Garmin 60csx Trip Computer Issue

[pyt22fr]

 

Seems like the 60Cx is very accurate, and it would be interesting to see how accurate the 60CSx is on a fast hike also. I had kept the GPS vertical and a good view of the sky the whole time this morning, and about the time the sun was comming up.

 

I also think that these 2 devices are very accurate, I show it in my former post, previous page of the thread.

 

IMO, they both use the same logic for distance calculation, so performance should be similar.

 

What I'd like to do is to compare the performance of either of these two devices to some officially calibrated device (yet not the same price, we know that).

 

I have seen though, like other people on the forum, that in some instances, the odometer distance doesn't match the tracklog distance at all.

 

Either the odometer underestimates the distance or the tracklog overestimates it, I don't know, but they don't match at all (up to 20 % deviation).

 

We've got to find out when and why.

 

pyt22fr

Edited July 12, 2006 by pyt22fr

[+Red90]

OK, I had a close look at my last hiking trip.

 

The active tracklog includes some wandering when you are stopped (set to most often). The trip computer is ignoring these movements and being a little more conservative in determining movement. When I filtered the tracklog down a bit, it matched the trip computer distance. I would suspect setting the tracklog to "normal" would be about the same.

 

It seems to make sense to me and workign as one would expect.

[Bite_Me]

I got a brand new 60csx and found this very problem on my first hike with the unit. The hike was an up and back hike, so the distance travelled should be the same for the up and down legs.

 

Up the mountain leg:

Odo = 3.76 miles

Track log = 4.6 miles

 

Whole hike (Up leg plus down leg):

Odo = 8.33 miles

Track log = 9.2 miles

 

A little subtraction gives us the Down leg:

Odo = 8.33 - 3.76 = 4.57 miles

Track log = 9.2 - 4.6 = 4.6 miles

 

This is a somewhat streneous hike with 3850 feet of elevation gain.

 

So why is the odometer reading so much lower going up the mountain then it is going down? It's the same trail going up or down, so forest cover is the same. The main difference between the up hill leg versus the downhill leg is my speed. We took 4 hours (including breaks) going up, and 3 hours (including breaks) going down. Is there a minimum speed you need to be going before the odometer kicks in? According to the altitude profile, during the steep upper portion of the mountain we hike from the 7000 ft to 9500 ft in 1.64 miles. Gaining 2500 ft in 1.64 miles means we were going pretty slow. According to the track log this steep section took 2.5 hours (including breaks) to travel the 1.64 miles.

 

I find this problem rather surprising. My crappy old yellow etrex (version 2.14) GPS odometer is more accurate on a streneous hike then this new fancy 60csx unit.

[kb9nvh]

Your right..this deserves more explaination from garmin...

 

I got a brand new 60csx and found this very problem on my first hike with the unit. The hike was an up and back hike, so the distance travelled should be the same for the up and down legs.

 

Up the mountain leg:

Odo = 3.76 miles

Track log = 4.6 miles

 

Whole hike (Up leg plus down leg):

Odo = 8.33 miles

Track log = 9.2 miles

 

A little subtraction gives us the Down leg:

Odo = 8.33 - 3.76 = 4.57 miles

Track log = 9.2 - 4.6 = 4.6 miles

 

This is a somewhat streneous hike with 3850 feet of elevation gain.

 

So why is the odometer reading so much lower going up the mountain then it is going down? It's the same trail going up or down, so forest cover is the same. The main difference between the up hill leg versus the downhill leg is my speed. We took 4 hours (including breaks) going up, and 3 hours (including breaks) going down. Is there a minimum speed you need to be going before the odometer kicks in? According to the altitude profile, during the steep upper portion of the mountain we hike from the 7000 ft to 9500 ft in 1.64 miles. Gaining 2500 ft in 1.64 miles means we were going pretty slow. According to the track log this steep section took 2.5 hours (including breaks) to travel the 1.64 miles.

 

I find this problem rather surprising. My crappy old yellow etrex (version 2.14) GPS odometer is more accurate on a streneous hike then this new fancy 60csx unit.

[SandyGarrity]

To activate Mass Storage mode (with the latest firmware version installed on the unit):

 

1. Go to the Main Menu

2. Select Setup

3. Select Interface

4. There will be a button on the bottom of the screen labeled USB Mass Storage - highlight this and press enter.

5. If the unit is already plugged into the computer, you will be in Mass Storage Mode - If not, plug the unit into the computer at this point.

 

6. To remove the unit from the computer after you are done, you will want to find the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the System Tray of Windows (Bottom-right corner, near the time), click on the icon, and choose Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive(X:).

 

 

What you can do with this feature:

 

1. You can check the format (File System) of the data card in the unit.

a. Open My Computer, right-click on the drive assigned to the unit in Mass Storage Mode and choose properties.

b. The File System will be listed towards the top of this window

*note: our units work best with FAT File System - if it says FAT32 here, you will want to re-format the card.

 

2. You can re-format the card.

a. Open My Computer, right-click on the drive assigned to the unit in Mass Storage Mode and choose format....

b. In the Format window, you will want to use the drop-down menu to choose the File System to FAT (not FAT32).

c. Click Start to format the card.

 

3. You can retrieve tracklogs you have saved to the data card.

a. The ability to save an active track to the data card was added during the last firmware update. (Tracks > Setup > Data Card Setup)

 

b. If you have a saved track log, you can open My Computer and double click on the drive assigned to the unit in Mass Storage Mode.

 

c. This will open a window allowing you to view the contents of the card - you should see any supplemental maps, saved track logs, and any other files that may be on the data card

 

Thanks for this it is really useful

[Bite_Me]

I sent my hiking story to Garmin support and here is their response.

