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roybassist

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Everything posted by roybassist

  1. Wow, no wonder you aren't a fan of Garmin's autocalibration! If I had ever had results that bad, I wouldn't like it either; but I've never seen my 76CSx off by anything like that. I don't have need for great elevation accuracy, so I don't pay a lot of attention to it, but whenever I do have a chance to compare it with known elevations, it's usually at least close (typically within 10m, often much closer). I leave autocalibration on all the time, and I can't remember the last time I calibrated the altimeter manually. Years ago, when I had more time to research the topic of autocalibration, I read somewhere that if the difference between the barometric altimeter elevation and the satellite-derived elevation is more than about 30m, autocalibration stops attempting to calibrate the barometric altimeter. I don't know why. This was discovered by someone who had experimented with deliberately calibrating the altimeter manually to several different incorrect elevations to see how autocalibration would respond. This information is old, but I suspect it is still true for current units. So if there was 50 to 60 meters between the actual elevation and the barometric altimeter, that may be why the error was never auto-corrected.
  2. Putting the GPS in USB mode was an unnecessary step; but it seems like it should have worked, since it would be just like sending the map to a card reader, and that works. Nevertheless, if none of the other suggestions solves the problem, try transferring the map to the unit without putting it in USB mode. That is the usual way with 60 series units. It is also the only way you can transfer waypoints and track data between MapSource and a 60. Just connect it and (after selecting maps to send), click send to device. You should get a dialog box that will automatically detect the unit and identify it by model. Check the box for the type of data you want to send and click SEND. To save yourself a bunch of time until you get this figured out, just select one small map segment to send as a test so you don’t have to wait so long for it to transfer to see if it worked.
  3. Sorry, I didn't understand your request that way. I don't think there is anything like that.
  4. No, unless he also sells you the GPS it was previously unlocked for. The unlock code itself doesn't come with the DVD. You have to go through an unlock process which generates a code for a specific GPS unit. The unlock code will work only with the unit for which it was originally generated. What comes with the DVD is an ID number that let's you go through the process. Once used, it can't be used again.
  5. It can be, but it works just as well to let you know when you are arriving. It just sounds a tone when you get to the proximity radius you have set. You can use that capability for whatever you want. Xyzee posted while I was typing this, but since it sometimes helps to have something explained in different ways, I’ll go ahead and include the following: For it to work, you have to have the alarm tones toggled on. Garmin made this tricky by making two different settings that must both be toggled on. One is: MENU>MENU>Setup> System>Proximity Alarms. The other is Proximity Alarm Tones>Proximity Alarms. You can get to this setting 2 ways: 1) MENU>MENU>Setup>Tones> Proximity Alarm Tones, or 2) MENU> MENU>Proximity>Proximity Alarm Tones. Check the checkbox at bottom of page. Also check MENU>MENU>Setup>Tones and make certain Mute is not checked. On the 60/76CS(x) series, you go to the proximity screen (MENU>MENU>Proximity), then cursor to the Radius field and press ENTER.
  6. Or just put the unit into Mass Storage mode (MENU>MENU>Setup>Interface>USB Mass Storage) and copy them directly from it without having to remove the card. The files are small, so even at the slow transfer speed of these units, it takes very little time.
  7. Yes, it's 1 second. It works for me. Have you gone back to the setup page to verify that your setting "stuck?"
  8. That depends on how you define what it’s worth. $110 is definitely less than the cost of a new one. The lowest price I found of 3 places I looked was $250 for a new one on Amazon. Could you buy a used one as good as yours (if the card slot worked) for $110? You would have to check eBay, but I doubt it. And if you have any locked map products unlocked to this one, then you have to factor in the cost of replacing them if you get a different unit. If you get this one repaired, you’ll still have access to your locked map products. Or if Garmin replaces it with a factory refurb, they’ll issue you new unlock codes for the replacement unit. When buying or selling used GPS equipment, I usually figure it should sell for no more than half of the cost of a new one. So if your card slot were working right, your 76CSx might well be worth $110. On the other hand, if you really want to upgrade, this gives you a good reason. I’ve never heard of anyone else who repairs them, except owners who have the necessary skills to do it themselves.
