I'm having a problem with the GPS no longer telling me what my speed is after each run. The speed genie is on and it goes ok uploading all the data but doesn't display anything. All I get when i stop to look at it is the current speed ( 0.03kts etc)..
I've been looking around trying to see what may have caused it . I think it started after i set the alert to 31kts.. I've now made the alert for 20kts and i noticed the speed genie has a speed of 31kts in it..??? Would that be affecting things and if so how do I remove it.
It's no fun anymore as I can't see how fast I've gone till I upload..

Sue,

I'm in a different but similar boat with my GT-31. Honestly I don't really care about not being able to see how fast I've gone during the day. I'd rather be having fun windsurfing than stopping all the time and checking how fast I went. Plus you get a bit of a feeling of anticipation as you load up your data and wait for the results.

To answer your question, is your GT-31 up to date? That is the first step to solving these sorts of issues. I can't update mine as my computer won't recognise it. I'm resigned to this and don't want to bugger the GT-31 up by stuffing up the firmware.

Speed genie works when you are doing downwind / upwind runs.
Set the speed at a level you are not exceeding on the up wind run.
Now when you get back to the top of the run the gps will display your downwind run as long as you have not gone faster than the speed genie value on your way back upwind.

So at 31 knots you are only going to see values displayed when you go faster than the threshold value of 31 knots.
Set it at 23 / 25 or turn it off if you are not doing upwind / downwind runs.

Some people just prefer to turn it off and stop at the end of every run to look at the unit.

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lao shi said..

Speed genie works when you are doing downwind / upwind runs.
Set the speed at a level you are not exceeding on the up wind run.
Now when you get back to the top of the run the gps will display your downwind run as long as you have not gone faster than the speed genie value on your way back upwind.

So at 31 knots you are only going to see values displayed when you go faster than the threshold value of 31 knots.
Set it at 23 / 25 or turn it off if you are not doing upwind / downwind runs.

Some people just prefer to turn it off and stop at the end of every run to look at the unit.

I only had it on as I thought that was the only way you could see your speeds at the end of a run. So I can just switch it off and that will still show me what I've just done?
I want to see my speeds as i have just got a PB and if I see I am getting close to that speed I will try harder..
How do I switch it off?

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sboardcrazy said..

lao shi said..



Speed genie works when you are doing downwind / upwind runs.

Set the speed at a level you are not exceeding on the up wind run.

Now when you get back to the top of the run the gps will display your downwind run as long as you have not gone faster than the speed genie value on your way back upwind.



So at 31 knots you are only going to see values displayed when you go faster than the threshold value of 31 knots.

Set it at 23 / 25 or turn it off if you are not doing upwind / downwind runs.



Some people just prefer to turn it off and stop at the end of every run to look at the unit.

I only had it on as I thought that was the only way you could see your speeds at the end of a run. So I can just switch it off and that will still show me what I've just done?

I want to see my speeds as i have just got a PB and if I see I am getting close to that speed I will try harder.. How do I switch it off?

Have you got the bug or what
I dont look at all anymore until I have stopped for the session, and about to turn the NAVi off. But Lao is on the mark with what to do.
Now next thing, stop fiddling wivit girlie

I'm determined to break 32kts.. maybe 33 before the end of the season or I get too old.. I don't look at it at the end of each run. Just if I stack it or have a rest after an hour ( or I feel like I must have done something good!)
I'm no 5 in Aust 2014 for the girls at the moment so I'd like to try and stay there or get no 4.

There are two separate settings for speed-genie min-speeds... there is the rotating-display-min-speed, and the alert-min-speed.

Alert-min is when the speed reaches this, the unit will start beeping... usually you cannot hear this anyway.

The rotating-display is what most people call the speed-genie, you dont want to turn it off (assuming you still want to see your speed) -> as Lao Shi said, set it to about 23kn.

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mathew said..

There are two separate settings for speed-genie min-speeds... there is the rotating-display-min-speed, and the alert-min-speed.

Alert-min is when the speed reaches this, the unit will start beeping... usually you cannot hear this anyway.

The rotating-display is what most people call the speed-genie, you dont want to turn it off (assuming you still want to see your speed) -> as Lao Shi said, set it to about 23kn.

How do I do that? I have set the alert to 20kts..is that the same? I can hear the alarm..maybe I'm not creating enough wind noise ( speed to mask it).

