Jump to content

zedex

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    79

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by zedex

    Ever hear of your body causing gps malfunction

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by zedex

    Hi. I dont actually use the electronic compass at all. I have never used it and will never use it. The only reason i calibrate it is so the gps works like it is supposed to. The arrow i am refering to is on the map page and the arrow actually "supposedly" points to the waypoint on the map. If i do go to the compass screen it is also locked up. I always recalibrate the compass after every battery install. I have been doing it religiously ever since i bought my first csx.

    So normally, when my gps works,on the map page, the "go to"arrow will point to the waypoint. If i happen to turn or not walk directly towards the waypoint the map will reorientate and i will have the visual reference that i need to turn and walk towards the waypoint. This is whats supposed to happen and does on occasion . I make sure the gps is absolutely horizontal. Makes no difference. On a clear day with 3 ft resolution the gps will sometimes guide me 180 degrees off course. sometimes exactly 90 degrees off course. On occasion the gps will point to the waypoint but when i walk i can see on the map that i am actually walking 90 degrees off course. I can see this on the map breadcrumb trail. So if i notice this i will turn the gps sideways so the antenae is pointing to the left of the direction i am walking and i can see on the breadcrumb trail that i am walking directly towards the waypoint. No rime or reason why or when this happens . It just does all the time. If i am the problem or my body is causing these abnormalities, why is it that it will also happen when my buddy tries my gps. I guess i will try some different maps and see if that helps. Its not only very very frustrating, its also dangerous as i dont like getting lost in the BC mountains. The only reason i wasnt badly lost the last time is i had radio contact with my hunting buddy who is very familiar with this particular terrain. He guided me back to where i had visual reference to where i was.

    Thanks for the feedback.

    Ever hear of your body causing gps malfunction

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Thanks for the fast replies. It seems that the csx works pretty well in a car. I tested it on foot and even let my buddy test it because he didnt believe i was having these problems. Hes a sar guy and uses an old etrex with 0 problems. He gets back and says...."yea, your gps is screwed. When hunting i do carry lots of metalic objects like knives,leatherman in my pack which is not near the gps. My rifle is stainless steel but could still be magnetic if its 4000 series SS. I have never tried sticking a magnet to it. Even so, one time i did get off my quad when my gps was locked up and walked with no gear on me. I ended up punting the gps a few times and good thing they are pretty dadgum durable cause it would be completely toast by now. Very frustrating. I have probably spent $1000 on gps,s the last 5 years, garmin is no help whatsoever.

    I wear watches both quarts and autos and they run smoothly. No magnetism. If you ask me , i seem to repel people if anything, so explain that:)Its not my breath.

    I just find this too unbelievable, 3 csx,s. Its either me,or my maps, or the all of my csx,s.Maybe i should buy my cs back from my friend because that thing was rock solid.

    I did watch the sticky video and have never actually watched my coordinants changing. Maybe i should try that. Lock on road is "not" turned on. Still though. How do you explain my "go to" arrow pointing backwards. CSX #2 the "go to" arrow pointed 90 degrees sideways.

    Maddening as hell.Is it me? Is it the gps?

    Ever hear of your body causing gps malfunction

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Hi. Have not been here for a long time but maybe you might have heard of this.

     

    I have now owned 3 gpsmap 60 csx,s. 1 60 cs. The 60 cs functioned perfectly, never had a problem with it ever. I sold it to buy a csx because i needed the memory. csx #1 , the guiding arrow in the "go to" screen would point backwards. While walking to a waypoint the arrow would point towards me . If i turned the gps so the antenaa was pointing towards me it would guide me properly. Updated software,firmware. same problem. Sent the gps to garmin for repair. It was returned to me, something about it needed to be recalibrated. Ok. Started using it again, same problem. Sent it back to garmin and recieved another csx. csx #2. Started using it. Went elk hunting, and would have gotten seriously lost because gps was sending me in the opposite direction. If i had not known exactly where i was i would have been screwed. I gave the gps away. Bought csx #3. Loaded my canada topo maps and went elk hunting again. This time i got very lost because the gps was sending me in the opposite direction again. So im thinking there is no way in hell that 3 seperate csx,s could be having the exact same problem. I call up garmin and explain the situation, and ask them maybe my maps are causing the problem.Garmin topo canada. They say maybe, or could be the micro sd card. I used different cards in all the csx,s i have owned so it cant be the card. I tried using the gps without maps and it worked properly, but the gps with the maps would sometimes work properly so.. I have lost all confidence in my new csx #3. I dont even want to use it. So a friend who is pretty versed in gps tech and has a csx,. says maybe my body is screwing up the gps.

