Jump to content

Garmin Colorado FAQ and Issues List


Recommended Posts

I finally turned the compass off. It is utterly worthless. Yesterday while caching, I calibrated it at least 5 times on the same hike! Every time I found a cache and selected a new one to find, the compass would be off. Here's a screenshot I took when I was walking in a straight line holding the 400t level:

 

12965.jpg

 

All of a sudden the compass pointed in some random direction even though I had not changed direction or speed. I was heading SSW, not E. :laughing:

Link to comment

TeamGPSaxophone:

All of a sudden the compass pointed in some random direction even though I had not changed direction or speed. I was heading SSW, not E

In "compass mode" compass on your unit shows direction in which you are heading your unit ( top of your unit - like in sight'n go). It doesn't show direction , in which you are heading (going).

But - as I see - in Colorado 300 compass starts to work, when speed is about 7-8km/h.

And it hasn't possibility to manage it manually , like in 60CS. Why it doesn't exist in software ?

Christopher

Link to comment

TeamGPSaxophone:

All of a sudden the compass pointed in some random direction even though I had not changed direction or speed. I was heading SSW, not E

In "compass mode" compass on your unit shows direction in which you are heading your unit ( top of your unit - like in sight'n go). It doesn't show direction , in which you are heading (going).

But - as I see - in Colorado 300 compass starts to work, when speed is about 7-8km/h.

And it hasn't possibility to manage it manually , like in 60CS. Why it doesn't exist in software ?

Christopher

 

What?!?!?!??? :anibad::ph34r::wub:;)

 

Well obviously, TeamGPSaxophone must be heading in one direction and the GPSr must be heading in another. :P:D One more reason to keep your Colorado on a short leash.

Link to comment

It is differece between heading in "compass mode" and in "gps mode". It works on another base.

In Colorado (with actual firmware) it is impossible to adjust all settings manually (like in 60CS(x)).

So it is possible, that on pedestrian speed Colorado is switching between compass and gps mode.

Look at screen with waypoint list (compass on). When you go fast, you can see red arrows or bearings to waypoints. When you go slowly red arrows diappear. Why?

Christopher

Edited by sokolo0
Link to comment

TeamGPSaxophone:

All of a sudden the compass pointed in some random direction even though I had not changed direction or speed. I was heading SSW, not E

In "compass mode" compass on your unit shows direction in which you are heading your unit ( top of your unit - like in sight'n go). It doesn't show direction , in which you are heading (going).

But - as I see - in Colorado 300 compass starts to work, when speed is about 7-8km/h.

And it hasn't possibility to manage it manually , like in 60CS. Why it doesn't exist in software ?

Christopher

I was not turning myself or the Colorado in any direction on that straight section of trail. It was being held straight in front of me with the antenna "pointing" to where I was going. The screen display made it look as if the GPSr was turned to the east which was not the case at all.

Link to comment

It could be that it's not the magnetic compass, but position drift, which disabled the magnetic compass, as the Colorado thought you were moving above the speed limit for that.

 

The limit for the Colorado seems to be the same as the default on a 60 CSx. But on the Colorado you can't change it, just set the magnetic compass to disabled or automatic.

Link to comment

It could be that it's not the magnetic compass, but position drift, which disabled the magnetic compass, as the Colorado thought you were moving above the speed limit for that.

 

The limit for the Colorado seems to be the same as the default on a 60 CSx. But on the Colorado you can't change it, just set the magnetic compass to disabled or automatic.

I was hiking, probably 1.5-3 MPH. I had been hiking (and stopping for geocaches) for at least an hour when this happened. If the unit can't handle walking speed, it's defective.

Link to comment

I've been wondering about the compass in this unit.

In the past, one had to calibrate the compass to remove the very slight difference in magnetic field due to different batteries. However, this unit has magnets that are many, many times more powerful in the rock and roller wheel. How can the unit compensate for an extremely strong magnetic field that moves as the wheel is moved? Maybe this is why we are seeing more compass problems than before?

