DogFleazJR

Thanks for the info, I have learned a lot about how to get the most out of both of my GPSs from the many excellent posters here. I think I've got it now: Lock on Roads On to better auto-nav, Lock on Roads Off when routing off road but near other roads. Once you're a bit down the trail it doesn't matter anymore. My experience has been like that of Night Stalker - I have always left it on and never noticed a problem. I will likely keep it that way, but know that if I'm getting wierd results from the unit, I know what to check first.

Yes sir, I have my Gilsson out the window, I'm getting 10 sats with WAAS and 14 foot accuracy. I had the same problem earlier in the day when I was out on the road getting good reception. Today was the first time I tried to use this option since I bought the 60Cx. I am using City Select and have the same 60CSx as VoltageHz. (ok, not the same EXACT CSx, but same model, same software and firmware) I select FIND / All Point of Interest / MENU and the first choice is Find by Name. As BlueDuece says, it may be a CN thing.

If anyone could help with this (without trolling) I would appreciate it, thanks Volt, you have the latest software versions and you should be set to see #51 in New Jersey. I routinely pick up #51 with a dark bar, but no D. As I understand other postings here, that is because #51 is sending the WAAS correction data but not data useful for determining your location (ranging data). I did not need to do anything for my 60CSx to find the new satellites. Others with different units have had different experiences, but I assume since we both have the same hardware, software and live in the same part of the country, we should have similar experiences. When I was in Kansas a few weeks ago my 60CSx (with 3.00 and 2.8 versions just like yours) was using #48 for correction data. I don't recall seeing #48 here on the east coast, but #51 routinely. As an aside, my ol' GPS V also picks up #51 and I never did anything to the unit for it to get it. When this thread started weeks ago, I booted 'er up that night and there was #51 was on the sat page. Interestingly, the V displays a D on #51.

I can't find the power saver feature on my 60CSx either. Can someone point out where to find it?

Yes, I switch to topos when off road. It took me five years to buy the topos. If I just geocached, I would not bother getting them, at least not in the east where I live. I do a lot of hiking and other activities with my GPS that made it attractive to get the Topos. They are nice to have even with their limited detail and errors. It still amazes me that you can get all this information in the palm of your hand. For the unit to display the topos, you have to hide the auto-nav maps (CS in my case). In order to auto-route you have to show the auto-nav maps again. It just makes sense for the unit to do this automatically based on the nvaigation route you select, or at least ask you which map set you want to use if you choose off road. I also have TopoFusion on my laptop which lets me plot tracks and waypoints over detailed topo and arial maps. A very cool feature is the ability to average a number of tracks to make an "averaged" track. A great feature if you want to map trails, as averaging a number of tracks should result in a more accurate track than a single pass. $40 for the full unlock. A very nice program for planning and analysis. Of course you can't down load these maps to your garmin unless you create your own maps - there are numerous threads on the forum that tell you how to do this, although I have never tried. Something to play around with on stormy days this winter. Of course there is a lot more personal challenge using your GPS in conjunction with a paper map and compass. That is still my overall preference.

Great to know, I will keep this in mind for future. These units get more and more sophisticated and more complicated to use. I agree with your comment that a great upgrade for the future would be to automatically disable Lock on Road when navigating Off Road. Now I have to remember to turn my auto-nav maps off (and back on again when I get back in the car) and Lock on Road off and on. I think I will try it for awhile with the Lock On Roads off all the time and see if there is any change in auto-nav or display. Thanks for sharing.

I don't understand why Lock on Road should affect finding a geocache if you are using the compass and bearing screen and Off Road routing. As I understand it, the GPS doesn't change your location to match the road on the map, it just displays your position as being on the road on the map. The bearing pointer still points to the waypoint from your current location, correct? I leave my GPS on Lock on Roads all the time and never noticed a problem. Then again, I don't do many road side micros, either.

Terry at Garmin told me the steps for a "master reset" which is the Quit / Menu / Zoom Out / Power described. I did the ENTER / PAGE / Power reset before I called customer support which seemed to help, but the unit's performance improved dramatically after the "master reset" as requested. I don't know why it improved, nor do I understand why it was so poor out of the box. But I am a happy camper, now. Good luck! and happy navigating.

