to export as a Google Earth (.kml) or .gpx file. I downloaded the 11 tracks as .gpx files.

Topofusion_7 There are other ways to do this, but I chose to open the saved .gpx files in TopoFusion and used its Cut Track feature to remove stray track segments. The result is shown in the screenshot to the left. I then transferred the tracks to my GPS.

I was getting close to my goal, but I also wanted a good quality printed map. As much as I like TopoFusion, it and other TerraServer based programs have very limited printing capabilities, and TerraServer topo maps are fairly low-resolution scans. So I transferred Annadel_map the tracks to National Geographic TOPO!, and printed the map shown to the right.

The folks at MotionBased have plans to incorporate waypoint management, so in the future you may be able to download those too. For the time being though, it’s a great resource for grabbing tracks placed online by other outdoor adventurers.

Filed Under: Internet applications, Software

MotionBased: Online GPS mapping (review)

October 19, 2005 By Rich Owings 2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that MotionBased, a website for online GPS mapping, had been acquired by Garmin. I’ve been playing with a Garmin ForeRunner 301 recently and used it to check out MotionBased, which keeps all your data online so that you can access it from anywhere. As a result, you can share trail info with others, though you do have the option of making your trails private. This is a great program for athletes, or anyone working on physical conditioning.

GPS based training

One of the strengths of MotionBased is its ability to integrate heart-rate data. It’s very cool to be able to overlay an elevation profile with your heart-rate graph. I had never thought about it, but my heart was pounding as fast going all out in the flats as when I was climbing a steep hill. Seeing such things is part of the wow factor for me; serious athletes will be more interested in seeing how long they stayed in various heart rate zones, and the multiple ways to view speed, distance and time data. This information is presented in both tables and graphs.

Multiple mapping modes

Now I like to stay in shape, but my perspective here is decidedly unathletic. I’m more interested in maps, and this is where MotionBased offers something other mapping software doesn’t. Using their Map Player (which unfortunately will not yet work in Firefox), you can view a track superimposed on a street map, contour map, topo map, satellite image or elevation model! You can even export the track to a .kml file for viewing in Google Earth. Here’s a link to MotionBased for a recent bike ride I did. Click the "Dashboard" button for a more extensive look.

Waypoints and routes are missing

No software has it all, and MotionBased has yet to add the ability to manage (or even show) waypoints and routes. But it is worth looking at for its other features. And it’s great to be able to view your trips anywhere you have an internet connection. If you own a Magellan or Lowrance GPS receiver however, beware—MotionBased is designed primarily to work with Garmin.

Cost

The free version, MotionBased Lite, gives access to mapping and analysis of your ten most recent activities. These limitations are removed with a subscription, which also gives you access to more extensive analysis features. Subscriptions to MotionBased Standard run $11.95/month, which is discounted 33% if you sign up for an annual plan.

This review just scratches the surface of a feature rich software program. I suggest trying it out yourself. Finally, stay tuned…in the near future I plan to post about the extensive data you can download from MotionBased for trip planning.

Filed Under: Garmin, Internet applications, Software Reviews