[OSM-newbies] Garmin eTrex 20/30 - is altimeter important for recording GPS data for mapping?

[Dudley Ibbett]

When it comes to battery life i think you need to treat Garmin's figures (they are up to) with a degree of caution to avoid disappointment.  For the Oregon they quote 16hrs.  For the 62s 20hrs.  With rechargeables a figure of 60-70% of this is probably more realistic.  Even then you'll probably need to turn the screen brightness down to achieve this.  I always carry spares.

Dudley

Sent from my iPad

On 1 Feb 2013, at 02:54, "Steve Bennett" <stevagewp at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 6:07 AM, Cartinus <cartinus at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>> The Garmins don't have a pure barometric altimeter. They combine the
>> height from the GPS measurements with the barometric pressure. They are
>> "auto calibrated" over a period of twenty minutes.
> 
> 
> That's a configurable setting. You can use it as a "pure barometric
> altimeter" if you really want.
> 
> Personally I have the Oregon 550 and frequently use both the altimeter
> and compass (not for mapping though). Both can be disabled if you
> really want to save battery life, but even with both on, you typically
> get 10 hours from a set of rechargeables.
> 
> Steve
> 
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