Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

Cheap GPS for Speedo?


Recommended Posts

Heya all, anyone have a suggestion for a inexpensive GPS that would make an accuate Speedo? I am going to make the conversion to 26.1" tires on my brat and want to avoid having to guess my actual speed with the bigger tires.

 

Thanks :burnout:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heya all, anyone have a suggestion for a inexpensive GPS that would make an accuate Speedo? I am going to make the conversion to 26.1" tires on my brat and want to avoid having to guess my actual speed with the bigger tires.

 

Thanks :burnout:

 

 

if you go to http://www.tyres1.com

 

and check out the interactive calculators and click on speedometer check.you can find out how much your new tires will throw off you speedo an do what i did,just remember to add that extra mph when you look at the speedo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a Garmin GPS 45 mounted (velcro!!) on my dash for a automatically recalibrating speedo. It's kind of a beast, with a big external antenna, but it works very nicely. it just so happened that my uncle had bought a new one recently and had his old one sitting around, so I managed to get it for free. But try ebay, or a pawn shop, I bet you could find a good deal.

 

After a couple weeks of driving with it, I only find that it's worth waiting for it to start up when I'm making a long freeway trip, I drove with it for awhile, and I've become very used to the adjustment, and don't bother turning it on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used a tire calc. and then put little stickers with the correction on the speedo. Works well and cost me 99 cents for the sticker pack.

 

that is exactly what i want to do. Thats what a guy in town did with his lifted roo. i just cant find the stickers:-\

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a magellan 315..Its kinda old, fairly compact and reasonably cheap on ebay. Tire calculators are cool too, but given the differences between manufacturers and the inherent inaccuracy I have found in subaru speedos, I wouldn't really trust them much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lots of great ideas, thx!

 

I looked up a tire calc, but it's not a constant through-out the speed range, at lower speeds it shows a correction of +5 mph, and above 45, it's something closer to +10, so I figured I should just get a GPS that is accurate for a speedo, but otherwise cheap ... gonna check some pawn shops :brow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you go with the GPS get one that has WAAS technology. Its more accurate.

 

Kevin

 

Good to know thx :)

 

is that something an older GPS I might find at a pawn shop/garage sale or just very recient ones?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lots of great ideas, thx!

 

I looked up a tire calc, but it's not a constant through-out the speed range, at lower speeds it shows a correction of +5 mph, and above 45, it's something closer to +10, so I figured I should just get a GPS that is accurate for a speedo, but otherwise cheap ... gonna check some pawn shops :brow:

 

nope, it's a percentage thing, mines off by almost 20 @ 80! that's why I like my GPS, the prob with that is, the refresh rate makes it a bit tough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The tire calculator shows a variation in speed throughout the range, because the relationship is not linear. The change in speed is releative to the speed , not the tire size, as a result, as the speed increases so does the adjustment.

 

As an example, the average speedo has an inherent error of about plus or minus 5 to 8 percent lets say. Five to eight percent of 5 miles an hour is very small on over-all terms of speed compared to 5 to 8 percent of 80 miles an hour.

 

As for the GPS. It will give speed of travel, and can be very accurate. But it is subject to the constelation and over head obstructions. The speed shown may not always be real time, and maybe based on old data. If you travel 300 yards and in that distance speed up, but the satelites are obscured, it will use data 300 yards old, and give speed calculated on that, and not your current position and speed.

Food for thought if you want to avoid real time tickets with not so real time data.

You can use the GPS, as well as a stop watch to calibrate your speedo and use the stickers to be accurate all of the time. I have gotten out of a ticket showing my notes for speedo calibration to a highway patrolman. I had done it for every 5 miles an hour up to 80 using 5 mile long baselines and my hp48 calculator. More than anything I think he was impressed that I even cared that my speedo was cranked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...