kb9nvh
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Posts posted by kb9nvh
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On my gpsV you have to tell it to NEVER recalculate the route if it gets off route (which is always is if you made the route in mapsource). I'll check my 60csx later and see what it does for me.
This has bothered me for a while.
I will make a route in Mapsource (City Select), usually with just a few waypoints. With the way I have mapsource routing options adjusted, it creates a route that I want to take.
So I load that route into my 60csx, but when I tell the unit to follow the route, it recalculates some other route, which will often be VASTLY different from the route I chose when using mapsource on my computer, especially if it is a longer trip.
This is incredibly frustrating!!! It seems that the GPSr is only receiving the waypoints on the route and using some other means of calculation to create a route from those waypoints.
Is there any way to download the exact route from mapsource and have my GPSr actually follow that route? I know I can go in and add a bunch of via points along the Mapsource calculated route, but that seems tedious and should be unnecessary.
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Is there and aviation version of the 60x series? Used to be the 176 had the fasted processor and had all the functions of the gpsV PLUS aircraft related stuff. That was a few years ago...I wonder if there's an 60 series air version for us X flyers.
Either the garmin 60CSx or the 76CSx, I have the garmin 60cs and love it, only wish I had the card slot.
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Humm, yeah, are you sure the GPS is wrong and not what your referencing?
Magellian platinum ?? wrong time The hour is ok but the minutes are off by about 3 min. can not reset to adj. any ideas. thanks Ed ke6bnl
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I have no experience with your hardware but have you attempted to load USB drivers from both microsoft and delorme? Seems like most gps's require a special USB driver for the connection.
I purchased the DeLorme Earthmate GPS. Because of a bad experience with DeLorme software- missing roads on the way to Alaska- I also purchased Microsoft Streets and Trips software.
I have been unable to get the s/w to recognize the GPS.
Lot's of luck trying to get DeLorme or Microsoft to help you with resolving this problem.
Anyone out there have any luck getting these two to talk to each other?
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Yep, beaten to death already.
Cidty select is discontinued and the only difference is it has much smaller map sections for upload. city navigator has larger sections and is not suitable for older units with limited memory. Of course the newer verstion has updated maps.
I have been away from this board for some time, so forgive me if this topic has been beaten to death.
I have a 76CS and have been a City Select user for years up through CS 6.
It seems Garmin is moving more towards the City Navigator family.
I assume from their website that the 76CS supports City Navigator.
I am interested in experiences between City Select and City Navigator, (both with the 76 series and with other gps units).
Pro's & Con's of each.
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There is something going on with the trip computer...I'm not convinced its always wrong but I've seen enough discrepenies to wonder now. My car odometer, in 25 miles, is 1/2 mile higher than the trip computer consistently....probably the car odometer is wrong. I checked the trip computer to the track is it was within a 10th of a mile. Trouble is, its hard to know if the track was complete or not since I had a few stops during the track I was measuring.
As of today I did notice that for a trip on foot, I got 5.55km on the odometer while the track shows 6.93km BUT on the way back to home by car, I got 26.8km trip odo and 26.76km for the track.
So close to 25% discrepancy when walking but correct when driving.
The foot trip was in a forest but no loss of signal at all.
True that when looking at the track on foot, it is not always a straight line (I wasn't drunk !). I hope the trip computer does not do some linear regression !
It is rather puzzling indeed.
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the SIRFIII chipset is a "must have" as far as I'm concerned. The barometer/altitude profiles are a must have for a biker or hiker. The magetic compass is the only iffy one but I love it that I can get mine to pint the right way when I'm stopped (only works in horizontal position and must be recalibrated frequently). Also, If you ever think you want to use this in your car then autorouting is nice to have and I have found from previous "limited memory" GPS's than you really need to have every map loaded for your entire route. If you want to go from the east coast to Florida or Texas then you need every map that holds a reasonalbe route for the gps to work with. That adds up to lots of memory needed.
