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Bushnell BackTrack D-TOUR GPS
Test Series by Kathryn Montovan
Tester Information
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Name: |
Kathryn Montovan |
Biography:
I have been backpacking, climbing,
kayaking, canoeing and winter camping for over 12 years. My excursions
are mostly weekend and occasionally weeklong backpacking and kayaking
trips in the wooded and often wet, mountainous terrain of eastern New York, and western Vermont.
I usually tarp camp with a small to large group and love to cook fun
and delicious foods on my trips. In general, I strive for a compact and
light pack and value well-made and durable gear.
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E-Mail: |
sull0294(at)gmail(dot)com |
Age: |
30
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Location: |
Groton, New York USA |
Gender: |
F |
Height: |
5' 5" (1.65 m) |
Weight: |
150 lb (68 kg) |
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INITIAL REPORT
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Product Information and Specifications:
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Manufacturer:
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Bushnell
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Year
of Manufacture:
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2013 |
Manufacturer's Website: |
http://bushnell.com |
MSRP |
NA
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Listed Weight: |
NA
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Measured Weight (without batteries): |
2.8 oz (79 g)
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Screen Type:
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Grayscale LCD
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Listed and Measured Screen Size:
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1.625" x 1.625" (4.1 x 4.1 cm)
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Listed and Measured Dimensions:
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4.125" x 2.75" x .875" (10.5 x 7 x 2.2 cm)
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Battery Type:
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3 AAA
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The Bushnell BackTrack D-TOUR in packaging
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Product
DescriptionThe
Bushnell BackTrack D-TOUR is a simplified GPS that tracks its location
and helps the user find their way back to up to five marked locations
by displaying an arrow pointed towards the location of interest with a
measured distance to the desired location. It also measures the
temperature, elevation, and has a built in digital compass. The
BackTrack D-TOUR will record up to 48 hours of tracked trail which can
later be uploaded onto a computer. This creates a map of where you have
been that is complete with elevations, distances, and locations.
There is a very nice interactive tour of the functions of the BackTrack
D-TOUR and the specific roles the buttons play in each menu on the Bushnell website at http://bushnell.com/all-products/gps/backtrack-d-tour#
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Initial Impressions
This
GPS unit is larger than I had expected, but I am impressed with the
multiple functions it performs. It has four buttons: power, trip, mark,
and settings. It seems fairly sturdy and strap attachment loop will come
in handy for attaching it to my pack and preventing loss. The battery
compartment on the back is easy to open but looks like it will stay
securely shut between battery changes. The Quick Start Guide is helpful
but it would be more helpful if the pictures demonstrated the steps
instead of simply marking button locations. For example it would have
been helpful to have a picture of what I should see when I press the
`trip' button, and what you should see when a trip was actively being tracked. Most
of the functions are fairly straightforward and I was able to set the
time on the unit without instructions, but it would have been nice to
have instructions for setting the time in the quick start guide. There is a complete users manual online that has more detailed instructions.
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Trying It Out
After installing the batteries, I turned the GPS on and took the unit
outdoors to get a satellite signal. Initially the satellite signal in the
top right corner had a line through it showing that a satellite signal
has not yet been found. After a minute or so, the line disappeared and
the GPS unit was ready to use. I marked a point at my house by pressing
the power button until there was a house in the lower left corner, then
pressing the mark button. When I started walking the arrow on the
display always pointed towards the point I had started and displayed
the distance back to my house. Setting a second point was easy. I just
pressed the power button until
the desired symbol (house, car, star, flag, or target) appeared, and
then pressed the mark button again.
I had a little trouble getting the unit to track a trip. I have now
figured out that I need to press the trip button, then press it again
and make sure that a walking stick figure appears in the upper right
corner of the screen. When the trip is done, I press the trip button
again before turning the unit off to save the trip. After a test walk
with the dog I was excited to get home and see how the mapping software
on the computer works.
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Software Installation
The
manufacturer claims that the BackTrack D-Tour will download tracking
information to a Windows (XP SP1 or later) or MAC (10.4.9 or later)
computer. My MacBook Pro runs OS X 10.7.5 so it should be compatible
with the BackTrack D-TOUR software. I went to the website and entered
my information and the serial number for the GPS (located inside the
battery compartment).
This was a very straightforward process and went very smoothly. So far,
I have received no Bushnell related junk email as a result of this
product registration.
