A
handheld GPS receiver (GPSR) has been on my required gear list
for many years. I use a GPSR in the field with recreational and
search and rescue activities, as well as at home with a personal
computer and mapping software. The Magellan SporTrak TOPO is in
excellent condition and operating fine. Late in the field test
period I purchased the neoprene belt clip case which has made the
GPSR a little more convenient to carry (clipped to shoulder
strap) versus being stowed in a
pocket.
Virginia seems to have plenty of satellite coverage. I rarely
have less than 5 or 6 satellites being tracked in good weather.
Poor coverage has only been during cloudy skies with moderate to
heavy rain. Coverage would switch back and forth from 2D to 3D.
These poor coverage times also occurred when battery life was
low. I haven't had chance to separate these two factors yet
to see if they both contribute or not. In addition the tree cover
here is just now starting to leaf out and will be evaluated
during the long term test period. Battery life was something that
I was concerned with since the SporTrak TOPO only uses 2 AA
batteries. The manual states that battery life is "up to 15
hours" and for the most part this claim has been accurate.
However, any use of the back light significantly reduces the
battery life. During a recent training day I used up a set of
batteries during a 6 hour daytime and 3 hour night time stretch.
During the night time period, the back light was only used when
reading the GPSR for short periods of time. I really like the
size of the SporTrak TOPO but I would rather sacrifice some
additional size and weight for two more
batteries.
The Magellan SporTrak TOPO is very comfortable to hold and does
not take up much room in a coat pocket but I prefer to attach it
to a shoulder strap or belt using the clip on belt case. It did
not take much time for this old timer to adjust to the symbol
coded buttons. The on screen menu system is pretty straightforward for myself since I have previous GPSR experience. So far
I have only had to consult the manual twice in the field. The
first instance was for saving a track to a route and the second
was for deleting all the stored waypoints at one time. Although
now they are each a pretty easy task, at the time I just
couldn't find the right menu. I haven't checked yet to
see if there are any software/firmware updates available from the
manufacturer. This will be something to look into during the long
term test period.
The mapping feature of the SporTrak TOPO has not been as useful
as I had hoped for two reasons. The first being that the level of
detail is nowhere near that of a USGS quadrangle map. Navigating
from drainage to ridge just isn't feasible when the only
contours shown are major elevations. For example, pictured (scale
is not exactly equal) is the same route as it looks on a MapSend
map and on a USGS (National Geographic Map Application)
map.
The MapSend map shows only the major contour when in fact the
route goes through that contour down into a drainage and back up
to a ridge. I have found that I really only use the map screen
for street level detail where it has worked out just fine. I find
myself using the position screen and then transferring that to a
paper map. The second reason is, that for me, it is difficult to
tell the difference between a road, stream, trail, contour, etc.
unless I happen to catch a text label due to the gray scale
screen. Even though the features are shown differently with
thickness or level of shading (for lack of a better
term).
I
have not had any problems so far with the MapSend Topo software
(v 4.20D). There are two installation options. The first option
(80 MB required) installs the program, background map, and index
tables but not the detailed maps. The second option (700 MB)
installs everything. I chose the first option. At its most basic
level, MapSend is used to select a specific region of detailed
maps for downloading to the SporTrak TOPO. I was able to easily
download waypoints and tracks for viewing and storage. I also was
able to create and upload a region to the GPSR. This is done by
drawing a box around the desired region on the map. Since there
is a memory limitation the program will tell you if your region
is too "big" for the available memory. I think the
addition of removable/upgradeable memory card like the Meridian
series receivers use is a much better setup than fixed memory. In
addition the software tool used to select the region can only
draw a square or rectangle which leads to wasted
"space" since we don't have perfect square
boundaries out there. Of course speaking as a non-programmer type
a polygon or freehand line drawing tool would be make for more
efficient use of memory space.
Field testing has really been evaluating the SporTrak TOPO for
places and points that I have been to. During the long term
testing period I will also switch to using the GPSR and MapSend
to plot points that I want to go to. In addition the much
anticipated anomaly of tree cover versus satellite coverage will
be examined.
TEAM
JackQuest
http://www.jackquest.com
