Yes, I have notice the little blighters are a bit hungry. Lucky B E offer a
charging cable for using in your car, though any USB A to micro USB would do,
combined with a cigarette lighter adaptor with a USB outlet (thinks: must get
them for myself)
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
On 07/10/2013, at 17:35, Bill Stent <> wrote:
> Funny you should mention Bad Elf. I had to give a speech at a mate's 50th
> yesterday. He lives in a bit of a rabbit warren in Reservoir (Melbourne) so I
> stuck the Bad Elf into the iPod and had the sat nav get me there. Problem
> was, I forgot to turn it off when I arrived. The Bad Elf is a ripper little
> thing but it does chew the battery a bit.
>
> After a couple of hours it was time to do the speech. Problem was I'd put my
> notes (you can probably see where this is going...) on my iPod.
>
> A bit of a panic followed but I was saved by mate's daughter who had a
> charger.
>
> Good lesson though. Letting the GPSr run out of battery in the city is
> inconvenient. Letting it run out in the outback could be fatal. Always keep a
> backup.
>
> Bill
>
> On 07/10/2013, at 4:23 PM, <> wrote:
>
>> Gidday Peter,
>>
>> In all my years of GPSing I've never had a straight GPS crash. This has
>> included severe cooking incidents in cars on Cape York in summer sun, long
>> drops onto sandstone, proper drenching, and sweat .... so much sweat! I
>> haven't relied on memory cards ever. It means the GPS can store less, but
>> it's useful enough for me with inbuilt maps, which I generally turn off
>> anyway.
>>
>> I have had two occasions when the GPS signal has clearly been scrambled when
>> my direction of travel changed suddenly on the GPS but not in actual fact,
>> and sudden loss of accuracy (up to 200m error). I suspect the time stamps
>> received by the GPS must have been diluted (not sure of correct
>> terminology), but these inaccuracies are otherwise inexplicable to me.
>>
>> The GPS function on my smartphone, including with Bad Elf (which I think
>> someone mentioned earlier) is not yet in my "trusted equipment" list because
>> of battery drain, aforementioned crash, and general failure of some
>> associated applications to work with sufficient reliability.
>>
>> Hooroo,
>>
>> E
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Peter Shute
>> Sent: Monday, 7 October 2013 2:40 PM
>> To: Vanderduys, Eric (CES, TownsvilleATSIP)
>> Cc: ;
>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] GPS on Smartphones - caution
>>
>> Good point. Do dedicated GPSs ever crash and become inaccessible? I would
>> have thought they'd be less likely too, being simpler, but memory cards can
>> become corrupt in any device.
>>
>> Apart from a data loss like yours, one has to consider what happens if
>> you're relying on it to navigate at the time.
>>
>> Peter Shute
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>>> On 7 Oct 2013, at 3:40 pm, ""
>>> <> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> Peter, I second your comments regarding the usefulness of GPS functions and
>>> various apps on smart phones.
>>>
>>> One caution: if your phone is an iPhone and crashes, it is a complete black
>>> box. Last year I commenced collecting certain types of field data on an
>>> iPhone 4s. After turning the phone off at end of field trip, and then
>>> turning it back on it asked to be reset. This, allegedly, wipes all data.
>>> The good news is I sent it to a forensic data recovery expert in Sydney who
>>> cracked it (his first successful 4s crack) and recovered all data for $250.
>>> Much cheaper than redoing the data collection (estimate $4-6k).
>>>
>>> Lesson: even if you get back to camp at midnight, back up immediately to a
>>> computer, or cloud if in range.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Eric
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From:
>>> On Behalf Of Peter
>>> and Toni
>>> Sent: Tuesday, 1 October 2013 2:40 PM
>>> To:
>>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] GPS for vocalisation recording
>>>
>>> I use several different Android smartphones and tablets for detailed GPS
>>> mapping. The modern smart phones are brilliant in heavy forest. Mine is
>>> capable of tracking more than 20 satellites, including the russian ones.
>>> Older GPS could only track 8 so quickly lost signal under cover.
>>> In heavy rainforest the phone kept a fix at all times when previous surveys
>>> had seen older GPS lose all signal. Every year the phones get more
>>> sensitive. For instance they will easily get a fix from inside a house, as
>>> long as there is a window in the room. Accuracy and repeatability are far
>>> improved from older dedicated GPS I have owned, although I am sure newer
>>> dedicated GPSs have also improved. I use Oziexplorer to manage maps and
>>> waypoints. It can download the waypoints to excel for easy manipulation.
