www.rambler-info.org.uk - storing GPS tracks
I do wish the Makers Manual had made this clear!
I frequently need to store a number of routes when I am a long way from my computer and cannot download them until I get home. My biggest disappointment when I first bought my Garmin was that the track from one day's walking seemed to fill the whole memory, so I assumed that I could only record and bring home a single track.
Long after I bought the GPS I finally did some tests to find how the memory was allocated. During this I found, to my delight, that I could store about nine tracks! Why, oh why, do they not make this clear in the handbook!
There are two factors that make the storage as it is.
Firstly, the working data is verbose while the stored data is minimal. For example, the times of each trackpoint are not stored. Hence the stored data may be only quarter of the size of the working data.
Secondly, the working memory is separate from the storage memory. Hence it does not get used by storing tracks and is released when you "clear the tracks" before setting off on a new walk.
Indeed the storage is so good that I finally figured out that the cheapest and lightest way of bringing back 14 tracks to the UK was to go out and buy a second eTrex Summit!
[If the Marketing Department at Garmin are reading this, will they now go and bang the heads of the Manual-writers]
It is also worth saying that you should ignore the "Entire Log" choice when saving tracks. (Unless you are planning to download the track to your computer that evening and you are planning to analyse some of the "extra" information)
