gerpo

Wow, that took a lot of testing. I assume that you started with the GPS firmware 2.40? Good that your conclusion was not that that was the best version, as I think you can not revert to 2.40 again?

I hiked where I experienced drifting in the past with my Etrex with Firmware 2.70 and GPS firmware 2.60. I carried the Etrex in my breastpocket. (so non optimal receiving conditions). The track in Mapsource is very accurate (nice strait lines exact on the road I walked). Much better as I got with 2.70/2.60. Why not try for yourself? It only takes 5 minutes to install.

I am back on 2.70/2.30 I tried this set up today: on my bike: No drifting. (Etrex was in my backpocket) A very accurate track in Mapsource! tripcomputer 52.5km and in Mapsource 52.1 km ( I think this is acceptable) no problems with moved/ stopped time (only a couple of seconds stopped time over 1hour30min) hiking: No drifting (Etrex was in my breast pocket) A very accurate track in Mapsource! tripcomputer 2.0km and in Mapsource also 2.0km (perfect) moved time/ stopped time 21min40sec / 0min51 sec (this is not correct, I did not stop!) So, I think that this setup gives better results than 2.70/2.60 firmware. moved time/ stopped time calculation is better in 2.70/2.60 but this is of minor importance for me.

Kyle, I am back on 2.70/2.30 I tried this set up today: on my bike: No drifting. (Etrex was in my backpocket) A very accurate track in Mapsource! tripcomputer 52.5km and in Mapsource 52.1 km ( I think this is acceptable) no problems with moved/ stopped time (only a couple of seconds stopped time over 1hour30min) hiking: No drifting (Etrex was in my breast pocket) A very accurate track in Mapsource! tripcomputer 2.0km and in Mapsource also 2.0km (perfect) moved time/ stopped time 21min40sec / 0min51 sec (this is not correct, I did not stop!) So, I agree with you that this setup gives better results than 2.70/2.60 firmware. moved time/ stopped time calculation is better in 2.70/2.60 but this is of minor importance for me.

I tried this as well, but my first impression was not so good...so I upgraded to 2.70/2.60 again. Perhaps I should give it another try?

If you upgrade , you get version 2.60 again.

This is drift: (rightclick and open link if picture is too small) at 1: position still correct at II: position II is indicated while I am actually was at III (drift of 200meters) at IIII: apparatus off and on again, while I actually was at IIIII; new and correct position indicated is IIIII So, within a couple of hundred meters (between I and II) a drift occurred of 200 meters. It was only corrected with a power off/on cycle!

Can we draw this conclusion yet, 80valley? In reviewing the comments so far in this thread from people who has used the 2.70 upgrade, I haven't seen anyone report the kind of clear drift problem we've been seeing with 2.60, that is a relatively sudden deviation of up to hundreds of feet from the known course, a deviation which is then im,mediately corrected with a power cycle. Perhaps I've missed that message. The reports on the odometer performance are fairly clear, but not the drift problem. I have not tried the 2.70 upgrade myself, perhaps out of fear it might make things worse. I guess I was waiting to see what others report. But I should probably take the plunge! Don Please read the report of Gerpo on this page. It clearly states that drifting over hundreds of feet occurs also with 2.70!

When I am walking, my arm is in a normal position. Anyone walking with extended arms facing forward? So the distance between body and Etrex will be around 1/2 foot.

It's not the cloth that shields the HF signals, it's your body, which is mostly water. Your body is excluding half of the available satellites. Put the GPS in a pocket on top of your hat and it'll work fine. Think of it as a GPS beanie hat. I understand that my body shields half of the number of satellites, but that would leave at least five of them, which should suffice for a good position fix. Also, when I keep the unit in my hand, it is still very close to my body and therefore the blocking effect will not be so very different!