>>> There are similar programs available for Apple. Battery life can be a bit
>>> short, but I also carry a small battery pack that can recharge the phone if
>>> out all day. Having your birding app, GPS and phone in one instrument
>>> makes juggling hardware a lot less of a problem. As long as you don't lose
>>> it or drop it.
>>>
>>> cheers
>>> Peter
>>>> On 01-Oct-13 12:41 PM, Merrilyn Serong wrote:
>>>> Garmin handheld GPS units are very good.
>>>> Here is a link so you can compare the different models.
>>>> https://buy.garmin.com/en-AU/AU/cOnTheTrail-cHandheld-p1.html
>>>> They are not cheap, but if you want a good one...
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Merrilyn
>>>>
>>>>> On 1/10/2013 11:59 AM, David Richardson wrote:
>>>>> One of the points mentioned in the original post was that the GPS be
>>>>> capable of deep forest satellite acquisition.I don't know much about
>>>>> iphone or camera GPS functions but I doubt they would operate
>>>>> accurately in situations other than clear sky satellite
>>>>> acquisition.That is why a dedicated GPS unit,and a very good one at
>>>>> that,would be of more use.
>>>>> perhaps someone on list who has knowledge of this could post a relpy
>>>>> addressing that point?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 10:27 AM, Peter Shute <> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I suspect that the main difference between a phone GPS and a
>>>>>> dedicated one, apart from not using up the battery of your precious
>>>>>> communication device, is accuracy. I'm told I shouldn't expect
>>>>>> better than 30m accuracy from an iphone.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I suspect Google Earth coordinates can be off by that much too, if
>>>>>> the difference between the images of roads and the corresponding
>>>>>> linework is anything to go by.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Peter Shute
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 1 Oct 2013, at 9:06 am, "Martin Butterfield"
>>>>>> < <>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you don't have a mobile phone, my camera (Panasonic TZ40) has a
>>>>>> GPS function which - if activated - includes geocoordinates with
>>>>>> images. I suspect many other mid-range cameras now have this
>>>>>> functionality.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It seems that the need for a dedicated GPS for simply recording
>>>>>> point locations is well gone.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Martin
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 1 October 2013 08:30, Peter Shute <<mailto:
>>>>>> >> wrote:
>>>>>> If you mean you want to save and name a way point so that you can
>>>>>> just read out the way point name into the microphone, then I would
>>>>>> have thought most would allow that. Some probably just
>>>>>> automatically number the way points, but you could read out that number.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I just use my phone's GPS (have never tried a dedicated GPS), and I
>>>>>> read out the coordinates directly at each new location. I could
>>>>>> mark a way point and then later copy its coordinates into the
>>>>>> metadata, but it seems just as quick to type it out while I listen
>>>>>> to the coordinates I read out.
>>>>>> It gives
>>>>>> me two chances to get it wrong, but it also means the coordinates
>>>>>> aren't as likely to get separated from the recording.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm hoping I can find a way to get the phone to read out the
>>>>>> current coordinates so I can just hold it up to the mic. That
>>>>>> should eliminate the first kind of error, but it's inspired more by
>>>>>> laziness.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Peter Shute
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ________________________________
>>>>>> From: <mailto:
>>>>>> > [
>>>>>> <mailto:
>>>>>> >] On Behalf Of Roger
>>>>>> McNeill [
>>>>>> <>]
>>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, 1 October 2013 7:52 AM
>>>>>> To:
>>>>>> <
>>>>>> au
>>>>>> Subject: [Birding-Aus] GPS for vocalisation recording
>>>>>>
>>>>>> All,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I know this has been raised a few times over the years, so
>>>>>> apologies for that, but the technology and brands keep changing and
>>>>>> it is difficult to keep up.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I need a Handheld GPS to support my vocalisation recordings. The
>>>>>> main requirements other than the obligatory battery life,
>>>>>> ruggedness, light, international maps, deep forest satilite
>>>>>> acquistion, etc, is the ability to input multiple way points and
>>>>>> link them to a specific recording.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Most of the units I see on line seem to have a detailed drill down
>>>>>> menu but what I am looking for is a compact unit whereby I can
>>>>>> quickly enter a location, note the 'location reference' in my
>>>>>> recording and then weeks later when I am back home, download that
>>>>>> way point into my computer when I am doing my Meta data?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Up until now I have been doing it after the fact off Google Earth
>>>>>> and this is getting very old.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Also, the ability to pre-load waypoints is probably standard, but
>>>>>> also required. I am a hand held GPS novice, if that is not already
>>>>>> evident by the questions, so any and all help is appreciated.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Roger
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Roger McNeill
>>>>>> Samford Valley, SEQ
>>>>>> ===============================
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>>
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