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Garmin Colorado FAQ and Issues List


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Three things to check first 1) is your electronic compass in "Auto" mode, 2) is it calibrated and 3) are you holding the GPS level? If the answer to 1) is yes you'll need to verify the last two.

 

You still might see erratic behavior of the compass when you get near your destination, such is the nature of high sensitivity receivers.

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Ok, so my 400t should be here in a few days. I've read through this thread and comprehended some of it and hopefully I'll comprehend more once I have the unit in my hands so I can follow along at home. I'm far from a computer whiz.

 

Question:

I'm gathering that this thing won't do trackback? Is that really true?

My dinosaur eMap (my only prior GPSr) tracks back quite easily. If I'm hiking rough terrain and want to go back the same way I came so as not to have to bushwhack more than necessary, will this unit lead me out or not? :laughing:

 

I'm looking forward to getting my 400t, and I'm sure all the bells and whistles will blow me away, but it does seem that some basic functions are missing.

 

Thanks for all the effort in putting together the FAQ and sending issue lists to Garmin. :blink:

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Ok, so my 400t should be here in a few days. I've read through this thread and comprehended some of it and hopefully I'll comprehend more once I have the unit in my hands so I can follow along at home. I'm far from a computer whiz.

 

Question:

I'm gathering that this thing won't do trackback? Is that really true?

My dinosaur eMap (my only prior GPSr) tracks back quite easily. If I'm hiking rough terrain and want to go back the same way I came so as not to have to bushwhack more than necessary, will this unit lead me out or not? :laughing:

 

I'm looking forward to getting my 400t, and I'm sure all the bells and whistles will blow me away, but it does seem that some basic functions are missing.

 

Thanks for all the effort in putting together the FAQ and sending issue lists to Garmin. :blink:

 

Yes the Colorado will backtrack. It may do it a bit differently from your previous unit though

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Thanks for the tip.

 

Thats something new for me. :unsure:

Btw is it possible to have the Colorado create new tracks automatically whenever I start a new route for example?

Right now it just seems that the Colorado saves everything under one track.

You have to turn it on and off through Settings. Some ppl have two profiles, one with it on and one with it off and switch between profiles - I haven't tried this yet but probably will because I turned it off then forgot to turn it on ... I really would have liked to have that track.

 

I just jumped into this topic but if it hasn't been mentioned check out GPSVisualizer

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Where to/Track

 

Choose a saved track

 

Press "Go"

Hmm, maybe I'm missing something. I saved a track, but I can't trackBACK with it. Only in the original direction. Tell me what I'm doing wrong.

 

2nd question:

Once I load City Navigator, can I find out the address of my current location? On my eMap, I use the pan button...just tap it quickly, not enough to really move it, just so it hovers over my current location and it will give me an address. It's not precise, but what I mostly need (yes, I do NEED this feature) is to know the street name and block number at any given time.

 

2nd question, part II: With City Navigator, will I be able to enter a street address and have it point the way? I don't even need turn-by-turn, just a GoTo line and an arrow are sufficient.

 

I really like the Colorado so far, but it has to perform these basic functions in order for it to be a really useful tool for me.

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Seeing that I have had nothing but problems with the Colorado as far as geocaching, I have given up on it. Or I should say, it has given up on me. When I first got it I was totally in love with it. Then trying to take the found caches off was a headache. Then the accuracy was way off, I mean like over 30 feet off at beast. Now it starts up to load maps and shut off. I put fresh batteries in so I know that is not the problem. It stays powered up when connected to my computer or car adapter but not on battery power.

 

[/rant]

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I have been using the Colorado for almost a month and I like it.

It is very easy to use.

The roller works well. I dont find entering text to be particularly difficult.

 

It works well, very accurate and very customizable as well.

This unit is fantastic for what I use it for which is geocaching.

 

With this said, I do wish Garmin would continue with its support and continue to enhance the device.

I would like to see Garmin update a few things.

