Dartmoor Letterboxing

gar&sue · Hiker Joined: 07 Aug 2008 Posts: 64 Location: Plymouth

We’ve got an Etrex Vista GPS which seems to be giving us the run around Shocked

I always believed GPS was point A to point B in a direct line but ours seems to enjoy taking us on a circler route, also the navigation compass sometimes reverses it’s self so that we’re walking in the opposite direction to the compass but still counting down to the final destination.
We’ve calibrated the unit but it still happens any ideas ??
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gar&sue (Fraser's On Tor)

Station Master · Hiker Joined: 27 Jan 2009 Posts: 198 Location: nr Dartmoor

I have the next model up and its great. You must walk a few yards to get the correct direction, its usless trying to get a girection standing still. The unit needs to know which way it is facing, my and your unit does this by movement. A friend of mine got the same unit as yours and it is fine. It is now after I taight him how to use it.

Hope this helps.

Mark.

gar&sue · Hiker Joined: 07 Aug 2008 Posts: 64 Location: Plymouth

Ha Ha
That’s were we went wrong, we should have had better instruction from our friend who gave us the GPS on lone before he went over seas.
His instruction was - this is how you in the coordinates point it & go. Shocked

The pints consumed might not have helped either. Wink

I’m slowly going through the hand book but it says nothing about the compass going of track, I’m thinking it might have something to do with the setting you can put it on to do with the speed you walk, as you pick up speed the compass go’s of to save battery life
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gar&sue (Fraser's On Tor)

Nik - KOTM · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 6:55 am Post subject:

Personally I get the bearing off the GPS and use a compass to go where I want to go
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Nik 250 to go

Sowerby Streaker · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 2:30 pm Post subject:

I use the old brick - Garmin 12 and its perfect. I also have to start walking to get the compass pointing in the right direction. After liasing with a gentleman on the moor with the same unit, I now know that the numbers top right indicates the bearing I need to walk on to the next waypoint. So now as soon as I start to walk from one box to the other, I look at this figure then with my hand held compass go off on that bearing, then the GPS compass soon swings around to match. As the previous boxer said, the GPS needs to know you are on the move before it can give you a direction to your next box/waypoint.

panomobile · Hiker Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 163

I have a Garmin eTrex and I know that I'm not clued up on all the features it provides. For example, I never knew until Saturday that the GPS can tell you the bearing you are walking to and I found this out by accident.

Nik - KOTM · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 9:08 pm Post subject:

that is a clever little device - even tells you when sunset is... and a lot more besides.... though I have suffered for my blind faith in following the course it has set me - right through a huge gorse and bramble patch on more than one occasion.... I really must stop using this new fangled technology as much as I do.
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Nik 250 to go

Station Master · Hiker Joined: 27 Jan 2009 Posts: 198 Location: nr Dartmoor

always take a compass and a map, unless u know the very area well. On Dartmoor you just walk downhill, but in Scotland this does not work.

Gemma · Trekker Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 231