Link to comment

TeamGPSaxophone:

I was hiking, probably 1.5-3 MPH. I had been hiking (and stopping for geocaches) for at least an hour when this happened. If the unit can't handle walking speed, it's defective.

Yes it is defective. We can set in Others>Heading>Compass : only "auto" and "off", and nobody knows details of "auto" mode. Hope, it only effect of software prepared by unexperienced team. As we see it in many other issues.

I haven't said it before, but it is obvious, that without manual settings "COMPASS ALWAYS ON", gps-position-drift will disable magnetic compass very often, and because there is no icon on display (like in 60CS, VISTA HCX) we are not informed.

 

3Hawks - sorry for misunderstanding -I am not native english speaker. I live in Poland.

Christopher

Link to comment

The Garmin Colorado profile do not remember map selection.

 

When I do set a profile for Auto, Boat and Recreation, the Colorado do not

remeber map selection for each profile.

 

If you have installed Bluechart, Topo and Citynavigator, I would like my

Colorado to remeber the map I have selected for each profile.

 

I have sent a note to Garmin about this.

Link to comment

Thanks Anders, I did not find info about it on g-o-cashers issue list, so please add it..

 

When selection Auto view at the trip page (the one with speed on top), it is not possible to alter

the fileds. On the standard trip page every thing can be changed.

Edited by jotne
Link to comment

here's an annoyance, completely my fault

 

I uploaded a City Navigator map that took up all but 3M of the internal card. I then went to run the firmware update software. It needed 7M so it aborted.

 

Luckily, I had just backed up the contents of K:/Garmin to my hard drive.

 

Can I just copy gmapsupp.img back over?

 

I guess I need to ask can I simply delete the file thru windows?

Edited by Baumer
Link to comment

Since it was mentioned before regarding an issue of geocache waypoints (from our PQs) all not showing up in our 300s, I wanted to report my findings tonight.

 

All of mine, two PQs for a total of 820 caches, with NONE missing, DID appear to be in my 300. This is very good news to me. This is what I did. I get my PQs in Zip files, so I unZipped two of my weekly four and extracted the .gpx files directly to my /Garmin/GPX folder while interfaced to the PC. I did not use GSAK for this at all.

 

Next I opened the same two PQs of 820 geocaches in GSAK, listed them by Code and ascending in order so I could have them in view. In my 300 I did "Where To"/Geocaches, listed them by Code, and used "Spell" (don't ya love that?) to key in the GC code. I started with the first 30 listed this way, then jumped to around the 200th listing and searched another 30 or so, and kept jumping further along doing the same.

 

Then I sorted my GSAK list by distance from my Home coordinates and went to the farthest out and searched again by Code. I also went to the farthest East, West, North and South at random looking, and every single geocache I searched for appeared!

 

Previously I had loaded all 4 of my PQs with a total of about 1850 caches by extracting the .gpx files to my 300 and I did find that some where indeed not there. After reading in the forums that Jeremy said only 1000 geocache waypoints could be handled, I tried this test and I believe all my caches are in my 300 for displaying.

 

I love my 300 by the way! I've had my 60Cx since they 1st came out so I naturally compare its capabilities to the new 300. It will take more time and a few updates to make me relegate the 60Cx to the backpack and totally rely on the 300, but I feel it will be a most excellent unit. It already is a beauty and a pleasure to use.

Link to comment

I noticed there was an firmware update for my colorado. I downloaded it. where can i find out what the changes were?

 

No new firmware update for Colorado yet. Lastest and only version is 2.30

 

You may have seen a GPS chip firmware update if you have MKT chip "M" it has been updated to 2.60

Link to comment

When selection Auto view at the trip page (the one with speed on top), it is not possible to alter

the fileds. On the standard trip page every thing can be changed.