The 60csx fixed 100% of the complaints I had with my old GPSV.
So I borrowed a friend's Legend cx for a few days. Read up on geocaching, and made my first two finds fairly easily with it. In a matter of a couple days, I got the whole pocket query thing figured out using Google Earth, GSAK, GPX Spinner and Plucker to upload details to my PDAphone so I'm fully paperless from the get go...
Took a few tries to get the whole "directional pointer doesn't work while stationary" limitation of the legend cx figured out, but once I did, I realized all I need to do is move in a straight line for a few paces to get reasonable directional accuracy.
I noticed location accuracy was within about 20 feet in clear sky, and I got adequate navigational aid even under moderately dense tree cover this afternoon.
Now to get my own...
I notice the Venture cx is basically the same as the legend cx, but without software, SD card and USB cable. Cable is no problem, as my digital camera has a standard USB cable that fits the legend. The sw I don't care about too much, as I'll probably buy the upgraded CityNavigator maps. I'll likely upgrade to a 1GB card as well... Net net, the Venture cx *IS* the Legend cx as far as I'm concerned.
However, I can't seem to make up my mind on the Venture cx versus the 60csx. For the extra $200, the 60csx appears to offer:
* the barometer thingy (for most accurate altitude?)
*electronic compass (so I can get directional accuracy when stationary)
*new SirfIII chipset with helix antenna (supposedly more accurate, works better under sub-optimal conditions & indoors)
*1000 user waypoint memory versus 500 on the venture cx
On the downside, the 60csx is slightly bulkier, has an antenna that sticks out, has worse battery life(?) and costs $200 more.
A lot of you folks got the 60csx... Assuming I'm going to use this for years to come, is the 60csx worth the extra $200, or are the extra features really just "nice-to-haves" that aren't really necessary for finding geocaches? I'm as much of a "gotta have the cool toys geek" as there is, but I don't want to spend $400 on a GPSr that for all intents and purposes will provide about the same day-to-day usefulness as a $200 unit...
Am I missing any other benefits? Is there anything really useful you can do with a 60csx that you can't do with a venture/legend cx? Are there caches that are made possible with a 60csx that would be difficult/impossible to find with a venture/legend cx? Does the extra accuracy make using it more enjoyable?
Help me break the deadlock!
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One thing I find very handy to have around the house is a handheld multimeter. These can tell you voltage for AC and DC and can be set for resistance as well. They can be had for about 15 bucks but I would spend about 50 or more. Anyway, you can use the resistance mode to find what wires are connected to what. In that way you can see how your exsisting Garmin cable is made (instead of relying on a drawing which sometimes may be wrong).
If you need to know the pinouts of yoru garmin then check out this page:
If you need to know which wire is positive in your vehical then you need the multimeter (but its always the cneter pin on all modern cars).
I've got a Garmin car charger and cradle unit that I want to hard wire into my electrical instead of using the plug. I want to make sure I get the polarity right on this, so I'm looking for a diagram or listing of the utility port. I'm sure on the auto hookup it's only using two leads, but I want to get this right on the first try.
Any ideas?
Additional note: Does it matter if the + and - are reversed on not anyway?
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Yep, Garmin screwed this up I think, in 2.5 I think. It gave longer warning before that revision.
I want more warning too. At some meeting someone must have said they thought it was too long so they shortened it./??
I have noticed that sometimes I get very little warning on the last warning for a turn/exit. Some freeway exits are really long, resulting in the final warning bell being sounded after I have passed the point of being able to enter that lane. Also, some cross streets off of surface roads give very little warning. I'd like to know the turn was coming up before entering the intersection.It would be nice to be able to increase the amount of time a warning is issued, perhaps in percentage increments.
Agreed. I've been caught out a few times when the warning has come to late for me to change lanes.
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Get a 76csx before the 100 dollar rebate expires on the 9th. Thats what i would do..
