Garmin Colorado FAQ and Issues List

[+GOT GPS?]

I have run into an extremely minor problem, but a problem none-the-less. When I plug my 300 into my computer it turns on for a brief moment then turns off. If I turn the unit on before plugging it into my computer, it connects fine. As I said, minor inconvenience, but I would imagine that it isn't supposed to perform that way, since it used to turn itself on when I connected it to my computer.

I ran into the same problem with my Co 300 that came from REI in Northville Michigan. I had to remove my SD card, so that it would stay on, when plugged into the PC. The Co 300 got so bad that I had to return it. It had started out it's life with occational shutoffs for no appearent reason.

[+g-o-cashers]

I spent some time tonight trying to figure out how the CO distinguishes between a waypoint and a geocache when it imports a gpx file. Since this has come up as a question I thought I would post the information here and in the FAQ.

 

The minimum required gpx file which will import successfully as a waypoint:

 

<gpx>
<wpt lat="42" lon="-71">
</wpt>
</gpx>

 

The minimum required gpx file which will import successfully as a geocache:

 

<gpx>
<wpt lat="42" lon="-71">
<Groundspeak:cache id="1">
<Groundspeak:name>Test</Groundspeak:name>
</Groundspeak:cache>
</wpt>
</gpx>

 

The Colorado needs to see a Groundspeak cache tag and requires a unique integer id for each cache. It also needs a name, removing the Groundspeak name tag results in neither a waypoint or cache being created.

 

I was surprised that both the waypoint and geocache would import without a waypoint name but both showed up with a blank name in the waypoint and geocache list. You might run into issues if you import multiple no name waypoints.

 

GO$Rs

[yogazoo]

Issue # 8,726

 

Intermittent Water bodies do not show up on the Colorado. Go ahead, give it a try.

 

1) Find a water body that Topo2008 says is intermittent (notice the blue crosshatching on white background).

 

2) Go there on your colorado.

 

3) If it is on a National forest you will see the green washed away but you will see no crosshatching to depict intermittent standing water.

 

 

My thoughts: Maybe they forgot to program that color scheme/pattern in the software.

[+Marky]

I have run into an extremely minor problem, but a problem none-the-less. When I plug my 300 into my computer it turns on for a brief moment then turns off. If I turn the unit on before plugging it into my computer, it connects fine. As I said, minor inconvenience, but I would imagine that it isn't supposed to perform that way, since it used to turn itself on when I connected it to my computer.

I've noticed something like this when I have an SD card. If you have an SD card in, try removing it and seeing if that makes the problem go away.

[+Marky]

Repeatable error on mine: If you are in the icon menu and scroll to the left...and then off the screen to the left the screen fades away and it turns off. But it turns back on again.

What is an "Icon menu"? Are you referring to the shortcut "wheel"?

[+victorymike]

Mark a waypoint and then change the icon to the skull and crossbones (or whatever). That icon menu.

[+Red90]

Mark a waypoint and then change the icon to the skull and crossbones (or whatever). That icon menu.

 

Not on mine. How exactly do you scroll off of the screen??

[+g-o-cashers]

The waypoint symbol selector? Yep. I can cause the same thing to happen but it is a little more specific than just scrolling off the left side of the screen.

 

If you scroll left off of any row of symbols except the top row it works fine, if you scroll left off of the top row (the symbol furthest to the top and left) it dies. It doesn't matter what symbol. Also there can't be a heading above the symbol like "Civil", the symbol must be at the exact top of the screen.

 

I'll add it to the list, it would be good to tell Garmin about this one.

 

GO$Rs

 

edit: further qualify the failure.

Edited March 26, 2008 by g-o-cashers

[+nicolo]

Mark a waypoint and then change the icon to the skull and crossbones (or whatever). That icon menu.

 

Not on mine. How exactly do you scroll off of the screen??

 

Shortcut -> Others -> Mark Waypoint -> Edit -> Change Symbol

 

Oh wait ... ignore this,

Edited March 26, 2008 by nicolo

[+Red90]

The waypoint symbol selector? Yep. I can cause the same thing to happen but it is a little more specific than just scrolling off the left side of the screen.

