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Garmin GPS Track Logging

Posted by Prokrypt on 12 November 2011 in English.

Logging with "Distance: 0.00mi/0.00km" is better than "Distance: 0.01mi/0.01km" or "Time: 01s"

Here's how I found this out:

Those of you who log at 0.01mi or 0.01km intervals might have thought setting it to 0.00 would either be impossible (because the unit might not let you), would not log at all, or log every second. I have had the same thoughts.

However, today I decided to test this with my Garmin eTrex Legend HCx and was surprised at the result: It logged trackpoints every second while I was walking between rooms in my house, but did NOT log points while I was stopped--the reported position on the map could be changing, but as long as the reported speed was 0, it didn't log anything. Afterwards, I grabbed my old Garmin GPS V, and found that its track logging could also be set to 0.00mi--I hadn't tested it any further because it was not sensitive enough to detect my movements.

My conclusion from the results of my little test:

Logging at 0.00mi or 0.00km intervals would be better than at 1 second intervals because if you log at 01s intervals, there will be duplicate points when stopped, as well as points from the reported position changing due to satellite accuracy increase/decrease.

I have told no one else about this. Please help me spread the word? Pretty please? ^_^