Before I Call Garmin

[+paulamur]

After a day of caching I was logging my finds and using the Geocaching function to show the ones I had found that day. I had marked a couple of waypoints were the coords were off. As I was logging I deleted those. The first one I deleted I watched the screen dim and fade away. Restarted deleted another same thing. Switched batteries, same thing. I had turned off the GPS on the satellite page, so I left it turned on, same thing. I was deleting these from the the calendar menu, when I deleted a waypoint found on a different day from the find menu it stayed on. When I deleted a geocache waypoint found on a different day from the calendar menu it stayed on. I can delete a geocache waypoint that I found today from the find menu and it stays on.

 

Also, when hunting for caches today under heavy tree cover, there were several times when the needle on the compass seemed to freeze, I could walk in a direction see the distance to next number decrease, but the needle continued to point away from were I was going. I don't think the two issues are related. Any one else experience either of these.

[pyt22fr]

 

Also, when hunting for caches today under heavy tree cover, there were several times when the needle on the compass seemed to freeze, I could walk in a direction see the distance to next number decrease, but the needle continued to point away from were I was going. I don't think the two issues are related. Any one else experience either of these.

 

Paulamur,

 

First point :

 

I have a 60 Csx, I haven't experienced the first issue, but I think it's worth a call to Garmin.

 

Second point :

 

On some occasions, I do have experienced compass needle freezing. Turning device off and on solves the problem, but it is not normal. I cannot relate the freezing event with the context though.

 

If it happens to your Cx and it happens to my Csx it is probably a SW/FW bug, nothing to see with magnetic compass.

 

I would also be happy to learn if some other people have seen this on their own Cx or Csx.

 

pyt22fr

[+drbugs]

hi,

I've not seen the first, but have heard of some people with Lithium batteries that have had this issue.

 

The 2nd issue I have experienced. Sometimes just turning the receiver off (via the sattelite page->Menu->Turn off receiver) then turning it back on works; other times toggling the power fixes it.

 

I did have waas on, not sure if it was related or not. I just got my unit back from Garmin (a hole burned in the screen) and I haven't been out caching yet. I have not turned on WAAS since I only have 35 in the midwest and it has bad ephipmerius data.

[pyt22fr]

 

The 2nd issue I have experienced. Sometimes just turning the receiver off (via the sattelite page->Menu->Turn off receiver) then turning it back on works; other times toggling the power fixes it.

 

 

drbugs,

 

Yes, I have noticed that generally just turning receiver off and on is not enough, and I have to power off and on to have compass work again.

 

pyt22fr

[+paulamur]

I did turn it off and on and that seemed to help (the compass needle freezing), and I agree that it is a SW/FW issue, that Garmin will hopefully soon have resolved. I think I will call Garmin about it powering off when I delete a waypoint off the calendar though.

[+ajayhawkfan]

I did turn it off and on and that seemed to help (the compass needle freezing), and I agree that it is a SW/FW issue, that Garmin will hopefully soon have resolved. I think I will call Garmin about it powering off when I delete a waypoint off the calendar though.

I would be interested in the Garmins answer. I to had the same problem when I deleat waypoints from the calendar. I have a 60CSx.

[+Trizumi]

Also, when hunting for caches today under heavy tree cover, there were several times when the needle on the compass seemed to freeze, I could walk in a direction see the distance to next number decrease, but the needle continued to point away from were I was going. I don't think the two issues are related. Any one else experience either of these.

 

I have also seen this happen to my GPSr a couple of times. I have turned the GPSr power off/on and I have also recalibrated the compass at the location. I have found the recalibration helps a lot of times. I think what flips my GPSr out is when I unplug it from the car power adapter while it's power up. I will travel to a cache on "car power" and when I am at ground zero, I unplug it and go right to battery power. It seems like the times I have compass issues are when I do the car power - battery switch.

