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[RC] GPSs - terre

I think another source of contention (like this groups needs a source!) is that a good part of the time we are speaking as if all GPSs were equal. When I do a ride wearing my Garmin 301 on my wrist, I am going to see more error than if Joe does the same ride with his much better unit (60Map?) in his saddlebag. It's a question of quality, and the primary use the unit was intended for. So when I say:

If I ride a mountainous, treed, twisting trail and it GPSs at 46 miles, I'm gonna believe that ride was an honest 50.

and Joe says:


I'd accept it as 50 too, but I'd suspect it was probably really about 48, give or take a mile.

we may well BOTH be "right"--my unit may be short as much as 10%'; Joe's unit under the same circumstances would only be short about 1-2%...so if HE measured 46 miles he might be justified in thinking the ride short, while I am justified in believing the distance is a true 50 miles based on my experience with my own unit.


So when we talk about "trails measured by riders by GPS"--we need to bear in mind there may be a big difference in the quality of the unit (and the effort to be accurate) from ride to ride. (By this I mean a conscientious ride manager with a good unit who sets out to measure the trail may get a different result than a casual rider with a wrist-mounted unit who is primarily riding the trail in competition, and is just noting the distance as a side-issue).

terre



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