Tracks and hiking questions

[JMckie]

Went on a short hike with Betty today. I was eager to review the track created. To my surprise there were tons of them broken up at varying intervals. The average interval was 5 minutes.

Here are my relevant preferences:
GPS - battery saver on
tracks - least frequent
General - Auto-off after 2 minutes
using external antenna (Garmin issue)

Questions:
1) Why are the tracks broken up? Is it because of lost GPS signals? Is it because the Betty turned itself off? Due to resets (may have been one)? Or is it because I viewed the map or GPS screen at those times?

2) I had an external antenna, the head of which was stuck on the outside of my backpack. Betty for the most part was snug inside the backpack. Does it matter how much of the external antenna "sees" the sky? Or can I just coil the cable and only expose the head portion.

3) For about five minutes I was just looking at the GPS signal screen the screen did not turn itself off. Why? Does this mean that the screen was always on while Betty was inside the backpack?

4) What are my expectations on battery life if I use it this way?

[Holgado]

Usually the broken up tracks is due to loss Sat signal, perhaps the trees?
I do not know about the Garmin external antenna, I use the Gilsson with good coverage.
Not affecting the push of buttons, specially if the power is on.
After 2 minutes Betty would have to get the screen off.
It does not matter if you have Que inside your backpack as far as you have the external antenna looking up to the sky.
Battery like under the specs you said, is about 3 or 4 hours.

[JMckie]

Thanks. When Betty turns the screen off, is the GPS and tracking still active? This reminds me of the refrigerator light question :)

If for some reason Betty resets while inside the backpack will the GPS and tracking automatically resume? Or do I have to keep checking periodically? I would hate to be disappointed after a 2 hour hike to find out that I lost tracks after the first 10 minutes.

[kokopeli123]

The spacing between track points is also a function of the "tracks - least frequent" setting

kokopeli123

[JMckie]

Some observations:

When using the external antenna (out of cradle, internal battery only), the screen never turns off. Actually it does flicker every two minutes and turns right on again. (After one solid hour of this, battery was at 80%)

If a soft reset happens, the GPS will start automatically.

If the sat signal is lost for a short time, say under a minute, Betty will reacquire immediately.

If the sat signal was lost for five minutes or more, Betty spent a long time trying to acquire with no success. It was able to reacquire quickly after power off and power on.

This last item would suggest to me that you have to keep periodically checking GPS signal when hiking if you want a continuous track log.

[crowl]

The Delorme software has an interesting track feature. If the gps fix is 3D, you get a green dot for the track. If it is 2d you get a yellow dot. If the signal is lost, you get a red dot and the tracking stops until it is reacquired. This is nice because you can tell what happened to the signal based on the color. A possible feature for version 4?

[apersson850]

If you want to have the track saved in the iQue, you have to save it manually, since the current track log will get erased as time goes by.
When saving a track, the iQue automatically connects the different parts of the track. So it will be mended, and saved as a single track. Just specify start and end time for what you want to save.

If you look at the track in Mapsource, you can cut and paste between the segments, to create a single track of the parts. But as it is right now, you can't download that track to the iQue again.

When the screen goes black, the GPS is still on, if the antenna is connected/open. This is indicated by the green LED flashing occasionally.

[jrose1g]

Actually it does flicker every two minutes and turns right on again

It sounds like you have Bright-iQ installed and enabled. It will prevent the screen from turning off.

[JMckie]

Bright-IQ disabled, and screen blanks properly. Dang it, you were right!

[tgales]

Originally posted by JMckie
<lots of snipping going on!>
1) Why are the tracks broken up?

When using MapSource to "open from", I've seen the same thing, and I do believe it is from losing satellite signal. And the only way I've seen to clear the "active tracks' is to do a hotsync.

[apersson850]

In earlier versions of the firmware for my Vista, the track was split up even on transitions between 2D and 3D positioning, but they've eliminated that, so I don't think the iQue does that either.

But yes, the tracks are split up due to loosing positioning. If you open the track details window (in Mapsource), you can cut and paste together the interesting track segments into one single track, if you like.

[tgales]

Unfortunately, using MapSource to read the tracks doesn't clear out the multitude of "active" tracks. The only way I've seen to do that is to hotsync.

[Bavarian]

Originally posted by crowl
The Delorme software has an interesting track feature. If the gps fix is 3D, you get a green dot for the track. If it is 2d you get a yellow dot. If the signal is lost, you get a red dot and the tracking stops until it is reacquired. This is nice because you can tell what happened to the signal based on the color. A possible feature for version 4? A part of it is already implemented. If signal is lost you get invisible dots :D

[Qyd]

My "active log" tracks are broken at the points where i stop the car (to gas up). It's clear that a new track segment is recorded everytime the iQue wakes up.
Frequency of trackpoints only mattres, AFAIK, with the saved tracks, wich have clearly less points then the active logs. (I guess the active log is always "most frequent")

[apersson850]

Originally posted by tgales
Unfortunately, using MapSource to read the tracks doesn't clear out the multitude of "active" tracks. The only way I've seen to do that is to hotsync. Could you please elaborate on this a bit? I don't understand what you mean.

[apersson850]

Originally posted by Qyd
My "active log" tracks are broken at the points where i stop the car (to gas up). It's clear that a new track segment is recorded everytime the iQue wakes up.
Frequency of trackpoints only mattres, AFAIK, with the saved tracks, wich have clearly less points then the active logs. (I guess the active log is always "most frequent") Yes, since the iQue looses reception when you turn it off. A new segment is also created when you loose reception due to foilage, or something else blocking the signal.

When saving a track, they are filtered to reduce the memory requirements. Saved tracks in the iQue are limited to 500 trackpoints.
You can do something similar with Mapsource, if you click on Filter, when you have the track data window open.

[Holgado]

Sorry, I have been on a two day hike so I could not clarify some questions regarding Tracks.
Track Log is, efectively, the portions mamorized by Que and, indeed, have full coverage of the trip.
Saved Track has only 500 track points from the trip. Que, as Anders said, comprises for saving memory space.
I use to delete the numerous track log portions and save, only, the 500 important track points of a hike. Then convert the Mapsource file to OziExplorer file, so I have the information on two different files.

I have not have a soft resset when hiking, so I do not know, but I think you have to start again by clicking on the Garmin advise when opening the flip antenna, if not, then Que do not start track and trip control.

When Que loses Sat coverage, automaticaly connects the last track point to the next track point goten from Sat, so the distance is on a direct line, not the walked trail.