Edited June 7, 2006 by Trizumi

[+myotis]

There is a problem with the calendar menu and I have had similar issues with all 3 of my 60 CSXs (they have exchanged it twice) so there is a software problem. Here is how I get the same behavior. I add the calender to the page sequence. Then I set day view as default view which makes it show the day view twice when you go through the sequence (a bug). When you go through the page sequence and go to the second occurance of the calendar page, if you select menu or some other things, it does what you describe (fades and shuts down). Its done it in all versions of the firmware. While it is not exactly the same thing, it sounds like the same software bug causing the problem.

 

After a day of caching I was logging my finds and using the Geocaching function to show the ones I had found that day. I had marked a couple of waypoints were the coords were off. As I was logging I deleted those. The first one I deleted I watched the screen dim and fade away. Restarted deleted another same thing. Switched batteries, same thing. I had turned off the GPS on the satellite page, so I left it turned on, same thing. I was deleting these from the the calendar menu, when I deleted a waypoint found on a different day from the find menu it stayed on. When I deleted a geocache waypoint found on a different day from the calendar menu it stayed on. I can delete a geocache waypoint that I found today from the find menu and it stays on.

 

Also, when hunting for caches today under heavy tree cover, there were several times when the needle on the compass seemed to freeze, I could walk in a direction see the distance to next number decrease, but the needle continued to point away from were I was going. I don't think the two issues are related. Any one else experience either of these.

[+weakfish]

I tried what you described above and can't duplicate the problem..... What you describe, though, is eerily reminiscent of the infamous Lithium battery issue... Curious what your power source is...

[jay11]

There is a problem with the calendar menu and I have had similar issues with all 3 of my 60 CSXs (they have exchanged it twice) so there is a software problem. Here is how I get the same behavior. I add the calender to the page sequence. Then I set day view as default view which makes it show the day view twice when you go through the sequence (a bug). When you go through the page sequence and go to the second occurance of the calendar page, if you select menu or some other things, it does what you describe (fades and shuts down). Its done it in all versions of the firmware. While it is not exactly the same thing, it sounds like the same software bug causing the problem.

 

I just tried this on my 76CSx and observed the same behaviour. The unit freezes for a while, then fades and shuts down. I am using NiMH batteries.

Edited June 7, 2006 by jay11

[+Intermountain Angler]

There is a problem with the calendar menu and I have had similar issues with all 3 of my 60 CSXs (they have exchanged it twice) so there is a software problem. Here is how I get the same behavior. I add the calender to the page sequence. Then I set day view as default view which makes it show the day view twice when you go through the sequence (a bug). When you go through the page sequence and go to the second occurance of the calendar page, if you select menu or some other things, it does what you describe (fades and shuts down). Its done it in all versions of the firmware. While it is not exactly the same thing, it sounds like the same software bug causing the problem.

 

I just tried this on my 76CSx and observed the same behaviour. The unit freezes for a while, then fades and shuts down. I am using NiMH batteries.

This is interesting I just tried this with my 76CSX three seperate times and could not duplicate the problem.

[+hogrod]

I just tried this on my 76CSx and observed the same behaviour. The unit freezes for a while, then fades and shuts down. I am using NiMH batteries.

 

I have had my 60cx power off when trying to use brand new lithium batterys, running 2.71 firmware. Switching the battery type in the settings just seems to change how the unit reads remaining charge, made no difference in battery stability. I did find something curious though, If I hooked the unit up to usb(to power it) then turned it on I could get past the start screen. I could then unhook the usb and the unit would not powerdown/fadeout. I could then turn the unit on & off with no fade out issues.

Edited June 7, 2006 by hogrod

[+CJOttawa]

I just tried this on my 76CSx and observed the same behaviour. The unit freezes for a while, then fades and shuts down. I am using NiMH batteries.

 

I have had my 60cx power off when trying to use brand new lithium batterys, running 2.71 firmware. Switching the battery type in the settings just seems to change how the unit reads remaining charge, made no difference in battery stability. I did find something curious though, If I hooked the unit up to usb(to power it) then turned it on I could get past the start screen. I could then unhook the usb and the unit would not powerdown/fadeout. I could then turn the unit on & off with no fade out issues.

 

Hogrod,

 

Keep in mind, Firmware 2.71 is BETA (at least, it was a couple days ago when I checked).

Revert to 2.70 and see what happens.

 

C.