 

If you scroll left off of any row of symbols except the top row it works fine, if you scroll left off of the top row (the symbol furthest to the top and left) it dies. It doesn't matter what symbol. Also there can't be a heading above the symbol like "Civil", the symbol must be at the exact top of the screen.

 

This does NOT happen in my 300. I did TRY before my last post. I'm not that crazy...

[yogazoo]

Issue # 8,726

 

Intermittent Water bodies do not show up on the Colorado. Go ahead, give it a try.

 

1) Find a water body that Topo2008 says is intermittent (notice the blue crosshatching on white background).

 

2) Go there on your colorado.

 

3) If it is on a National forest you will see the green washed away but you will see no crosshatching to depict intermittent standing water.

 

 

My thoughts: Maybe they forgot to program that color scheme/pattern in the software.

 

Shouldn't this be added to the list? I hate quoting myself but.

[+Evshro & son]

The waypoint symbol selector? Yep. I can cause the same thing to happen but it is a little more specific than just scrolling off the left side of the screen.

 

If you scroll left off of any row of symbols except the top row it works fine, if you scroll left off of the top row (the symbol furthest to the top and left) it dies. It doesn't matter what symbol. Also there can't be a heading above the symbol like "Civil", the symbol must be at the exact top of the screen.

 

This does NOT happen in my 300. I did TRY before my last post. I'm not that crazy...

 

My 300 works fine too.

[yogazoo]

Issue # 8,726

 

Intermittent Water bodies do not show up on the Colorado. Go ahead, give it a try.

 

1) Find a water body that Topo2008 says is intermittent (notice the blue crosshatching on white background).

 

2) Go there on your colorado.

 

3) If it is on a National forest you will see the green washed away but you will see no crosshatching to depict intermittent standing water.

 

 

My thoughts: Maybe they forgot to program that color scheme/pattern in the software.

 

OK, I'll make it easy. Here, punch in these coordinates as a waypoint. 12-T-0542952 5281731 Datum:WGS84

 

The location is White Lake in Montana and it does not show crosshatching like on all the other handhelds. It simply shows a yellowish color like that used to denote city limits. Its like this with all ephimeral water in the Topo2008 maps. Not a HUGE deal but seems like an oversight none the less.

 

Edited to add: You may have to zoom out a little once you view it on the map. It a huge ephimeral lake.

Edited March 27, 2008 by yogazoo

[freeday]

some additional issues:

 

1)

i have 2 profiles: automotive and custom

SETUP -TRACKS -TRACKLOG is set to ON (on both profiles)

sometimes the system sets it to off (at this time i do not know what you have to do to get this bug - but i had it already several times)

 

2)

on pressing

WHERE TO? - WAYPOINT - Example1

 

at this time it is only possible to:

PROJECT WAYPOINT

EDIT WAYPOINT

GO

 

it would be great to be able to scroll on the map

[+Kaffekopp]

The waypoint symbol selector? Yep. I can cause the same thing to happen but it is a little more specific than just scrolling off the left side of the screen.

 

If you scroll left off of any row of symbols except the top row it works fine, if you scroll left off of the top row (the symbol furthest to the top and left) it dies. It doesn't matter what symbol. Also there can't be a heading above the symbol like "Civil", the symbol must be at the exact top of the screen.

 

This does NOT happen in my 300. I did TRY before my last post. I'm not that crazy...

 

It happens in my 300 but ONLY if I scroll with the wheel. If I scroll with the "arrows" it works as it should.

[+g-o-cashers]

some additional issues:

 

1)

i have 2 profiles: automotive and custom

SETUP -TRACKS -TRACKLOG is set to ON (on both profiles)

sometimes the system sets it to off (at this time i do not know what you have to do to get this bug - but i had it already several times)

 

2)

on pressing

WHERE TO? - WAYPOINT - Example1

 

at this time it is only possible to:

PROJECT WAYPOINT

EDIT WAYPOINT

GO

 

it would be great to be able to scroll on the map

 

I saw similar issue as 1) but I realized it was my profile config. Sounds like you've checked that, but ever since I've cleared that up I haven't seen any issues and I switch a lot. Let me know if you have a way to reproduce it or more information.