At the same time, get yourselve city navigator 8 and a RAM suction cup mount for the car, and a cig lighter adapter for car power. Also, get a 1 gig transflash card. That should do you and is what I would do if you have the moola.
The time has come to replace my old GPS III Plus. What i'm looking for is much better detail on the county roads. Uploading maps would have to be a must. The built in map for the GPS III Plus is ok for the main roads but chasing the caches in some remote places leaves alot to be desired. I was wondering what other units some might have and how well they preform. Thanks
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I've very surprised it routed you on a dotted line road!!! Dotted lines mean gravel I think to the gps.
there is no way to put in a via point (as there was in the gps v I had). Hope they add this at some time as I do miss it also.
Hi,
I don't know if I can answer your specific question but I just noticed the other day you can select a region/road to avoid in the preferences/routing/advanced.
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I think its the POI's that cause the occasional slow downs.. The slow downs do exsist with the larger card but its always on the find key and I blame it on the POI's it has to run through.
I have about 800MBs of maps loaded on my 76CSX and I have not noticed a performance hit as far as using the maps. I havn't tried the find function though.
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On my 5 mile run I was off by 0.1 miles (short) on the trip computer. The next day it was spot on. My only difference (coninsedental maybe) was that I forced my track log to 1 second breadcrumbs (turned off automatic). I also made sure lock on road was off (I was running on a road and the map is not accurate enough so you really have to turn off lock on road for this). Also, to get good elevation data I HAD to turn off "autocalibration" of the altimeter. My run was 2.5 out and the same 2.5mi back showed about a 30 to 40 ft offset between the run out and the run back with autocalibrate on. With it off my two legs were identical.
I haven't noticed any huge difference but then again I haven't cross-checked any of my results. It always seems my long drives are accurate but I never really did a map check!
Does anyone still have this issue with 2.90? Also has this problem been 'reported' to garmin in an EMAIL? because it seems they kind of ignore phone conversations.
My discrepency from last weekend's hike was with ver 2.90 of the firmware.
GeoBC
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I never had any problems with the buttons on my airmap 100 from lowrance in the 3 yrs I owned it. (I did have the lithium backup battery go bad after 1.5 yrs and lowrance left me high and dry on that problem)
I have as IFinder Map&Music that i got a month ago for less then $100, and it is amazing, awesome reception, and it often gets much closer to a cache then my buddies $500 garmin, no knock against his, the mapping on his unit is really nice.. plus the color screen, but again it's a bonus and not a necessity for caching.... There were a few times that I had him give me the coordinates of a cache because he had no coverage, and i was covered...
I will say that the buttons do not feel as nice as the garmins, but that is an aesthetic point, but as far as reliability and features it rocks...
I use GSAK with the lowrance with absolutely NO PROBLEMS I bought this unit for it's reliability and sturdiness, plus the size of the screen and have not been dissappointed yet.
As has been said when I was researchign this same topic.. With Lowrance you just get more bang for your buck..
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Picked this up off the internet:
An altimeter is a device designed to estimate altitude above mean sea level (MSL). It does
so solely on the basis of atmospheric pressure. In fact, all altimeters have TWO dials--one
for altitude and one for pressure. An altimeter is basically a mechanical calculator which
translates a change in atmospheric pressure into a change in altitude based on the idea of
a 'standard' atmosphere.
This hypothetical atmosphere starts at 'mean sea level' with a temperature of 15 C
and 29.92 inches of mercury (inHg). It decreases in pressure at a rate of about 1 inHg per
1000 ft elevation and decreases in temperature at a rate of about 2 C per 1000 ft elevation.
Due to the unequal heating of the earth's surface by the sun, however, the real
atmosphere is far from 'standard', and if an altimeter were not adjustable, its reading would
be dangerously inaccurate. To account for the natural variation in barometric pressure
around the world, the aviation community arrived at the idea of an 'altimeter setting'.
