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"track Up" Troubles, 60csx


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Having trouble with "Track Up" option with new 60CSx. Works fairly normally when I'm walking south, but when going north it's all catty wompus, like it's out 180 degrees or something. Arrow pointer is pointing in the opposite direction from what I'm actually doing and the map isn't rotated to the correct orientation. The only thing I tried that helped was to calibrate the compass, something I hadn't yet done. It worked better after that, but the map still isn't orienting itself accurately, sometimes it's 90 degrees to what it should be. I'm walking at a normal pace, about 3mph, and I'm walking around my neighborhood, where all the streets run north-south, east-west, so I'm well oriented mentally to what direction I'm actually travelling at any given moment. I've used a GPS V in the Track Up mode for geocaching for the last four years, so I'm familiar with how it should work and in the GPS V it works very well. Track Up is the way I prefer to hunt caches, but the 60 CSx is really sucking at it so far. I tried searching this forum for info on this but didn't have much luck. Any ideas?

Thanks much,

sparklehorse

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I usually use North up, but when I use track up I have to hold the unit flat (parallel to the ground) for the compass to work properly. If I tilt it up then the map goes crazy and is usually off quite a bit from what it should be. When I hold it flat again, it works fine. If you are already doing that, then I'm not sure what is going on.

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Having trouble with "Track Up" option with new 60CSx. Works fairly normally when I'm walking south, but when going north it's all catty wompus, like it's out 180 degrees or something. Arrow pointer is pointing in the opposite direction from what I'm actually doing and the map isn't rotated to the correct orientation. The only thing I tried that helped was to calibrate the compass, something I hadn't yet done. It worked better after that, but the map still isn't orienting itself accurately, sometimes it's 90 degrees to what it should be. I'm walking at a normal pace, about 3mph, and I'm walking around my neighborhood, where all the streets run north-south, east-west, so I'm well oriented mentally to what direction I'm actually travelling at any given moment. I've used a GPS V in the Track Up mode for geocaching for the last four years, so I'm familiar with how it should work and in the GPS V it works very well. Track Up is the way I prefer to hunt caches, but the 60 CSx is really sucking at it so far. I tried searching this forum for info on this but didn't have much luck. Any ideas?

Thanks much,

sparklehorse

 

The newer units switch to trackup at a certain magnification of zoom and then back to Northup when you are out further than that. It is user configurable.

 

Press the menu key when you are on the map page.

Select Setup Map

If you are not on the page below use the rocker key to go to the menu on the far left.

 

The option Marked Below is the setting you want to change.

 

I have it 5 mile. If you hit enter on that setting it will allow you to change it to what ever zoom level you desire.

 

See if changing the magnification helps.

 

trackup.jpg

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turn off the electronic compass to see it it's causing the issue - you can do this by pressing and holding down the page button for a couple of seconds. using just the gps (instead of electronic) compass does the track up mode still work incorrectly?

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wpwfs2003 wrote:

I usually use North up, but when I use track up I have to hold the unit flat (parallel to the ground) for the compass to work properly. If I tilt it up then the map goes crazy and is usually off quite a bit from what it should be. When I hold it flat again, it works fine.

 

Vlad wrote:

turn off the electronic compass to see it it's causing the issue - you can do this by pressing and holding down the page button for a couple of seconds.

 

WOW, it pays to ask. Turns out you're both correct. The 60CSx works almost normally in Track Up mode when held level. It's not perfect but it's acceptible. Turning the compass off works even better, plus I can hold the unit at a more natural angle for viewing. Plus not running the compass should (in theory) conserve battery power. Thanks guys!

 

So this was an odd one. I couldn't find any mention of this in the manual and it's not exactly an obvious solution (to me anyway). My GPS V worked fine at all angles in track up mode and it has no compass. I just assumed the 60CSx would work in a similar fashion. I still don't understand how the compass becomes a factor. Seems like the unit could only determine your forward direction of motion from GPS data, how does the compass even get involved in this?

 

Here's another question: Does the Vista have these same issues when using Track Up? I bought a new Vista a few weeks ago and one of the reasons I traded it in for the 60CSx was that it was also all wiggy in Track Up mode. I thought the unit was just bad because it also shut itself off for no apparent reason a few times which really cheesed me. Oh well, I like the 60CSx much better anyway.

sparklehorse

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WOW, it pays to ask. Turns out you're both correct. The 60CSx works almost normally in Track Up mode when held level. It's not perfect but it's acceptible. Turning the compass off works even better, plus I can hold the unit at a more natural angle for viewing. Plus not running the compass should (in theory) conserve battery power. Thanks guys!

 

So this was an odd one. I couldn't find any mention of this in the manual and it's not exactly an obvious solution (to me anyway). My GPS V worked fine at all angles in track up mode and it has no compass. I just assumed the 60CSx would work in a similar fashion. I still don't understand how the compass becomes a factor. Seems like the unit could only determine your forward direction of motion from GPS data, how does the compass even get involved in this?

 

Here's another question: Does the Vista have these same issues when using Track Up? I bought a new Vista a few weeks ago and one of the reasons I traded it in for the 60CSx was that it was also all wiggy in Track Up mode. I thought the unit was just bad because it also shut itself off for no apparent reason a few times which really cheesed me. Oh well, I like the 60CSx much better anyway.

sparklehorse

 

The compass is involved because with it, the GPS can detect (or thinks it can, at any rate), the direction you're facing. In that sense, it can tell that you've turned around and adjust the map to compensate. The problems come either when the unit's compass is not calibrated (so it thinks you're facing in a different direction) or because the compass is very sensitive to tilt, as you have discovered. These same issues would also affect the Vista, which also has an internal compass.

 

Keith

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