[+paulamur]

I tried what you described above and can't duplicate the problem..... What you describe, though, is eerily reminiscent of the infamous Lithium battery issue... Curious what your power source is...

 

I was using NiMH batteries, then I switched to a fresh set of Alkalines. Same results. The first day I got it, it faded out like that using Alkalines, I thought they must be dead switched to NiMH's and it was fine. Later I used that same set of batteries until they were dead. Never saw the unit fade out until yesterday.

 

That problem is really not that much of a concern, but does it tie into some of these other problems? The one that was more concerning was the compass freezing and the unit being pretty much useless. Still somehow managed to find the cache on the three times it did that.

[+5thwheelfinders]

I have experienced the second problem. Never used the function described in the first problem. When getting close to a cach, the compass points one way, I walk the opposite way to get closer to the gold.

Turning unit off/on and recalibrating the compass works most of the time, but not always.

[+Searching_ut]

......Also, when hunting for caches today under heavy tree cover, there were several times when the needle on the compass seemed to freeze, I could walk in a direction see the distance to next number decrease, but the needle continued to point away from were I was going. I don't think the two issues are related. Any one else experience either of these.

 

This may be a problem with Garmin units using the Sirf III chipset. My Garmin 305's quite often do the same thing. While the new units appear to get better reception, from what I've seen so far they tend to have a very multipath influenced position solution when you're in tough reception areas. The reported position jumps all over the place, which often happens to non sirf chip units as well, the difference being the sirf units seem to stay farther out of position for longer periods of time when you view your tracks later. It appears to me initially at least that garmin put some software smoothing into the system to make the units appear less jumpy. This results in things like time lags in compass updates and your track being ofset by a significant distance for a fairly long period of time. I wouldn't be surprised to see them implement even more averaging type functions more in line with those Magellan appears to have started using when they boosted the "reception" of their units. My own thoughts are this is a shame as I've always been somewhat vocal about my dislike of the averaging and software smoothing Magellan has been using. In ways it can be a benefit in flat forested areas, but tends to really mess things up in steep terain.

 

On the plus side, when coupled to maps with lock to road features the Sirf chip units seem to get it right a great deal of the time.

[+myotis]

I am using NiMH bateries.

 

To the two who did not get the same result, maybe you did not get it set up exactly like I describe. It only happens under the conditions I describe. When you cycle through the pages, you should get the day view twice. When you get it the second time is when the problem occurs. If you press menu on the first time it occurs or in some view besides day view, it works fine.

[+Geopelli]

I just tried the same setup and on the second day view I pressed the find key and the 60cx shut down. I have never used the calender page before. Very strange. I have energizer alkaline batterys in my unit. Garmin needs an email.

[+GOT GPS?]

This is a first for me, I took my Map60Cx, and had to go way back in time to where I had several waypoints in a DAY VIEW on the calendar page, and I then selected a waypoint, then selected VIEW, to see the waypoint on a Map Screen, and then when I hit the QUIT key, I got the fadeout.

 

Very strange stuff here, and I think my eXplorist XL maybe working better than this.

 

I Just tried a Day on the calendar, with one waypoint, then went to VIEW the waypoint on a map, and when I was zooming in, I got the fadeout again.

 

I just plugged it in the USB port, and now I cannot repeat the problems, and I found that the GPS may need fresh batteries, to prevent this from happening again.

Edited June 8, 2006 by GOT GPS?

[+drbugs]

This is a first for me, I took my Map60Cx, and had to go way back in time to where I had several waypoints in a DAY VIEW on the calendar page, and I then selected a waypoint, then selected VIEW, to see the waypoint on a Map Screen, and then when I hit the QUIT key, I got the fadeout.

 

Very strange stuff here, and I think my eXplorist XL maybe working better than this.

 

I Just tried a Day on the calendar, with one waypoint, then went to VIEW the waypoint on a map, and when I was zooming in, I got the fadeout again.

 

I just plugged it in the USB port, and now I cannot repeat the problems, and I found that the GPS may need fresh batteries, to prevent this from happening again.