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sboardcrazy said..

mathew said..

There are two separate settings for speed-genie min-speeds... there is the rotating-display-min-speed, and the alert-min-speed.

Alert-min is when the speed reaches this, the unit will start beeping... usually you cannot hear this anyway.

The rotating-display is what most people call the speed-genie, you dont want to turn it off (assuming you still want to see your speed) -> as Lao Shi said, set it to about 23kn.

How do I do that? I have set the alert to 20kts..is that the same? I can hear the alarm..maybe I'm not creating enough wind noise ( speed to mask it).

Go to 'Settings' scroll to 'Speed genie' and reset to 23kts

Thanks. Looks like setting the alarm to 20kts has the same effect..it's working again! Pity my speeds were disappointing.. I'll set the genie at 18kts which means the alarm goes ape but at least I get readings!

Sue I have speed genie set to "off" in the alerts menu, I didn't even realise it was there.
The place to set the speed genie speed, (the speed at witch it resets,) as Te Hau says is under "Settings". I normally set this a bit over my maximum upwind speed, so I can see the speed of the last run back at the start of the run. If you don't want to see the last run speed, but want to know your fastest speed, and you are using old firmware that doesn't scroll through "history max". Then you can either set speed genie very high (40kts) so it won't trip, or use "trip meter" "max speed".

Hi Sue, I personally don't like using the speed genie for the reasons you've mentioned above. The settings I use are as follows*:
SETTINGS/SPEED AVG TIME/2 SEC
SETTINGS/SPEED GENIE/OFF
HOLD KEY/KEY LOCK

When I turn GPS on before sailing, I then select:
SPEED/MAX SPEED (right toggle) and then key lock (press and hold toggle button 4 secs)

Then I can see my max speed for the sail. Have fun!

* There may be some variation in menu structure, depending on your firmware version.

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andysails said..

Hi Sue, I personally don't like using the speed genie for the reasons you've mentioned above. The settings I use are as follows*:
SETTINGS/SPEED AVG TIME/2 SEC
SETTINGS/SPEED GENIE/OFF
HOLD KEY/KEY LOCK

When I turn GPS on before sailing, I then select:
SPEED/MAX SPEED (right toggle) and then key lock (press and hold toggle button 4 secs)

Then I can see my max speed for the sail. Have fun!

* There may be some variation in menu structure, depending on your firmware version.

Ok. I put the speed genie off and set the settings as you have said. Now I just need to remember to go into speed put it on max and lock it. Does it show anything if I just forget and switch it on and go with those settings?

I don't understand why anyone would want to turn the rotating display Genie off? If you are really only interested in you top speed for the whole session, the Genie will still show you that in it's rotating display! It will also show you your last top speed and 'n' average (set this to 10 second or 2 seconds or something else as you desire) and your max session top speed and max session 'n' average. That's the whole point of it.
Any time you stop a short look will tell you all this info.

If you turn the Genie alert on, it will beep as your average speed is increasing and stop beeping when it is not increasing. Handy when you are going for serious average speeds. It is not that easy to hear if you have a helmet on but the light on the front of the unit also flashes in time with the beeps so if it in your line of vision or peripheral vision you may easily see it. When you stop a run, the GPS will then beep out your top speed.

It was interesting when I first started using the GPS helmet (Two GT-31's fixed inside the top of my helmet) because I could hear the alerts quite clearly. Only issue was I had to turn one of them off or the message was undecipherable. I can hear the coded beeping of my last run speed quite clearly as I stop at the finish of the run. It repeats a couple of times, but I always look at the screen anyhow - I just cant resist!

If you are having a good session, you can keep a track of your likely 5 x 10sec average by checking at the end of each run (or before the start of the next run). You can also go the the speed menu screen and in the '10s AVE SPEED' screen you can 'restore' and see the list of your best dozen or so 10 sec averages! You can also do this in the 'MAX SPEED' screen to see a list of your best 15 runs top speed.