  9. It sounds like you are describing the mechanism on a 60 series. The 76 series is different, and has no metal tab.
  10. When using barometric pressure for calibration, it isn’t necessary or desirable to make any adjustment for difference in elevation between the reporting station and your location. If you do, you will introduce error. The reported barometric pressure is the ambient pressure adjusted to the equivalent pressure at sea level. Sea level adjusted pressure doesn’t vary with elevation, because it’s what?…adjusted to sea level. Barometers at different elevations within a small geographic area will be calibrated with different offsets to yield the same sea level adjusted pressure. The sea level adjusted pressure is relatively constant over a wide area (generally about a 25-mile radius). Under normal conditions, a barometer at your home should report the same reading as the one at the airport only eight miles away. So the calibration pressure you put into your GPS should also be the same as reported at the airport. Your GPS sensor reads the ambient pressure and calculates its elevation based on the difference between the ambient pressure it reads and what you tell it the sea level pressure is. The “adjustment” for the difference in elevation between the reporting station and your location is made by the ambient pressure sensor, because the pressure it senses will be different from what it would read if it were at the reporting station.
  11. Units used for pressure is a user setting (Setup>Units) on the 60/76CSx series. I would expect that it would be on all current Garmin units with barometric altimeters.
  12. Presumably you used the backlight at 50% on the 60? I’m sort of surprised, since I’ve never felt the need to use any backlight with this display outdoors, except between dusk and dawn.
  13. Huh? "Sucked in"? You mean PUSHED IN from higher atmospheric pressure outside the case. Simple... Just build the things close to sea level and not on top of Mt. Everest, which would basically amount to building them with a vacuum inside the case. As for below sea level destinations, it's not exactly like people are imploding in Death Valley...or the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel, the lowest place on earth not underwater. The pressure changes are so minuscule that humans can't even detect it, much less having buttons on a GPS "sucked in". Yes, strictly speaking the buttons would be pushed in from higher atmospheric pressure outside the case, not sucked in as I said. Since this is a forum, not a scientific journal, I was writing in a conversational style. While “sucked in” is not technically correct, it is a way that many people would describe it when speaking casually. Thank you for setting the record straight on that vitally important technical point. The rest of your post seems to imply that what I described wouldn’t happen because the pressure changes aren’t large enough. Maybe you haven’t experienced this, but living in Colorado, I have: I put partially full plastic bottles with flip open caps containing items like sunscreen and shampoo in my luggage, and drive from Denver at elevation 5280 to a destination at much higher elevation in the mountains. Upon arriving at my destination, I open my luggage to find that the flip open caps have popped open, releasing the contents of the bottles and making a mess. After the first incident, I learned to pack such items in plastic bags to protect my luggage and its other contents. After using the items at high elevation, I close the containers, put them in my luggage and return to Denver. When I open my luggage in Denver, I find the same bottles with their sides significantly pushed in from the change in atmospheric pressure. Based on posts I’ve read from people who have disassembled their GPS units, the “buttons” are on a sheet of material that covers the actual switches. Presumably this is to help make the unit watertight. If the unit were airtight as well, it is certainly conceivable that the buttons could be pushed in, just like the sides of the plastic bottles in my luggage. I don’t know enough about human physiology to comment on why people don’t implode; but I think an airtight electronic device would be much more similar to the plastic bottles in my example than to a living organism. But you don’t have to take my word for it. The original page that I referred to is here. Quoting from it (remember, this is an old article): Having a unit such as the GPS 12XL this watertight is not all a bed of roses. Watertight also means airtight. When temperature and pressure changes act on a watertight (airtight) unit, pressure differentials develop. Undesired effects can occur, like the buttons being drawn down inside of the unit, or the lens over the display bowing out and potentially cracking. During further process improvements, it became necessary to allow the unit to "vent", to prevent these undesired effects from occurring. To accomplish this "venting", we drilled a small (1mm) hole in the case of the unit and covered the hole with a hydrophobic membrane. This membrane allows air to pass but not water, resulting in a unit that is still waterproof, but one that can also equalize pressure differentials.
