4x5shooter

The 10mph number is adjustable somewhere in the settings, as is the time it waits until it switches to the electronic compass. One thing I have to mention is that Garmin technical support is a little frustrating. I never heard back when I sent the e-mail about the bug with v3.43, and I haven't heard back about the report (above) for the same bug in v3.50. You'd think they would have at least an automatic reply, so I know it was received!

I agree 100%. The 2610 for the car is outstanding. The huge touchscreen, remote control, and voice prompts just blow away the 60/76 models that are designed to be used more for hiking or outdoors. Keep your eTrex for caching, and get a 2610 for the car. You'll love it!

I have another problem with v3.50 (and 3.43beta before it), and rather than start a new thread, I'll post the e-mail I sent to Garmin. I mentioned this in the "60cs shut off" thread a week or so ago. Anyone else have this problem? It's very odd behavior: ** Bug Report - GPSMAP 60CS v3.50 ** I sent a note last week to Gmap60cBeta@garmin.com about v3.43beta firmware for the 60cs, how it would shut the unit off at a particular location. I have the exact same problem with the latest v3.50, only now I've done more testing and hopefully this bug report will help you guys fix it. I would have written to the tech e-mail address, but I don't have my serial number in front of me to fill in that form. Please forward this e-mail to the appropriate place for firmware bug reports -- thanks! Here's the problem: In Northern Virginia, driving on Leesburg Pike, my 60CS with v3.50 firmware (and previously with 3.43beta firmware) would shut off every time I approached the bridge crossing I-495 Capital Beltway. The error is 100% repeatable, and happens whether I approach from the east or the west. What I have discovered: 1. This crash happens only if the map screen is the active screen. 2. It happens only when "Guidance Text" is turned on. 3. It happens regardless of color scheme, day/night mode, etc. 4. It happens only if I'm on Leesburg Pike and approaching / crossing over I-495 (going either direction), not if I'm on I-495 and crossing under Leesburg Pike. 5. It does not happen with v3.40. 6. The unit does not always shut off, it may reset to the boot-up screen. But typically, the screen shuts off and I have to press the on/off button twice to turn the unit back on. 7. The bug is not limited to this particular location. I noticed the unit shutting off at other locations, but I always thought it was just a fluke. It was not until I noticed it was happening every time at this one location that I realized it was firmware-related. Clearly, it's some sort of problem with the "Guidance Text" display. What triggers the crash seems to be the message "47A ahead" or "47B ahead." The unit always crashes before displaying that. With 3.40 and previous firmware, it displayed that without any problems. Please take a look at this bug. In the meantime, I have turned off the guidance text, but I would like to be able to turn it back on -- I like knowing the names of cross-streets as I approach them. :-) Feel free to write with any follow-up questions or suggestions on more testing. I've driven past this location several times in several different ways and can confirm that with guidance text on, the software crash is 100% repeatable.

To change the subject slightly - as I mentioned above, mine would shut off at certain locations with 3.43beta. I've tried v3.5 now, and the problem is still there. No problems with v3.4, so it's clearly some new bug in the s/w upgrade. I've done some experimenting and it's also clear it only happens when "guidance text" is set to "always on," and it doesn't happen during a route. So I'm guessing it has something to do with it trying to display "47A ahead" in the guidance text box (which is what it is trying to display at the spot where it shuts off). Also, I noticed it doesn't always shut off -- sometimes it just resets (jumps to the power-up screen and re-powers up). I'll send another bug report to Garmin. In the meantime, I have to use v3.4.

I should note that I have sent a bug report to the e-mail address Garmin set up for the 60c/cs beta software.