 

"Yes, there has been a noted issue with the Tack Log and Trip odometer

giving different readings. The engineers are aware of it and currently

working on a resolution. I believe my supervisor may already have a "Beta"

update that I can send you, if you wish to try that. Otherwise I will ask

you to wait until the next software update is released which should

address this problem."

 

So hopefully we slow-poke hikers will soon have a more accurate and dependable

60csx odometer.

 

A second strenuous hike I did confirmed the same odometer problem as the hike

I related to Garmin support. Slowly hiking up a steep grade produces a low

odometer reading versus the tracklog.

 

I got a brand new 60csx and found this very problem on my first hike with the unit. The hike was an up and back hike, so the distance travelled should be the same for the up and down legs.

 

Up the mountain leg:

Odo = 3.76 miles

Track log = 4.6 miles

 

Whole hike (Up leg plus down leg):

Odo = 8.33 miles

Track log = 9.2 miles

 

A little subtraction gives us the Down leg:

Odo = 8.33 - 3.76 = 4.57 miles

Track log = 9.2 - 4.6 = 4.6 miles

 

This is a somewhat streneous hike with 3850 feet of elevation gain.

 

So why is the odometer reading so much lower going up the mountain then it is going down? It's the same trail going up or down, so forest cover is the same. The main difference between the up hill leg versus the downhill leg is my speed. We took 4 hours (including breaks) going up, and 3 hours (including breaks) going down. Is there a minimum speed you need to be going before the odometer kicks in? According to the altitude profile, during the steep upper portion of the mountain we hike from the 7000 ft to 9500 ft in 1.64 miles. Gaining 2500 ft in 1.64 miles means we were going pretty slow. According to the track log this steep section took 2.5 hours (including breaks) to travel the 1.64 miles.

 

I find this problem rather surprising. My crappy old yellow etrex (version 2.14) GPS odometer is more accurate on a streneous hike then this new fancy 60csx unit.

[Vibramhead]

I sent my hiking story to Garmin support and here is their response.

 

"Yes, there has been a noted issue with the Tack Log and Trip odometer

giving different readings. The engineers are aware of it and currently

working on a resolution. I believe my supervisor may already have a "Beta"

update that I can send you, if you wish to try that. Otherwise I will ask

you to wait until the next software update is released which should

address this problem."

 

So hopefully we slow-poke hikers will soon have a more accurate and dependable

60csx odometer.

 

A second strenuous hike I did confirmed the same odometer problem as the hike

I related to Garmin support. Slowly hiking up a steep grade produces a low

odometer reading versus the tracklog.

 

I got a brand new 60csx and found this very problem on my first hike with the unit. The hike was an up and back hike, so the distance travelled should be the same for the up and down legs.

 

Up the mountain leg:

Odo = 3.76 miles

Track log = 4.6 miles

 

Whole hike (Up leg plus down leg):

Odo = 8.33 miles

Track log = 9.2 miles

 

A little subtraction gives us the Down leg:

Odo = 8.33 - 3.76 = 4.57 miles

Track log = 9.2 - 4.6 = 4.6 miles

 

This is a somewhat streneous hike with 3850 feet of elevation gain.

 

So why is the odometer reading so much lower going up the mountain then it is going down? It's the same trail going up or down, so forest cover is the same. The main difference between the up hill leg versus the downhill leg is my speed. We took 4 hours (including breaks) going up, and 3 hours (including breaks) going down. Is there a minimum speed you need to be going before the odometer kicks in? According to the altitude profile, during the steep upper portion of the mountain we hike from the 7000 ft to 9500 ft in 1.64 miles. Gaining 2500 ft in 1.64 miles means we were going pretty slow. According to the track log this steep section took 2.5 hours (including breaks) to travel the 1.64 miles.

 

I find this problem rather surprising. My crappy old yellow etrex (version 2.14) GPS odometer is more accurate on a streneous hike then this new fancy 60csx unit.

 

I got Garmin to send me their 3.0 "beta" firmware a couple of weeks ago, and I've done a couple of test hikes and walks around town. So far, it looks like the odometer & track log are matching up more closely: the difference seems to range from 1% to 3%. These hikes have been 4 to 8 miles. If this holds for longer hikes, I'll say the problem is fixed.

[pyt22fr]

 

I got Garmin to send me their 3.0 "beta" firmware a couple of weeks ago, and I've done a couple of test hikes and walks around town. So far, it looks like the odometer & track log are matching up more closely: the difference seems to range from 1% to 3%. These hikes have been 4 to 8 miles. If this holds for longer hikes, I'll say the problem is fixed.

 

The walks that I have made with current FW/SW release were also around town, and they didn't show much difference either.

 

I suggest you try the beta you have with different kinds of walking speeds, i.e first going up a good steep hill, and then getting down using the same exact track. That would be interesting.

 

pyt22fr

[+Red90]

The reason there is more descrepancy going up is what I explained above. When you stop the tracklog records the GPS wander which ads up in the tracklog. The odometer ignores these wandering movements. When going up, you stop a lot more than going down unless you are an ultra marothoner or other similar crazy person .

[+Skeets_de]

The reason there is more descrepancy going up is what I explained above. When you stop the tracklog records the GPS wander which ads up in the tracklog. The odometer ignores these wandering movements. When going up, you stop a lot more than going down unless you are an ultra marothoner or other similar crazy person .

 

What I noticed last week on a mountain hike in Italy (from 810 to 1550 meters) was that on the steep strenuous sections the GPS recorded the altitude changes but said we were not moving?? We were of course moving very slowly as it was steep. The track looks really spectacular loaded into Google Earth