 

2) is in in the Issues List.

 

Thanks!

GO$Rs

[+g-o-cashers]

 

OK, I'll make it easy. Here, punch in these coordinates as a waypoint. 12-T-0542952 5281731 Datum:WGS84

 

The location is White Lake in Montana and it does not show crosshatching like on all the other handhelds. It simply shows a yellowish color like that used to denote city limits. Its like this with all ephimeral water in the Topo2008 maps. Not a HUGE deal but seems like an oversight none the less.

 

Edited to add: You may have to zoom out a little once you view it on the map. It a huge ephimeral lake.

 

Thanks, I tried and see your point. Both Topo v3.02 and 2008 show as blue crosshatches on my 60cs (and in Mapsource). I didn't try Topo v3.02 on my Colorado but I doubt many people will!

 

Also, when I entered UTM coordinates I found it strange that the easting and northing weren't separated by a space. Made it very hard to see where I was in a long string of numbers.

 

GO$Rs

[+sawblade5]

I have a few more questions for this unit after playing with it a bit.

 

1. Where do I put a lanyard for this unit?

 

2. What are the differences of Blue Chart North America and Inland Lakes for it?

 

3. If I buy the 500i will I get the full version of the Inland Lakes software loaded into it? I am considering the 500i as I got the older Topo software and I can buy new one for less than a $100 while Inland Lakes cost more around $119.00.

 

4. Does the Paperless Geocaching Mode display gallery pictures or catch listing pictures for solving puzzles, etc?

 

5. Does anyone have any screenshots of a sample Geocache listing for this unit, so I know what they look like?

 

6. Does that Geocache listing look the same when using the GSAK macro?

 

That is about it on my questions for right now I have on this unit. I want answers to them all before spending $600 on one of these.

[+Nozzletime]

I got minor issue: Compass entry is duplicated in Others page:

 

I have changed my Automobile profile so that I use the following Shortcuts: Trip Computer, Where To?, Map, Active Route, Others

And I have set "Use Page Loop" (instead of Shortcut key).

 

Colorado 300, firmware 2.40

 

If you can figure out how you did that I'll add it to the Issues List! I just created a new profile, added the same items to the Shortcuts you did, set it to page loop but I don't see two compass items.

 

It looks like this is only when routing is active (where there is "Stop Navigation") or even only when you use "demo" mode for routing (this is what I had to do now to reproduce it - as I am in house with no GPS signal).

If I stop navigation, "Stop Navigation" and one "Compass" disappear and as soon as I start new routing, I get them back ("Compass" shown twice).

 

I am getting the double compass as well, I switched back and forth between page looping and not, it looks like the "Detour" function is not available when I am in page loop, and it is when I use the wheel for shortcuts.

It only happens when I am autorouting.

[+qlenfg]

I have a few more questions for this unit after playing with it a bit.

 

1. Where do I put a lanyard for this unit?

 

2. What are the differences of Blue Chart North America and Inland Lakes for it?

 

3. If I buy the 500i will I get the full version of the Inland Lakes software loaded into it? I am considering the 500i as I got the older Topo software and I can buy new one for less than a $100 while Inland Lakes cost more around $119.00.

 

4. Does the Paperless Geocaching Mode display gallery pictures or catch listing pictures for solving puzzles, etc?

 

5. Does anyone have any screenshots of a sample Geocache listing for this unit, so I know what they look like?

 

6. Does that Geocache listing look the same when using the GSAK macro?

 

That is about it on my questions for right now I have on this unit. I want answers to them all before spending $600 on one of these.

 

Lanyard. Unthread the nylon strap and carabiner and use one of those ID badge neck straps with the clear strap and snap.

 

Does not display gallery pictures within the cache description, but you could manually download them, put them on an SD car and view them with the picture viewer.

 

The geocache listing looks similar to the GC website, without the ads, map links, etc... You get the GC #, cache name, terrain, difficulty, description and the last 5 logs. No background images or gallery pictures.

