photomankc

I think we're all waiting for a fix. That would seem to me to be a major issue and one they would need to focus on eliminating or minimizing as much as possible sooner rather than later. I'm concerned given the number of releases that have not fixed it that it may be something that will not be able to be eliminated. That dampens my enthusiasm with the unit a great deal. It can be worked around but it's quite disappointing. Still, the amount of map area I can view and the interface means I will probably ride it out and see what they can do with it.

Check the time scale in the upper left corner and see if that is opened up to include all the time of your ride. If the two sliders are jammed together on the left then it wont show the data from your file. Thats exactly what was happening to me before I figured out that time scale thing.

Thanks for the insight Haitoman. It's encouraging news since I'm addicted to the touchscreen interface and invested in Garmin map software. To switch now would be painful. Same here. Time will tell I guess.

Oh I wasn't trying to be snotty, just pointing out what I saw and that I have no experience with the tracklog set to take so many samples. This problem seems to be different in that it correctly logs the motion but it doesn't update the pointer to reflect the motion. I'll try calling but it sounds like other folks are seeing a similar problem.

Negative posts are fine if they are factual. They saved me from putting 2.99 on my Oregon and getting into that disaster. Garmin deserves a bit of a slap to the back of the head with some of these resent releases. Fast response is appreciated but these lately have seemed more 'alpha' releases. I actually appreciate the beta program being open to all though. I disagree that they should limit it to a select group. The larger the group the more varied the uses and more likely obscure bugs are going to come to light.

I've had both the 60 and and Oregon on the same pack at the same time and the tracklogs trough the forest were basically the same when laid over each other. The 60 sometimes took an excursion and the Oregon did too and there was more movement in straight trail on the Oregon but I have never set a 1 second log on either. That's of far less importance to me if once second tracklogs are more jagged. What is bad to me is the 'I'm walking north for 2 minutes and it's pointing southwest for two minutes' stuff that's going on with it now. Very different problem.

It could be serious if someone in a deep wilderness area relied on that needle and wound up helplessly lost. I agree "fix that quick like". You should NEVER rely solely on a GPS in "deep wilderness". Electronics fail. Batteries die. You should always have an actual compass (and map) with you. True enough. I've been out on very long trips in deep woods and I always have a map and compass. That doesn't excuse the device pointing you in the wrong direction. I bring a GPSr as a handy reference which means that I am not dragging out maps and compass and trying to keep them from blowing away every time I want to check which fork in the path I want to take. Having it pointing off in the wrong direction when you check could lead to a time consuming mistake and it's fairly basic function of the device to have it point the right way. Yes, I could compensate but that's not the point. I don't bring it along cause it's pretty. I want a handy reference that I can put a basic amount of trust into when functioning. It's not that hard, even my old GPSMAP V pointed the right direction when you were moving.

My 60CSx has been a real workhorse. I have only recently started to play with geocaching so much of my opinion is formed around hiking/backpacking use and the 60 has been a valuable aid there. I also trusted it to keep reasonably accurate tracks based on my comparisons with sat-images where trails were visible. It's main drawback was the tiny amount of map that fit in the window. Otherwise it just worked. It kicked my previous unit GPSMAP V right to the curb in it's ability to maintain lock and accuracy of positions. It routed over roads like a champ too. I loved it. Still do. However my Oregon will probably replace it. My real world hiking tests side by side keep showing that they both produce reasonable tracks and they both take the occasional excursions but the better view of the map detail and easy touch interface show the age of the 60. I know people can show some tracks and situations where the 60 is better but in my hands, on my packs, the 60 can sometimes produce a worse track even when it reads better reception. It's still a great GPS and I will keep it around as backup but I think the Oregon is going to surpass it assuming they can fix the bleeping software bugs. I'm sure the next gen of touch screens will probably best the Oregon as they address it problems too.

I agree. A navigation device that points you in the wrong direction is a fairly serious issue. I have set the maps to north orientation to at least keep some sense of direction when it starts that. It really ticks me off when you are closing in on something though and need that bearing indication. They need to fix that quick like.

Seems there is a problem with the pointer when hiking. I get lots of periods of time where the pointer on the map is stuck pointing in some direction other than my travel direction. The tracklog shows the correct direction of travel as it updates but the map pointer doesn't. This was with the compass off. Kind of irritating.

The trip computer is usually different from the track log. The track log is going to average between log points while the trip computer function may be using different criteria to calculate distance traveled. I've found both are not superbly accurate. Many will continue to log motion when I'm stopped because they can't differentiate real movement from position drift. Other times they fail to pick up movement between samples and log it as stopped time then the track log averages out positions and turns between sample points. Switchbacks with sharp corners can carve off bits of your real path quickly. I've rarely seen them agree across several units I have owned even on the same trail at the same time.

The new firmware adds a lot of features that were missing in the original unit. 2.98 is a pretty good release if you are not ready to be on the bleeding edge.

memory is less important now that the multiple image files are allowed. Before it allowed you to keep one set of maps on the internal mem and one set on the SD card. The compass can be useful but since I only just started caching I can't speak to that with any authority. I could do without the altimeter personally. The compass would be the one thing that I would miss but I usually have it off while hiking. I generally find my way without it and it adds a lot of power consuption when it's running.

The 200 is the same as the 300 minus the internal memory, the compass, and the barometric altimemter. Otherwise they are functionally the same. Reveiws of the 300 would appy to the 200 except for the missing features above.

Did my first cache today with the new firmware on a 300 and had no problems. I was taken to within 6 feet of the actual location under trees so I was pretty happy with it. I have not yet picked up an automotive mount so I have not had the the occasion to test the routing and USB power issues. I can say that it will lock up when it powers on over the USB data port. If you start it and then plug it in it works fine but if it starts because the USB was plugged in then it locks up every time. Have not tried it yet without the SD card.

I went ahead and took the plunge. So far, so good. Nothing obvious broken. I renamed all my gmapsupp.img files to descriptive filenames and they load up and display fine. Happy so far.

Looks like 3.01 is out and they addressed the shutdown, alarm, and settings saving issues. I think I'll hold at 2.98 until a few more folks have tested it.