Kyle_freemason

Hello everyone, I was keeping up with the forum in regards to the best software solution to fix the drift issues with the hcx when I was in a car wreck. I have been away from the internet for about a month now and tried to find the thread but was unable to. How did it ever turn out? Did upgrading to 2.80/2.80 fix all of the units issues regarind odometer and drift or is there some other better solution that has been arrived at? Hopefully, no more getting t-boned in my car keeping me away from these forums. Thanks for the help guys! Kyle

I agree with jmundiger. Although the person on the phone or the once receiving your email is the easiest to scream at 99% of the time your issue is not their fault. Anger will get us nothing but ignored by Garmin. I too will send a track log using my current 2.70/2.30 which I have no issues with (aside from a slight error in distance measurement) and then I will upgrade my other unit to the current software and show how it is in major error through tracklog. Hopefully, Garmin will take our request to their research department and the techs will analyze our data. Happy caching!

Hi Raf, Glad you are liking the same combination!

Hi Guys, I realize ive said it before but I run 2.70/2.30 and have no trouble. I did lose signal for a short time in a 40 foot rock cliff canyon. My tracks are fairly consistent only at times varying maybe to 50 foot and then correcting. Both of my units are now running this and neither are showing any problems after extensive testing using the units metal detecting, walking, in the car, on the atv etc. Anyone else using these versions? Kyle

Hi Gerpo, I am glad it works for you! I have had the best results from this. I have tried 2.40/2.40, 2.60/2.40, 2.70/2.40, 2.70/2.30, 2.60/2.30 and 2.40/2.30 and out of them all the best by far was 2.70/2.30.

I hope it works for you Gerpo. I have continued to test my units with 2.70/2.30 and have had wonderful results. Hopefully though, sometime soon Garmin will release software that will allow for me to upgrade from 2.30 without facing new problems.

This is what I did to my unit that came with 2.40/2.40 on it. I upgraded to 2.70 and downgraded to 2.30. Now I have two units with 2.70/2.30 and both work great. I have no odometer issues and they never seem to drift after having tested them both many hours now.

Hold lower left hand button, joystick and press the power button.

I went for a 3.5 hour hike today. I am running two units both upgraded to 2.70 (just before I left). One unit is running 2.70/2.30 the other is running 2.70/2.40. The total distance was 3.2 miles along the katy trail path. The furthest drift was 17 feet. In most areas the track going in and coming out was no further than 9 feet (measured on google earth). So far I have yet to see anything but marked improvement after upgrading from 2.40 on both units to 2.70. Both units showed correct distance within about 30 feet. The units were left on from the time I left my home until I reached the trail by car 20 minutes later. So far so good in terms of "drift." I will continue running tests to see how my units do. Also, along the way I located a cache and used the goto feature to take me to it. The cache was at the base of a tree and I followed the units bearing arrow on the compass right to the tree. When the unit said 0 feet to destination I was no more than 2 foot away. I thought this might just be luck so I tried another cache at the very end of the trail and it was hidden under a railroad track. When the unit said I was 0 feet from it I was actually about 5 feet from it. Results seem good enough to continue on with the 2.70 upgrade until another software comes out. Kyle

Thanks Jackrob. I was just curious as I am trying to compare my units against eachother. Good luck with your future finds!

Hi Phil, I have heard of others having this same issue. But if this problem is anything like the drift issues others are facing... Garmin will simply tell you they are completely unaware of any issues regarding your problem and offer no solutions....

I just tested my two units and both running 2.40 show a trail I walked a total of 8 times. During the walk each unit maintained epe of 13 feet. I then uploaded the track logs to gpsvisualizer and then to a kml file. When measured on google earth the total distance was .24 mi. One of my units show the distance as .23 and the other .25. I then measured using google earth the furthest points of my track to see how far the span was from one track to the other. The largest "drift" from one track to the furthest track opposite it was 14 feet. So far, for what it is worth I am happy with 2.40. I realize the unit was not on for a long extended period of time, however, just being a quick test I am satisfied. With 2.60 and the same test I showed a drift from furthest points as being 52 feet... What kind of results are you guys getting?

Hi Jackrob...is the 2.60 your software or the gps firmware version? I had 2.60 and could not get any closer than 25 feet from any geocache -- I noticed this was declined accuracy from when I had 2.40. I downgraded to 2.40 and now I get within 4-10 feet of the geocache. Hopefully, 2.80 will fix this issue so I do not have to sacrafice the performance of the gps tracks for position accuracy.

