g-o-cashers

Mass storage mode is the normal mode that your GPS will go to when connected to a computer via a USB cable. When it is in this mode it appears like a flash drive and shows up as its own drive letter. From your computer you can transfer files on and off the device (ie. gpx files with geocaches). In "spanner mode" the unit will work similar to how it does in the field except that it is powered by your computer's USB port and it can communicate with software on your computer which supports Garmin's tracking protocol -- for example google earth. When attached to a moving laptop this allows you to view your position in realtime on the laptop. GO$Rs

I tried this with mine today and it does seem to be an issue. If I press down firmly on the screen or a button the elevation drops about 30' and then jumps up about 60-70' before settling back down.

Mine squeaks on the side opposite of the power button.

On the new units if you want to navigate to a track you need to break the track at the end point of the track (you can do this by clearing the odometer, changing profiles, or you can create a separate track using the stopwatch). Once you are ready to track back goto Track Manager > Current Track > Save Portion and select the segment of track (which is probably the most recent) and save it is a track. Then you can navigate to track by going to WhereTo?> Tracks Tracbac will also work as long as you clear your tracklog at the end point of your track, otherwise you get a track back to the end of your current track which could be very long.

I know servers were down as of yesterday around noon eastern time. I talked Garmin about it and they were aware of the issue and thought it would be fixed soon. I haven't tried again today.

Link: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Basic+Operations#toc7

Agreed, I've asked Garmin to change the new units to a continuous archiving to prevent/minimize data loss but so far no dice. Maybe once they have the daily/weekly archives fixed they'll consider adding it. Like Red90 I'm assuming that these changes will make there way back to the 62 (especially since the 62 has a working calendar function).

The 62 paperless caching support is very similar to the Oregon and Dakota if you have seen either of those units in action. Cache data is downloaded via gpx file (i.e. pocket query or export from GSAK), you have almost all of the information about the cache short of images. Fieldnotes are also supported which allow you to mark your finds, DNF's in the field and upload them once you get home. GO$Rs

I've seen a few corrupted auto archive gpx files on my 62 but never a corrupted current.gpx file. Make sure that you aren't interrupting the creation of the gpx file or trying to open it before it has been created (I'm not sure that this is even possible). Short of that I would talk to Garmin to see if your unit might have issues - esp given the problem you are seeing with alkaline batteries. Note current.gpx is created every time you connect based on the contents of your tracklog, deleting it won't do anything since it'll just get overwritten the next time you connect anyway. The unit doesn't read/load anything from this file, it is just a place to stash your tracklog so you can access it from a computer. That's the way all of the new units work.

From the Oregon wiki but the it works the same on the Dakota: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/geocaching#toc2

The geocaching specs on both units are the same. Each can hold 2000 waypoints in addition to 5000 geocaches. Rich's post is a good summary of the differences and I believe for most people it will come down to two things - Improved screen readability of the 62 vs. larger/high resolution display of 450 - Touchscreen of the 450 vs. buttons of the 62 So far in my testing the reception of the 62/78 has been better under tree cover but not significant enough in most situations to sway a buying decision. The other two factors above will drive the decision (along with price) for most people.

Can you associate the hang with one particular birdseye map? It could be that you have a corrupted map file that is causing issues. I would start by eliminating maps until you determine which one is causing the problem - simply rename your map files one at a time (change the filename extension to .tmp) and see which one causes the unit to fail to boot.

The Garmin units don't include speed, heading and status but I wish they had the option to do this, especially PDOP since speed and heading can be computed after the fact for the most part. Garmins will record cadence and heart rate in the track log with the optional sensors. I believe the tracks will also record water depth and temperature if connected to a supported NMEA device.

On the OR/DK/GPSMAP 62/78 you can't archive tracklogs to SD card. You can copy them over to the SD card when connected to a computer but all archived tracks are kept in \Garmin\GPX\Archive in internal memory by default. Personally I've never had an issue with this since the new units have quite a bit of free internal memory especially if you put your maps on the SD card.

Try this, and make sure you have a recent software load: http://www.gpsfix.net/custom-symbols/

It supports multiple gpx files. You can't select which gpx file to use and is limited to 5000 geocaches. I have screen shots and should have some information up on gpsfix.com soon. Paperless geocaching is very similar to the OR/DK but adapted to the interface of the 62s.

Based on my experience with the 78 which shares the interface as 62 the geocaching functions between the Dakota and 62 are almost identical. Differences come down to size, touchscreen vs. not, screen readability and accuracy. The 78 has been very good in my testing, I would expect similar results from the 62.

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Versions+x50#toc3 has instructions and links on how to downgrade to 3.50 or one of the 3.5x betas.

Other than 3.) (which is just how all the new units work) it sounds like you might have a bad unit. It might be worth a master reset but I've been using mine for almost 2 months and it has been very stable.

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Geocaching#toc2

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Geocaching#toc11

It does seem that Garmin has changed this! I tried a transfer back and forth of a geocache between GPSMAP78 and Oregon 550 and the description, hints and logs seem to be intact. Cool.

Custom POIs visibility is controlled by the User Waypoints zoom level setting. If you have this set to auto you have to zoom into some ridiculously low zoom level to see POIs on the map. I set this to something like 2-3 miles and it works pretty well. You'll need to do this in every profile since the setting is profile specific. Check under WhereTo?>Extras to verify that they are getting loaded.

In part yes, I believe there may also be an extra 1 meg of flash on the st as well since the built in maps around 2.2 GB (based on the Oregon built in maps). Wow I wonder what that's all about?? Is it actually WIFI capable? Or maybe it just has the ability to wirelessly share location data with other Garmins in the field? No, it is the same as the Oregon and Dakota, its the short distance ANT wireless protocol used for cadence/HRM sensors as well as unit-to-unit transfer of individual geocaches, waypoints, tracks and routes. No GPX transfer or geocache_visits.txt upload. GO$Rs

GPSCity is still indicating a 7/18 to 7/24 release for GPSMAP 62 models.