[+doc_nl]

Some other feature which seems to be missing (or I can't find it) is the time shown with seconds. On the backlight screen it's shown without seconds and on the trip computer it's also without seconds...

[FGS-D187]

...on the trip computer it's also without seconds...

You have to use one of the wide data fields on the lower end of the trip computer page. Then you see the the seconds also.

 

Stefan

[+qlenfg]

One thing that seems odd is that if you have multiple maps loaded you can't select or de-select maps in one profile and not another. Other settings can be adjusted under each profile, but it always defaults to the maps you have selected even if you change profiles.

 

What I would like is an urban cache profile that uses the NA NT 2008 maps locked to the road so the Colorado can plot a route to the cache, and a rural cache profile that uses Topo 2008 maps for caches in the park, woods, etc...

 

As it is now, you have to select the profile, go to the map screen and select which map you want, then look up the cache.

[+jotne]

One thing that seems odd is that if you have multiple maps loaded you can't select or de-select maps in one profile and not another. Other settings can be adjusted under each profile, but it always defaults to the maps you have selected even if you change profiles.

 

I did get reply from Garin that they wold fix this later.

A mayor problem is that if you have 8 maps or more 8 in colorado, it dies when you try to select maps. It may also fail with less maps.

[+GO CACHN]

Anyone heard any word on the next firmware update?

[+J10fly]

Anyone heard any word on the next firmware update?

 

I hope soon and I hope they fix the following issues i am having:

 

1.) Constantly resets to North Up

2.) No navigation on some caches (Soft Reset does fix but what a pain)

3.) View description on some caches causes it to lock

4.) Have to adjust backlight every time I turn it on.

 

I don't know if this is me or not but my topo maps do not seem to show up when I have the City Navigator maps on. I'm guess City Navigator overrides topo? Can't run both at the same time?

[+Timpat]

I don't know if this is me or not but my topo maps do not seem to show up when I have the City Navigator maps on. I'm guess City Navigator overrides topo? Can't run both at the same time?

The map set with the most detail (CN in this case) displays over any other. It's easy to go to Map/Select and toggle CN Off, and Topo On to use that.

[+GO CACHN]

Ok I have a question that maybe someone here can answer. I have like 1500 caches loaded into my colorado. When I use mapsorce when I do a Recieve from my GPS unit there is not thing to let me download Geocaches to it to see what areas I have in there. I jsut lets me do waypoints etc... does anyone know if they are changing any part of this on a firmware update or if there is a way any of you all are doing this?

[+g-o-cashers]

Ok I have a question that maybe someone here can answer. I have like 1500 caches loaded into my colorado. When I use mapsorce when I do a Recieve from my GPS unit there is not thing to let me download Geocaches to it to see what areas I have in there. I jsut lets me do waypoints etc... does anyone know if they are changing any part of this on a firmware update or if there is a way any of you all are doing this?

 

Not that I'm aware of. About the only thing you could do is open the gpx file(s) in [drive]:\Garmin\GPX that contain your geocaches in Mapsource with the Colorado connected.

 

GO$Rs

[+GO CACHN]

[That worked great. I was just trying to make sure that I had the area that I wanted to go caching in it today. Thanks for all your help.

[+Timpat]

Ok I have a question that maybe someone here can answer. I have like 1500 caches loaded into my colorado.

Related to this subject I have found (at least with my 300 with current firmware) when I load my 4 PQs that contain between 1500 and 1900 caches some caches will be missing. Through many tests I have found if I load one PQ of caches at a time, boot my 300 up which loads (I've heard the term parses) "stuff", then disconnect from my PC, and repeat this by loading each PQ one at a time, all caches will be there. This happens for me every time. If I take these steps I will always have ALL the caches loaded properly.

 

I can't explain why, and I have sent my files to Garmin for them to reproduce this and have not heard back. My PQs overlap in coverage so I can have all my unfound caches within quite a large area loaded, but the missing caches are not necessarily ones that overlap. In fact most are not ones the overlap. I wanted to mention this so you are aware you may have missing caches when you load a large amount at once.

