On Sun, 23 May 2004 18:14:55 GMT, "Papa3"
wrote:

It boggles the mind how the beaurocratic mind works. I sent a long email to
one of the "powers that be" a while back (a name well known on this
Usegroup) who didn't even have the courtesy to respond. I suggested that
for all badge flights and for records below national or world level, a
commercial, off the shelf (aka COTS) solution be allowed. This would bring
the price of an acceptable GPS log down from nearly $1000 to something on
the order of a couple hundred bucks.

I don't see where you get "nearly $1000" from. You can get an EW model
D logger for $US 535 plus P&P (and probably plus US customs duty/taxes
etc): that's a lot less than $1000.

The EW has a built in pressure transducer and is IGC certified with
most Garmin GPS units. It will record 24 hours worth of pressure
altitude + GPS position at a 4 second sample interval or 40 hours of
altitude only.

You want a GPS as well? Check out eBay: Garmin GPS II+ are going for
just under £100 ($US 180) incl. P&P right now on eBay UK and I bet
they're a lot less in the US.

A quick look at the Garmin site shows that the only really comparable
COTS unit is the GPSmap 76S ($430 rrp). It will do 10,000 track points
(11 hours at 4 secs/point), so you're looking at a 10 sec sample rate
to match the EW's 24 hour capability. The other cheap COTS units (GPS
12XL, GPS II+, GPS 76 store 1024 or 2048 track points, don't have a
pressure sensor but are $310 or less. However, their track logs wrap
round and overwrite when it fills: to get 24 hours while avoiding that
you'd be using a 40 or 20 second rate which isn't really good enough
for turn points - don't forget changing the sample rate is non-trivial
for these units. GPSmap 296? Forget it - only 700 track points per
route and anyway its rrp is $1700.

IMO there's no contest: the EW logger + GPS II+ combination wins hands
down over any of the portable Garmin units on a cost/performance
basis.


--
martin@ : Martin Gregorie
gregorie : Harlow, UK
demon :
co : Zappa fan & glider pilot
uk :