As the discussion now mainly focuses on SW 2.70, please post your specific SW2.70 findings on: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...p;#entry3610540

report for Etrex Vista HCX with 2.70/2.60 firmware: distance 28km walking speed 6km/h (average) weather: partly clouded terrain: flat with sometimes open terrain and sometimes forest with lots of leaves above me. drifting: At first I put the Etrex in my breast pocket, resulting in drifts (one of more than 100 meters). Small position errors corrected automatically when I held the unit in my hand for a longer time, display facing upwards. The large one needed a off/on cycle. After 5km I decided to keep the unit in my hand. No big position errors over a distance of 15km! Last 8km I put the Etrex in my breast pocket again and again the drifting occurred. (50 meters max) odometer: the odometer seems more accurate now. odometer reading 28.0km; calculated 28.5km; mapsource 28.6km I do not know the influence of the off/on cycle, which corrected the position error of 200 meter. I guess this adds 200m to the calculated track. moving time/ stopped time: 4h39min moved, 5min39sec stopped time As long as I keep the unit in my hand, the unit adds no seconds to stopped time during walking. When the unit is in my breast pocket it sometimes adds a few seconds to stopped time during walking. I guess the real stopped time should be +/-3 minutes Summary: -The odometer reading is much more accurate now -moving time/stopped time is ok (at a speed of 6km/h) -drifting still occurs when the unit is not held with display upwards; as a piece of clothing hardly shields HF-signals, could the problem lie in the orientation of the Etrex antenna? the patch antenna of the Etrex is probably much more directional sensitive as i.e. the helix antenna of the GPSMAP 60 devices

My first impression after a 4 km hike with Etrex Vista Hcx 2.70/2.60: odometer reading seems correct (calculated track is same as odometer reading) moved time /stopped time is bad. Unit says I stopped 8 minutes (should be 0 seconds) drift... well the track seems to be not so accurate (you could call that drift), but it was always corrected automatically. I have deviations in the track of +/- 30 meters. (with 2.60/2.60 I had deviations of 200meters that did NOT correct automatically, only by off/on)

I can "downgrade" to GPS SW2.30 and again "upgrade" with Webupdater to 2.60. I recall that GPS SW versions 2.40 or 2.50 were better than 2.30, and did not have the position acuuracy issues of 2.60. Are these versions still available for download somewhere?

So, now that we have SW2.70 available with better odometer accuracy and the possibility to downgrade the firmware, what is the best combi for hiking? SW2.70 with FW2.30 ? Can we get the combi of high position accuracy (from FW 2.30) with high odometer accuracy (from SW 2.70) ???????????????????????????? I sure would like to put my energy in hiking in stead of using it up with this Hcx struggle

I also thought of the possible influence of less charged batteries, but could not see much difference between half and fully charged. Rechargeable batteries hardly drop in output voltage until they are almost completely empty. Therefore I did not expect much of the test. If it is of influence, then the performance should be much better with standard batteries , that provide 1.5volt output voltage, compared to the 1.2V of the chargeable ones.

You're right. It's there on Garmin's website. I downloaded and now have SW version 2.70/GPS SW version 2.60. I am VERY curious for the first impressions!

On a German forum someone mentions the availability of the new (software or firmware)version 2.70 for the Etrex HCX ! Changes made from version 2.60 to 2.70: * Improve distance calculation in odometer. * Fix system freeze issue. * Fix shutdown issue when browse detail map. * Correct user grid. * Disable route calculation icon when GPS is off. Who dares?

I totally agree that the situation with the Vista HCX is reaching an unbearable point. While I possibly could live with the situation before 2.60/2.60 (which was not ideal), I now have a unit which has so big errors in position and trip computer that it is almost of no use anymore! The tripcomputer shows 5-10% more distance that the calculated track (hiking speeds), while it seems correct when travelling at biking speeds. The position on the display deviates sometimes more than 200 meters from the actual position, which makes it hard to follow a route in an area with lots of small trails within a small distance from each other. Turning the unit off and on again corrects the error for only a short time, after which it starts deviating again.

Too bad that Garmin does not communicate about this. I would be nice (for us) if we knew what they were doing about the problems at the moment and /or what they expect for solving them.

Use the device for a longer time, ie for a longer hike. Mine loses accuracy after an hour or so. When I switch off the unit and on again, it is ok for a while and then starts drifting again.

I sure hope that is true. My Etrex inaccuracy seems to be getting worde over time. A month ago I had almost no problems with it (2.60/2.60). The last week I had the inaccuracies >10 times during a 3 hour hike. So inaccurate that I almost missed some turns in the forest while walking a route.