- Gps accuracy of course - Always top priority. :D

- Faster GPS lock - I think there is something wrong with the unit becuse it is capable of hot fixing on Sat when turned on, it does it all the time, but more often than not when its turned on it tries to acquire sat and that can take awhile. I dont know why it cant hot fix all the time, I am hoping the experts here can explain this feature to me and why the Colorado only does it once in awhile??

 

- Compass accuracy - this is a bummer for geocaching because a reliable compass that is accurate is very important and alas the Colorado compass is not. :D

I have it off as per sugestions of the many users on this great forum and it works quite well, but I do wish the electronic compass would work as well, because sometimes I would like to be able t stand still and see where to go. Again hopefully Garmin hasnt forgotten us and give us an update.

 

- The backlight issue - its more annoying than anything else, having to set the backlight everytime the unit is turned on, really what was Garmin thinking??

And thats it. Those are the four things that I really want Garmin to update.

Sure there are other things I would like to see improved but they are not that important to me.

 

A great unit overall.

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- Faster GPS lock - I think there is something wrong with the unit becuse it is capable of hot fixing on Sat when turned on, it does it all the time, but more often than not when its turned on it tries to acquire sat and that can take awhile. I dont know why it cant hot fix all the time, I am hoping the experts here can explain this feature to me and why the Colorado only does it once in awhile??
The term "hotfix" is one of many trademark names for the GPS "remembering for a few days" the position of the satellites. The Colorado, which has the same GPS chip as the eTrex H series, has neither the CPU capacity nor the memory to preform the needed calculations. Not sure how you use your CO, but for me I leave it on for hours at a time and the initial slow satellite acquisition is a minor inconvenience.

 

- Compass accuracy - this is a bummer for geocaching because a reliable compass that is accurate is very important and alas the Colorado compass is not. sad.gif

I have it off as per sugestions of the many users on this great forum and it works quite well, but I do wish the electronic compass would work as well, because sometimes I would like to be able t stand still and see where to go. Again hopefully Garmin hasnt forgotten us and give us an update.

Because I use the internal 24K Topos for positional reference, have no use for a compass.

 

- The backlight issue - its more annoying than anything else, having to set the backlight everytime the unit is turned on, really what was Garmin thinking??
The backlight on the CO works the same as its immediate predecessors, the eTrex and 60/76, so why would you expect any other behavior? I for one don't use the backlight outdoors, so not an issue.

 

I, like you, am overall very please with my CO. It has many features that my eTrex lacked plus that wonderful large map screen. I'll now wait for the version with the roll up OLED 5x7" screen so I can see even more of my maps. :D

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- Faster GPS lock - I think there is something wrong with the unit becuse it is capable of hot fixing on Sat when turned on, it does it all the time, but more often than not when its turned on it tries to acquire sat and that can take awhile. I dont know why it cant hot fix all the time, I am hoping the experts here can explain this feature to me and why the Colorado only does it once in awhile??
The term "hotfix" is one of many trademark names for the GPS "remembering for a few days" the position of the satellites. The Colorado, which has the same GPS chip as the eTrex H series, has neither the CPU capacity nor the memory to preform the needed calculations. Not sure how you use your CO, but for me I leave it on for hours at a time and the initial slow satellite acquisition is a minor inconvenience.

 

It depends how far the caches are.

If theres caches on the same trail I will leave it on all the time, but if I have to drive to another spot then more likely will turn the unit off (to save batteries) because I dont use the unit for driving (I have a Nuvi for that). And yes it is an incovenience, sometimes the Colorado is fast acquiring sat and sometimes it takes awhile.

Doesnt the Oregon and Colorado use the same processor?

 

- Compass accuracy - this is a bummer for geocaching because a reliable compass that is accurate is very important and alas the Colorado compass is not. sad.gif

I have it off as per sugestions of the many users on this great forum and it works quite well, but I do wish the electronic compass would work as well, because sometimes I would like to be able t stand still and see where to go. Again hopefully Garmin hasnt forgotten us and give us an update.