But that's intentional. The automotive trip computer is supposed to be a pre-defined data screen, with values that often are desired when driving. It's just for convenience. If you have other preferences, configure your own on the other screen.
Link to comment

TeamGPSaxophone:

All of a sudden the compass pointed in some random direction even though I had not changed direction or speed. I was heading SSW, not E

In "compass mode" compass on your unit shows direction in which you are heading your unit ( top of your unit - like in sight'n go). It doesn't show direction , in which you are heading (going).

But - as I see - in Colorado 300 compass starts to work, when speed is about 7-8km/h.

And it hasn't possibility to manage it manually , like in 60CS. Why it doesn't exist in software ?

Christopher

 

As another poster asked: What???

 

Once again please, but this time ... in English!

 

(I'm really sorry, but so many posts I read in here wouldn't even give you a passing grade in a junior high English class. I realize that some may not be able to edit mistakes in grammar, but short, complete sentences would really help. I don't mean to offend. I'm trying to motivate you and others.) If you want to be understood, clear English is a must. Seriously. (Edited after I found a mistake.)

Edited by LifeOnEdge!
Link to comment

It could be that it's not the magnetic compass, but position drift, which disabled the magnetic compass, as the Colorado thought you were moving above the speed limit for that.

 

The limit for the Colorado seems to be the same as the default on a 60 CSx. But on the Colorado you can't change it, just set the magnetic compass to disabled or automatic.

I was hiking, probably 1.5-3 MPH. I had been hiking (and stopping for geocaches) for at least an hour when this happened. If the unit can't handle walking speed, it's defective.

 

More than likely, your cell phone or some other magnetic source was affecting your GPS unit.

 

Cell phones, batteries, PDAs, belt buckles, and even fasteners on jackets are sources of fairly strong magnetic fields that you don't normally think about when you're outside. You may have a multi-tool in your pocket that you forgot about.

 

Let me give you this to think about. You're reading all this stuff about defects in design and function about these units and you are super sensitive to these issues. If you didn't have an electronic compass on your unit, but were using a magnetic compass and saw those same fluctuations, you would immediately look for the source of an unwanted magnetic field. Since your GPS unit comes equiped with different features, the first thing you think about when you see the needle deflect is "Oh god. I have a defective GPS."

 

Consider a controlled test where you geocache for an hour in clothing that you've checked and found with no magnetic sources. Leave everything else at home, install fresh alkaline batteries and calibrate your compass after you leave your vehicle, and then proceed to the first cache. See how that works and then go to the second cache and possibly back to the first cache again, observing your unit the entire time. I think you'll see different performance. If you don't, repeat the test indoors alongside a magnetic compass and compare the needles over some period of time. I'd be willing to bet that you'll see a difference and wonder why your unit is suddenly working properly. It could very well be a faulty unit, but it could also be something that you're doing.

________________________

 

Editing to add:

 

I just tested a couple things in regards to magnetic fields and the Colorado 400t.

 

You would be amazed at how magnetic a pocket knife is (mainly from the sharpening process.)

 

My cell phone will flip the compass needle completely around AND give me the "Hold Level" warning, so you know its a major disrupter of the magnetic fields around the GPS unit.

 

My GPSmap 60 CSx affects the Colorado in a similar way that my cell phone does.

 

My belt buckle (rather small for a male belt) deflects the electronic needle on my Colorado 400t until I hold it at arms length. I have a long upper torso and short arms, so your waist is probably closer to your GPS than mine is.

Edited by LifeOnEdge!
Link to comment

It could be that it's not the magnetic compass, but position drift, which disabled the magnetic compass, as the Colorado thought you were moving above the speed limit for that.

 

The limit for the Colorado seems to be the same as the default on a 60 CSx. But on the Colorado you can't change it, just set the magnetic compass to disabled or automatic.

I was hiking, probably 1.5-3 MPH. I had been hiking (and stopping for geocaches) for at least an hour when this happened. If the unit can't handle walking speed, it's defective.

 

More than likely, your cell phone or some other magnetic source was affecting your GPS unit.