All altimeters have a small knob at the bottom left which allows the altimeter to be set
based on the local atmospheric conditions. A pilot can adjust this knob while on the ground
at an airport until the altimeter reads the airport's known elevation. In addition, thousands of
airports around the world have automated stations which determine and broadcast over the
radio the exact 'altimeter setting' (in inHg) which should be used at their location to have an
altimeter on the runway read the correct airport elevation. Pilots flying below 18,000 ft MSL
listen to these broadcasts and every 100 miles or so readjust their altimeters in flight so that
they read appropriately for the local atmospheric conditions. At 18,000 ft MSL and above,
pilots simply ignore local conditions and set their altimeter to 29.92 inHg. This action
ensures both a high probability of being at the indicated altitude when landing and a low
probability of two aircrafts colliding due to non-standard atmospheric conditions when
cruising at high altitude.
The idea behind using an altimeter as a barometer is this: When adjusted to read
true altitude, altimeters display in their altimeter setting window the hypothetical barometric
pressure at mean sea level assuming a standard atmosphere. On the other hand, when
adjusted to read 0 ft altitude, they display in their altimeter setting window the true
barometric pressure. As the true barometric pressure drops, they indicate a rising altitude,
as though in a climbing aircraft. At the same time, the pressure read in the altimeter setting
window remains constant, as though based at an airport below. However, if they are
readjusted to read 0 ft altitude, the pressure they display will drop to reflect the true drop in
atmospheric pressure.
Thus, to use an altimeter as a barometer, simply adjust it to read 0 ft altitude and read
the true pressure in inches of mercury in the altimeter setting window.
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I guess the question is, then, why would you even have to tell it, its at a fixed location? I'm mean, when you put it in barometer mode all it knows is that the pressure has gone up or down. Elevation data from the gps should make no difference and there should not even be an option on there to tell it its in a fixed location. I mean, theres an elevation screen that plots vs time or distance and then theres a barometer screen. Why would the barometer care what evelation you are at and why would it need to be told you are at a fixed elevation since it shouldnt' care anyway. Only the altimeter functions of the GPS should care about that.....
Think of it like a Thermometer that has two scales, one Fahrenheit the other Celsius. Or the speedometer on your car has Miles and Kilometers. Barometers can have two scales on it also, Altitude and Pressure. The difference is that the barometer needs to be calibrated for it to reed correctly. Setting the altitude "fixed altitude" your telling the unit how to compensate for the ambient pressure at that altitude or adjust its scale to read correctly. With the scale set at the proper setting one can read the correct Barometric pressure.
Likewise, if your unit is calibrated for the current Barometric Pressure ( or altitude) and a storm rolls in it will now effect your altitude reading.
Pressure Change = Altitude Change
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When geocaching I use the magnetic compass
OK. I gotta know. Many of you are saying that you never use the electronic compass, even when you have a GPS that has one. I use mine ALL the time, pretty well every time I am navigating to a waypoint. When goecaching, I hit GO TO and then follow that little red arrow to the cache. A friend of mine tells me that he uses the map page and finds caches by zooming in and then walking until he is on top of the cache icon. I always thought the arrow was the simpler way to do things, but then again, I have always had a GPS that had one, so maybe that is just the way I have gotten used to doing things.
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Good question, I've never tried that configuration and I agree with you that it "fixed elevation" should do that...
I'll try mine out later and see what it does.
So, what happens if you turn ON the GPS and fix the elevation? Any difference?
I am having a great time trying out all the features of my new 60CSx. Here's something I don't understand: I choose Barometer Mode: Fixed Elevation in the altimeter setup, but I still see the elevation changing. Here are the details of the setup:
- GPS is Off.
- Altimeter Auto Calibration is Off.
- Altimeter is set to Fixed Elevation.
- I calibrated the altimeter to my known elevation (104 meters).
