GPS receivers and cables - Revision history

Rich h at 12:17, 10 July 2011

2011-07-10T12:17:06Z

Rich h at 20:09, 13 October 2007

2007-10-13T20:09:25Z

Rich h: Created

2006-11-07T17:53:39Z

Created

New page

== 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

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 [http://www.pfranc.com/ 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.

←Older revision		Revision as of 20:09, 13 October 2007
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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	+	* 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.

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 * 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:
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 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
+* Garmin Etrex Vista H can be bought for around £115 inc P&P and is also USB.  Will do most of what you want for starting out in competitions and easy to use.  Screen unfortunately not quite as good as the older serial version.  Can also put airspace on.
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 == Cabling ==
-Manufacturer's cables are expensive, it's where they make profit margins.  You can get cheap equivalents from pfranc 'open source' hardware suppliers [http://www.pfranc.com/ here]
+Manufacturer's cables (if not USB) are expensive, it's where they make profit margins.  You can get cheap equivalents from pfranc 'open source' hardware suppliers [http://www.pfranc.com/ here]