Re: Who uses GPS receivers off-road?

Sticking them on the handlebar seems risky too,

Pardon me if I already sent you this via email.

If you go to:

http://www.the-dowds.com/Biking/Cyco/

and scroll just more than half way down, you'll see how my gps is
mounted to my left inner barkbuster mount. I also explain there that:

< People are amazed that in five years of using this setup I’ve never
damaged the
< GPS. I found out last year what happens if I run the GPS straight
into a tree at
< speed. The GRAB9 breaks, the GPS dangles at the end of the tether &
it costs
< me $20 for a new GRAB9.

Tom Myers (www.cycoactive.com) has LOTS of experience and information
on how to mount a GPS to a motorcycle, e.g.,

http://www.touratech-usa.com/shop/gallery.lasso?B=Dirt

although that seems to
be the accepted practice. Will it work if stuffed into a backpack,
ready to point the way back to the truck only if needed, or do you
have to manually hit a button every few miles to leave a 'lectronic
breadcrumb?

1. IF you program a "waypoint" (records the lat/long of a specific
place into memory, usually only a few button presses then those to
give the waypoint a name) for where you parked, you could then shut
the unit off and later turn it back on and it'll tell you which
direction (& distance) to go to get back to that "truck waypoint," but
this method doesn't record a "track."

2. A "track" is a series of points in memory, for example here's
Garmin's MapSource software displaying the track from my July 16, 2003
solo ride during the 03ISF:

http://www.the-dowds.com/Misc/Track.jpg

You can see in the upper left hand corner that the GPS recorded five
tracks that day, the first one starting at 9:30 AM and it recorded
1,411 points to it before it lost track of the satellites for 30
seconds, recorded a one point track ("Active Log 001") then lost track
of the satellites for 30 seconds and started recording the (631 point)
track "Active Log 002."

Anyhoo, to record a "track" the unit needs to be able to "see" enough
of the hemisphere above you to lock onto at least 3-4 satellites.
When I carried my GPS in a chest pocket, the resulting tracks were so
fragmented with LARGE gaps so it would have been impossible to
"reverse navigate." It's possible I suppose that a GPS in a backpack
may see enough of the sky to record usable tracks.

My Garmin eMap has a feature where I can tell it to "navigate" me back
(reverse direction) along any track in memory, including the one I
just made.

Therefore, if I've got decent "tracks" in memory, I can command the
GPS to give me directions back along that track. It gives directions
via (a.) a big arrow pointing which way to go + compass, e.g., SE and
(b.) I can see my track on the GPS's LCD (tracks are series of dots;
very distinct from trails which are series of dashes) so I can
anticipate switchbacks etc.

As long as the GPS can see enough of the sky, and is powered on, it
will automatically record the points making up a track. One thing
here, while my eMap has a 128MB data card so it has both topo and
street maps (handy as some logging roads don't appear on topo but do
on their streets databases), the memory where tracks are stored are
separate from the data card. This results in the track's memory
location filling up in about 6 hours or so. So I make sure when I
stop for meals I "save" the track which resets the available memory
for the track.

3. I've both carried the GPS in a chest pocket and (for the last six
years) had it mounted where I can see it while riding. While it may
not be intuitive, there is a HUGE difference in usability between the
two approaches. For example,

(a.) The first year at Baumgartner, I'd never been there. I spent an
hour or so using Garmin's MapSource software to program in a few basic
waypoints, e.g., trailheads and obviously crucial trail
intersections. With the GPS "on the bars" I'd press a couple buttons
to tell the GPS to take me to a trailhead & it'd take me there.
Something nice about that big arrow & watching the distance count down
to where you want to go.

No stopping to pull out the GPS, figuring out where to go, putting it
back away, repeat. It's like the difference between carrying a paper
map in a pocket versus using one of Tom's map holders:

http://www.cycoactive.com/mc/bp3.html (my favorite) or

http://www.cycoactive.com/mc/cm1.html

(b.) I come to a place where the trail forks. I glance down, see the
right fork is a short dead-end trail up to a lookout & head left to
continue on.

(c.) When the trail "disappears" (very frequent on low use trails)
I'll just look at the GPS & follow the trail as it appears on the
GPS's map. I totally blew a guy away a few years ago doing that.
"HOW in the world did you know where that trail went Joe?"
.