 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all,
Does anyone have any good recommendations on a GPS sports tracker that I can take skiing. I've been looking at some Garmin watches (205/305/405) but the sports ones have many features that I don't need (cycle candence, heartrate monitor, calorie counts etc).
What I would like is...
- GPS tracking and recording for a decent duration (ideally that could store a week's worth of data as I don't want to drag a PC out to the ski resort)
- Realtime speed monitor (incl maximum)
- Tempature
- Altitude/Barometer
- Simple interface to PC (USB probably)
- Software to view routes on the PC (or ability to interface with some free software/website)
ie nothing fitness/health related 
Suggestions/recommendations appreciated.
Mike.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I use a free app for blackberry (GPSlogger), which is fine for my purposes (general geeky inquisitiveness). It has all you want except for temperature, and will store a weeks worth if you have a big enough memory card. It saves in standard GPX/KML format, but I upload to http://www.chuffnuts.com/pistemaps/ to get an enhanced GPX file that separates lifts from descents, tags highest point, fastest run etc. All of it completely free.
You can get similar apps for iPhone, if that's the way you roll.
EDIT: Before you splash out on a flash Garmin, suggest you try the free stuff. I've found that after about 2 days I can't be bothered with the phaff, and apres life sort of gets in the way.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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As another word of caution, through cycling I have found GPS altitude (with no barometer) and "maximum" data points (because it only takes one anomaly to ruin your data) to be inaccurate to the point of often being meaningless.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Dr John, Thanks for the nice words on the chuffnuts converter  If there are any features missing, just let me know.
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fishslice, I'll be dusting it off this weekend in Schladming, I'll let you know. From what I've seen before it's perfectly fit for purpose, does what it needs to without over-complicating.
One quick thought, and it may already exist, but a summary of runs, speeds, heights etc in csv format might be nice, provides an 'at a glace' view of the days runs without having to fire-up google earth.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I've got a GTrek which records GPS data and then tells you where you have been, how for, how fast etc. We were skiing in Porte Du Soleil last month (January) and wanted to compare the GTrek with some of the low cost alternative apps available on many smart phones. Apart from the huge inaccuracies, the distance recorded was 60% higher than it should be, one of these apps recorded a maximum speed of 143.7mph, now I know I'm quick but !!. The GTrek only gave me a max speed of 51mph which I can beleive. Check it out www.gtrek.co.uk
John
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nutwood, You do seem to have a bit of a one-track mind. Or should that be a gtrek mind! You are not sellling them at all are you?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Chris Bish, You're far too suspicious, he's just helping out with some recommendations 
Looks pretty crap anyway. I paid far less than that for my Garmin Edge which has far more facilities.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Colin B, Would they work OK in La Rosiere?
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Hi Guys, apologies for the late entry I didn’t notice the reply. Chris Bish your right to be suspicious I do sell them (the signature is a bit of a giveaway) but only offering advice. I’m curious however, doesn’t the garmin edge start at about £280 ? almost 3 times the cost of a GTrek ?. And yes the GTrek works anywhere.
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You know it makes sense.
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I paid about £65 for mine (some time ago). A quick google shows them priced from £100 to £300 depending on model.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Ski Tracks for iPhone very good at 69p, however regardless of what they claim it is battery hungry. On a recent trip the battery was all but drained every day with little other use on the phone apart from a few calls and a few pics and that was on a brand new 4s. My son was also running the app alongside me on an iPhone 4 and his battery was exhausted before the end of the day.
Although to be fair it was very VERY cold which will have effected battery performance which is poor on iPhones anyway.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Edit to above, just re-read and the thread is for dedicated trackers not apps. Anyway the info is still the same as i think most people use apps rather than dedicated trackers these days, well at least the people I ski with.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I have said this before, but here goes. I have been very satisfied with the Holux 245. It cost £50 and I have used it for a couple of years now for tracking walks, skis, cycle-rides and even (not me) on a horse. The battery needs charging every couple of days. It outputs nice maps that connect with Google maps and Google Earth.