Hi Guys, I have a question regarding my unit(s) software. I have two Legend HCX units. Both are brand new. One Unit has software 2.60/2.30 (I upgraded it from its original 2.40 to 2.60), the other has 2.40/2.40. I am trying to gain accuracy when going back to a waypoint. My question is, which software was more accurate 2.40, 2.50, 2.60 or 2.70? If it were 2.40 I would downgrade the 2.60 so it would be 2.40/2.30 and leave the 2.40/2.40 unit as is. I am willing to sacrafice the odometer for accuracy. What would you guys suggest? ** I downgraded the 2.60 software to 2.40/2.30 and left the other unit with 2.40/2.40. The unit with 2.40/2.30 in goto mode does better in regards to the "distance to destination" accuracy whereas the unit with 2.40/2.40 jumps wildly in the distance to destination figure. Seems that I have better luck with the accuracy of the unit with the firmware of 2.30.

I just bought 2 more of the legend hcx units. I received them today. Both come with 2.40. Both are Bravo 2. I tested them against my legend hcx I bought about a month ago and they all ran for 6 hours while I was at work, I came home all 3 show the same estimated error of the satellites as 10 feet, all 3 units now have ibycus running on them and all three for 6 hours show my position correctly (I took each units coordinates and put them into google earth). All 3 units show right inside of my house. So far, I see no problem out of any of them. The month old unit is used frequently in the boat, and on the katy trail and has yet to ever show me off of the path on the map. Possibly I am measuring "drift" incorrectly but I just do not see it. I forgot to ask -- which cannot be downgraded...the units firmware or its unit software? Also, where can I find the downgrade file for the legend hcx? I have read others talking about it but never knew where to find this info.

The mediatek unit is older the bravo 2 is the newest unit (a month old).

Here is something interesting. I have two units. One has the mediatek chip the other has a bravo 2. The unit with the bravo 2 has no drift issues that I have ever experienced. The unit with the mediatek will stray from the trails that I walk when I have had it on for quite some time. How many of you have the bravo and how many have the mediatek? Possibly this is where the problem is.

I will tell you guys what it means...they were giving me the run around. They likely give everyone this answer hoping they will not have enough information to doubt or question their response. It is so frustrating that they think I along with everyone else having these problems is ignorant and will accept the standard answer. It simply boils down to the fact that they are not owning up to their problems and are allowing us...the consumer to suffer. Maybe down the road they might figure it out.

Hello everyone. I contacted Garmin yesterday and spoke with tech support. They told me that they were infact aware of the issues with drifting and that the newer units currently being built are not suffering from drift issues. They claim the problem is a software issue and has nothing to do with hardware. They assured me the problem is resolved with 2.70. I assured them they are full of crap and that the problem is very prevalent and that my confidence in their abilities has digressed. I got no we are sorry, we will fix your problem, we are working on it. Nothing but Sir, you are the only one who has reported any further issues to us since the release of 2.70 which solved the problem. So please forgive me but I guess 2.70 was not my saving grace Garmin! Too bad companies have gotten so large that the customer means zilch to them. One leaves us oh well we have 6 million more around the world....Makes me wonder if Garmin employees use their own crap or if perhaps they are smart and buy their toys from some other gps manufacturer for knowing they put out steaming piles of crap. Too bad Garmin is not as they use to be. So I guess for what its worth to all the people suffering from this along side of me if since they wont do it ill do it for me, I am sorry you paid hard earned money to get something that is at times rendered useless to you.

I currently have a legend hcx, it still has 2.40/2.30 on it. I want to buy another for my father for his birthday. If I buy one of the units that has 2.50/2.40 or 2.40/2.30 should I still be on on avoiding the problem of horrendous drifting? It seems to me from what I have read that the problem started with units coming out with 2.60 on them and that the units like mine made before that were just fine (I have never had a complaint ever about my units accuracy). Any ideas?

It would be interesting to see the vista hcx and the legend hcx ran on the gpsvisualizer to see how much they drift with the new 2.70 upgrade. I have the legend hcx and will be closely following what others have to say about the upgrade.

I am actually for the first time scared to upgrade.... I think I will wait and see how it works for other people before I take the plunge. Anyone gave this update a try?

Finally got the conversion done from .mp to .img and uploaded the map to my gps...it works very well. Thanks to all that helped! Kyle

Converting my file using the mapper program from .mp to img is taking forever...my .mp file is right at 250mb. Is this too large to handle? Also, will mapsource decline my img file for being this large? If so how can I break it up to make the progress faster between .mp to img?

Hello Everyone, I wanted to thank everyone for all of their generous help and patience. I was finally able to make the map and now have to upload it to my gps unit. Thanks again to all that helped along the way. Kyle