Trip Computer?

[+84Harley]

WOOHOO!!! Found my 1st cache on my first time out, although it took 3 tries....the 1st two were micro, grrr!! Anyway, I'm using a 60CS and found that using the trip computer page served me best. It showed how far to go and the pointer showed me which direction to go. The accuracy was incredible....within 2 feet! Although it showed me within 10 feet in about four different spots about 50 feet form each other, why? Do I need to stand still for a bit to let it get it's bearings? The compass page did the same thing also. One more question, is there any way to set the distance for the turn alert using the unit in the car, you don't get too much time to switch lanes if your goin at a good clip. This is all new to me but I'm hooked now!

Edited November 19, 2005 by 84Harley

[+ZingerHead]

Hey, congrats on the find!

 

I've got a 60CS too - upgraded from a Vista, had a yellow eTrex for a while. The 60CS is hands down the best GPS I've ever owned.

 

As far as the distance to go jumping around - it's perfectly normal. Signals can get reflected off nearby surfaces, or sats might get blocked by something close by. Figure on the GPS getting you reliably within 30 feet - after that put the thing away and use the old eyeballs to close the deal.

The compass will hold a bearing whether you are standing still or moving, but the GPS bearing will only be correct when you are moving. As soon as you stop the GPS can't determine a direction of travel, so the arrow just points in random directions. If you have the compass turned on, it will take over when your speed drops below a set value (configurable in the menus). I find the compass is a battery hog, so I usually leave it off unless the GPS reception is particularly bad (jumpy).

I agree on the turn alert - I haven't seen anything to adjust that setting. And the alert distance seems to vary - sometimes I get a substantial warning, and other times it chirps just as I'm driving through the intersection. I did learn to have the Guidance text turned on when navigating - otherwise it only pops up when it's describing the next turn. My strategy now is to take a good look at the closeup map view when it chirps the first time for an upcoming turn, then look ahead to see where the turn is. I figure the second chirp is going to come too late to really give me a "heads up".

Everybody has a method to their caching. I like to use the map page for navigation because I just don't trust that arrow. That way I can orient myself to my direction of travel and the features of the land - the arrow can do whatever the heck it wants and I can stay on track.

[+DavidMac]

I've also found that the turn warning pops up at seemingly random times. Usually, it comes up 7 seconds before a turn, but on some roads it's 18 and on others it doesn't appear until I'm actually in the intersection! I can't figure out a pattern but it seems to be tied somehow to the type of road I'm traveling on, with longer times for freeways and shorter times on local roads. My solution was to change the tone for the early turn warning (the one that pops up about a mile away from a turn) to a more noticeable sound (under main menu->setup->tones). I also set one of the data fields on the map to "distance to next" rather than "distance to final." This way, the field provides a reminder of the distance to the next turn when routing, but will still show the final distance if navigating to a point (when searching for a cache).

 

I also agree that the 60CS is the best unit I've owned. I upgraded from a Vista and the color screen makes a huge difference. One feature I really want is the ability to automatically switch from routing to "off road" mode within a certain distance of the final point, since I have to hit Recalculate after arriving at parking but before heading from car to cache.

[Garmin8888]

I use message beep 7. key beep off, tone beep 1, tone early warning 11,, and turn final warning 10.