Impressive. I respect both your preparation and your enthusiasm. May there be many fine hunts ahead. For most caches, it's just me, the GPS and a pen. I also carry a fanny pack for all-day adventures with the following standard equipment: bear whistle (just in case) pen 4 new batteries in new packaging 'biner clip that acts as the safety clip for the GPS which I clip to the back of the pack Multitool An empty zip lock bag or two (came in handy once to stick my wallet in during a downpour and no rain gear) Plastic shopping bag with several snacky snacks, doubles as trash bag, too quart+ of water in a reusable bottle (I hate the trash of disposable water bottles) I also usually have a cell phone with me, but it hardly ever gets a signal. I never trade, so I don't need those items. I'm not a responsible person and don't carry maintenance stuff for caches, but have notified owners of problems so they can follow up. I almost forgot the most important item. I always try and remember to wear a smile. Sometimes I forget, but I always regret its absence later.

Solar patio lights - water proof, solar, with battery back up and a light. All you need is the circuitry to make it flash if that is important.

I do not dispute Eraseek's information on disposing of batteries in household trash. However, some localities do prohibit disposing of batteries in household trash. The municipality I live in in North Jersey is one. Batteries, even disposable comsumer batteries, must be disposed of at approved collection centers. I think this has to do with the disposal contracts that the municipality enters into for trash disposal. Rather than taking a risk that hazardous goods get thrown into the trash and exposing the town to fines and other damages, they just restrict all similar items.

Just hit MENU on the sat screen and select Use With GPS Off, then follow Peter's instructions above. It will ask if you want to simulate route, select No. You will see the turn by turn instruction list as you normally would when the GPS is on.

I believe Garmin units report a confidence interval - there is 95% probability that your true location is within the reported radius. There is a 5% probability that you are someplace else altogether. Freaky. I agree with Sputnik - it is a relative measure and not absolute. My ol' GPS V will report accuracies of +/- 6 ft (with clear view of the sky), where as my 60CSx has never dropped below 9 ft (this was in Kansas) and 11-15 is typical in the car here in NJ. From experience, I have more confidence in the 60CSx even with the lower reported accuracy

Most folks use magnetic north. Your GPSr was probably set to magnetic north right out of the box. If you use a handheld compass, you will probably want to have the GPSr set to magnetic north so they will read the same. Unless it specifies on the cache page to use True North just use magnetic north. When we set up a cache we use the GPSr in conjunction with the handheld compass so that means use magnetic north for our caches. John Actually, the GPS default is true and I would guess that the majority of people leave it on true. For most caching it doesn't matter, as another poster pointed out, the GPS will point a bearing to the waypoint, it doesn't care if you are set to true or magnetic. If you are using your GPS with a map then set your GPS to true. If you are using your GPS with a magnetic compass then set it to magnetic. 95% of users will never need to change this. Just leave it on true.

Two months ago I upgraded from a 5+ year old Garmin GPS V to the 60CSx. The 60CSx is better in every way, although in many ways marginally better. For me the best improvements are the USB interface (MUCH faster than the old serial connection), the expanded memory (I find the card that came with the unit acceptable for the time being, but eventually I will expand it), and the much faster route calculation when auto-routing. Accuracy is slightly better than the ol' V (maybe) but it never loses signal, even under the oak forests here in North Jersey. If I just used the GPS for geocaching I would not have upgraded. The ol' V could be a little frustrating at times, but it worked just fine. It is still my first choice for kayaking since I can lash it to the deck and the screen still faces towards me with the antenna up in the air. No regrets for upgrading, the 60CSx is a great device, just a wee bit of buyers remorse. I guess I was just expecting more wow! Or, maybe I just under appreciated my V for too many years!

Use true unless specifically instructed to use magnetic, or you are using your GPS in conjuction with a compass bearing. Maps are stated in True

It took me five years to buy the topos. You can geocache just about anywhere without them, but they are a "nice to have." The auto navigation maps, even with their flaws, are invaluable, especially for business travelers. I never leave home without mine.