The next step was to install the proper software onto my Mac. The
website made this easy. The file downloaded smoothly and installed just
fine.
I can open the BackTrack software and see the Google map that my tracks will be plotted onto.
The quick start instructions then say to turn the BackTrack D-TOUR on
and plug it into the Mac with the program open. I did this and nothing
happened. I also tried looking for the GPS in the finder window to get
the information that way but the computer does not seem to recognize
that the GPS is plugged in. At this point I have tried multiple things
to get my trips to
upload to the program. It looks like the GPS recognizes that it is
connected to a computer but the computer is not recognizing that the
GPS is connected. I will follow up with the company and report on this
issue again in the Field report.
The quick-start instructions have the following instructions and
related pictures demonstrating what should happen when the GPS is
connected. It looks like a very functional and useful mapping program.
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SummaryI
am very excited to use the BackTrack D-TOUR to help with navigation and
trip mapping and hope that I can sort out the computer troubles I am
having. The unit itself is easy to use for marking locations, looking
at the temperature and elevation, and navigating back to marked
locations. I had more trouble getting it to track trips and upload them
to the computer but will keep working on figuring this out and will
report what I discover in my next report.
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FIELD REPORT
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Field Conditions:
I tested the BackTrack D-Tour GPS unit on two two-night car camping
trips, weekly day hikes, bikes rides and runs. Early in the test
period, I moved to a new region, so all of the trails were new to me
but I stuck to fairly well-traveled paths. I encountered temperatures
ranging from 45 F to 90 F (7 C to 32 C) and weather in the range from
beautifully sunny to mildly rainy. The elevation remained primarily
between 500 and 1000 ft (150 to 300 m) above sea level.
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Function in the field:
Location markers:
It was easy to mark a point of interest and to get the GPS to point
back towards that point when I wanted to return to that point. I tested
out the accuracy of the GPS navigation to marked points and found that
I typically ended up within 50 ft of the landmark I marked.
Compass: I did not
use this function for navigation but can see that it would be a handy
feature if you are navigating off a map to an unmarked location. The
directions instruct that when using the compass, you should calibrate
it by moving the GPS unit in a figure eight shape. I tested this at
home where I knew where North was and found that it was accurate enough
for my purposes. I did not extensively compare it with another compass.
Recording trips: At
first I had a lot of trouble recording trips that would show up on the
computer. No matter what I did the routes would not save and transfer
to the computer. After a lot of frustration and trial and error I
realized that it might be a problem with the connector cable to the
computer and tried using another similarly shaped cable. This fixed the
transferring problem.
To record a trip successfully, I press and hold the trip button until I
get to the trip screen, then I press and hold the trip button again
until the stick figure in the upper right corner starts 'walking'. When
I finish my trip and want the GPS to stop recording my locations, I go
to the trip screen and press and hold the trip button until the stick
figure stops 'walking'. I do not know whether the GPS will record a
trip even if the power is simply shut off without ending the trip
recording. After my early frustrations with recording trips I am a bit
leery of doing anything differently than the instruction manual but
will test this in the next testing period.
Customer service: I
called customer service for a replacement cord for the BackTrack D-Tour
GPS and spoke with a somewhat unimpressive customer service
representative. She did not seem to be particularly interested in
helping make my GPS work, but since I had already diagnosed the problem
I did not need much trouble shooting help. When I told her that the GPS
worked with my camera cord but not with the included cord she informed
me that all of the cords are standard and that I could just use my
camera cord instead. She did finally agree to send me a replacement
cord when I insisted that I wanted a replacement. But not until she had
already asked about where I purchased the GPS unit and found out that I
was a gear reviewer for BackPackGearTest.org. The replacement cord was
shipped and arrived quickly and at no cost to me. It works beautifully
and I have not had problems transferring data from the GPS unit with
the new cord.
Ease of use:
This GPS unit is very easy for me to use but it was initially somewhat
tricky and frustrating to learn how to use it. Most of this problem was
associated with the broken cable that came with the unit. The buttons
are also very stiff and I sometimes have a hard time pressing them down
hard enough.
Durability: I did
not have any accidents with the GPS during this test period. I have not
noticed any cosmetic or functional problems with the BackTrack D-Tour
as a result of my field testing but I have been fairly careful with it
and have not dropped it or gotten it wet.