  14. I agree with this. My 76CSx altimeter will change when I put pressure on it. Mine does too, but it seems to be a lot less than reported here: If I press firmly between the top of the screen and the rocker button, the elevation will drop, but only by about 10 feet. If I release the pressure immediately, it will return to approximately the original elevation in one or two seconds. If I press and hold, it drops about 10 feet, then corrects back to the original elevation within one or two seconds. If I release the pressure after it has corrected, the elevation jumps up about 10 feet, then returns to the original elevation within one or two seconds. It may be that this is just how it works, but what g-o-cashers reported is quite a bit more variation than I see on my 76CSx. I believe these units are vented, so that the pressure transducer has a connection to the outside world to get its data, and so that the buttons don’t get sucked in and stuck when you rapidly lose elevation.* But in order to maintain watertightness, the vent probably needs to be rather small. So although it will equalize pressures inside the unit and out if the pressure changes rapidly, such as by pressing on the case, it may take a while. During that time, pressure readings would be affected. It may be that the vent in the 62 is more restricted than the vent in the 76 series (and probably the 60 series), resulting in both a larger change in elevation when a given pressure is applied to the case, and a longer time to get back to normal after the pressure on the case is relieved. *I read once (I think it was on gpsinformation.net a long time ago) that the buttons getting sucked in was a problem Garmin encountered in the early days when trying to make GPS units waterproof. Making them watertight also made them airtight, and the buttons were affected by changes in pressure. IIRC they solved it by using a bit of Goretex type material that would allow air to pass, but not water. I don’t know whether that is still the technology they use. They may have figured out something better by now, but it probably wouldn’t change the basic hypothesis I offered above.
  15. It’s amazing the range of opinions you get in discussions about rechargeable batteries As opposed to and As opposed to And I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone support what they say with a link to an authoritative 3rd party web site, yet no one ever seems to question the source of the information provided.
  16. First, I gather we’re talking about Off Road routing, right? If so, press: MENU>MENU>Routes>MENU>Off Road Transition… I’m going to guess your Route Leg Transition is set to Auto. Change Route Leg Transition from Auto to Distance or Manual. For what you’re doing, I think Distance will work great. Set the radius to something small enough that as you progress along a leg of the route, no waypoint other than the one at the end of the leg will be within that radius. When you get that close to the end-of-leg waypoint, it will transition to the next one. You can change not only the radius, but also the units of measurement. Just highlight the units field and hit enter. The default is miles. The Manual setting requires you to go to the active route page and press the OUT or IN buttons to transition to the next or previous waypoint, respectively. If for some reason the Distance setting doesn’t work, you might try Manual; but I think Distance will work, and it would be much less bother. I haven’t used these settings myself (other than a quick test in Demo mode), but I recommended this to a golfer who was having a similar problem, trying to get a route to follow the holes of a golf course in order. My recollection is that he reported back that it worked. Please let me know if it works for you. The Auto setting works well for routes where you don’t do a lot of doubling back, but not so well for routes where you do. IIRC, the Auto setting doesn’t really route you to the nearest waypoint, though that may be what happens most of the time if you have a route that doubles back. The problem is the criteria it uses to determine if you have passed a waypoint in the route. Realize that due to the possibility of position error, it can’t require that you hit a waypoint exactly before it transitions you to the next route leg. It has to use some logic to decide when you are “close enough”. For an explanation, click here, then scroll down until you see a diagram with three lines labeled with letters A, B, C, and D. The explanation is for the old Garmin III series, but I believe the Auto setting still works this way in the 60 series. Once I saw this explanation, what previously seemed like stupid routing behavior suddenly made much more sense.
  17. Press MENU>MENU>Setup>System>MENU>Software Version. If the GPS SW Version is listed as 0.00, it has lost the chipset firmware and you will need to reload it.