 

Cell phones, batteries, PDAs, belt buckles, and even fasteners on jackets are sources of fairly strong magnetic fields that you don't normally think about when you're outside. You may have a multi-tool in your pocket that you forgot about.

 

Let me give you this to think about. You're reading all this stuff about defects in design and function about these units and you are super sensitive to these issues. If you didn't have an electronic compass on your unit, but were using a magnetic compass and saw those same fluctuations, you would immediately look for the source of an unwanted magnetic field. Since your GPS unit comes equiped with different features, the first thing you think about when you see the needle deflect is "Oh god. I have a defective GPS."

 

Consider a controlled test where you geocache for an hour in clothing that you've checked and found with no magnetic sources. Leave everything else at home, install fresh alkaline batteries and calibrate your compass after you leave your vehicle, and then proceed to the first cache. See how that works and then go to the second cache and possibly back to the first cache again, observing your unit the entire time. I think you'll see different performance. If you don't, repeat the test indoors alongside a magnetic compass and compare the needles over some period of time. I'd be willing to bet that you'll see a difference and wonder why your unit is suddenly working properly. It could very well be a faulty unit, but it could also be something that you're doing.

________________________

 

Editing to add:

 

I just tested a couple things in regards to magnetic fields and the Colorado 400t.

 

You would be amazed at how magnetic a pocket knife is (mainly from the sharpening process.)

 

My cell phone will flip the compass needle completely around AND give me the "Hold Level" warning, so you know its a major disrupter of the magnetic fields around the GPS unit.

 

My GPSmap 60 CSx affects the Colorado in a similar way that my cell phone does.

 

My belt buckle (rather small for a male belt) deflects the electronic needle on my Colorado 400t until I hold it at arms length. I have a long upper torso and short arms, so your waist is probably closer to your GPS than mine is.

It's still a bit early in the year for nudecaching :ph34r:

Link to comment

It's a serious bug on the compass page.

 

179.jpg205.jpg

I'm running ver 2.30. I have selected a waypoint and navigate to this point. The compass setting is automatic.

 

The waypoints position is

N 59° 43.220' E010° 49.793'

The data fields are correct they show bearing 183° and 14 km, however the red arrow points to about 30°. The speed is 0 km/h,

 

I switched to map menu and back to compass page. It's no red arrow at all.

 

225.jpg246.jpg

 

Press options and select Course poitner. This seems good.

 

Switch back to Bearing pointer. The bearing is still 183° but the pointer shows NW (or ca 310°).

 

The GPS was heading in the same direction for all images. The red arrow seems to show a direction in random.

 

I reported this problem to Garmin support and this is the answer:

"Thank you for contacting Garmin(Europe)Ltd.

This would appear to be a software related issue, i would adivse that you go to www.garmin.com/webupdater with your GPS connected to your computer and download and run the webudpater, this should update the software and is likely to resolve the problem. "

 

Since I also reported SW ver 2.3 this answer doesn't give any help.

Link to comment

I do not read in the manual that is supposed to be like that. I do not see any reason at all for not being able to set it up to fit my needs.

If you read the manual, and that shouldn't take you very long, then you'll notice that it's the bare bones, if there ever was one. Of course no such statement has made it into the manual, as it just barely describes what else the unit can do.

What shall I say? It can be understood that they intended to give you a pre-defined automotive-style trip computer, if you like that look, as it is on a nüvi. If not, select the other trip computer and configure that as you like it.

 

Confirmed from Garmin:

Colorado do only support 1000 waypoint/geocaching/favorites all togeather.

From whom? That's not correct either, which is why I ask.

 

a compass affected by other electronic devices and pieces of metal?

Wierd!

I agree! A magnetic instrument affected by magnetic objects? What were they thinking?

 

Regarding the compass thing gacrux have found I think the guy at Garmin didn't understand your message. I had to read it a couple of times to understand perfectly what you have found.

I think it's wrong too. I have to do some tests of my own. I'll come back.

