{"id":179,"date":"2006-04-16T22:37:35","date_gmt":"2006-04-16T13:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2006-04-16\/179"},"modified":"2006-04-16T22:37:35","modified_gmt":"2006-04-16T13:37:35","slug":"garmin-barometric-altimeter-is-indeed-worthless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2006-04-16\/179","title":{"rendered":"Garmin Barometric Altimeter is, Indeed, Worthless"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

\n\n\nAs I commented a few<\/span> weeks\nago<\/a>, I worried<\/span> that the barometric altimeter on my GPS unit<\/a> (a Garmin GPSmap 60CS<\/a>)\nwas worthless because there are many factors that change air pressure\nbesides a change<\/span> in altitude (such as holding the unit in a breeze,<\/span> moving\nwith the unit, changing weather, etc.)\n\n<\/p>

\n\nSo, I sent a<\/span> note off to Garmin asking about it, hoping that I was<\/span> just\nmissing something. Really, why would they include such a feature<\/span> if it was\nworthless, much less tout it as they do?\n\n<\/p>

\n\nHere's what I sent:\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Is there a way to turn off the barometric altimeter, leaving only the\nGPS altitude? It seems<\/span> to me (and I'd love to be wrong) that the barometric\naltimeter is fairly worthless because the air pressure changes with such\nthings like the weather or the unit's position in the wind. I love my<\/span>\nGarmin GPS unit, but the altitude part is an unfortunate stain. The altitude<\/span> data in the track log, which I use<\/span> to geoencode photos, is\nessentially random.<\/p>\n\n

I wrote about this<\/a>\non my site and now find that people come to my site via search-engine\nqueries such as “Garmin barometer disable” , so it's not just\nme that is either ignorant of how to actually use the thing properly, or\ndissatisfied with it as a solution.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

I'd be happy just to disable it, as I can<\/span> disable the compass (which\nworks wonderfully, by the way \ud83d\ude42<\/b>. Is there<\/span> a way<\/span>?<\/p>\n\n

Thanks,\nJeffrey<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n\nHere's their reply:\n\n<\/p>\n\n

\n

Thank You for contacting Garmin International!<\/b><\/p>\n\n

I am<\/span> happy to help you with this. There is no way of turning off the\nbarometric altimeter on this unit. You are correct<\/span> sir that given the\nchanges you have to calibrate the altimeter just as you would in an aircraft\nhourly. However, in our units the altimeter is calibrated automatically\nevery 15 minutes to coincide with the GPS altitude.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n\nSigh.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nSilly me for not realizing that I have<\/span> to calibrate it as I do<\/span> an aircraft\n(of course, I make it<\/span> a point<\/span> to calibrate my aircraft often, such as\nbefore each trip to the corner store).\n\n<\/p>

\n\nApparently, the need to calibrate it hourly (like an aircraft, silly\nme<\/i>) is such obvious and common knowledge that Garmin apparently doesn't\nsee fit to mention any of this on their web site or even in the\nmanual!<\/b> (To be fair, their manual is horrible on all fronts, not just\nthis one, as I've mentioned before<\/a>... twice<\/a>.)\n\n<\/p>

\n\nI like this GPS unit, but this altimeter and Garmin's documentation of it\nis ridiculous.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I commented a few weeks ago, I worried that the barometric altimeter on my GPS unit (a Garmin GPSmap 60CS) was worthless because there are many factors that change air pressure besides a change in altitude (such as holding the unit in a breeze, moving with the unit, changing weather, etc.) <\/p>

So, I sent a note off to Garmin asking about it, hoping that I was just missing something. Really, why would they include such a feature if it was worthless, much less tout it as they do? <\/p>

Here's what I sent: <\/p>

Is there a [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}