To those who have had only RECENT "shutting off" problems: I think this is a beta software issue. Mine has been shutting off since I updated to the latest beta software, while plugged into the cigarette lighter of my car, so it's not the batteries. Also, the problem is 100% repeatable -- it shuts off every time at exactly the same location when I drive to work every day. Whether I'm going or coming, and without regard to how long the unit has been on, whether it is shaking, etc., within about 20 feet of one specific location, it just shuts off. Pressing the on/off button doesn't turn it back on, you have to press it twice. Same thing every time. It did not do this before I updated the firmware. And it's not just that one location, it's just that I finally discovered that that one location is what triggers the shut-off. I noticed it shut off while driving before (after updating to the beta software), and figured it was some sort of hardware issue. Now I realize it must be the software. By the way, if Garmin is listening, the 60CS will shut off when you cross over I-495 on Leesburg Pike in Vienna (McLean?), Virginia. Right on the bridge, it turns off. Very odd. The only unusual thing I can think about that spot is that the cross-streets you approach are labelled "47A" and "47B" -- the exit/ramp numbers, but that's sort of an unusual name, rather than "Exit 47A" or "Ramp" or whatever. In any case, try to make a note of where you are when it shuts off, then take that same route again the next day and see if it happens again. It can't just be me that this is happening to!

If you don't need elevation or contour data, then you're right, topo maps are of little use to you. For hiking, that data is useful, as are the additional trail, off-road, and hiking points of interest on the maps.

Thanks, Wacko!

The latest firmware is 3.43: http://www.garmin.com/support/download.jsp I am using 3.43 (beta) and for the first time since the first-ever firmware, I had the 60cs randomly shut off on me (not a batteries issue, as it was plugged into the vehicle lighter at the time... it was in the middle of routing and it just turned off).

I have both US Topo and Topo 24K East. I do a lot of hiking in Shenandoah NP, so I was interested in the 24K Topo product, so I bought it right away with my 60CS. A few months ago, I went out West, and decided to try the US Topo for out there. The US Topo has far fewer contour lines, but just about the same amount of trail and "hiking point of interest" information. It's actually quite good, IMO. If you don't limit your hiking to ntl parks, I'd recommend just getting the US Topo. I'm assuming you don't need the road information -- you can and should use City Select/Navigator for that. The topo maps are best for hiking. One negative about the US Topo is that unlike my other Garmin products, the maps aren't all loaded onto the HD up front, so you have to keep your CDs around anytime you want to load new maps.

I'm using the Strong Engineering screen protectors, now, too. Previously, I used a Palm V screen protector that I cut to size. I would NOT call the Strong screen protectors "anti-glare," in fact, I think it is the opposite -- they cause more glare than they prevent. I find it much harder to read my 60CS in my car (due to glare) than when I was using a Palm V screen protector cut to size. The Strong product is textured somewhat, so I think it catches more light. Before, a simple rotation of the 60CS would eliminate the glare. Now, the screen protector catches light that's even a little off-axis, so I can't rotate the unit and eliminate the reflection bouncing back at me. That said, the Strong protectors seem to be very durable and fit the screen like a glove. Despite the annoying glare, I like it and am keeping it on the screen. (But if you're looking for low glare, I don't think they're the way to go.)

Please let us know the outcome.

I just got back from a trip yesterday on United Airlines. They specifically said (both on the way out and back) to NEVER turn on a GPSr at any time during the flight. Yes, I realize United used to allow it, but apparently they do not allow it anymore.

I think that's the fastest way. Since the device remembers where you last were on the menu, once you've done it once, it should drop you right onto the "setup map" option and from there right onto the "info" tab, so that saves some button-pressing.

I use CN5.0 on the 60CS. It works perfectly. I think the difference is that the 60CS has less room for text for the turn instructions than the 2610, so something like would display fine on the 2610 like "I-495S TO EXIT 4A: I-95S-FREDERICKSBURG-RICHMOND" might show up as "I-495S TO EXIT 4A: I-95S-FREDE" on the 60CS. I think that with CS software, they are more careful to keep the turn instructions short. And I'm making that example and exit number up, but it's the exact type of thing that happens. Is it a problem? No. Usually, I don't notice, and it only happens if the text to display is unusually long, like the example above. Only once has it ever resulted in confusion (imagine if the above was cut off sooner: "I-495S TO EXIT 4A: I-9" -- that's the type of confusion). Bottom line: if you have CN from your 2610, you'd be crazy to spend $$ on CS. It autoroutes great, has all of the POIs, etc. and only occasionally do you have truncated turn messages because they don't fit in the text box.

