Skydiving with my TomTom spark cardio?

yoni39
yoni39 Registered Users Posts: 10
Master Explorer
edited January 24 in TomTom Sports
Hi, I am wondering what would happen if I jump wearing my tom tom watch in running mode during my free fall. Do you think it would track my fall..I mean speed etc ? Anyway I use altimeter digital, I was only thinking about all this matter. Thanks for any comment ?

Comments

  • tfarabaugh
    tfarabaugh Posts: 16,935
    Superuser
    yoni39 wrote:
    Hi, I am wondering what would happen if I jump wearing my tom tom watch in running mode during my free fall. Do you think it would track my fall..I mean speed etc ? Anyway I use altimeter digital, I was only thinking about all this matter. Thanks for any comment ?
    It would only track your lateral speed, as it is using GPS and tracks movement on the horizontal plane. If you drop straight down, then it is going to say you did not move at all.

    I hope this helped answer your question. If so, please mark it as a solution so others can look for it if they have the same question.
  • JohnPG
    JohnPG Registered Users Posts: 6
    Neophyte Traveler
    tfarabaugh wrote:

    It would only track your lateral speed, as it is using GPS and tracks movement on the horizontal plane. If you drop straight down, then it is going to say you did not move at all.

    Not sure I agree with that. I've taken it paragliding and skydiving and both work, to an extent. However, it got confused a little with speed and at some points thought I was doing 800kph when skydiving! So no, it doesn't register zero, and it is useful to see your height in the plane and once under canopy. Whether it's useful for anything else, I don't know, but it's fun to have a record of the jump.
  • tfarabaugh
    tfarabaugh Posts: 16,935
    Superuser
    JohnPG wrote:
    tfarabaugh wrote:
    It would only track your lateral speed, as it is using GPS and tracks movement on the horizontal plane. If you drop straight down, then it is going to say you did not move at all.
    Not sure I agree with that. I've taken it paragliding and skydiving and both work, to an extent. However, it got confused a little with speed and at some points thought I was doing 800kph when skydiving! So no, it doesn't register zero, and it is useful to see your height in the plane and once under canopy. Whether it's useful for anything else, I don't know, but it's fun to have a record of the jump.
    The Spark does not have an altimeter so it is relying on GPS for altitude which is not measured at airplane height, so I am not sure what it is telling you about height. My point about zero distance was if you dropped straight down, of course it will measure lateral movement, but I would not trust it as accurate and what would be the value of this data anyway. There are watches designed for this express purpose which would better serve a skydiver's needs.
  • yoni39
    yoni39 Registered Users Posts: 10
    Master Explorer
    Thank you for all your answers. When I skydiving I use my own digital altimeter, but I wanted to know if the tom tom could give me some extra information such as gps position etc, my velocity is given by my altimeter. Anyway I think the best way to know it is jumping with it and checking it by myself which I will do next days. Again thank you for your kindness and blue skies from Spain ;)
  • JohnPG
    JohnPG Registered Users Posts: 6
    Neophyte Traveler
    Firstly, I'm using an Adventurer - apologies for any confusion I may have caused!
    That said, enough GPS satellites will give X, Y and Z co-ordinates so height is no problem. (It can't just measure laterally as the Earth is curved - not sure if I'm understanding you right?) For reference, I also use a smartphone with just GPS to log paragliding and that gives perfect 3D rendering of the track (and therefore speed). It's better with the barometer function but not essential.

    In other news, I use the delta function with the Altimeter when flying/skydiving. This gives a rough height above take off which is quite good fun.
  • yoni39
    yoni39 Registered Users Posts: 10
    Master Explorer
    JohnPG wrote:
    Firstly, I'm using an Adventurer - apologies for any confusion I may have caused!
    That said, enough GPS satellites will give X, Y and Z co-ordinates so height is no problem. (It can't just measure laterally as the Earth is curved - not sure if I'm understanding you right?) For reference, I also use a smartphone with just GPS to log paragliding and that gives perfect 3D rendering of the track (and therefore speed). It's better with the barometer function but not essential.

    In other news, I use the delta function with the Altimeter when flying/skydiving. This gives a rough height above take off which is quite good fun.
    No apologies amigo! , Yes I am understanding you about co-ordinates, Thank you very much for all your information! Enjoy and Blue Skies!! ;)

Categories