With these settings I would expect the elevation reading not to change. It can't be affected by GPS data since GPS is turned off. And I turned off auto calibration, so the altimeter shouldn't be surreptitiously re-calibrating itself. I thought the whole point of the setting "Fixed Elevation" is that only the barometer reading should change, but I see that the Elevation reading changes as well. Since this morning the Elevation reading has crept up from 104 meters to 114 meters.
Can anybody explain why this happens?
Best wishes,
Michael
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Sounds suspiciously like a corrupt memory card or bad contacts on the memory card.
When I put in my memory card I was worried about how good it connected.
My software is at v2.90/v2.60. I don't think this condition happened with earlier versions but I'm not sure.
From Find, select Recent Find, when the recent finds are displayed, press menu. My unit starts emitting a tone and hangs. The only way to get out is to pop out a battery for a second, then the GPS works normally.
Anyone else experiance this?
Jerry
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Well Said!!!
I'll tell you why...elk camp! Ever since our group got together 14 years ago, there's been this equipment race going on. It started the first year when Bob showed up with his new 300 Win Mag to outdo Dave's ol '06. Bob felt a little sheepish when I opened my gun case and took out my 8mm mag. Then Bob asked what I had in the other case...my backup. Bob about turned green with envy when I took out my backup 375 H&H. The race was on! Next year Bob came with a .338 to top my 8mm. A couple years later he had a 45-70 to top my 375 H&H. That wasn't long range enough so he got a 416.
Well, they all got new GPS's last year, the same year mine showed up in camp broken. So now I'm going to trump their Vista's with my 60CSx. Had to go for the 'S" since their Vistas have sensors.
I'd rather show them up with a GPS that doesn't to lose its signal in the woods (and have the me-too compass & altimeter) than have to show up and hunt elk with a 458 mag. Spending the extra $40 was painless compared to having to shoot that 458...
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Certainly seems to be the opinion of many who buy the "S" version. I would just like to add that any barometric altimeter needs to be set to the current pressure conditions. This is true for the altimeter in airplanes as well. Every time I got ready to fly the altimeter was always something other than the correct altitude and needed to be set. This is the case with your handheld gps altimeter. Where the confusion comes in is that the gps tries to let your get around this 'setting" of the local pressure by using GPS elevation to try and do it for you. If your gps knows your altitude then it can tell you your current barometric pressure. Unfortunately the elevation data from the gps is very bad and so as a result the "autocalibration" mode of the gps altimeter is very bad as well (but better than nothing).
The bottom line is the barometric altimeter in your gps is a tool that has its shortcomings. If you understand the shortcomings then you might be able to make use of the tool. If you don’t then you may be tempted to dismiss it as not reliable.
As far as the magnetic compass goes, now that one is a mystery to me and I would never rely on it (but maybe its because I don’t understand its shortcomings).
I have a unit with both. I use neither. Ever. I regularly go places that can mean a very long walk back if you go the wrong way. The compass is useless as the proverbial appendages on a squeegee handle because it cannot be trusted as much as even a cheap magnetic compass.
I regularly check my GPS against the known elevation of surveyed benchmarks. The barometric altimiter is never as accurate as the GPS.
For my money they're both candidates for the lamest add ons available.
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Well, if you hope to have any accuracy at all in elevation then you will need the barometer sensor. So, if you bike ride, hike or fly then the barometer is worthwhile.
The magnetic compass is OK but it needs constant recalibration. I like the unit knowing the way its pointing though and would use it when hiking/geocaching.
I'm glad I got the sensors and would miss the accurate altitude readings (albiet, this accuracy is only short term due to atmospheric pressure changes at any location).
There are several GPS models available with a compass and barometer. These sensors:
- are more expensive than models without
- need frequent calibration
- reduce battery life
How do these extras really add value to the GPS?
For me, I only opted for the electronic compass because I wanted the convience of using a magnetic compass w/o the hassle of carrying a separate one. When in the bush, I bring a separate compass as a back-up, but for Geocaching, knowing the direction you're facing w/o having to be moving is very useful. Calibration isn't an issue since it takes 10 sec. Of course, having experienced the 60's compass, I'm not sure if it was a worthwhile purchase. It's very picky about how level you hold it.
