60cs Arrow Not Behaving As Expected

[+Blue Power Ranger]

I recently upgraded from an eXplorist 100 to a Garmin 60CS for several reasons and for the most part, I am pleased. There is one issue I am experiencing with the 60CS that is driving me nuts.

 

When I am closing in on the cache location, the distance to destination number decreases as expected but frequently the arrow is still pointing off somewhere else.

 

Example: The cache is 300' North of me. The arrow will point to the "N" which is correct but even if I am walking North right towards the cache and the distance numbers count down just as expected, the GPS might still read that the North is to either side of me or even behind me. Why doesn't the GPSr properly recognize my direction of travel? I don't want to have to know what north is. I want the GPSr to tell me. I have calibrated the compass.

 

When I am traveling at speed such as in a car, this doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

 

With my old Magellan, it would usually correct the arrow direction within a few steps. It seemed to recognize my direction of travel far more quickly even though I typically had far worse satellite reception.

 

Any advice?

[+media601]

The 60CS does not have a three-axis compass and needs to be held level to function properly. Also, the compass needs to be recalibrated everytime you change batteries, and whenever else the unit decides you need to.

 

Try disabling the compass by pressing and holding the Page button (you can re-enable it the same way). The unit should now point in the right direction as long as you are moving and have a lock.

 

[edit after re-reading your post]

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "the GPS might still read that the North is to either side of me or even behind me". When you are in geocaching mode (that is, when the waypoint you are seeking has a geocache icon) the arrow will have a single red arrow and will point at the cache, not at a compass heading. The compass markings on the pointer are irrevalent unless you stop navigation.

Edited July 24, 2006 by media601

[+Blue Power Ranger]

Try disabling the compass by pressing and holding the Page button (you can re-enable it the same way). The unit should now point in the right direction as long as you are moving and have a lock.

 

So having the internal compass enabled may have actually been causing confusion as to my direction of travel? I can't wait to try this!

[+Blue Power Ranger]

I'm not sure what you mean by "the GPS might still read that the North is to either side of me or even behind me". When you are in geocaching mode (that is, when the waypoint you are seeking has a geocache icon) the arrow will have a single red arrow and will point at the cache, not at a compass heading. The compass markings on the pointer are irrevalent unless you stop navigation.

 

Let me see if I can make more sense... it is kind of hard to explain. The arrow points (or should point) to the cache, this I know.

 

Let us say that the cache is to the west of my current position. The arrow should be pointing west. It does correctly point to the "W" on the screen as expected. If I walk in the direction I know is West, the distance counts down as exptected 100' ... 90'... 80'... etc. The problem is that the orientation of the arrow is incorrect. The arrow may be pointed behind me indicating that that is West even though that may actually be East. I have to on my own know what direction is West to get to the cache. The arrow is often pointed in an incorrect direction.

 

Ugh... did I just make that even less clear?

[+media601]

Ugh... did I just make that even less clear?

 

Ummm, just try it with the compass off. If it works better, you're having a problem with the compass. When this happens to me, recalibrating works wonders. That's the best I can do. Good luck.

[+Miragee]

Could the GPSr be set to show the bearing arrow? I accidentally set my Vista to that one time and thought my GPSr was broken.

[+Renegade Knight]

With the compass off the GPS should work exactly like you expect. If I recall (and I could recall wrong) the GPS will turn off the compass when you are moving.

 

It sounds like you have a problem with the GPS. Night Stalker has a 60CS. His first had an erratic compass. If you tried to follow it you would be a shoe in for any movie scene requiring a drunken walk. He eventually contacted Garmin they decided the GPS was FUBAR and replaced it.

[+Sputnik 57]

Could the GPSr be set to show the bearing arrow? I accidentally set my Vista to that one time and thought my GPSr was broken.

Listen to the Sage of San Diego County. If the arrow is set to show the bearing instead of the course, it will behave as you have described. I'd give this a quick look.

[+Miragee]

<snip> Listen to the Sage of San Diego County. <snip>

[+Blue Power Ranger]

Could the GPSr be set to show the bearing arrow?

 

Nope, it isn't the bearing arrow.

 

I did try very briefly with the compass off as suggested just in the parking lot at work. That did seem to work more according to what I had expected and grown used to on my old eXplorist but as I said, my test was brief.

 

I will try with the compass off for a while and hopefully that will do the trick. I already look stupid enough caching without constantly spinning in circles to calibrate the compass. If I ever do need the compass, it is just a button and two spins away.

[+JPatton]

You may want to try changing the speed that the compass turns off and on.. Hit Menu>Menu>Setup>Heading. I have mine set to 1 mph and 5 seconds. I think it comes set at 10 mph which means you have to be moving that fast for the compass to be affected by movement.

[+Blue Power Ranger]

You may want to try changing the speed that the compass turns off and on.. Hit Menu>Menu>Setup>Heading. I have mine set to 1 mph and 5 seconds. I think it comes set at 10 mph which means you have to be moving that fast for the compass to be affected by movement.

 

Another great suggestion. Is there a benefit cache-wise to leaving the compass on and just changing this setting instead?