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Computer interface:
Once I got a working cord to connect the GPS unit to the computer I
found the user interface to be very easy to use. I plug in the
BackTrack D-Tour, open the program and it automatically imports the
tracked routes. It keeps a list of all the routes on the left side of
the screen by date but also allows you to rename each route with a more
descriptive title. You can show or hide each route which makes it
possible to look at multiple routes at the same time.
At first I had a hard time figuring out how to access other information
about the route. I knew that the GPS tracks speed, elevation, and
distance but could not find these in the program. Then I discovered a
small gray bar with dots that is centered at the very bottom of the
map. Clicking on this bar brings up a subpanel that plots the
elevation, temperature, and speed as a function of either distance or
time. A nice feature is that if you move the cursor along the graph, it
shows a dot on the map demonstrating where in the path those conditions
occurred.
During this phase of the test I changed computers and had to reinstall
the software to a new MacBook Pro. It was easy to install and when I
signed in with my user ID and password, the program automatically
retrieved my stored data from the online server. Now I am able to
download the trips to either computer and they are accessible on either
computer. I am amazed at how easy it was to set up and appreciate that
I did not lose any data and can easily access my trips on multiple
computers.
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Summary:
In general, once I learned the quirks of this GPS, I found that it was
very easy to use. This GPS unit gave me extra confidence while
exploring new trails. When I wasn't sure which direction I should go, I
would mark a location on the GPS and know if the trail disappeared I
could at least make it back to that point to try another direction. In
the field testing I mostly stuck to fairly well traveled trails and did
not do any bushwhacking or map-based orienteering. For backpacking
trips I think that this would make it into my back because of the
safety net it provides, but on day hiking trips on fairly obvious
trails, I think that the real benefit is in being able to map my route
after I return home so that I can repeat hikes or share favorite hikes
with others. The best trails are sometimes hard to find and often
poorly mapped. In the past I have learned about trails from others and
then often struggled to find them again on my own. This GPS makes it
easy to save the route for later and know exactly where the trailhead
and trail are.
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LONG TERM REPORT
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Field Conditions:
During this phase of testing, I used the BackTrack D-Tour GPS unit on
three snowshoeing day trips. I encountered temperatures ranging from 0
F to 25 F (-18 C to -4 C) and both sunny and snowy conditions. The
elevation ranged from 400 to 1200 ft (120 to 365 m) above sea level. I
traveled in new areas and did some off-trail snowshoeing.
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Performance:
This GPS unit performed just fine for me throughout the testing period.
It worked well in below freezing temperatures. During
the test period I never got lost enough to need to use this unit to
find my way back to the trail but I did mark locations and then let it
guide me back and in these staged tests the GPS performed well. It was
easy to follow the arrow on the GPS unit back to the desired marked
location and the location was accurate enough that it would have guided
me back to a campsite or trail adequately. The battery lasted a long
time between chargings, and the data it collected was fairly accurate
for well-documented trails with comparison data.
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Summary:
This GPS unit worked well for day hiking, snowshoeing, and biking but
it was
a little large for taking on runs. During these shorter trips I
mostly used the GPS unit for information about elapsed time, average
speed, and current speed but the real reason the GPS unit was worth
bringing along was the detailed route, distance, speed, and
elevation data that I could download and analyze when I returned home.
For longer trips, this served as a backup navigational aid but would
only have been helpful (beyond its function as a compass) if I was
diligent
enough to mark locations regularly. On day hikes in new areas I did
stop to mark a point when I wasn't sure I was on the right trail. This
gave me to confidence to explore without fearing that I would get
terribly lost. I think that this GPS is useful as it is but would be so
much better with a few additional features. I would like to be able to
program in new marked locations using the computer interface before I
leave on a trip. I would also like to be able to backtrack along my
path, say, by navigating back to my location 30 or 60 or 90 minutes
ago. The GPS unit is already storing this information but the
ability to access and use this information would make it so much more
useful as a safety navigational aid.
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Pros
- Route tracking makes repeating a hike easy
- Navigation to marked points is far better than breadcrumbs!
- Provides detailed information about each trip
- Simple functions are easy to use
Cons/Potential improvements
- The buttons are hard to press
- It would be really
nice if I could load some points into the marked locations before a
hike. I could then use it to help me find the trailhead or
campsites.
- It is a little bulky and is too bulky to comfortably take running
- The original cord that came with the unit was defective, but company replaced it free of charge
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I would like to thank Bushnell and BackPackGearTest.org for the
opportunity to test the BackTrack D-TOUR.
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