Settings:
In the MISC menu:
TRIP AUTO SAVE - OFF
TRIP MIN SPEED - OFF
MAX/NS MAX - ON
HISTORY MAX - ON
MAX SPEED - ON
NS MAX AVE - ON
NEW FONT - ON (OPTIONAL, BUT MOST FIND IT EASIER TO READ)

In the SETTINGS menu:
SPEED AVE TIME - 10SEC
SPEED GENIE - 22 KNOTS (From 20 to 25 knots usually works best for most people. If you can't look at the screen until you have sailed back upwind, you may find a slightly higher setting is better so it does not reset on the upwind trip)

In the ALERT menu:
BUZZER - ON
OVER SPEED - (Here you can set a warning buzz when you exceed a certain preset speed. May be good to set to target speed if you can hear or see it. I usually have it OFF)
TARGET - OFF (this one beeps when you reach a pre-set proximity.)
SPEED GENIE - ON (if you want to hear the audio messages)

About the only time I did not use the Genie is when I was going for Max Distance and I had one GPS set to the TRIP METER on TRIP ODOMETER. But evern then you don't need to because you can always go back to it from the SPEED screen to check it. (Just remember to reset it to zero before you start).

I think that just about covers it!

Any Questions?

Andrew, I think the people who're having trouble, don't have Tom's version, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think, the "out of the box" version, doesn't have the "misc" menu options, and speed genie doesn't show "history max", but only the last run that triggered whatever speed genie's set to.

The current method of updating firmware, isn't as user friendly as it used to be, having to find a hidden switch and turn it on and off, is a bit daunting, even for people with a reasonable amount of confidence in electronic matters.
+ there's reports the navilink software doesn't work that well with windows 7.

I'm not sure if there is a solution to these problems, but if anybody has one, feel free to post!

I find speed genie fantastic, it's a pity everybody's not enjoying it's benefits.

Oh, OK. I thought virtually everyone was using the 'T' 'Genie' firmware.

I still have copies of the V1.2 and V1.3 'T' Genie firmware files and happy to email them to anyone who does not want to upgrade to V1.4 with it's extra steps.

Perhaps there is some way to archive them on Seabreeze or GPSTC so they are easily available to everyone? I was very disappointed when Tom removed them from his website.

That's a good idea Andrew, I'll ask the committee

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decrepit said..

Andrew, I think the people who're having trouble, don't have Tom's version, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think, the "out of the box" version, doesn't have the "misc" menu options, and speed genie doesn't show "history max", but only the last run that triggered whatever speed genie's set to.

Correct. As mentioned it's a matter of checking the screen after each run to see if you have a 2 sec pb, or as also mentioned the anticipation of not looking and waiting until you get home and upload to ka72 is part of the fun.

Updated my GT31 from V1.4 B0315C to the latest one from Tom (mtbest.net)

Took a couple of goes and following his instruction carefully (clearing data on device and choosing Internal mode in updater program). I suspect just trying again was the really important part, I get the same issue with using the Navilink and USB it sometimes doesnt work and you just keep trying until it works.

Finding the little switch was trickier so here are some pictures of the device and switch.

Once you take the SD card out if you look VERY closely you can see a tiny black switch inside the slot.



This is the same photo in detail the switch is the tiny black part in the middle of the slot (with the white lines on each side of it), when you get the angle just right you can see it is actually a white box printed on the circuit board. The black switch slides to the right quite easily (be gentle) and the device wont power up correctly until you move it back to the original position.



This it in the update mode






Once I did the update then I had the extra menu option in the MISC menu and speed genie will not just show me the last "good" run but also the best run since the last reset (so best for the day).

It was sort of nice to go home after a good sail knowing that there was a chance my best run would be a "surprise" as I can't always be bothered to stop and look at the display. I need glasses to read the small print anyway so its a bit of holding it up to get the best sun angle and squinting to read it anyway for me, not something I can do while sailing

The explanation of the extra Misc menu options is here http://mtbest.net/setting-up-navi-GT31.htm (see the Misc section).

Awesome instructions Hardpole, thanks, will give it a go.

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easty said..

Awesome instructions Hardpole, thanks, >>>>>.

+1, yep photo of that hidden switch is going to circumvent a lot of head scratching.

I've had no problems with windows 7 (not tried 8) and updating.
like a lot of people I don't see up close that well.... you all look pretty !!
So.. I wear Sunglasses with a Bio Focal built in, great idea for Blind old farts................
get'em online.. do a search.
makes it easy to read the speed Genie as i'm sailing back up wind or laying in the water after a fall.

Thanks Andrew I didn't know about some of those settings including the new font ! Being a somewhat blind bastxrd that should help !