Do any of the racers out there train with GPS for speed testing and or testing what upwind heading etc gives best VMG up wind?
If so what brands do you recommend? Thanks
if you want the most accurate then getting your hands on a gt-31 is the best solution . Failing that a garmin quatix watch or a model from sunto will do the job
... + 1 on the Garmin Quatix watch.
I don't race but I track my sessions purely for sh!ts and giggles (and I'm a nerd at heart) and I am finding interesting data about my local or indeed my kites or boards especially if I try different adjustments here or there and I can see instantly if its better or indeed worse. Change displays on the fly easily with a press of a button and see live if something is working or not,,,,,ie speed, angles etc.
At the end of the day you can obviously download the data and see with even more detail but I just throw it up on google earth, easier to see. The Quatix does more than I'm willing to find out, but plenty of sailing stuff that's probably useful for racing. I'm just not bothered to use any of them. Oh, and having the tide times is handy too,,,, especially when you live in a place with 7m tides.
cheers,
Robbie 
Select to expand quotePuetz said..
... + 1 on the Garmin Quatix watch.
I don't race but I track my sessions purely for sh!ts and giggles (and I'm a nerd at heart) and I am finding interesting data about my local or indeed my kites or boards especially if I try different adjustments here or there and I can see instantly if its better or indeed worse. Change displays on the fly easily with a press of a button and see live if something is working or not,,,,,ie speed, angles etc.
At the end of the day you can obviously download the data and see with even more detail but I just throw it up on google earth, easier to see. The Quatix does more than I'm willing to find out, but plenty of sailing stuff that's probably useful for racing. I'm just not bothered to use any of them. Oh, and having the tide times is handy too,,,, especially when you live in a place with 7m tides.
cheers,
Robbie
That's good to know, but how does it handle heights? Jumps? And can it be calibrated at sea level?
Select to expand quoteLoftywinds said..Puetz said..
... + 1 on the Garmin Quatix watch.
I don't race but I track my sessions purely for sh!ts and giggles (and I'm a nerd at heart) and I am finding interesting data about my local or indeed my kites or boards especially if I try different adjustments here or there and I can see instantly if its better or indeed worse. Change displays on the fly easily with a press of a button and see live if something is working or not,,,,,ie speed, angles etc.
At the end of the day you can obviously download the data and see with even more detail but I just throw it up on google earth, easier to see. The Quatix does more than I'm willing to find out, but plenty of sailing stuff that's probably useful for racing. I'm just not bothered to use any of them. Oh, and having the tide times is handy too,,,, especially when you live in a place with 7m tides.
cheers,
Robbie
That's good to know, but how does it handle heights? Jumps? And can it be calibrated at sea level?
... I've never trusted the watch to record heights to be accurate as the resolution isn't high enough,,,,it says I did a 20m jump when clearly I haven't,,, maybe 5m at best but definitely not 20m.
Having said that, I did stumble across a menu page for calibration of the sensors one day while I was bored waiting for wind while on holidays. I was playing around with settings and inadvertently did a calibration, then I stood up and sat down, moved back and forward and it followed perfectly showing 1m steps. I later that day did a few jumps and it clocked me doing 3 to 4m jumps consistently, from sea level with 40 to 50m floats downwind. Seeing as I didn't get 20m jump, I figured it was pretty accurate this day and seemed plausible that it was reasonably accurate.
I think its the sudden upwards movement from a kiteboard jump that messes up the accuracy as the GPS update isn't quick enough and of course it also depends on the received GPS signal levels. If the signal is lower then accuracy gets lower, some times the watch is under your arm by way of how your holding the bar, blocking some of the higher elevation satellites so if its picking up sats on the horizon then accuracy is out. FYI, low to the horizon satellites are worse for accuracy for all GPS receivers so being in the lower or higher latitudes on earth makes things worse.
I've started to muck around with some more settings so will find out if I can get better more accurate height data.
Robbie
Select to expand quotePuetz said..Loftywinds said..Puetz said..
... + 1 on the Garmin Quatix watch.
I don't race but I track my sessions purely for sh!ts and giggles (and I'm a nerd at heart) and I am finding interesting data about my local or indeed my kites or boards especially if I try different adjustments here or there and I can see instantly if its better or indeed worse. Change displays on the fly easily with a press of a button and see live if something is working or not,,,,,ie speed, angles etc.
At the end of the day you can obviously download the data and see with even more detail but I just throw it up on google earth, easier to see. The Quatix does more than I'm willing to find out, but plenty of sailing stuff that's probably useful for racing. I'm just not bothered to use any of them. Oh, and having the tide times is handy too,,,, especially when you live in a place with 7m tides.
cheers,
Robbie
That's good to know, but how does it handle heights? Jumps? And can it be calibrated at sea level?
... I've never trusted the watch to record heights to be accurate as the resolution isn't high enough,,,,it says I did a 20m jump when clearly I haven't,,, maybe 5m at best but definitely not 20m.
Having said that, I did stumble across a menu page for calibration of the sensors one day while I was bored waiting for wind while on holidays. I was playing around with settings and inadvertently did a calibration, then I stood up and sat down, moved back and forward and it followed perfectly showing 1m steps. I later that day did a few jumps and it clocked me doing 3 to 4m jumps consistently, from sea level with 40 to 50m floats downwind. Seeing as I didn't get 20m jump, I figured it was pretty accurate this day and seemed plausible that it was reasonably accurate.
I think its the sudden upwards movement from a kiteboard jump that messes up the accuracy as the GPS update isn't quick enough and of course it also depends on the received GPS signal levels. If the signal is lower then accuracy gets lower, some times the watch is under your arm by way of how your holding the bar, blocking some of the higher elevation satellites so if its picking up sats on the horizon then accuracy is out. FYI, low to the horizon satellites are worse for accuracy for all GPS receivers so being in the lower or higher latitudes on earth makes things worse.
I've started to muck around with some more settings so will find out if I can get better more accurate height data.
Robbie
Thanks man. Anything better than a wanky Woo, over priced piece of elitist crapiola.
There is heaps of info on this subject on the windsurfing forum - gps and speed talk