 

Hmm. For G&G's I just tried this, but I don't get the fadeout. I went to calender, select yesterday (4 waypoints. 2 blue flags and 2 found caches). I select a waypoint, then select enter which brings up the waypoint information screen. I select map, and after viewing it select the quit button. back to the waypoint screen.

 

The only possible difference that I'm not sure about is that I'm inside with no signal, so I have turned off the receiver. I'll try this again when I go outside.

 

My batteries are good, and I'm running 2.5/2.70 software on the unit (60cx)

[+CJOttawa]

This is a first for me, I took my Map60Cx, and had to go way back in time to where I had several waypoints in a DAY VIEW on the calendar page, and I then selected a waypoint, then selected VIEW, to see the waypoint on a Map Screen, and then when I hit the QUIT key, I got the fadeout.

 

Very strange stuff here, and I think my eXplorist XL maybe working better than this.

 

I Just tried a Day on the calendar, with one waypoint, then went to VIEW the waypoint on a map, and when I was zooming in, I got the fadeout again.

 

I just plugged it in the USB port, and now I cannot repeat the problems, and I found that the GPS may need fresh batteries, to prevent this from happening again.

 

Was out with my 60CSx doing some geocaching.

 

It was dark by the time I got to the second cache location and I was using the backlight quite a bit.

 

As I got near the cache, I turned the compass on and, oddly, my position locked. Turn compass off then on - no solution. Turn unit off then on - success: back to pointing the way.

 

It should be noted: I was using NiMH batteries and they were fairly low. I haven't tried duplicating the problem and the unit continued to navigate for the 20 minute drive home.

 

(firmware 2.70 BTW)

[+GOT GPS?]

Can anybody try this with low batteries and also topped off batteries?

 

Does this problem happen with fresh batteries?

 

Im going to try frest ones, and see if I can repeat this.

 

Ok I tried batteries that were somewhat charged and can't repeat this problem, and the problem was the depleated Alkalines, that I threw out.

 

Seems like with my testing of this, the batteries should be topped off, and not reach down to 2 Bars on the battery meter, since in my case, when mine is down to 2 Bars, it will say Batteries are Low in just minutes of use. My GPS was set to Alkalines, and had Alkalines in it with 2 Bars showing, then was able to perform the fadeout experiment, then it did say Batteries are LOW.

 

I tried turning the TOPO Map back on, so it would struggle to draw the map, then redraw it with CS 7, but I found that it wont fadeout with fresh set of batteries.

 

I had phoned Garmin some time ago about the problem with the Battery meter getting down to 2 Bars then DEAD in just minutes, and they wanted me to send it in on an RMA, but I didn't send it in, since that would mean I would be without my Map60Cx for a bit.

 

I think the best course of action now, is that I will need to buy the 15-Minute Rechargable NiMH batteries, because my 60Cx is a battery hog.

Edited June 8, 2006 by GOT GPS?

[kb9nvh]

I had a first yesterday on my 60csx.

The buttons became unresponsive taking a long time to get back after pushing enter on a highligted waypoint.

 

Also, it took a long time for the waypoint to highlight when moving the pointer over it.

 

I do have a 1 gig card and its filled up pretty well with cityselect 6.0.

 

I've never experienced this before and dont know what prompted it?? Anyone else have this type of experience?

[+CJOttawa]

Got GPS: I'm planning on visiting the same caches today as I did last night, this time with topped up NiMH batteries. (you'll love having a 15 minute charger... just switch batteries to fresh ones every time you get home).

 

A few other points I should mention: I'm using a 1GB microSD card and have both Topo Canada and Metroguide Canada 4 loaded, navigating using the latter.

 

I haven't seen a "low battery" warning yet but last night the CSx wouldn't let me use backlighting once the battery level had gotten low.

 

One thing: there's a way to set up the electronic compass to engage only below a certain GPS speed/sustained for a period of time. I have mine set to "below 15km/h (about 10mph) for more than 30 seconds".

The compass would have only activated once I got out of my car and started walking and that's exactly when I had a position lock. (it appeared I hadn't left the car)

 

I wonder if Garmin watches this forum. They might be able to grok what's going on with enough of these anecdotes.

