GPS FORUM

> The improvements over the old model seem to be:

> The improvements over the old model seem to be:
>
> * WAAS/EGNOS.
>
> Not useful in UK yet.
>
> * 20 routes instead of one.
>
> Very useful. In fact Id like 50, but Ill put up with 20. Couldnt
> abide only having one.
>
> * New configurable trip parameters page.
>
> This is *very* nice. Five fields which can select from a few dozen
> interesting numbers. Reduces hugely all that annoying button clicking
> you had to do to wander around the menus finding OS grid co-ordinates
> here, ETE to final route destination there, etc..
>
> * Hunting and fishing good times, which include a display of
> sunrise, sunset, moorise, moonset, and moon phase, for a specific
> waypoint, at a specified date, default to todays date, but can be
> edited. Means you dont need to have web access to find out the time
> of sunset on Ben Nevis next month, and whether therell be a good moon
> if you take too long :-)
>
> * 10,000 trackpoints in the tracklog.
>
> Aaaahhhhh, lovely :-)
>
> Tracking can be turned on and off. Very nice, means you can use it to
> navigate back home in the car without risking an overwrite of the
> interesting mountain active track, and start and stop tracks cleanly.
> You can also turn wrap off, when it stops recording when the track
> buffer is full. Tracking mode can also be set for time intervals,
> distance intervals, or five different resolutions of auto. The highest
> resolution of auto gives a more detailed and more accurate track than
> the tracking mode of my old and good model of Summit, and looks as
> though it should take about 17 hours to fill the tracklog.
>
> [Good model of Summit? Seems there was quite a bit of sample variation
> in eTrexes. Mine appeared to perform so much better under heavy tree
> cover etc. than other users reported their eTrexes did that in
> discussions of this we agreed that the difference couldnt just be
> because they were idiots, like the man I met who held his with his
> thumb over the aerial :-)]
>
> Compared to a known good tracking model of Summit it seems to have the
> same sensitivity and ability to find and keep lock, but is more
> sensible about how it recovers from lost lock, producing fewer and
> less extreme jagged track artefacts in lossy conditions. The detail is
> significantly better at highest auto resolution, producing nice
> hexagonal approximations to small circles which the Summit renders as
> jagged and highly irregular quadrilaterals.
>
> * Improved battery life. They claim 16 hrs normal use for the new one,
> which seems probable given that with new batteries it takes a third
> less power (which will extend life a lot more than by a third).
>
> And of course it now has plenty of code headroom for further software
> enhancements and bug fixes. (Mine is software version 3.20. 3.30 is
> now up on the Garmin web site.) Theres still some nice things the
> Geko 201 does which this doesnt, such as pan over the track, but its
> now a good alternative to the Geko, as opposed to being an outdated
> precursor. Especially at its price!
>
> Shame they didnt take the opportunity to update simulator (aka DEMO)
> mode. The only difference appears to be that you can now switch
> tracking on and off in DEMO mode. A useful tip for these crippled
> constant-speed eTrex simulators is that they run at a speed of 20
> things, where things is whatever distance units were in place when you
> started DEMO mode. Nautical is nearly twice as fast as metric.
>
> AFAIK theres nothing in the appearance or packaging to indicate the
> difference between old and new models. You have to switch it on. On
> the system menu it shows a choice of WAAS and a software version of
> 3 or more.
>
> Theres a similarly upgraded Summit. Be interesting to see what effect
> these have on Geko prices, since they make the Gekos look rather
> expensive now.
>
> At an entry level price this is now a pretty sophisticated
> GPSR. Although it lacks the interesting and occasionally useful
> altimeter and compass of my old Summit, the trip parameter page, the
> much larger and much more controllable tracklog, and the improved
> battery life, mean that itll usually replace my Summit in my
> pocket. The Summit will get used as an altimeter and barometer.
>
> --
> Chris Malcolm cam@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
> IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
> [http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]
>
>
>
> --
> Chris Malcolm cam@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
> IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
> [http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]
>

>Can anyone recommend a way of saving/uploading waypoints to the original
>eTREX via serial cable?
>
>Shareware preferred

>Can anyone recommend a way of saving/uploading waypoints to the original
>eTREX via serial cable?