[+Hynr]

When my wife had a 60CS and I had a Legend, I just told her to turn the stupid compass off and we had peace in the family since we ended up at the same spot most of the time.

Now that I have a 60SCx and she still has her 60CS I learned that it's even better to just get used to recalibrating it every time you start geocaching. At first I was a bit selfconscious about turning around in place for two turns until someone pointed out to me that that you only need to turn the GPSr.

[+Cacheoholic]

Are you sure you’re holding the GPSr flat with the screen up to the sky? You MUST hold it horizontal for the electronic compass to work!!! This is a little bit of a problem with older (non-SiRF) Garmin units because the GPSr doesn’t receive as well in that position.

[+Blue Power Ranger]

Are you sure you’re holding the GPSr flat with the screen up to the sky? You MUST hold it horizontal for the electronic compass to work!!! This is a little bit of a problem with older (non-SiRF) Garmin units because the GPSr doesn’t receive as well in that position.

I guess that explains the constand "hold level" messages I was getting too. I think I will just keep the compass off as I don't see any real benefit to using it for typical cache outings. I think it just causes me more confusion than anything else.

[+Munin]

Another great suggestion. Is there a benefit cache-wise to leaving the compass on and just changing this setting instead?

Leaving the magnetic compass running continuously will drain the batteries noticeably faster - it's not as big a draw as running the backlight continuously, but you'll notice the difference in battery life over a full day of caching. I leave the mag compass off most of the time, and just toggle it on as needed (quick bearing check and/or reorienting the map page when I'm standing still). In my mind, there's little point in leaving the mag compass on all the time anyways, unless you habitually walk around with the GPSr held almost perfectly horizontal - if you normally carry the GPSr nearly vertical (hanging from the lanyard, clipped to your belt, etc) then the magnetic compass won't work right anyways, so what's the use in having it running?

 

The setting that was mentioned (time/speed on the Setup->Heading menu) is for specifying when the GPSr automatically switches between the mag compass and the non-magnetic (GPS position-derived) compass. I.e., if you set it to 1mph/5 seconds, then as soon as you achieve a speed of at least 1 mph for at least 5 seconds, the GPS will automatically stop using the mag compass and switch to GPS-position-derived headings, and vice-versa if your speed drops below 1 mph for at least 5 seconds. It assumes that you're leaving the mag compass turned on all the time, and that once you drop below a certain speed you'd rather be using the mag heading instead of the GPS-position-derived heading. (Or conversely, when you're traveling at faster speeds, like in the car, it automatically switches to the GPS-position-derived heading - probably a good idea, since it's awfully unlikely that the GPSr is horizontal when you're using it in the car, rendering the mag heading useless anyways.)

 

Personally, I wouldn't bother much with diddling these settings - you almost certainly don't want to use the mag compass inside a car anyways (unit isn't held horizontal with 99% of the GPSr mounts so mag heading is bogus, not to mention the effects of large chunks of ferrous metals on any sort of magnetic compass), and you almost certainly don't want to leave the mag compass running all the time when you're hiking to the cache (unit frequently non-horizontal causing bogus mag headings, plus increased drain on the battery).

 

I think Cacheoholic has the best suggestion - make sure you're holding the GPSr almost perfectly horizontal when you're using the mag compass. It doesn't take much of a tilt at all to throw it off kilter...maybe 5-10 degrees away from level. You can get a feel for how level "level" is by calibrating the compass, then going to the compass page and slowly tilting the GPSr up and down and watching as the "Hold Level" message appears and disappears. This warning does not appear on the map page, so getting a feel for where "level" is comes in handy when you toggle on the compass to orient the map, like when you reach a trail branch and want to see which choice looks more appropriate. (When using the mag compass to orient the map display, I'll sometimes switch to the compass page for a moment to double-check that it's not screaming "Hold Level" at me and adjust my hand if necessary, then flip back to the map display to contemplate which wrong trail I should choose next.)

 

Other minor tips: Make sure you hold the compass level while calibrating it - a miscalibrated compass is a royal pain in the posterior. Make sure you're not standing next to or under objects that might interfere with the magnetic fields - power lines, cars, etc. Make sure you're not accidentally holding something magnetic or ferrous near the GPSr while calibrating/using it - like, say, placing a regular old Boy Scout compass on top of your GPSr in an attempt to double-check the heading, or holding the GPSr at waist level if you have a large iron belt buckle. (I went a little bonkers during the winter until I discovered that the clasps on my gloves were magnetic. )

[+Blue Power Ranger]

I had time to grab just a couple of quickies at lunch today. This time I went with the compass turned off. This seemed to work much more like what I had grown accustomed to. I am back in my comfort zone.

[Grasscatcher]

When navigating to a spot, (cache,car,whatever...) leave the compass off. If you have selected a "Go To" item, follow the arrow.....it is pointing to the spot. That is what you have told it to do,

The compass only confuses the issue. ....only use it when standing still, and then only use it after calibration and like a manual compass. (you just don't have to carry an extra item!)

Calibration? In the field, just hold your palm out in front of you and level, rotate the GPSrs on your palm with your other hand. At home, lay the GPSR flat on the table,carpet,counter (away from any metallic objects) and rotate it.