 

Chris

 

 

Can anybody try this with low batteries and also topped off batteries?

 

Does this problem happen with fresh batteries?

 

Im going to try frest ones, and see if I can repeat this.

 

Ok I tried batteries that were somewhat charged and can't repeat this problem, and the problem was the depleated Alkalines, that I threw out.

 

Seems like with my testing of this, the batteries should be topped off, and not reach down to 2 Bars on the battery meter, since in my case, when mine is down to 2 Bars, it will say Batteries are Low in just minutes of use. My GPS was set to Alkalines, and had Alkalines in it with 2 Bars showing, then was able to perform the fadeout experiment, then it did say Batteries are LOW.

 

I tried turning the TOPO Map back on, so it would struggle to draw the map, then redraw it with CS 7, but I found that it wont fadeout with fresh set of batteries.

 

I had phoned Garmin some time ago about the problem with the Battery meter getting down to 2 Bars then DEAD in just minutes, and they wanted me to send it in on an RMA, but I didn't send it in, since that would mean I would be without my Map60Cx for a bit.

 

I think the best course of action now, is that I will need to buy the 15-Minute Rechargable NiMH batteries, because my 60Cx is a battery hog.

[+PaRacers]

I've been using a MAP60 CX for alittle over a month now without any problems. I tried duplicating some of the fade out problems mentioned here, but was unable to find a problem with mine. I have not upgraded the firmware yet and I'm using Energizer 2400mah Nimh batteries on a 15 min charger. I leave the unit on in normal mode and get an entire day of geocaching on a set of batteries. No complaints whatsoever so far and I love never loosing satellite reception.

[+GizmoGuy411]

Here is text from my post on NWOGEO.org regarding this glitch and how we have refined the process to test for it.

 

"Fade to off glitch" (aka "Cheech Fluke") in Garmin GPSmap 60CSx (and possibly in other similar models)

 

When a waypoint is deleted from the first (oldest) page of waypoints from a day in the Calendar page, when more than one page of

 

waypoints exist for that day, the screen fades to dark, and GPS unit turns off. (Nine waypoints display per page.)

 

This glitch was reported on NWOGEO.org by "Cheech Gang."

 

This use this revised step-by-step method to see if your GPS unit will duplicate this glitch.

 

1. Clear all waypoints:

Press FIND, Waypoints, press MENU, Delete, All Symbols

2. Create 10 waypoints: (It is assumed that the glitch will occur with any waypoint symbols.)

Press the MARK then ENTR button combination 10 times to create waypoints 001 through 010.

3. Navigate to the Calendar feature:

Depending on your menu setup, press PAGE repeatedly or MENU then arrows to find Calendar feature.

4. Display list of waypoint for the date you entered them:

Press ENTR on date where waypoint are entered

5. Delete waypoint 001.

Scroll down to waypoint 001, press ENTR, Delete, Yes

 

The glitch is confirmed if your screen fades to dark and unit turns off.

 

Please report your results with the following:

1. Model:

2. Software Version:

3. GPS SW Version:

4. "Battery Type" in Setup: (Alkaine, NiMH, or Lithium Ion)

6. Actually battery type installed:

7. Memory chip size:

8. Glitch: confirmed or not confirmed

(Version numbers are found at Setup, System, then press MENU, Software Version.)

 

Once we have results from some other models we can report these results to Garmin.

[+GizmoGuy411]

Garmin says that as of last week, that they now have been able to duplicate the glitch and have their software engineers working on the issue.

 

It looks like if effects any "x" model, and it does not matter which waypoint symbols, batteries or memory are used.

 

The latest 3.50 firmware update released on 08/03/2007 does NOT fix the problem.

[+CJOttawa]

Garmin says that as of last week, that they now have been able to duplicate the glitch and have their software engineers working on the issue.

 

It looks like if effects any "x" model, and it does not matter which waypoint symbols, batteries or memory are used.

 

The latest 3.50 firmware update released on 08/03/2007 does NOT fix the problem.

 

This is great news! Well, not that ever "x" model has a glitch but that we now have the company recognizing there IS a problem.

Edited August 27, 2007 by af895