TT One, TripMaster, and backpacking

[sgoldste01]

For years I've been using an old Garmin III+ GPS for all of my navigation needs (both when driving and when hiking).

I'm trying to decide if the One 3rd Edition will take the place of my old Garmin for backpacking (the One is, of course, a much better device for driving).

Here's what I expect from a GPS when used for hiking purposes:

• I must be able to enter waypoints in advance of the trip, based upon Latitude/Longitude coordinates, then create a route based upon those waypoints
• It must be able to provide distance to next waypoint and distance to destination information
• It must provide provide a compass-like pointer while I'm hiking that lets me know if I'm on course to reach the next waypoint
• Altitude data would be nice but not necessary

Tripmaster looks like it might provide some of this functionality, but I'm not sure.

One thing that concerns me about the One is that I can't bring extra batteries into the field, and replace them on the fly if necessary. But that might be OK, since with the Garmin I would generally just turn it on for a few minutes to get status information, then I'd quickly turn it off again. So the 2-hour battery life would last a long time out in the field.

I know that there are GPS units custom designed for hiking, but I'm not inclined to buy one. I can either continue to use my Garmin III+, but I'm wondering if the One might be better. The One's satellite receiver is **much** more sensitive, which is nice. Hiking through the trees is enough to prevent the Garmin from getting a satellite fix much of the time. I don't think the One would have that problem.

So what do you think? How well would the One do, when compared to a Garmin III+, on a hiking trip, especially if it's equiped with TripMaster software?

 

[roussillat]

The major problem you will encounter with the One, but also with any car GPS, is that their GPS module is used in a static navigation mode, that prevents it to refresh continuously the GPS coordinates and other informations.

A Tomtom, when walking, refreshes its information only a large period because your speed is too low. This is done to avoid an always moving map, when driving, that would produce a continuous recalculation of the current itinerary.

In Offroad and Tripmaster, I have introduced the functionality to deactivate this static navigation mode, but it doesn't work very well on all Tomtom devices and I can't guarantee you it will work on the One.

For your usage, I would prefer to buy a GPS dedicated to this usage, like Garmin Etrex or equivalent.

 

[1XL-on-XR650L]

Tripmaster & Offroad

I've had my Tomtom ONE XL for less than 2 weeks so far, so take this for what it is.
I've been working with both "Tripmaster" and "Offroad" 3rd party software for the last few days. Tripmaster seems better for logging what is/has happened. Offroad seems better for navigating around away from roads (just as the name implies). I have to admit, I would be very uncomfortable using "Offroad" as a "survival tool" just yet. I have not had enough time to completely understand how to tell it exactly what I want, or just what it is trying to tell me (not the most intuitive program I've come across). I am sure it works, but don't just load her up and head for the woods without a few dry runs around the neighborhood! I do like both programs, but they do take some time to figure out (manuals? What manuals?). You will loose some of the regular Tomtom icon options when you use any of the 3rd party software, but a careful search of this forum describes a work around that seems to provide a workable solution, called "MenuTT" (backup first!!!!!).
Good luck

 

[roussillat]

I have not had enough time to completely understand how to tell it exactly what I want, or just what it is trying to tell me (not the most intuitive program I've come across).

What sort of informations would you like on Offroad ?

 

[sgoldste01]

The major problem you will encounter with the One, but also with any car GPS, is that their GPS module is used in a static navigation mode, that prevents it to refresh continuously the GPS coordinates and other informations.

A Tomtom, when walking, refreshes its information only a large period because your speed is too low. This is done to avoid an always moving map, when driving, that would produce a continuous recalculation of the current itinerary.

In Offroad and Tripmaster, I have introduced the functionality to deactivate this static navigation mode, but it doesn't work very well on all Tomtom devices and I can't guarantee you it will work on the One.

For your usage, I would prefer to buy a GPS dedicated to this usage, like Garmin Etrex or equivalent.

Between Offroad and TripMaster, which app do you think would most likely give me the capabilities I listed in my original message in this thread?

