pepikokojo

I have a 62s. I raised the sticky issue with Garmin last year. Apparently they reproduced it and later firmware has improved it for me at least. From their email:

I spoke to Garmin sometime last year about the sticky issue on my 62s. They did release a new firmware version that improved the issue. However I'm not sure if it was completely fixed. IIRC when you move slowly (as happens when approaching a cache) then the sticky distance problem will happen. Try briefly moving faster and hopefully that will unstick the distance to go.

I raised this issue with Garmin and they did some work to improve/fix the sticking issue. See http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=270806 I don't think I've seen a problem since updating the firmware to v2.94.

I used to get calls from these scammers before I moved house and had a new phone number. I liked to waste as much of their time as possible. Last time one called I started playing loud music in the background and then pretended I couldn't hear what he was saying claiming there was interference on the line suggesting his phone system had a virus! I then asked him to shout which he was glad to do. Hopefully that disturbed a few other calls. I then asked him to call me back which he did. Of course after a few minutes the loud background music returned! This went on for about an hour. It didn't help that I run Linux!

I've now been caching with my 62s running the latest 2.94 beta. The impression I get is that it is better than before. I haven't seen the "distance to go" stick when approaching GZ like before unless I'm deliberately moving extremely slowly. Perhaps the speed when the sticky issue happens has now been reduced significantly below 0.5mph so I'm not seeing it in practice. The accuracy under heavy tree cover was very good too taking me within 10ft of the cache. This is the first time that I've felt positive about the accuracy of my 62s.

I contacted garmin about this issue. Apparently they have now reproduced it and as of 10 days ago were investigating solutions. According to garmin the distance field is not updated when moving at 0.5 mph or less. There's a post in the 2.94 beta thread which mentions the sticky issue suggesting it's better with this latest beta. Perhaps garmin have already done some work in this area. I'll try the latest beta next time I go caching.

I live in Newcastle under Lyme - not too far away from Stoke. There are quite a few regulars who go caching in the area. I've bumped into a few while out and about myself. If you try for a FTF there's a reasonable chance you will find someone else looking for the same cache. Over the last few months I've met several fellow cachers just by chance. There are also lots of good caches in the area. The "Silver Ape" ones are multiplying like rabbits at the moment! The Apedale Country Park is a good area to go caching. BTW I did try registering on the West Midlands Caching forum earlier. It asked me an anti bot question, "What is the terminology for a NON-Geocacher called". I tried "muggle" but it didn't accept that and claimed that "No Anti-Bot Question Answer Entered". It then asked me to retry but the field to answer the question had now disappeared! At this point I gave up.

Thanks for the replies. I've now updated my GPS to the latest beta firmware version but I'm not hopeful that the sticky issue will be fixed. I suspect that if this issue was effecting all 62s then there would be more posts on this thread as well as more posts in this forum and elsewhere on the subject. This makes me think that I have a bad unit and this is hardware related. I wonder if it could be something to do with having a very early 62s? I'll try the latest firmware and if I still see problems then I will contact Garmin.

Yes I have been updating the firmware. I was at 2.80 when I checked earlier today. I went to the garmin site and it claimed there was a new update to install so I went through the install process. However it still appears to be running 2.80 despite saying the update was successful and claiming there are now no new updates.

I have one of the early Garmin 62s. When I'm arriving at a cache I often see the "distance to go" stick at say 30 feet from GZ even though I'm still moving forward. After a frustrating wait it will then wake up and jump to where it should be. I have seen one other post on this subject but no answers so far. Is anyone else seeing the same issue?

I went out geocaching yesterday with my 62s. Unfortunately there was no sun so I can't comment on how good the screen is in bright sunlight. For the first cache the 62s was only 2 ft off. I thought this was good compared to the Nokia phone GPS I was using before which was metres away for the same cache. The second cache GZ was about 10 ft away from the cache's hiding place. It's possible the coordinates given by the cache owner were off. The third cache was under tree cover and the location was wandering around which meant resorting to the hint to find the cache. I will be interested to read what the expert reviewers think of the accuracy. The software so far has been solid with no issues. I do like the paperless geocaching. There are no problems moving between screens which I read was an issue with the Dakota. You can record found caches and upload notes to the geocaching site which I understand is the same as other Garmin GPS systems. I'm not so keen on the reddy-orange color used on the 62s although the yellow 62 is worse. The 62st looks more classy but this doesn't justifies the additional cost IMO. I was surprised how "chunky" the 62s feels in my hand but then I'm used to mobile phones. Comparing sizes with other Garmin GPS units, it is similar if you exclude the antenna. The 62s does feel on the heavy side though and I wouldn't want to take it on a multi-day hike. Having buttons instead of a touchscreen is a definite plus for me. Overall so far I am happy with my 62s.

june17... Multiple gpx-files are supported. I have 4 files each with 1000 caches plus a further 4 smaller ones. I don't think there's a file menu or similar to select them. Of course you can do it with a PC to move the gpx files around as required. I don't know what the gpx file limit is. That's something I have been trying to find out. The manual is rather basic in this area. If I get chance I'll try testing the limit. For screenshots check out the 78s review at gpstracklog as the screens are the same. However the colours aren't quite as bright as shown perhaps because I still have the original screen protector on.

My 62s arrived today. It's the first GPS that I've owned having just started geocaching recently so I can't help with comparison type questions. The UI appears to be similar if not identical to the 78s review at gpstracklog which is no great surprise. Overall I'm happy with the 62s. Tomorrow I'll try using it in anger and see how it performs.