It sounds like the Magellan 3-axis compass would be worthwhile, though.
As far as the barometric altimeter goes, I could do w/o it, although I do like the elevation graph. I can't remember if my non-sensor 76C had that elevation graph page or not.
GeoBC
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Yes, if this is true its a major bug. When I had a lower number than usual on my trip counter I attribuited it to my tracklog having not enough breadcrumbs. The next day I turned it to log track points every second and it seemed to fix the problem for me. (but I've not done it enough to be sure).
LOL, if I could get my 60CSx accuracy to go over 30+ feet I'd give it a try, but it just works too darn good. Seriously though, I suppose I could try to shield the antenna and bury it in a backpack or something.
Actually what I found out is that accuracy has very little to do with the problem and, assuming I do not have a defective unit, I consider this a major problem. All you need to do is go on a hike and you’ll see the problem.
This weekend while hiking I did some “experiments” and here is what I found out:
While hiking to a destination the Garmin GPS60CSx tallied up the following information upon my arrival (accuracy was between 15 – 45 feet during the trip).
Track Log – 9.28 miles
Odometer (from Trip Computer Page) – 8.08 miles
The green trails map and hiking description specify a length of - 8.8 miles
If I had to take a guess I would say that the Track Log was the most accurate due to washout and blowdown detours we had to take.
I decided to measure the return trip and the GPSr gave me the following information:
Track Log – 9.31 miles
Odometer – 7.45 miles
Interesting that the Track Logs were almost identical and the odometer was significantly different from both its first measurement and reality.
The next day I hiked up to a different destination and got the following data:
Track Log – 2.7 miles
Odometer (from Trip Computer Page) – 1.73 miles
The green trails map and hiking description specify a length of - 2.7 miles
The return trip gave the following info:
Track Log – 2.65 miles
Odometer (from Trip Computer Page) – 2.08 miles
Once again - Interesting that the Track Logs were almost identical and the odometer was significantly different from both its first measurement and reality
While driving home from the hike I decided to do the same experiment in the car and noticed that if you‘re traveling at a relatively constant speed the odometer is fairly accurate. Once you start doing a lot of stop, go, accelerating and decelerating the odometer’s error becomes larger and larger.
Here is what I think is happening. The odometer has nothing to do with your position being tracked across a “map”. I believe it (the algorithm) uses speed and the time traveled to determine a distance traveled (i.e. D=RXT). In the world of hiking, where you are typically traveling between 0-4mph, going up switchbacks, taking a break, looking at the scenery, etc, these speed errors (which at these slow rates are already full of errors) translates into an even worse odometer reading.
So if this is the case, what else is bogus info on this GPSr? How else do you determine an accurate distance traveled at a quick glance? I mean this is a $450 GPSr, shouldn’t I be able to determine how far I’ve travel without going through the steps of saving a track log???
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With the csx units they are identical now in function and software maps and all. The only difference is the form factor and the size of memory card that comes with it. The 76 floats and the 60 almost floats...
I think the 76 might come with a 100 rebate now....thats what I would get if true.
Trying to decide between a 60 CSx and 76 CSx but the one thing keeping me from the 76 is that dang belt clip. I really like clipping radios onto my backpack harness and being able to easily pop it off when necessery and i imagine its the same for this. Does anyone know of an accessory that would provide this for the 76? Ive looked but could only find a pouch which i would suspect also blocks the satellites!
Also, ive read the 76 does tide information while the 60 doesnt. Can someone help explain if this is true and what that means exactly? I occasionally go boating with my in-laws so it might come in handy.
Thanks for any help here!
60csx Do Car Navigation?
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
also add a 1gig transflash card and a power cord.
1) Ram Mount
2) city navigator 8
3) transflash card 1Gig
4) 12v power adapter