All right, I realize that this was a bit nutty but I did it anyway. Not sure if anyone has tried this before (why would you?), but while impatiently waiting for my Flytrex core to be delivered (along w/my Rotorpixel gimbal, but that is another story), I decided to attach my old Garmin Forerunner 305 (GPS fitness watch) to my P2V. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Removed the watch band and jerry-velocroed the body to the top back of the P2V (photos below), partially covering the GPS antenna. Almost no clearance from the prop tips, but just enough to scare the s&%! out of me not to fly aggressively and throw some Gs, potentially pushing the Forerunner into the prop(s).
Anyway, I ran two dainty test flights in my backyard and the results were not bad. Here is what I did:
* Start up and calibrate PV2 w/GPS lock (w/out Garmin attached)
* Start up Garmin Forerunner, get GPS lock, and then Velcro on the top of P2V
* Start Garmin recording, start P2V video recording
* Post flight, shut off Garmin & P2V video
Surprisingly, I had no problems getting a GPS fix for my P2V, even with the Garmin obscuring part of the antenna. Huh.
Post flight I then uploaded the Garmin 305 GPS log data to garminconnect.com http://connect.garmin.com/en-US/ (free fitness tracking web utility), and it returned all the analytics (screen shot below). I then exported the record to .gpx/.tcx format and imported it into Dashware http://www.dashware.net/ with the P2V video I shot. The finished video, complete w/gauges, etc. was okay, but elevation/altitude was all over the place and I suspect its an old technology, margin of error Garmin GPS issue. Dashware synchronization was difficult too, but I think that was due to the fact that I didn't fly it very far/aggressively and thus didn't create a big enough envelope of flight data. Or the Garmin 305 is just jacked-up. Dashware video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loEHa6o5X2A&feature=youtu.be
Anyway, it was a fun little experiment. Until I get my Flytrex I might try strapping a newer fitness watch (Garmin 405) to the P2V landing struts and see if that GPS log data isn't a bit cleaner...
Here are the pics:
Anyway, I ran two dainty test flights in my backyard and the results were not bad. Here is what I did:
* Start up and calibrate PV2 w/GPS lock (w/out Garmin attached)
* Start up Garmin Forerunner, get GPS lock, and then Velcro on the top of P2V
* Start Garmin recording, start P2V video recording
* Post flight, shut off Garmin & P2V video
Surprisingly, I had no problems getting a GPS fix for my P2V, even with the Garmin obscuring part of the antenna. Huh.
Post flight I then uploaded the Garmin 305 GPS log data to garminconnect.com http://connect.garmin.com/en-US/ (free fitness tracking web utility), and it returned all the analytics (screen shot below). I then exported the record to .gpx/.tcx format and imported it into Dashware http://www.dashware.net/ with the P2V video I shot. The finished video, complete w/gauges, etc. was okay, but elevation/altitude was all over the place and I suspect its an old technology, margin of error Garmin GPS issue. Dashware synchronization was difficult too, but I think that was due to the fact that I didn't fly it very far/aggressively and thus didn't create a big enough envelope of flight data. Or the Garmin 305 is just jacked-up. Dashware video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loEHa6o5X2A&feature=youtu.be
Anyway, it was a fun little experiment. Until I get my Flytrex I might try strapping a newer fitness watch (Garmin 405) to the P2V landing struts and see if that GPS log data isn't a bit cleaner...
Here are the pics:
