DaySailer.org Forum

Okay, you techno-geeks out there...

Who's got a GPS that you'd recommend? Yeah, yeah, I know sailing the DS is all about the wind and waves and sun, but after sailing with a friend on his J/24 last week I saw how helpful it is to have a speedometer to tell me what I'm doing right and wrong with sail trim.

I'm looking for an entry-level unit with large-ish screen and good visual resolution. I'm assuming all GPS units have a VMG feature.

Thanks,
Carlos

GPS has a lag time of about 3 seconds before showing speed changes. I have NEVER been able to properly adjust sail trim based on GPS speed readings on my Sabre 362. If you want to see avrage speed, course made good, velocity made good twoard the mark, or just where the heck you are, a Garmin etrex will do the job, but sail trim requires real time info from a knot meter.

Thanks for the info, Michael. I had seen a knotmeter on the j/24 I was on, and assumed the GPS would give me real time info. Maybe I'll get on anyway just cause it would be cool to have velcroed up on the edge of the cuddy cabin. I'll tell my kids it's the government keeping track of my whereabouts.

Carlos

If you set your eTrex to normal instead of battery save mode, you can reduce the delay to near real time. Otherwise the delay is 5 seconds