Discussion: GPS loggers

What GPS loggers (no screen) do people recommend? Small, light and waterproof versions? (that don't cost too too much). This one seems like a decent all round logger. Thoughts?

http://www.canadagps.com/iblue821.html

I tried the iGotU GT-120 http://www.i-gotu.com/

Found it wasn't all that reliable and hard to tell (just using the two blinking lights) whether it was working or not while using it. (I just bought a Garmin 405)

Others do claim to have had good success with it though.

RoyalTek RGM-3800. I've been very pleased, used it mostly for hang gliding so far, but I've also used it a few times in the woods and it has worked great. Very inexpensive

I also like the one that J-J uses. I bought it on his recommendation. I did find that the batteries were always dead when I went to use it. So, I was probably not remembering to turn it off. Since I use it infrequently, I just try to remember to take the batteries out each time.

Worked nicely for the rogaine I did by swapping the batteries every 8 hours. Tracks very well.

What are you planning to use it for? Orienteering? Daily training runs? How long workouts /hours (battery issue)? How accurate and detailed track you like to get, do you want just to see the route about right or do you like to get as detailed data as possible of brief map reading stops and hesitations? Any plans for doing never ever any yökuppi style live tracking? Are you planning to use it for something else too, like car navigation with pda?

Jagge, I saw your suggestions on GPS loggers in the GPS WRE thread from last month. To answer your questions I'm looking for this to be usef 100% for Orienteering (racing and training). Max 4 hours. As accurate as the Garmin watches (I have one). Yes detailed as possible. No car use plans. No current plans for live tracking but depending on the price I wouldn't rule that out as around the corner for our Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Adventure Running Series. So your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Ideally it would be small and thin and just pin into a pocket. This one seems pricier but rather small.

http://www.canadagps.com/Qstarz1300s.html

Mike, you planning a christmass present for the US team? ;)

Nikolay, yes big brother is watching where and when and how long you train....

You can get bad results with any device by wearing it on your waist or by not waiting long enough to get proper lock to satellites. This is why you should not worry too much if someone gets sometimes bad results. Just put your forerunner on your back pocket and see how much worse it performs.

The very smallest units may not be the most accurate even if there is same gps chip inside. They may have had to do compromises with the antenna to cut the size and weight.

Make sure it's easy to download data from the unit. It's important in the long run. And make sure it's capable of logging every second, you'll need that. And if you plan to do live things or use it with pda get one with bluetooth.

You might want to take a look at this one:
http://www.amazon.com/PhotoMate-887-Bluetooth-Reco...
The physical dimensions are almost exactly the same as a 9V battery (but it's lighter). I made a cloth pouch which I pin to my hat or the top of my pack, and it receives well. The manual and software utility are crude, but the device itself works well. I set it up to update every 6 meters, and this provides a good repeatable track will little added noise. I have it set with "differential GPS mode" (I think they mean WAAS enabled) and the tracks appear to have accuracy to within 2-3 meters. Not bad for < $80 U.S.

Why does performance drop so dramatically when the logger is carried at the waist instead of the wrist? It seems that my wrists are often at waist height while running.

The Qstarz model that Hammer linked to comes with a "sports armband" that holds the logger on the upper arm. Would this be a suitable spot to carry the logger? Even under a shirt? Has anyone used this model?

Just ordered one of these:
http://www.holux.com/JCore/en/products/products_sp...

For $62.50 with shipping. Got this instead of the significantly-smaller PhotoMate 887 (which looks AWESOME!) because of the long battery life.

Can't wait to fiddle!

I am considering a logger. I like the size/weight of the PhotoMate 887 but am concerned that the software is described as "crude." Could I substitute different software?? More specifically, could I download directly into SportTracks (or similar) without a manual GPX intermediate step??

I carry my Royaltek on my pants pocket, works fine. It doesn't come with any software otehr than a thing to download it, but GPSBabel can convert most formats. (Or in my case, I wrote my own program to show the track in Google Earth.)

Body shadows gps a lot more if it's carried in pants pocket compared to writs. In wrist use its usually 20-30 cm away from your body, so you body blocks a lot smaller part of the sky.

Upper arm is better, also back of the neck. If I remember right M. Troeng had to keep the iGotU unit in head strap to make it work as well as forerunner 305 on wrist.

Most units works in pack pocket too, but tha accuracy is't quite as good. You can see the route from the log bit that's the least interesting use for gps data. And you most likely you will not see much difference if you use for example 5 sec recording interval insetead of 1 sec. But you also will not see much anything intresting from the 5 sec log.

Maybe example will claryfy what I am trying to say. Here is example, a race two weeks ago:

http://routegadget.awardspace.com/dotmaps/rastijyr...

1 sec log, each point is drawn as a dot. Each dot is coloured by speed. Red is very slow or stopped and so on. Every 10th dot is black. Like this I can see where I had to stop or slow down/hesitate and how long it took. (like just before #8, I ran away from a dog and when I got rid of it I had to stop to find out where I was). And if I make mistake I can easily count seconds lost. Black dots makes it easier to calculate if mistake is bigger than just some seconds.

Controls are shown as two rings. At top left is in seconds how long time I spent inside each ring, inner (20 m) and outer (70 m). Also how long it took from ring to control and from control to ring, again outer and inner. Like this you can get some idea how good you are at spiking controls and leaving control. If you do this analysis regularly you may see how you improve or as coach you can get some idea how your atheletes do and what are their strenths and weaknesses wihtout always having to run after them.

The map and route is here:
http://rasti.kunnonelama.fi/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti....

I think you can get something similar data out of quickruote but I am used to use thes dots and do it withot backround map. It works quite well, easy and fast, no need to scan map or anything. Just drag & drop gps on the app.

Anyway, just imagine how this approach would work if gps isn't that accurate at all or if 5 sec recording interval is used. You might get something out of it, but not quite the same. For example we have tried this with new Forerunner 310XT and the result was quite bad. it has "smart recoding" giving average of 6 sec interval. This app does interpolate missing dots but it the analysis was quite worthless.


Edit: with somehow adjusted backround map.
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2071/jyry2009.j...

Jagge: this is a very nice way to look at a gps track, is this program available?

http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/me...

Without split file it draws dots without rings/analysis. Example split file is taken from event's web site, typical format used here. But it also works with splits text copied form routegadget appelet (press load routes button and copy paste splits from text area) and other similar enough formats. Try and see what happens.

Splits can be cumulative or just splits between two controls.

For anyone still considering a logger, I bought the PhotoMate 887 and am very pleased with it. It's small and very light. I wrap it in a headband so it gets the best signal it can while I run. The included software is decent and, along with QuickRoute, I can overlay my route on a scanned map in minutes.
I have yet to test it in very steep terrain and under a thick canopy. When I look closely I do notice a small drop in accuracy when I move from a clear area into the woods. However, the points are still in the right places relative to each other so they can easily be adjusted with QuickRoute (or RouteGadget) so they are right on.
Logger is definitely worth the few buck$...

Has anyone tried this one? Looks pretty spiffy - I might try to order it.

mindsweeper, http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp?me...

I have been using this one during this spring. It hasn't been quite as accurate as my sirf3 devices, but I can live with it because relative accuracy is decent just as expresso wrote. And on open eras it is usually more accurate than sifr3 devices. See my log for maps & tracks logged with this device.

Any updates in the fast 1/2 decade to the original question?

What is the latest and greatest for GPS trackers w/o display for 24 to multiday Rogaines / Adventure Racing?