Because I use the internal 24K Topos for positional reference, have no use for a compass.

 

I do that too but the pointer is very useful and alas its useless with the electronic compass on.

I usually switch to the compass screen when getting close to the cache.

 

- The backlight issue - its more annoying than anything else, having to set the backlight everytime the unit is turned on, really what was Garmin thinking??
The backlight on the CO works the same as its immediate predecessors, the eTrex and 60/76, so why would you expect any other behavior? I for one don't use the backlight outdoors, so not an issue.

 

You dont use backlight at all??

Its okay I guess during the day but barely visible imo.

I crack it up to get the best visibility.

 

I, like you, am overall very please with my CO. It has many features that my eTrex lacked plus that wonderful large map screen. I'll now wait for the version with the roll up OLED 5x7" screen so I can see even more of my maps. :D

I hear ya. LOL

Edited by ZeMartelo
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Doesnt the Oregon and Colorado use the same processor?
No. The CO uses a ~2YO MediaTek chip and the OR uses the STM Cartesio chip (same as the DeLorme PN-40 and Nuvi 2x5's). The STM chip is MUCH faster.

 

- Compass accuracy - this is a bummer for geocaching because a reliable compass that is accurate is very important and alas the Colorado compass is not.

I have it off as per sugestions of the many users on this great forum and it works quite well, but I do wish the electronic compass would work as well, because sometimes I would like to be able t stand still and see where to go. Again hopefully Garmin hasnt forgotten us and give us an update.

Because I use the internal 24K Topos for positional reference, have no use for a compass.
I do that too but the pointer is very useful and alas its useless with the electronic compass on.

I usually switch to the compass screen when getting close to the cache.

I rethought my answer on today's hike. Since Garmin advertises a working compass and its a feature you desire, then you should have an in spec compass. My needs or lack thereof are immaterial.

 

- The backlight issue - its more annoying than anything else, having to set the backlight everytime the unit is turned on, really what was Garmin thinking??
The backlight on the CO works the same as its immediate predecessors, the eTrex and 60/76, so why would you expect any other behavior? I for one don't use the backlight outdoors, so not an issue.
You dont use backlight at all??
Not in daylight/outside. Use it always in the house, can't see a thing w/o sunlight.
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Seeing that I have had nothing but problems with the Colorado as far as geocaching, I have given up on it. Or I should say, it has given up on me. When I first got it I was totally in love with it. Then trying to take the found caches off was a headache. Then the accuracy was way off, I mean like over 30 feet off at beast. Now it starts up to load maps and shut off. I put fresh batteries in so I know that is not the problem. It stays powered up when connected to my computer or car adapter but not on battery power.

 

[/rant]

 

Try removing the memory card. I use a Kingston card and sometimes that is the only way to get it to work correctly, remove the card, power up/down, reinstall the memory card and continue what i wanted to do.

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I have a Colorado 400t with City Navigator installed. How do I find a street address? When I try, the first thing it asks for is the State. "C" comes up with no results. I experimented and all other letters also have no results.

 

Where To>Addresses>In what state/province is the address>spell state/province

 

Where does this thing hide the addresses? :D

 

I discovered that it DOES give the address of any location you move the pointer over, so that is half the battle, but I also need it to at least straight-line me to any address I enter.

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I have a Colorado 400t with City Navigator installed. How do I find a street address? When I try, the first thing it asks for is the State. "C" comes up with no results. I experimented and all other letters also have no results.

 

Where To>Addresses>In what state/province is the address>spell state/province

 

Where does this thing hide the addresses? :D

 

I discovered that it DOES give the address of any location you move the pointer over, so that is half the battle, but I also need it to at least straight-line me to any address I enter.

 

That happened to me once. I relaoded City Navigator and it worked right.

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Seeing that I have had nothing but problems with the Colorado as far as geocaching, I have given up on it. Or I should say, it has given up on me. When I first got it I was totally in love with it. Then trying to take the found caches off was a headache. Then the accuracy was way off, I mean like over 30 feet off at beast. Now it starts up to load maps and shut off. I put fresh batteries in so I know that is not the problem. It stays powered up when connected to my computer or car adapter but not on battery power.