Link to comment

Confermed from Garmin

 

Colorado do only support 1000 waypoint/geocaching/favorites all togeather.

That is way to low.

 

While I agree that this is way too low - I only wish that I was sharing your same experience, with all caches (assuming a dataset of less than 1000) were appearing in the Colorado.

 

I've written extensively about my experiments - mostly over in the GSAK forum, as that's the tool I typically use for exporting data to my CO.

 

I found your description interesting as to how you confirmed that all the caches were showing up. I've tried both loading up the unit with a single GPX file (containing < 1000 caches) - as well as pushing hundreds of individual GPX files (per Marky's Performance Experiment. The latter results in dramatically improved performance (response time of the unit when selecting and viewing geocache data, reading hint, etc).

 

However, this approach (pushing, for example, 250 individual GPX files) results in lost data - and, it seems to vary by application. For example: Yesterday, I pushed 200+ single-cache GPX files "closest to home" - and my spot checks of data seemed to show that all the caches appeared (though I was less thorough than what you describe above).

 

Contrarily - when coming home from Tahoe the other day, I pushed 244 GPX files, that "lined the route" (within .5 mile of the arc between Tahoe and the Bay Area). When the unit started up, and I went to the nearest "geocache" - it was over 78 miles away. I had loaded an identical set of POIs, for comparison - and there was a whole slew of caches missing - even though I was WELL below the 1000 cache "limit". However, I pushed a single GPX file containing these same 244 caches... and all seemed to be included (though again - I was less thorough in my evaluation of that - but I can say that the 17 caches I 'sampled' on the drive home, spread across some distance - all appeared to be in the unit). Unfortunately, I suffered the performance lag that accompanies large geocache datasets (at 995 caches, the performance hit is almost unbearable).

 

I'm still working the 'experiment', and trying to determine what criteria cause caches in GPX files to 'not appear'. I'm reporting my results either here, or in the Performance Experiment #1 thread, or in the GSAK with the Garmin Colorado thread, depending on the nature of the experiment and findings.

 

Thanks for sharing your 'verification process' - I think I'm going to try it, both for a 'cluster' of caches around home (of varying sizes), as well as 'caches along a route' (which seemed to yield quite different results).

 

When is that new firmware going to be delivered? Has Garmin learned nothing from the Internet, agile development, and iterative releases ala Flickr, Google Maps, etc? Just give us what you've got - at least, assuming it doesn't make things worse. If there was a formal beta testing program, I'm sure many of us would qualify, and be willing to 'take one for the team' with buggy software, and document and report our findings.

 

I was so encouraged when the first firmware update was released within days of purchasing the unit - but now, it's been close to a month since the last release. I remember some pretty significant bugs in the 60-series (and, as just a gentle reminder - I had my 60CSx "lose it's mind" the other day while out chasing #6K - suddenly, while driving down the freeway, it threw a 'route calculation error - no route to destination' - why? Because it had suddenly 'lost' all its maps. In my experience, the only recovery from this problem is a power cycle).

 

I've said it before, but - I, too, and a very satisfied 400t owner. I've been trying to use the unit exclusively, though I have kept the 60CSx with me - trying to leave it behind in the car when I go after the cache, though. I've been successful in this in all but a few cases.

 

That reminds me of another issue - but I'll create a separate post for it.

Link to comment

Using both the 60CSx and Colorado 400t side-by-side in the field for several weeks now - I have an observation, and wonder if anyone else is experiencing the same?

 

Here's the situation: Arrive at a cache. Using the Colorado, I DNF it, just zero'ing out in the middle of the grass. So, I grab the 60CSx from the dash, calibrate the compass in BOTH units, and then hold one in each hand while I search.

 

I'm very familiar and comfortable with the 'refresh rate' on the 60CSx. Both the compass, and distance, seem very 'dynamic'. However, it would seem, on the CO, that this information is either 'refreshed' less often, or the unit simply lacks the calculation accuracy (I seriously doubt the latter).