Bearing is =atan(delta North / delta East). This is equivalent to =asin(delta North / r), where r is the radius (or hypoteneus of the triangle) as determined from the quadratic equation as you outline above. The easiest way to get around the difference in length between minutes of lat and long is to use UTM coordinates, especially when you are in the same UTM grid. Without converting to UTM or making the corrections as Don&Betty describe above you will get erroneous bearing calculations regardless of how close together the origin and destination are. The problem with using Excel to calculate bearing is that atan/asin report a value between -pi/2 and +pi/2. Therefore you can only determine which compass quadrant you are in by evaluating the delta East and delta North from your chosen origin. A further complication is that atan/asin will report a value of 0 deg for due east, when on a compass 0 deg is due north. These problems can be overcome by using a simple lookup table as below: The first step is to determine the angle using the asin function (asin reports in radians which must be converted to degrees to be useful) I. r = sqrt((delta North)^2 + (delta East)^2) II. angle = degrees(asin( r / delta North)) Then check if the destination is west of the origin III. Wvalue = if(delta East < 0, "A", "") ; if the destination is west of the origin the value will be A, if east then blank then check if the destination is south of the origin IV. Svalue = if(delta North < 0,"B", "") ; if the destination is south of the origin the value will be B, if north then blank Determine the W/S lookup value V. WSvalue = concatenate(Wvalue, Svalue) ; this just sticks the results from steps III. and IV. together then lookup the WSvalue in the following table 90 (destination is in northeast quad) A 270 (destination is in northwest quad) AB 270 (destination is in southwest quad) B 90 (destination is in southeast quad) using the following formula VI. compass bearing = vlookup(WSvalue, lookup table range, 2, 0) - (angle from step II.) Sounds complicated, but it is five formulas plus a 4x2 lookup. Again, the distances must either be from UTm coords or coords adjusted for distance from the equator.

I have a 5+ year old Garmin GPS V and a fairly new 60CSx. With an unobstructed view of the sky, both have similar accuracy. In fact the V will report better accuracy, although I suspect this is just how the calculation is done and not necessarily true. When I first got my CSx I did a lot of field comparisons to my old V carrying both at the same time. The CSx is better, no doubt, but the ol' V was actually quite adequate (why did I upgrade again???) The CSx does hold location better under tree cover and around ledges, cliffs and other obstructions. I clip it to the carry loop on the top of my fanny pack while hiking, it maintains accuracy, never loses signal. It will even hold acquisition in the side pocket of the pack, but accuracy will degrade appreciably. The CSx records smooth tracks without the spurious odd-ball points that the ol' V is prone to do. The CSx has a cone-type antenna and will perform best when pointing vertically to the sky. The CSx reports a position when I'm standing in my garage and will continue to report one when I walk into my basement, reporting an accuracy of +/- 38 ft or better. However, I find these readings dubious at best.

I use Radio Shack rechargeables. No complaints. I get 12 - 15 hours of use in my 60CSx (2 AAs) and 15 or more hours in my ol' GPS V (4 AAs). Depends on which specific batteries are in the unit (some last longer than others) and how fresh the recharge is. It takes overnight to recharge them. I have learned the hard way to always carry a spare set of fresh alkalines in my day pack. Yeah, yeah, yeah I was down to one bar, but's only going to be an hour's hike at dusk. We survived, but I always carry spare batteries, now. For the wife's sake.

Right on. The second 5 represents the difficulty of the terrain and whether specialized equipment is needed. The first 5 represents the difficulty in solving the hide. Once you put that first 5 on you've declared it is going to be a difficult challenge and likely not to be solved on the first try. A traditional ammo can under some rocks on top of a butte where climbing equipment is required would be a 1/5. If you want to let potential finders know that climbing equipment and experience is required, great. An ammo can disguised as a rock perched on the side of the abutment 50ft down from the top, that's a 5/5. No explanations or apologies required.

I bought the Garmin suction up mount from Amazon when I purchased my CSx, was about $20 if I remember. I am a frequent business traveler and I can take the suction cup mount with me when I travel and use it in any car (techically windshield mounts are illegal in CA and Minn, although I have never had a problem). The suction cup is very secure and a big improvement over the older version I bought for my ol' GPS V. By luck, the car charger for my BlackBerry has the same connector as the CSx (plugs into the USB connector on the back of the unit), so I use that in the car. You could shop around for chargers with that same mini-pin connector - lots of USB enabled devices use this style (cell phones, digital cameras). Of course every manufacturer looks to make big margins on selling accessories like car chargers so finding a great deal may be tough. I also agree with others, buy the DVD so you can use it on your computer. I had plans to buy a 1G card for my CSx, but I am ok with the card that came with the unit. I can store all the road navigation and topo maps in a 2-hour driving radius from home, plus a few additional maps for where I'm travelling to. The download speed with the USB is MUCH faster than the old serial connection, so downloading map sets is no big deal. Someday I will get the bigger card, but not urgent. Enjoy.

