Justin A. Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 I'm looking to buy a ski altimeter that mainly tracks vertical feet ridden, but some features like temperature and a compass would be nice as well. Does anybody have one? If so, what are your experiences with it like? Do you like it? Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fin Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Hello, my name is Fin......and I am a data whore. Justin, I just started riding with my Garmin Edge 305. I originally bought it for biking but have found 101 uses for it elsewhere. One of the coolest features is I can take the GPS data and impose it on a Google Earth map (below). This was yesterday at Arapahoe Basin. You can see the straight lines are me on the chair and everything else is descending. I was curious to see how it would do for showing the actual turns and you can see them (zig zags) somewhat on the picture. But the 305 does record a ton of info: total decent = 9272 ft top speed = 40.6 mph average speed = 8.4 mph (useless as I recorded the chair rides) distance = 17.2 miles and I also get a graph with all the above versus time. Freak'n more info then you need :D And if I wore the chest monitor I could also get a Heart rate during all of this. Why record this? Just for fun. Seeing your routes on the Google Earth map is by far the coolest. Next features I want: red blood cell count, ph balance levels, and my position relative to all the surrounding moons of Pluto. I can dream can't I ...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjvircks Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 I have the 'wrist ski computer' which logs activity and can download to my PC and notebook for viewing, plotting, bragging. Can be pretty fun! My only negative comments regard display viewability at low light and the fact that in very strong wind gust conditions the watch can read the pressure fluctuations as elevation changes. One day it said I logged something like 50K vert in the AM. looking at the plots it was possible to visually look past the gust-noise and see the actual elevation changes. (oops... second 'pressure' issue... can log hot-tub wrist immersions as vert also. see the plot) I wish more resorts would list elevations prominantly at lift bottom and top either at the actual lifts or on their maps. I frequently am so anxious to get going that I just push people out of the way so I can get on the first chair and forget to lock in my starting elevation. edit: OK... for total overall coolness factor there is no question! Fin's the man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin A. Posted December 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 I went up to EMS today and scored a Suunto Vector on sale. It has everything I was looking for, sans # of runs, but I can keep track of that myself anyway. Fin, that mapping software is pretty awesome...I might have to try that with my GPS sometime, just for fun. I'm kinda nervous now about the wind messing with the vert. logging, because where I ride its ALWAYS windy . Hopefully the way I plan on mounting it, the wind won't be that much of a factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fin Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 Justin, Yea, the mapping is a nice side benefit of the Garmin Edge 305 but honestly more just for fun. However, I do want to take to a "new" mountain that I have not been before and then map it on Google so I can see where I did go. Might be interesting. Also going to try wearing the heart rate band to see what the old pumper does during carving. There are some days where I am just out of breath from a good long run. Just skate skied the Frisco Nordic Center yesterday. Like an idiot went to big on the first day. Hit 187 HR multiple times (my max is 191) and seriously thought I saw god on some of the up-hills. Attached is the Google map from that trip. I wish we got the high-res versions of the Google map up here :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip43065 Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 GPS will definately give you the info. I'd like to load resort info into the GPS. Is there any way to do this? It'd be awesome to ride straight to the lift you're looking for at an unfamiliar resort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 GPS is the way to go. You can buy [think: extra cash outlay] contour maps for the garmin stuff, or there are some public domain ones for the UK and maybe for the USA for all I know. You can of course load any background data you like in there, although you will need to be fairly technical to do that. In principle you could even put route information in there so the thing would route you across the mountain, but I think that may be not really a good idea. The main thing is, IMHO, get one with rechargeable batteries which last all day, plus the latest chipset (because it's much better than the earlier ones). Then stick it in your pocket and forget it, until you dump it into a kml file and fire up Google earth.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 wow. that is a cool factor of 15+! neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bird Posted December 23, 2006 Report Share Posted December 23, 2006 howz shasta with snow? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_x Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 www.steepandcheap.com has the Highgear Alterra Watch right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnshapiro Posted December 25, 2006 Report Share Posted December 25, 2006 Cool beans! I got an Edge 305 this morning for Christmas. This is gonna be fuuuuun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie00 Posted December 26, 2006 Report Share Posted December 26, 2006 I just got an etrex Vista CX from my wife and I'm trying to figure it all out. Looks like it can do pretty much everything beside cooking dinner. I was wondering, how to I do what Fin and Ralann did over my local mountain to see the runs I did? Do I need special software. If anyone could walk me through the process it would be really appreciated. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fin Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 Ernie00, Just depends what type of file your Vista makes (not familiar with it). If it makes a .gpx file you are all set, just open Google Earth (free download) and then open that file and you'll see your path over a satellite map like you see in the pics above. WARNING: you will spend way too much time messing with this and plotting everything from your trip to the supermarket to buy toilet paper to walking the dog around your block. You have been warned. If you are a Mac user: I think Mac's only runs Photoshop, so not sure what to tell you there ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie00 Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 I got it to work with google Earth, tonight will be the snowboarding test ! Lets see how it performs! Fin, I know it's unbelivable this thing is addictive. My wife is happy, I want to go out and take walks now and then map it. She thinks it was a great gift ! Do you loose reception when you keep it in your pockets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 Clocked 66 km/h on my 172 Oxygen Titanal Proton this morning- new corduroy on Grouse Mountain, first tracks at 0800- no hill traffic- NIIIICE. Who knew a Garmin GPS could come in handy for something more than, "Where the %^)>+)@#$$!!! are we?....". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin A. Posted December 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 I remember the one time that I rode with Rusty at cannon we clocked like...47mph at one point. Good times. Long live GPS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie00 Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 Hit 71.2 km/h yesterday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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