 

Holding both units straight out in front of me: As I walk, the 60CSx shows the distance to cache changing rapidly - while the CO seems to have a 'lag'. Similarly, as I turn, the compass arrow on the 60CSx tracks with the movement - whereas on the CO, it seems more 'jumpy'. Not wrong, per se - just... less frequently updated??

 

Anyway - just an observation from using the two units together. I know there's been LOTS of discussion around the compass - but this seems a bit different. Anyone else notice anything like this?

Link to comment

I did an experiment similar to what gacrux did above, with the compass arrow pointing in different directions. My experiment, done from my current location (TV sofa in front of James Bond) was 100% consistent in all ways. Numeric data fields and different arrows were all of the same opinion.

 

Wonder what was different when gacrux did his test? Can you repeat it, with the same result?

We aren't even that far away from each other, so it's nothing with being south of the equator or so.

Edited by apersson850
Link to comment

Possible usability improvement: ability to lock map scale so that rock-n-roller can't change it by accident when in the pocket

 

Today we went out to do some cross-country skiing and every time I took Colorado out of my pocket to check out location on the map, map scale was several levels different than the scale I put it into the pocket with (typically from 500m to 1.2, 3 or 5km), I had to 'zoom in' almost every time.

 

Options menu in the map view is pretty empty and this should be trivial to implement.

 

Has anyone else noticed similar problem?

Link to comment

I did an experiment similar to what gacrux did above, with the compass arrow pointing in different directions. My experiment, done from my current location (TV sofa in front of James Bond) was 100% consistent in all ways. Numeric data fields and different arrows were all of the same opinion.

 

Wonder what was different when gacrux did his test? Can you repeat it, with the same result?

We aren't even that far away from each other, so it's nothing with being south of the equator or so.

 

I have really tried hard to reproduce this error, but it seems to work OK now.

At the point I did this tests I had 2300 geocaches loaded. Is it any overflow condition?

Yesterday I tried to reload 2300 geocaches to the GXP area, but the compass works OK.

I know I used Colorado firmware 2.3 during the tests, but I can't remember if I had updated the GPS software to 2.6.

Is it possible that this was fixed with the GPS-software?

Another explanation it that the unit performed a software/hardware reset when I tried to drown it.

Link to comment

As far as I've understood, there's no fixed limit for the number of geocaches you can have, but at Garmin, they thought in the ballpark of a 1000. So from that point of view, 2300 are many. But I can't see that it should make any difference to the arrow direction problem you saw.

 

I rather think you found the solution to that yourself. So here the conclusion is for everyone: If you have any problems with your Colorado, just submerge it, and that particular problem will go away! :drama:

Link to comment

Sorry if this has already been answered but I have just browsed the topic and can't see it -- is there any way in which files can be transferred from the SD card to internal memory? I appreciate that it can be done via a PC but what about in the field?

I was thinking it should be possible to hold one gpx file for one set of geocaches in use and another for another set to transfer if moving to a different part of the country. The idea being to limit the number in storage at any one time and thus speed up startup.

Link to comment

No, there isn't. But in some cases, the unit can use data from the card, if it's there. I haven't tried that with geocaches. Is it possible?

If so, you could at least have different cache files on different cards, if you like.

Ah Ha. Cool! I just ran a test at "the kitchen table" and you can have a usable geocache .gpx file on the SD card. This is very good news. It means you could have multiple cards loaded with different cache .gpx files to switch out as needed.

 

Connected via USB to the PC I created a new folder on the card called GPX, just like the GPX folder in the internal drive. I took all my caches (.gpx files) off the internal memory and put them all in my new GPX folder on the card. When booting up they are all there. I also tested putting my cache .gpx files directly in the garmin folder on the card. They will not show up this way.

 

Next, I tried putting geocache .gpx files on both the internal memory and the card. This also worked! I took a test PQ of mine from 1500 miles away they are all there. I did keep the total number of caches to below the "1000 limit" for these tests.