 

[1XL-on-XR650L]

Offroad test tonight

I have programed 8 waypoints (not all on roads) that cover about a 1/4 mile loop (8 turns between 90? and 45?) . I'll be checking it out tonight before it gets too dark. I'll post the results tomorrow. I'm thinking this is going to be a great program
Many thanks to the programer!!!

 

[sgoldste01]

I have programed 8 waypoints (not all on roads) that cover about a 1/4 mile loop (8 turns between 90? and 45?) . I'll be checking it out tonight before it gets too dark. I'll post the results tomorrow. I'm thinking this is going to be a great program
Many thanks to the programer!!!

Which program are you testing? TripMaster? Offroad?

 

[roussillat]

Between Offroad and TripMaster, which app do you think would most likely give me the capabilities I listed in my original message in this thread?

Offroad Navigator is your friend. It will give you the distance and course to the next waypoint and the total distance to the final waypoint, via the remaining waypoints.

Tripmaster is only a passive program to show you some informations and log where you've been.

 

[andyjstewart]

Offroad / Tripmaster

Roussillat,
I want to try out my 920 on a cross-country skiing loop, to check where the trail actually takes me and the elevations. Should I be using Offroad or Tripmaster to give this a try? I have both programs running on my 920, and have not lost the Help icon. Tripmaster looks great, Offroad goes through a bit of a funky blurry screen for about 2 seconds, then looks fine.
I have the latest versions of all the software, and have an additional 2G memory card installed.
Since I am doing all my tweaks through the config file, is there a way to get the elevation to show up in the regular TomTom navigation screens through Tripmaster by changing a setting in config?

Andy

 

[SShadow]

And while people are asking questions, I've got Beta2 running on my XL-S... Is there a way to get the background to show up? I've modified the settings through 1.8, and the background appears in 1.8, but does not appear in Beta2.
On the webpage it says that it is a basic version that's not using the SDK... What is not available in Beta2 that is available in 1.8?

 

[1XL-on-XR650L]

Which program are you testing? TripMaster? Offroad?

It turns out, BOTH!
I programed in LON/LAT waypoints that I got from Google Earth (lodigical, right?) to track with Offroad. but,,,, I think I had the target parameter in Offroad set too low (10), or the cordinates from Google Earth were not quite up to snuff (still checking that one out), and I could never quite get to the intended way point (useually in the middle of someones house or yard). So, the next thing I tried was using Tripmaster to log the way points as I made the known trek (saved as an "ITN" log). The problem there was that I had the record parameters for Tripmaster set too high (every 10 seconds, every 10? course variation, every 10' distance traveled). When I tried to follow all those way points with Offroad it just got too confused, and could not keep up with the way point events. I suspect that the processor in my ONE XL is so slow that I swamped it with too much data, too fast.
I'll fiddle around with the settings over the next week or so and no doubt find a happy medium for walking. By the way, Tripmaster does a great job of "bread crumbing"!
It would be helpful if I keow exactly what the pro's and con's of having the "snap" on or off in tripmaster and Off road are.

 

[roussillat]

I'll fiddle around with the settings over the next week or so and no doubt find a happy medium for walking. By the way, Tripmaster does a great job of "bread crumbing"!
It would be helpful if I keow exactly what the pro's and con's of having the "snap" on or off in tripmaster and Off road are.

If your ITN file contains waypoints that are distant one of another from a value less than the Offroad target, Offroad will consider them as already reached and will skip them.

In your case, I think you should use only distance and course criteria and set time criteria to 0, to discard it. Set the distance to a value much higher than the target distance of Offroad and set the course to 30?, which is a major turn. Of course, use Tripmaster v2b10, whose course criteria algorithm is better than before.

 

[Baumer]

And while people are asking questions, I've got Beta2 running on my XL-S... Is there a way to get the background to show up? I've modified the settings through 1.8, and the background appears in 1.8, but does not appear in Beta2.
On the webpage it says that it is a basic version that's not using the SDK... What is not available in Beta2 that is available in 1.8?

I'm having the same problem with regards to the backgrounds. My setup file hasn't changed so I'm not sure why I'm not getting the nice backgrounds. Also wondering when an update is coming.

 

[Baumer]

Still no luck, anyone with ideas for backgrounds in Beta 2?