Hertzog Posted December 24, 2006 Share Posted December 24, 2006 (edited) As a result of recent threads on altimeter usage on the Garmin GPSr's, I've started running some experiments to get an idea of what exactly is going on. Although I've just started this and have more ideas than answers, I've made one astounding discovery: If you go into the "Fixed Elevation" mode on the 60CSx, it now uses the GPS altitude for tracks and waypoints instead of the barometric altitude!! Garmin has apparently implemented this without bothering to tell us, in spite of numerous threads over the years practically begging them to implement just such a feature! Go figure. I was pretty sure I hadn't seen this in the past; I went back to my 60CS, and it does not do this. I'm not sure I've got the latest software on it, so it could be Garmin has implemented this on the older models as well. This is very preliminary, and I might end up with egg on my face, but it looks very firm to me, and I wanted to get the word out. I urge those who have been interested in this kind of feature in the past to try it for themselves -- particularly if you are flying over the holidays Merry Christmas! Edited December 24, 2006 by Hertzog Quote Link to comment
+purdue1014 Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 As a result of recent threads on altimeter usage on the Garmin GPSr's, I've started running some experiments to get an idea of what exactly is going on. Although I've just started this and have more ideas than answers, I've made one astounding discovery: If you go into the "Fixed Elevation" mode on the 60CSx, it now uses the GPS altitude for tracks and waypoints instead of the barometric altitude!! Garmin has apparently implemented this without bothering to tell us, in spite of numerous threads over the years practically begging them to implement just such a feature! Go figure. I was pretty sure I hadn't seen this in the past; I went back to my 60CS, and it does not do this. I'm not sure I've got the latest software on it, so it could be Garmin has implemented this on the older models as well. This is very preliminary, and I might end up with egg on my face, but it looks very firm to me, and I wanted to get the word out. I urge those who have been interested in this kind of feature in the past to try it for themselves -- particularly if you are flying over the holidays Merry Christmas! Would someone mind explaining why fixed elevation would be better that the variable for airline travel? Thanks, Purdue Quote Link to comment
+Prime Suspect Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 (edited) Would someone mind explaining why fixed elevation would be better that the variable for airline travel? Thanks, Purdue The GPS can use either satellite calculations, or the internal altimeter. In most cases the altimeter is far more accurate. But in a pressurized airline cabin, the altimeter is useless. It's always going to read about 6000 ft above sea level (if I remember right). Edited December 26, 2006 by Prime Suspect Quote Link to comment
Hertzog Posted December 26, 2006 Author Share Posted December 26, 2006 If you go into the "Fixed Elevation" mode on the 60CSx, it now uses the GPS altitude for tracks and waypoints instead of the barometric altitude!! I should also mention that the various display fields where "elevation" can be displayed still show the barometric elevation, and on the Altimeter page the elevation displayed at the bottom of the page when the elevation profile is selected is still the barometric elevation; however, the elevation profile shown on the Altimeter page will be the GPS elevation, and if you use the toggle switch to move the cursor on the profile the elevation at the bottom of the page will will switch to the GPS elevation. So viewing the GPS elevation during a flight will still be pretty limited; but at least you can end up with a track log that shows the GPS elevation. Quote Link to comment
kb9nvh Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 If you go into the "Fixed Elevation" mode on the 60CSx, it now uses the GPS altitude for tracks and waypoints instead of the barometric altitude!! I should also mention that the various display fields where "elevation" can be displayed still show the barometric elevation, and on the Altimeter page the elevation displayed at the bottom of the page when the elevation profile is selected is still the barometric elevation; however, the elevation profile shown on the Altimeter page will be the GPS elevation, and if you use the toggle switch to move the cursor on the profile the elevation at the bottom of the page will will switch to the GPS elevation. So viewing the GPS elevation during a flight will still be pretty limited; but at least you can end up with a track log that shows the GPS elevation. Thanks, I'll give this a try.. Quote Link to comment
+purdue1014 Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 (edited) Thanks for that info, that makes sense. It worked today, minus user error of not remembering how to change to the GPS altimeter. Purdue Edited December 28, 2006 by purdue1014 Quote Link to comment
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