 

So in conclusion you can have caches on both the internal memory and the SD card. I have the 300 by the way running 2.3/2/6, with a 2GB SD card where I have all my mapping.

Link to comment

Something interesting I found out today that may have been messing me up with regards to geocaches. I was trying to figure out why some of the caches weren't showing up. So, I did a Spell search on the caches I did on Satruday, and only 5 of the 17 would show up. Also, they were the 5 oldest (all the others were fairly recent). I went to look at my GPX file on the unit, and found that none of those caches were in the unit. How did I know that? Well, it turns out the GSAK export I used morphed the waypoint ID to something that didn't start with GC, and all the geocaches showing up in my GPS started with GC. Okay, something is very weird. So I mounted the GPS Drives and looked around. I tossed the GPX file in the trash and rebooted the GPS. So, with no GPX file (other than the ones in Current and Archive), I still am seeing all these geocaches! Okay, weird, I'll throw away Current.gpx. They're still showing up! This is nuts!

 

Then I had this idea that maybe this has something to do with how Macs deal with files put in the trash. Maybe the Colorado was "seeing" files in the trash, and loading them. I emptied the trash and rebooted the GPS. No more geocaches! So, maybe it was seeing trashed files and loading them. I loaded the GPX file that I made for this weekend. Now all the geocaches are showing up, with the formatted waypoint IDs. Nice! Still not quite sure what is going on, but maybe I'll eventually figure it out. I did a google to see if I could find something that described how Mac OSX stored trashed files, but I couldn't.

 

One new "bug" I found, now that I have my morphed waypoint IDs showing in my list (new to me, at least). The geocache list only shows the first 7 characters of the waypoint ID. I don't think they should artificially limit us to 7 characters, they should display what ever is in that field (up to what will display on one line in that list display).

 

--Marky

Link to comment

Question

 

I am having problems when navigating to a waypoint. When I navigate to the waypoint via a route I can't get the compass to show me a line of sight to the waypoint once I am close. The GPS still shows me a route and there does not appear to be a way to change to line of sight to the waypoint. When I go to the compass view I only get the distance based on the route and again not line of sight. Am I missing something in set up. This appears to be a new problem and I am not sure why?

Link to comment

There are settings for bearing vs. course lines on the map, and bearing vs. course arrow on the compass page, if that's what you are looking for?

Have you not found these settings, or do they not work as expected?

 

I am familiar with those settings on the map and it does not matter which is used, I get the same result. It is acting like lock on road is on but I have checked that and it is off. As far as a compass settings are concerned, I don't see anything that works to change bearing vs course to set up line of sight to waypoint. If I go to a geocache I can leave it on the first screen and see line of sight and switch to compass and it remains that way. Once I hit go to location it goes to the route (course) and then the compass switches to the route. Once I commit to a route view of the map there is not a quick way to switch to a line of sight view for distance. I am not saying it should function as my 60 series but there was a quick way to switch back and forth between course and bearing. I hope that makes sense. I am probably just missing what setting to change for the compass?

Link to comment

Returning the Colorado 400t

 

Sad to say, but, after much thought, I am returning my Colorado 400t. Besides the numerous software issues that have appeared here and on other forums, there are some issues that are likely to be hardware related that updates are not likely to solve in the near future.

 

1) The screen is darker than the 60 CSx and has a much narrower viewing angle. Even in bright sunlight, the backlight needs to be on and the Colorado screen was still harder to see than the 60 CSx screen with its backlight off.

 

2) Battery life is terrible. With 2300 mAh batteries, I could get, maybe, two hours of use. I'm sure that's mostly because the backlight has to be on almost all the time.

 

3) Random shutdowns and restarts, which could be software related, make the Colorado unreliable in the field. Since I have to bring my 60 CSx as a backup, I don't really need to carry the Colorado as well.