    While experimenting while hunting with my malfunctioning gps, i tried carrying my gps on the opposite side of my rifle thinking maybe my rifle was causing the problem. No difference. Then i tried turning off my walkie talkie thinking maybe that was the problem. Nope.

    Here is an example on how screwed my new csx is.Bear with me.

     

    While in the bush,my csx freshly calibrated. I Would mark my waypoint. I would start my hunt and hike about 1 km or so. I would stop, click my go to screen, and choose my only waypoint. Hit "go to" off road. I would choose to go directly as the crow flies to my waypoint. It would start guiding me to the waypoint. So as an experiment i would turn 90 degrees and walk . The gps would not refresh the screen or reorientate the map, it would continue guiding me 90 degrees away from the waypoint. So. I would then turn 180 degrees and walk the way i had just come and the gps would continue to guide me straight ahead. So in escence, the screen was completely locked up. I would shut down the gps, restart it, wait for full satellite aquisition 3d. Recalibrate my compass. rechoose my waypoint. "go to" Same thing. Completely locked up.

    Absolutely frustrated. And yes i know how to use a gps and have been using them for 10 years. But 3 scx,s with the same problem? Its not possible.

    60CSx compass arrow pointing wrong direction

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    well. I recieved my CSX back from the repair facility and even though the documentation is all in french. The only part that was in english was "need to be recalibrated"

     

    Maybe someone here speaking french can translate this into english.

     

    probleme confirme.

    l'appareil a ete recalibrer

    gps capte bien signaux satellites .gps conforme aux specifications.

    Mise a niveau du logiciel(derniere version)

    60CSx compass arrow pointing wrong direction

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Well. After installing 3.70 i thought all my problems were over...NOPE. Went hunting again and tried to track back. No dice. It sent me in the wrong direction. Went to my compass page, recalibrated several times,compass remained locked up. I contacted Garmin again and the unit is now sent away to get repaired. Under warranty.

    Delorme is looking real good to me about now.

    60CSx compass arrow pointing wrong direction

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted · Edited by zedex

    Hi Folks.I am having the exact same problems with my 60 csx. Software 3.50. My compass was completely unoperational. No matter which way i pointed the gps it remained steady as in it did not move. Also. Following my track back to my quad(elk hunting) my map pointer was pointing 180 degrees to the track. So i became dissoriented as this has never happened before and had no idea WTF was going on with the gps. I did several compass recalibrations and still compass was basically frozen. My track pointer also was facing backwards. I managed to find my way back thank god i had a good idea where i was.

    I got ahold of garmin when i returned from hunting and they said that my software needed to be updated to 3.70. I did this as well as a hard reset and all seems fine now but still i wonder what happened. I questioned why this happened and i will paste garmins response .

     

    Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

     

    I am glad the unit is now working properly for you. In one of the

    software version, it corrected this issue that you were having both on

    the compass page and the map page. The unit should no longer have that

    issue. I would recommend extensively testing the unit before you go

    hunting again. Please let me know if you see this problem again.

     

    I have really lost faith in my csx. If i hadn't known my approximate location when i was elk hunting i would have been up sh1t creek .

    metroguide canada update?

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Thank Mach. You could have told me sooner. :huh: I think i will call Garmin up and demand a refund as i have never seen mention on their website that their software is outdated. You say 2004? Thats weird. The Edwards restaurant in Penticton has been gone for at least 10 years but it is still in metroguide. I wonder if they updated say a large city like Van and leave the smaller cities and call it updated. Makes me mad that i basically wasted $110.00 for outdated mapping software.

    Thanks for the heads up.

    metroguide canada update?

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Anyone here from Canada familiar with metroguide? Is there an update available? Reason i ask is i just bought metroguide and it has to be at least 10 years out of date. Alot of changes occure in 10 years. I went to the garmin site and apparently there is no update available for this mapping software. What a friggin rip off. :)

    Any and all comments welcome. :huh:

×
×
  • Create New...