I have been auto navigating for over five years with a hand held Garmin GPS V, and just recently with a new 60CSx. I have used my V to navigate all over the USA and in Quebec, Ontario and NB. I am still using the original CS v4.01 that came with my GPS V. I have never updated the software. Am I too cheap? Maybe, but I've never really seen the need to update. I have experienced what you describe - had me exit an interstate onto a state highway where no exit existed. Obviously I kept going, it recalculated and had me get off at the next exit. Did it cost me time? Probably. Did I get to my destination? Yes. I have had a number of experiences like this. I have also had experiences like Neo_Geo. I was leaving a Pistons game in Detroit one night with a group of customers and trying to get back through the traffic jam to a hotel in Dearborne. I selected shorter route and followed the GPS. The guys in the car who knew Detroit well thought the thing was broke and insisted it was taking us the wrong way. Of course we got to the hotel just fine and 20 minutes quicker than the other group who took the interstate. A couple more GPS converts were added that night. Before I had a GPS, I printed mapquest directions out. Sometimes I had a local map, but usually not since I tend to travel all over. Are the mapquest directions more accurate than the Garmin maps? Dunno. What I do know is I would never give up my GPS to go back to driving and trying to read a sheet of paper, trying to remember what line I was on... I'm not aware of a mapquest feature for "avoid bad areas." Would I like accurate, up-to-date maps from Garmin? Yes! That is part of what I'm paying for. Even with their limitations, I personally have gotten good value out of the hardware and software I have purchased from Garmin. Even from maps that are 5 years out of date and riddled with errors. Just my thoughts, happy navigating.

TrailRegistry is a great place to record tracks like these for use by other hikers. It is certainly not perfect since the site seems to be a part-time hobby by the moderator and the data is user supplied, but I have found several useful tracks there. http://trailregistry.com

I, too, had a lot of accuracy problems when I first got my 60CSx. I was in the process of returning it, talked with Terry in Garmin customer service and he asked that I do a master reset and Auto Locate before I decided to return it. That made all the difference. I have tested against a couple of benchmarks and map generated waypoints and it is now consistently within a 15 foot radius, even under the trees and around the ledges and escarpments found here in North Jersey and NY. When I turned on the 60CSx for the first time, I changed the location from Tiawan to NYC and let it run for 30 minutes or so. Accuracy was running 15-18 ft in the open, 50-60 ft under the trees. MY ol'GPS V was better than that! I did a user reset which helped tighten things up, but my V was still far more accurate. Even after 2 battery changes (30 hours of use?) it just wasn't getting any better and I decided to call Garmin to arrange to send it back. The master reset made a huge difference. Don't know why this is. Go outside where you have an unobstructed view of the sky (I went to a soccer field), turn the power off and then press and hold the following keys in the following order (you might need three hands!) Quit / Menu / Zoom Out / Power. Continue holding all of these for 10 seconds, then release. You may get a dialog box about maps, enter ok, then let it run for at least 20 -30 minutes, or longer if you can. I then took the unit to Kansas with me (I was going on business, not just to test my GPS!) and just let it run under the big sky plugged into the rental car all day (I use my BlackBerry charger, same connector as the USB cable, one less charger to carry!). Of course, in Kansas I was getting +/- 8 to 10 ft readings. In Jersey +/- 10 to 14 ft on the road, +/-14 to 18 under the oaks. Sometimes higher, but generally below 20ft in most conditions. Interestingly, WAAS doesn't seem to make that big of a difference with the 60CSx. While in Kansas, I would drive for 30 minutes with it off and watch the reported accuracy. Then I would power down and turn WAAS on. I was receiving 48 loud and clear, solid black bars all the way across with Ds (except no D on 48 or 51). Perhaps that is the point, with nine strong signals the GPSr has all the info it needs to get an accurate position with or without WAAS. The jury is still out on WAAS in Jersey. I get 51 just fine. Sometimes it seems to make a difference, other times it is hard to tell. I just leave WAAS on all the time and don't obsess over it any more. Good luck with your 60CSx. If you have any doubts, I would call Garmin customer service. I had to wait on hold for 30 minutes but they seem to have helped me out.