[+Styk]

3.) View description on some caches causes it to lock

 

I think certain html tags causes this. I made this macro for GSAK to strip them out and now I don't experience freeze ups when viewing descriptions. You have to run the macro every time you import a PQ This is a temporary fix until Garmin corrects the issue in the firmware.

Edited April 5, 2008 by stickman756

[+FamilyDNA]

Ok I have a question that maybe someone here can answer. I have like 1500 caches loaded into my colorado.

Related to this subject I have found (at least with my 300 with current firmware) when I load my 4 PQs that contain between 1500 and 1900 caches some caches will be missing. Through many tests I have found if I load one PQ of caches at a time, boot my 300 up which loads (I've heard the term parses) "stuff", then disconnect from my PC, and repeat this by loading each PQ one at a time, all caches will be there. This happens for me every time. If I take these steps I will always have ALL the caches loaded properly.

 

I can't explain why, and I have sent my files to Garmin for them to reproduce this and have not heard back. My PQs overlap in coverage so I can have all my unfound caches within quite a large area loaded, but the missing caches are not necessarily ones that overlap. In fact most are not ones the overlap. I wanted to mention this so you are aware you may have missing caches when you load a large amount at once.

This may be similar to what my husband is experiencing right now. He drove down to SoCal to visit his brother this weekend, so we loaded a route query and 2 zipcode queries onto the GPS. He called this morning and said the route was fine, but one of the others was not showing up on the map. He ran another (different) query and tried to add it this morning, and says it replaced the other query that was on the map.

 

We have had multiple queries (4-5, I think) all loaded at once before, so I don't know what the problem is.

 

Edit to add: We have the 400t.

Edited April 5, 2008 by FamilyDNA

[+FamilyDNA]

This may be similar to what my husband is experiencing right now. He drove down to SoCal to visit his brother this weekend, so we loaded a route query and 2 zipcode queries onto the GPS. He called this morning and said the route was fine, but one of the others was not showing up on the map. He ran another (different) query and tried to add it this morning, and says it replaced the other query that was on the map.

 

We have had multiple queries (4-5, I think) all loaded at once before, so I don't know what the problem is.

Well, it looks like he sorted it out - user error.

 

When he renamed the new gpx file he left off the .gpx tag, which is why it didn't show up in the GPS. Once that was fixed I think everything was showing up. I don't know why he wasn't getting everything before, or if it was there but he didn't see it, since he's at the other end of the state right now.

[+Red90]

In the FAQ, you have:

It doesn't appear that the image viewer supports images located on the internal memory of the Colorado they need to be located on the SD card.

I just put images into internal memory under the Garmin directory and image viewer sees them fine. This is on a 300.

[+g-o-cashers]

In the FAQ, you have:

It doesn't appear that the image viewer supports images located on the internal memory of the Colorado they need to be located on the SD card.

I just put images into internal memory under the Garmin directory and image viewer sees them fine. This is on a 300.

 

Thanks, I'll update the FAQ. I don't think I've tried this since 2.1 and I'm pretty sure I played around with different directories but maybe I only put them in the root directory.

 

GO$Rs

[+The Klever Boys]

Hi,

 

I've only had my Colorado 300 a few days, but have come across something today that may be another unhelpful " feature" - either that or I'm missing something!

 

If you create a waypoint with the Colorado set to "British Grid" position format - so that the waypoint format looks something like "TL-1234567890" - you can't seem to edit the "TL" part...only the numbers.

 

The Colorado only gives you the option of using N, S, E, W for the letter..as if it's trying to edit, for example, a more usual hddd mm.mmm type position format.

I'm trying to edit the waypoint using Waypoint Manager/Change Location, so assume this is correct.

 

Is it me, or another bug?

 

Thanks,

Russ

[+Red90]

Is it me, or another bug?

 

It is probably a bug. I would suggest letting Garmin know, as I would suspect, it would be pretty rare for one of their testers to do what you are trying to do.

