SATMAP active 10

PloddinPedro · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 25, 2007 Posts: 229

Well I think that's going to be the first serious deficiency of the Satmap for me. By the time I've loaded my twenty regular club run routes onto it, all starting from the same point, the map view is going to be seriously fogged with all the grey lines of the non-activated routes - why on earlth didn't they make the non-active routes transparent?

robs1972

PloddinPedro · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 25, 2007 Posts: 229

robs1972 · Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:32 am Post subject:

Oh dear!!! Shocked

Hopefully something that will be changed in a firmware update...having all the routes showing is a bit dumb
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Physicist · Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:48 pm Post subject: Active 10 sensitivity

Let me clarify some of my original comments re the Active 10's sensitivity (and hence accuracy).

When I walk through dense woodland and hold the Garmin 60CSx and active 10 at an angle of 45 degrees well away from my body and in separate hands (to prevent any possible crosstalk) both sets achieve 'lock' (ie they acquire at least 4 satellites). However the 'bars' appear to show stronger signals on the 60 CSx than on the Active 10. More significantly, the 'scatter plot' of points when I stand still is more tightly clustered on the 60CSx than on the Active 10. The Garmin allows me to continuously monitor the error (I guess it dislays the two-sigma value): The Active 10 only gives a wordy description of the accuracy (e.g. 'poor') so I cannot be more precise than that at present.

I have used some fifteen different GPS sets and in my opinion the 60Csx is the winner in terms of sensitivity and hence - in tough conditions - of accuracy (Garmin could further enhance the accuracy in more everyday conditions if WAAS were properly implemented in the 60CSx; it is not implemented on the Active 10). So Satmap have a very 'tough act to follow'. However, they could perhaps consider improving the aerial in the next generation receiver or provide a socket for an optional external aerial (as in early Garmins). Just to punch it home: For the majority of situations the Active 10 is eveything you need. In, say, a tropical rainforest a Garmin 60CSx would be my choice (even if Satmap eventually were to produce maps of such places!).

The Garmin is more 'nerdy' allowing for adjustment of a wider range of parameters than is possible on the Active 10, such as the interval at which track points are recorded. On the other hand the Active 10 is 'friendlier', particularly to novices.

PloddinPedro · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 25, 2007 Posts: 229

robs1972 - don't worry too much - here's a reply I've had from Richard Calthrop-Owen at Satmap: "Thanks for your feedback. I must admit I’ve tried to lay down multiple routes starting from a single point and I do actually agree with you: the result is a cluttered map. I have discussed this with my colleague and we have decided to adopt your suggestion and give people the facility to toggle inactive routes on and off. We will implement this on our next software upgrade which will be available as a FOC download from our website." Don't know how long this might take of course, but it's a much more encouraging response than you would expect from Garmin!

PloddinPedro · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 25, 2007 Posts: 229

In response to Physicist: I too have a 60CSx but I'm at the other end of the spectrum from you, being firmly in the "novice" slot. I use my 60CSx for cycling. Being utterly useless at navigation, remembering routes etc. I had hoped it would serve as a sort of "satnav", having as it does a form of "autorouting". However, I have found this so unreliable as to be worthless and I have had to resort to loading only tracks and not routes into it. In fact the current bane of my life is that I cannot find a reliable way of converting Mapsource created routes into tracks. The main advantage, for a klutz like me however, is that the Active 10 displays a usable rolling OS map, unlike the sketchy Mapsource mapping on the 60CSx. The factor deciding which one eventually goes onto eBay will be the on-line route planning and syncronisation software (when they arrive!) If it's a pain to draft routes and get them into the Active 10 then the rolling map won't adequately compensate. On the other hand, I suppose I could switch the 60CSx for an Edge 605/705 when they are available and run the Edge alongside the Active 10!

ThistleWhistle · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 11, 2007 Posts: 4

Does anyone else think that 30 second intervals are too long to record waypoints? With Garmins, you can set to record every second, or use the Smart Record option, which saves waypoints at every change in direction. Both produce a very accurate record of your route.

The Active 10's 30 second recording leaves me with a lot of cut off corners, and twisty section's as straight lines.

A 'smart-record' style would be great on the Active 10, and would save me having to edit my converted routes.

PloddinPedro · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 25, 2007 Posts: 229

nonoftheabove · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 27, 2007 Posts: 82

took the unit out for a get to know how to use.
The walk is about 6 miles from base camp.
I bought a National Park card.
Well i didnt take the mini manual and did over half the walk before
I cottoned on to the fact that when IT asks you IF
you wish to view the map the RESPONSE should be NO.
Finger trouble :-((((

After that little hiccup it had left a snail trail but mostly in the resevoir that i was circumnavigating.
The sun is rather low and the screen was not terribly easy to read.
Anyway early days.
A few more local walks BEFORE i give it a real trial in 'virgin' territory

ocam · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 08, 2007 Posts: 46

Although the A-10 isn't designed for in-car use, an advantage it has over Tom-Tom is that you can use it 'off-piste' in towns. I have it wedged between the window-post and the dash, so I can still pan/zoom. At the weekend I used it to get out of a traffic jam in the middle of Liverpool, without being told to go back to the pre-ordained route or having to wait to be given a new route.
It'd be nice if they could find time to develop a windscreen mount!

nonoftheabove · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 27, 2007 Posts: 82

Repeated my walk of yesterday in the opposite direction.
Everything was spot on; the snail trail was where it should have been
etc.
My previous observation is due to the fact that I had the machine set on
shut down after several minutes.
So when i switched back on; the device did an approximation of WHERE it
thought i had been.

After resetting the device last night for On while so 'wishing'
no bother.

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