 

The most frustrating part of all this is that I have had six Garmin GPS units before the Colorado and each one has performed flawlessly over the years. My hope is that, over time, Garmin will correct the hardware and software issues that currently exist with the Colorado so that I can purchase another one. I look forward to that day because the Colorado has great potential. It's just not there yet.

Edited by MaineWanderer
Link to comment

Then I had this idea that maybe this has something to do with how Macs deal with files put in the trash. Maybe the Colorado was "seeing" files in the trash, and loading them. I emptied the trash and rebooted the GPS. No more geocaches! So, maybe it was seeing trashed files and loading them. I loaded the GPX file that I made for this weekend. Now all the geocaches are showing up, with the formatted waypoint IDs. Nice! Still not quite sure what is going on, but maybe I'll eventually figure it out. I did a google to see if I could find something that described how Mac OSX stored trashed files, but I couldn't.

Yup, I ran into this early on, using my 400t with my MacBook Pro. I used Parallels/Windows to poke around on the 400t and found that OSX leaves a normally-invisible ".Trashes" directory in the "Garmin" root directory. If you use OSX's Finder to "delete" a GPX file, it is simply moved to that directory, and the Colorado still finds it. It seems that "emptying" the trash works. I hadn't tried that (wasn't ready to empty my MacBook's trash), but used Windows to delete that directory.

 

The fix would be for the firmware to be changed so that the Colorado ignores anything in that folder, if it exists.

 

(I assume the same problem would occur using a card.)

Edited by Lightning Jeff
Link to comment

Returning the Colorado 400t

 

Sad to say, but, after much thought, I am returning my Colorado 400t. Besides the numerous software issues that have appeared here and on other forums, there are some issues that are likely to be hardware related that updates are not likely to solve in the near future.

 

1) The screen is darker than the 60 CSx and has a much narrower viewing angle. Even in bright sunlight, the backlight needs to be on and the Colorado screen was still harder to see than the 60 CSx screen with its backlight off.

 

2) Battery life is terrible. With 2300 mAh batteries, I could get, maybe, two hours of use. I'm sure that's mostly because the backlight has to be on almost all the time.

 

3) Random shutdowns and restarts, which could be software related, make the Colorado unreliable in the field. Since I have to bring my 60 CSx as a backup, I don't really need to carry the Colorado as well.

 

The most frustrating part of all this is that I have had six Garmin GPS units before the Colorado and each one has performed flawlessly over the years. My hope is that, over time, Garmin will correct the hardware and software issues that currently exist with the Colorado so that I can purchase another one. I look forward to that day because the Colorado has great potential. It's just not there yet.

 

Just curious, Have you installed 2.30 and 2.60? What you are describing is how mine worked before those two updates on 01/22

Link to comment

Returning the Colorado 400t

 

Sad to say, but, after much thought, I am returning my Colorado 400t. Besides the numerous software issues that have appeared here and on other forums, there are some issues that are likely to be hardware related that updates are not likely to solve in the near future.

 

1) The screen is darker than the 60 CSx and has a much narrower viewing angle. Even in bright sunlight, the backlight needs to be on and the Colorado screen was still harder to see than the 60 CSx screen with its backlight off.

 

2) Battery life is terrible. With 2300 mAh batteries, I could get, maybe, two hours of use. I'm sure that's mostly because the backlight has to be on almost all the time.

 

3) Random shutdowns and restarts, which could be software related, make the Colorado unreliable in the field. Since I have to bring my 60 CSx as a backup, I don't really need to carry the Colorado as well.

 

The most frustrating part of all this is that I have had six Garmin GPS units before the Colorado and each one has performed flawlessly over the years. My hope is that, over time, Garmin will correct the hardware and software issues that currently exist with the Colorado so that I can purchase another one. I look forward to that day because the Colorado has great potential. It's just not there yet.

 

Just curious, Have you installed 2.30 and 2.60? What you are describing is how mine worked before those two updates on 01/22

 

I'm sorry to say that both updates were installed. - Mainewanderer

Edited by MaineWanderer
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...