[+FlagMan]

Is it just me, or is it impossible to "mark" a new geocache while in the field. I can mark a new waypoint, but no matter what I do and regardless of what icon I assign to it, the new WP does not behave like the other geocaches in the unit. I can only search for in as a Waypoint, and it doesn't show up under the other geocaches in the unit. Does anyone have any thoughts on this issue?

 

Sorry if this has already been documented somewhere.

 

Thanks, -FlagMan

[+Red90]

Is it just me, or is it impossible to "mark" a new geocache while in the field. I can mark a new waypoint, but no matter what I do and regardless of what icon I assign to it, the new WP does not behave like the other geocaches in the unit. I can only search for in as a Waypoint, and it doesn't show up under the other geocaches in the unit. Does anyone have any thoughts on this issue?

 

Sorry if this has already been documented somewhere.

 

Thanks, -FlagMan

 

You can not add a Geocache on the unit. This is probably the biggest (valid ) complaint with teh Geocaching utility as it makes multi and mysteries a little convoluted to work with.

 

Most things should be in the FAQ, http://garmincolorado.wikispaces.com/

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Has anyone else had issues with the power button? It seems that I have to push it "just right" for it to work. Up until a week ago I just had to tap it to get to the backlight screen and tap and hold to turn on or off. Now it doesn't work very well.

[+Michael]

Sax since it changed how it works Id say its starting to break

[+nicolo]

Sax since it changed how it works Id say its starting to break

So if my battery cover is coming off MUCH easier than when I first bought it, that means that it's starting to break?

[+Vegas Gamblers]

I just used the Car Power cord for the first time today. It is the Garmin brand and I hooked it up to my 400t. Twice out of ten caches when we exited the car and unplugged the power cord the unit shut off right away. The other eight times it showed that it would shut off in 30 seconds and asked what I wanted to do. I was able to power on the unit and there was no freeze, it just shut off. Has any one else had this problem.

[+qlenfg]

I just used the Car Power cord for the first time today. It is the Garmin brand and I hooked it up to my 400t. Twice out of ten caches when we exited the car and unplugged the power cord the unit shut off right away. The other eight times it showed that it would shut off in 30 seconds and asked what I wanted to do. I was able to power on the unit and there was no freeze, it just shut off. Has any one else had this problem.

 

Unless you are driving 2-3 hours between caches, I wouldn't bother using the power cable. I only use the power cord when I'm traveling -- batteries work just fine for local stuff. Besides, the mini-USB connector is not designed for plugging and unplugging too frequently.

[+g-o-cashers]

I just used the Car Power cord for the first time today. It is the Garmin brand and I hooked it up to my 400t. Twice out of ten caches when we exited the car and unplugged the power cord the unit shut off right away. The other eight times it showed that it would shut off in 30 seconds and asked what I wanted to do. I was able to power on the unit and there was no freeze, it just shut off. Has any one else had this problem.

 

Personally, I haven't and I've used the car adapter a lot. It always asks if I want to shutdown or shuts of in 30 seconds.

 

Someplace along the way someone mentioned a similar problem to what you were seeing although I never heard a resolution. Might be worth a call to Garmin.

 

GO$Rs

[+nicolo]

...

Unless you are driving 2-3 hours between caches, I wouldn't bother using the power cable. I only use the power cord when I'm traveling -- batteries work just fine for local stuff.

...

Ditto.

[+Tru3 Blu3 AL]

I'm new to GPS devices but consider myself tech savvy and love to learn things like this. So, the REI guy suggested I go with the 300 and buy the TOPO US 2008 to be able to have it on my comp, which is nice.

 

But, first concern I have, is that when I power up my 300, the back light is etremely dark and I keep having to press the power button and change it to be lighter... Is there anyway to save it so it powers up already bright?

 

Thanks,

AL

[+g-o-cashers]

No you have to reset the backlight setting every time you power on.

 

GO$Rs

[+Tru3 Blu3 AL]

This may sounds like a strange question but it keeps coming to my mind... Are there different TOPO 2008 map colors or something?

 

On the back of the case the the DVD comes in there are two examples and both are different colors but seem more vibrate then what my Colorado and mapsource display. The map I am looking at is very basic and lacks "color." Just an observation...