I recall at Mayrhofen a couple of years ago when a guy had flattened his smartphone by lunchtime trying to use it as a tracker. It wouldn't phone much either. Bev had a huge ancient Nokia on the firm at the time and cheerfully rang her mum, to the guy's obvious distress!
I only really use a mobile phone for emergencies and would not like it to be out of action because I had used it for tracking. Being 100kg myself, I can live with the 50gms extra weight!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I always take my Ninja Tracker with me skiing - my wife has a tendency to lose us so she has it in her backpack and on more than one occasion the tracker has been invaluable for that reason. Easy to use interface via my iphone and extremely accurate tracking. Would definitely recommend this one. Very reasonable price too and only about the size of a little matchbox. Bought it about 2 years ago from a company called Ninja Tracking Systems I believe... sorry can't remember the url  Hope it helps!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I take my Garmin Edge 500 cycle computer with me. It's got enough battery life for a couple of days skiing then recharges via USB. It can easily carry a month or so of tracks without plugging into a computer.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Get a Pebble it links to whatever phone you have and looks dead sexy when you are off the slopes as well. All the cool kids are getting one . Otherwise get a Suunto - that's what I use now and it lasts way longer than the stuff mentioned above (which I consider non-optional).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I take my Garmin Edge 800 and stick it in my arm pocket. Gives me everything I need and I can load it with Piste maps from OpendPiste Map so if I'm lazy it can tell me how to get somewhere. Very useful for off piste
Also now the 810 is out the 800 can be had for silly money and you can use it for walking, cycling, running etc
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A slightly different question. I've an old Garmin Edge 205 which I use mainly for cycling but I also sling it in my pocket from time to time for skiing. I upload to Garmin Connect which is fine for cycling but for skiing it doesn't separate out lift time from actual skiing ie http://connect.garmin.com/activity/273598717 Is there an alternative site I can upload to which caters for skiing better?
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Bump, any advice on this?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Claude B, as a non-Garmin user I'm a little confused, I don't see how a position tracker could sort out lift and non-lift 'skiing'. The screen shot you put up doesn't seem to indicate that sort of precision. I would guess from the various comments I have read that it really is not designed for what you want to do - best case seems to be the firmware upgrade available (which I assume you have done) and to speak to Garmin to see if they recommend anything.
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RattytheSnowRat, It is designed for cycling and that's what i generally use it for. I was just wondering if there was a ski specific site which took the raw file and sorted out the ascents/descents in some way to give a more meaningful summary of distance skied, etc.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I use a Garmin foreruner 205 and upload it into Google Earth. This shows you the track for the day's skiing superimposed on the google earth map.
It is not ski specific but you can display the elevation profile by right clicking on the track. It is visually obvious which are lifts and which are skiing. Also gives you a timeline of speed at every point on your track.
It must be possible to produce an application to separate the data into total lfts and total skiing, but if it exists I have not found it.
If you look at the earlier posts in this thread it links to a site called chuffnuts. That splits your day's route into ups and downs and displays them on Google Earth as red for ups and grean for down. Visually more attractive than a continuous green line, but again no analysis of the full day's skiing stats.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I've thought about buying a Garmin for cycling and to stick in my pocket for skiing, but when ski tracks has an algorithm to sort out lift and non-lift time, costs 69p and the data is always with me rather than locked away on a PC, I couldn't justify shelling out for the dedicated GPS. I use Map My Ride when cycling too, for a similar price.
I appreciate that a dedicated unit gives more functionality and accuracy, but if it saves £300 or so I can live with that
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I use a Gtrek II It works well and seems to be more accurate than my phone one.
Big advantage it it can record days worth of data so I don't need to worry about battery on my phone, down side is there is no display so you need a laptop to read the facts.
Depends if you want to big man it up in the bar or whether you want correct info over the season.
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You know it makes sense.
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If any body is interested we now have an Android App to download the GTrek data. Any body interested please cantact me directly. Oh and it's free too.
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FAQ