  18. The above is all correct. I believe the opposite is true. If the pilot is maintaining a constant flight level, the actual altitude (referenced to sea level) will vary for exactly the reason you stated above as the plane moves through areas of locally lower or higher barometric pressure. So the actual flight path is in fact something like a roller coaster, though a very gentle one, since the change is so slight and so gradual that no one in the aircraft would perceive it. On the other hand, the range of barometric pressure is generally 0.5” or less above or below the average (normal conditions, not extreme weather events). At 30,000 to 35,000 feet, 0.5” pressure variation equates to roughly 1,400 feet. Proportionally, 1,400 is relatively small compared to 30,000. It’s unlikely that someone looking at a track in Google Earth could be able to see a gradual variation of 1,400 feet in a track that is 30,000 feet above the surface. So portions of the trip that were flown at a constant flight level actually would be like a (very gentle) roller coaster, but the track wouldn’t look like it.
  19. what will this be in mah? or ?.?c ? sorry for sounding thick, but you dont ask you dont find out.The bottom line is, you probably don’t need to worry about this. I believe most GPS receivers will shut themselves down when the voltage reaches about 1V per cell, provided you set the battery type correctly in the receiver. Where you would need to worry about it is in something like a flashlight, where the only thing that shuts it off is you. In that case, just be a bit conservative about how low you run the batteries.
  20. @smstext, If your batteries are 3000mAH, then 0.33C would be 990 mA. I suggest you charge your batteries at 1000mA. To do that, all you have to do is put your batteries in the C9000 and don’t push any buttons. By default it will charge at 1000mA. Nothing could be easier, and you would be within the charge rate guidelines given by Maha. And if the battery manufacturer exaggerated the capacity, you would almost certainly still be below 0.5C.
  21. 1. What method are you using to determine accuracy? I presume you’re just reading the +/- number under “Location” on the satellite page, but there are other ways. It makes a difference in the answer. 2. How long has it been since you first noticed the change in accuracy? A day? A couple of weeks? Months? 3. I know this seems unlikely, but make sure your unit hasn’t inadvertently gotten set to Battery Saver mode somehow. That would do it.
  22. Because the C9000 is a smart charger and employs pulse charging, theoretically batteries can be charged at somewhat higher rates without getting too warm. The instructions that come with it say, “Charging at a rate below 0.33C and above 1.0C is not recommended. Charging too slow may prevent the charger from terminating correctly. Charging too fast may damage the battery.” C = battery capacity. The first FAQ on the MAHA web site says, “The recommended charging current is 0.5C, or 0.5 times the battery capacity. The recommended discharging current is 0.25C, or 0.25C times the battery capacity.” I use these rates and haven’t noticed any ill effects; but I’ve only had these batteries since August, 2009. 0.5C will charge a fully discharged battery in about 2 hours. Maha doesn’t recommend different rates for conditioning; but if you use the break-in mode (different from conditioning) it automatically uses 0.1C charge and 0.2C discharge, provided you input the battery capacity correctly. For the fullest charge, leave the batteries in the charger for 2 hours after it says “Done.” It applies a top-off charge of 100 mA for two hours. The top-off current is too low to damage the batteries by overcharging.
  23. I use a Gilsson external antenna with the windshield mount that they also sell. I stick the antenna on the mount to the window, and can put the unit where it's easy to see and push buttons. For about $6, the window mount was money well spent. Ordered at the same time as the antenna, I don't think it even increased the S&H cost.
  24. Most reports I've seen from people who live in the U.S. say they have received excellent warranty service from Garmin (myself included). From people who live outside the U.S., I've seen lots of negative reports.
  25. From the collection of FAQ's via the link at the top of the forum page: http://www.gpsfaqs.org/faqs/garmin/xseries...points.html#far 8. I press 'find' to look for the nearest waypoints but found fewer than I expected (or none). What's up with that? When you search for nearest waypoints, it will display the nearest of 50 waypoints or about a hundred miles, whichever is least. So if all your waypoints are far away, it's likely that none will show. Change the search type to 'find by name' and all will be displayed No harm in asking your question here, but if you read through all of the FAQ's there, you will save yourself a lot of frustration. It will shorten your learning curve considerably. Why learn things the hard way, when others have already done it for you? Edit to add: To change the search type to Find By Name, press FIND>Waypoints>MENU>Find By Name
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