For some reason, some characters aren't allowed in certain fields, even though they aren't "grayed out" or anything on the keyboard. There are probably other characters in addition to "&" that aren't allowed in waypoint names.

The nice thing about the compass is that it is integrated well into the system. What I mean is that you don't just have to be on the compass page to take advantage of it. If you have "direction up" (instead of "north up") on your map, and you hold the GPS in front of you and turn in a circle, the map will rotate around, so that it always points the direction you're looking. I find that a useful feature. I only turn it on when I need it. But when you've stopped for a while, then want to get going again, turning the compass on to quickly orient yourself to the map is nice. Is that worth 50 bucks? That's for you to decide.

Sorry to take this further off-topic from the "recent searches" request, but as for recent finds -- if jonavin didn't know, pushing the "find" button twice jumps to that page, too. Easier than traveling through the menus.

scarey2004 - did you accidentally post the exact same message again, or is there some glitch in the matrix? http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=70766 If, on the other hand, you were trying to bounce your old message to the top of the list you could just reply to it.

Don't worry, updating the s/w is not difficult at all. After downloading the update file, you double click on it and it extracts everything into the "Garmin" folder on your computer. Then plug in your GPSr to your computer, go to the "Garmin" folder and double click on the file named "updater," and the s/w is updated. No techie-type knowledge needed.

Are you using the "geocache" icon for the cache? If so, the geocaching page should come up when you do a goto, unless I'm missing something (I probably am!).

The topo lines on mine with the PREVIOUS version (3.20) seemed like thin dark yellow atop a lighter yellow background during daylight hours -- not good at all, almost invisible. Now they are a medium gray on the same light yellow, much easier to see. I'm not sure if they are any thicker (it seemed like 3.10 used to have thicker, blacker topo lines... I guess Garmin thought they were too prominent), but now they are much more clearly visible and I'm happy with them. In the night color scheme, they've always been pretty visible, even with 3.20. But that doesn't help much, since I don't do much hiking at night. I haven't had a "system crash" since upgrading to 3.20 versus several crashes before that upgrade, so it seems to me like they've fixed most everything. Wasn't there still some way to make it crash on the altimeter page in 3.20? The upgrade didn't say anything about that fix, though I never saw that crash anyway. The only things I'd still like to see in a future upgrade are transparent data fields, so you'd get more map out of the relatively little screen and a data field that showed the next turn (L or R) -- I'd be especially happy if the latter wasn't its own field, but was coupled with "time to next," so that it would show the countdown to the next turn followed by an L or R. Oh, one more thing to ask for in an upgrade -- data fields that automatically turn ON when autorouting and OFF when not autorouting. It's an unnecessary hassle to go through all the button presses to choose "2 data fields" when routing, then go back to "map only" when I'm done routing (to recover that much more of the screen). I'm pleased with the upgrade. Kudos to Garmin for listening!

Okay, I get it. Well, not quite what I was looking for. It would be nice to have a very early warning of the direction of the next turn (left or right).

Now this is welcome news. Right before the weekend (hiking), too!

I can't figure out the "turn" data field for routing. The manual says it is "the direction of, and distance to the next turn in an active route." That sounds close to what I'm looking for -- something that tells me whether the next turn will be L or R when autorouting -- but it doesn't seem to do that. When I drive, the number in this field changes constantly, and it may say "L" after the number even when the next turn is a right turn, or vice versa. I don't get it. Does anyone use this tab? By way of background, I use the "time to next" data field all the time. It's very useful when routing. I wish the "time to next" was followed by an L or R, signifying if the next turn was left or right (helps in traffic to get in the proper lane). If the "turn" field can help, I'd like to use it, but I just can't figure out how. Any help would be appreciated.