Garmin Etrex Shows Wrong Direction

[martinalex]

I have a new Garmin eTrex Vista and I tried to find a waypoint for a cache.

Accuracy was 7 meters and the shown map was correct.

But Garmin did not show the direction to the waypoint correctly.

 

As I walked to the waypoint the distance to the waypoint was decreasing: 300, 200, 100, 60.

The path turned right and the distance to the waypoint did increase 60, 80, 100.

Off cause I had missed the waypoint and had to turn round, but the Garmin showed the arrow to the destination in the direction where the distance further increased.

I had expected that the arrow would turn if I missed the waypoint.

 

Is the Garmin not accurate enough?

[+garri]

My father has this unit, one day It happened to me.

 

Your Vista has the electronic compass enabled, but it's not calibrated.

 

You must calibrate it.

[+briansnat]

I think Garri has it. Your compass needs to be calibrated every time you change the batteries. If you forget you will get strange results.

 

Also, because its magnetic, in areas with heavy iron ore concentrations in the ground it may also be erratic. In these areas (which are plentiful in northern NJ) I have to shut of the magnetic compass.

[+Ed Rad]

Yep.. time to do the calibration dance.

[martinalex]

garri, briansnat,

 

the eTrex Vista was calibrated, at least I did it one week ago and didn't change batteries in between.

[+Anonymous']

I've had it happen with my etrex yellow before, I just go the opposite direction that the arrow is pointing.

Edited September 26, 2005 by Anonymous'

[+Ed & Julie]

It has happen a few (rare) times with both my Garmin GPSrs (yellow and Legend).

 

It seems to happen for me when tree cover is heavy and/or my batteries are low.

 

Ed

TB&TB

[+welch]

It has happen a few (rare) times with both my Garmin GPSrs (yellow and Legend).

 

It seems to happen for me when tree cover is heavy and/or my batteries are low.

 

Ed

TB&TB

yes, but only the vista (and summit models) have an electroinic compass. If the compass was disabled I'd agree that is either a very poor reception problem or the batterys are about hosed and it can't power everything.

If the compass is enabled, try calibrating it again (remember SLOWLY turn the unit). If that doesn't fix the problem, send it back to garmin. Being a new unit it should be covered by warrenty.

[+russell_53040]

Do you or can you calibrated on the legends? If so how do you do it on them. Thanks

[+briansnat]

If the compass is enabled, try calibrating it again (remember SLOWLY turn the unit). If that doesn't fix the problem, send it back to garmin. Being a new unit it should be covered by warrenty.

 

I've heard of sometimes needing to recalibrate the compass even if the bateries weren't changed. Never happend with my Vista though.

 

Also, do you have the correct battery setting? Were the batteries low? I've heard of strange reactions in both of these cases.

[+Prime Suspect]

I've found that if I'm having trouble getting the Hold Level message to go off, then the compass needs to be recalibrated.

 

Also remember that while you're walking, the electronic compass is automatically turned off (depending on what speed you're walking, and your option settings). When you're moving at or faster than a preset speed, the GPS switches to the deductive direction calculation mode (this saves your battery). But if you're in an area with spotty signals, it could cause the arrow to point incorrectly, especially when you're close to the cache.

[+phox]

how do you calibrate it? this just happened to me and it happened to be after I changed the batteries.

[+garri]

1. Go to the Navigation Page using the page button

2. Select the Options Menu icon.

3. Select the Calibrate Compass option.

4. Go to the Start Button and follow the instructions

 

If you don't get the "Calibration succesful message" you have to repeat the process.

 

The compass must be calibrated outdoors and far from possible magnetic fields.

[+ShovelBum67]

This is a good reason always carry a good old fashioned compass and know how to use it even if you have a GPSr with a compass. No need to recalibrate or worry about batteries. There are times that if your electonic compass quits on you it may mean much worse than not finding a cache. Gadgets are great tools, but poor crutches.

[+phox]

hmm is this also where to find it on the eTrex yellow? I didn't seem to find it when looking through the menus, and googling didn't provide any answers either.

 

Thanks

[+briansnat]

hmm is this also where to find it on the eTrex yellow? I didn't seem to find it when looking through the menus, and googling didn't provide any answers either.

 

Thanks

The yellow eTrex doesn't have a magnetic compass and doesn't need calibration.

[Jayperdu]

It shows which way to go depending on the direction your moving, so if your in a car going north and it says you need to go south, then you rotate and look out of the window to the east, it won't show you need to go right, it will still point down but it will say south because you are still going north.

If that made any sense at all!!!

Same idea if your standing in place, it doesn't work like a real compass unless you have an expensive gps. Or you just might need to calibrate it or something like everyone else was saying

[+E = Mc2]

Shovelbum has the right idea, IMHO. I, too, have experienced this with my eTrex camo. There have been occasions where the arrow would be pointing away from the cache, yet the distance would decrease as I got closer. When this has happened, I've noticed that the 'bearing' is still correct (or nearly so) and just went in the direction that my Silva compass pointed. Occasionally, I've noticed this on my Maggies, but less often than with my (admittedly basic) eTrex.

 

As to whether or not the Garmin is accurate, I think that you will find that they all have their peculiarities. Many thousands of caches have been found using just the 'basic' yellow eTrex. Take your time and work with the unit and you'll be a seasoned veteran before you know it.

[+Prime Suspect]

I bet if you look close, you'll find that the arrow was pointing the right direction, within the compass ring. It's the compass ring that's wrong.

 

Units without a true electronic compass, like the Yellow, use a deductive process to determine how to orient the compass ring. The process is based on the assumption that you are moving forward in a straight line, and that you are holding the unit oriented such that it is lined up with the direction of travel. If either of these things are not correct, it wil affect the accuracy of the compass ring. And since the arrow is set to point, not to the waypoint, but to the direction on the compass ring the unit thinks corosponds to the direction to the waypoint, the arrow will also appear to be wrong.

 

You can try this yourself. Set a waypoint 200' in front of you, and start walking towards it. The arrow should point ahead. Note where on the compass ring the arrow is pointing. Now, facing the same direction, start walking backwards. The arrow will now be pointing behind you, even though the waypoint is still ahead of you. But the arrow should still be point to the same direction on the compass ring. If you side-step left or right, you'll seem similar results, but with a 90 degree change, instead of 180.

 

Of course, once you get inside the waypoint's circle of error, the arrow could be pointing just about anywhere, but that's due to other matters.

[Kellyjmc]

Another thing to be careful of with the etrex vista, is to make sure you have the bearing needle displayed during Navigation mode. It has two options, one for bearing and the another called course pointer. I have not figured out the course pointer, but it does behave funny. I believe it is only for when you have a route and it tells you how far off you are, but it still works when in goto mode but works erratically.