 

[/rant]

 

Try removing the memory card. I use a Kingston card and sometimes that is the only way to get it to work correctly, remove the card, power up/down, reinstall the memory card and continue what i wanted to do.

 

I have had that issue with the card a few times-extremly rare-but removing it and booting up without it fixes it. Once it boots up, reinsert the card. You can change cards when it is running.

 

Also there is no need to remove found caches from the GPS, replavce your PQ or replace the gpx file in GSAK. The new files do not have the found caches in them.

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Seeing that I have had nothing but problems with the Colorado as far as geocaching, I have given up on it. Or I should say, it has given up on me. When I first got it I was totally in love with it. Then trying to take the found caches off was a headache. Then the accuracy was way off, I mean like over 30 feet off at beast. Now it starts up to load maps and shut off. I put fresh batteries in so I know that is not the problem. It stays powered up when connected to my computer or car adapter but not on battery power.

 

[/rant]

 

I used to have a few problems with the Colorado but found that some of them were down to trying to load too many Geocaches/Waypoints. Now I periodically have a purge of waypoints and keep my geocaches well below 1000. Loading in the latest firmware helped a lot in the early days, which reminds me that I should be checking it again!

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I have a Colorado 400t with City Navigator installed. How do I find a street address? When I try, the first thing it asks for is the State. "C" comes up with no results. I experimented and all other letters also have no results.

 

Where To>Addresses>In what state/province is the address>spell state/province

 

Where does this thing hide the addresses? :laughing:

 

I discovered that it DOES give the address of any location you move the pointer over, so that is half the battle, but I also need it to at least straight-line me to any address I enter.

 

Did you unlock the City Nav maps properly? On the Map page if you goto Options>Select Maps do you see City Nav listed?

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I have a Colorado 400t with City Navigator installed. How do I find a street address? When I try, the first thing it asks for is the State. "C" comes up with no results. I experimented and all other letters also have no results.

 

Where To>Addresses>In what state/province is the address>spell state/province

 

Where does this thing hide the addresses? :laughing:

 

I discovered that it DOES give the address of any location you move the pointer over, so that is half the battle, but I also need it to at least straight-line me to any address I enter.

 

Did you unlock the City Nav maps properly? On the Map page if you goto Options>Select Maps do you see City Nav listed?

Yes, I know CN is loaded. It does show up on the list and I have access to things I didn't have before when I only had the preloaded topo maps: POI's, lock on road ability, able to bring up street address by moving pointer over location.

 

I guess somehow something didn't make it over in the transfer though, so I will follow myotis advice and try re-loading.

 

Thanks. :D

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Given the length of some of the Colorado threads its difficult to find a lot of the information on issues, tips and tricks so I decided to compile a simple FAQ and Issues list.

 

Its crude but I'm keeping Colorado FAQ .

 

As posted elsewhere I'm keeping a Colorado Issues/Feature Request List .

 

As usual, let me know of additions, errors or omissions.

 

Once I get some more time I'll look at turning them into a wiki. If you have recommendations of good (free) wiki farms let me know. I'm looking at wikispaces.com right now and it seems like a reasonable choice but if you have first hand experience contact me through my profile.

 

GO$Rs

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I thought I calibrated the compass right. It will work lets say on 2 caches and then the next It is pointing in the wrong direction.

 

My buddies gps had the same issue and garmin confirmed it was a hardware problem with the unit. Call them and they will send you another.

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I will repeat... You can not use the compass while moving. It must be turned off.

 

I know this is an old post but I had to say something. I can so tired of people who takes someone who may not know eveything about the gps call the pointer the compass. You experts know what they mean, why do you have to be little them with comments like why would you want you compass point any other direction but north and other comments. Theorectically you are on the compass screen so some people would refer to it as the compass needle and not the location pointer to the cache. Give people a break, you know what they mean.

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