60CSx compass arrow pointing wrong direction

[roybassist]

Mine is Ver 3.20. It was Ok for over a year, but has just started doing the same thing. Relcalibrating the compass makes no difference...

This is interesting. We now have posts from people having this issue with firmware versions 3.20 and 3.30. So apparently it isn’t something that just started with 3.60. How about those of you who downgraded to 3.50? Are you still free of this issue?

[+SimbaJamey]

I couldn't read this whole thread...I usually click 'back' when they start going downhill.

 

So with that said, I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet...

 

I returned my 60Csx about a month ago but IIRC when the arrow would do a 180, the "Distance to Destination" would continue counting down as I approached the cache so I just kept walking to GZ following the 'backwards' arrow.

[Team Sidewinder]

Same problem here also except with 2 different units. I have a 76CSX with software ver. 3.60 and my wife has a 76CS with software ver. 4.10 and over the last 2 weeks we have had the same problems of having the distance decrease heading toward the cache but the direction arrow pointing backward. I will admit though that both units don't have the direction to the cache arrow point in the exact same backward direction at the same time but it is alway around the same time. I have tried all the previous ideas and suggestions mention here but still haven't found any that correct the problem on a consistant basis. I have never had this particular problem happen before with these units and these units have had the software updates for quite some time without any problems.

[Team Sidewinder]

Sorry double post

Edited June 29, 2008 by Team Sidewinder

[+Fuchsiamagic]

I will admit though that both units don't have the direction to the cache arrow point in the exact same backward direction at the same time but it is alway around the same time.

Now that's interesting. I've got two units so next time I get this problem, I'll try the other one as well and see if that one does it too!

[+jbhodj & Drake]

Has anyone found a good resolution to this problem? Yesterday I was nearing GZ but when I got to like 20-30 feet of the cache the compass arrow flipped around 180 degrees. I stood still and it would jump back and forth depending on if I took a step back and forth.

 

Location was pretty open, no buildings, electronic compass turned off. I have noticed this happening more and more as of late

[+jbhodj & Drake]

Has anyone found a good resolution to this problem? Yesterday I was nearing GZ but when I got to like 20-30 feet of the cache the compass arrow flipped around 180 degrees. I stood still and it would jump back and forth depending on if I took a step back and forth.

 

Location was pretty open, no buildings, electronic compass turned off. I have noticed this happening more and more as of late

 

Another question I have about settings/heading and switching to compass heading when below a certain speed for more than a certain amount of time.

 

What settings seems to work the best for this and how would this affect the red around when navigating to a cache. I have found that if I mess with this setting, the compass arrow will flip around if I am standing idle for a period of time. The heading is the same ie "S" it just that the go to arrow that I like to use seems inverted to me. Does that make sense?

[+Prime Suspect]

Has anyone found a good resolution to this problem? Yesterday I was nearing GZ but when I got to like 20-30 feet of the cache the compass arrow flipped around 180 degrees. I stood still and it would jump back and forth depending on if I took a step back and forth.

 

Location was pretty open, no buildings, electronic compass turned off. I have noticed this happening more and more as of late

Stand back 20 feet and wait 20 seconds. Use the arrow and distance readout to determine approximate GZ. Go there and start looking for the cache, instead of chasing the arrow around while you're in the error zone. It's pointless (pointless, arrow - get it? Ha, I kill me!)

[+jbhodj & Drake]

Has anyone found a good resolution to this problem? Yesterday I was nearing GZ but when I got to like 20-30 feet of the cache the compass arrow flipped around 180 degrees. I stood still and it would jump back and forth depending on if I took a step back and forth.

 

Location was pretty open, no buildings, electronic compass turned off. I have noticed this happening more and more as of late

Stand back 20 feet and wait 20 seconds. Use the arrow and distance readout to determine approximate GZ. Go there and start looking for the cache, instead of chasing the arrow around while you're in the error zone. It's pointless (pointless, arrow - get it? Ha, I kill me!)

 

Very Funny! I have been sort of following your suggestion to this point (get it?) I have been able to locate almost everything that I have been looking for. Its just frustrating to be walking to a cache lets say 500 feet out and see the red arrow move 90-180 degrees or flip around on the screen wildly. Yesterday I walked about a 100 foot perimeter around a cache to locate it because the course pointer sent me 50 feet one way, then the same the other way, until I said......FFFFF.....just look! Found it

[+storm180]

Has anyone found a good resolution to this problem? Yesterday I was nearing GZ but when I got to like 20-30 feet of the cache the compass arrow flipped around 180 degrees. I stood still and it would jump back and forth depending on if I took a step back and forth.

 

Location was pretty open, no buildings, electronic compass turned off. I have noticed this happening more and more as of late

 

Mine has never done this while I was looking for a cache. It always has done it when go to find next and then immediately the red arrow is pointing in the opposite direction of the cache. Just a note though, since I reported this a while ago I have not had another occurence of this. Weird.

[roybassist]

since I reported this a while ago I have not had another occurence of this.

You had posted back on June 10 that you intended to downgrade your firmware to 3.50. Did you do that, or are you still using 3.60? I'm assuming the latter, or you would probably have mentioned the firmware downgrade as a possible reason for not having the problem.

[+storm180]

since I reported this a while ago I have not had another occurence of this.

You had posted back on June 10 that you intended to downgrade your firmware to 3.50. Did you do that, or are you still using 3.60? I'm assuming the latter, or you would probably have mentioned the firmware downgrade as a possible reason for not having the problem.

Sorry, I decided not to do the firmware downgrade and just keep 3.60 and see how many more times it happens and log exactly what I was doing. So far its been doing well.

[BLIXX88]

Well I just checked my brand new 60csx and it's version 3.70 so I will let you all know after I try it out this weekend.

[+vectis]

My pointer has developed a mind of its own for a couple of months now.

I've just checked and I'm on version 3.50 so the problem seems to lie with the unit rather than the software version.

I'll try recalibrating my compass next time I go caching and see if it sorts the problem out.

[+GerIRL]

How do you determine your firmware version on the GPSr itself, without plugging it into your PC? (OK - I'm lazy!). I've just spent 15 minutes scrolling through all of the setup pages.

[BLIXX88]

Sorry. Double post. PC hiccups

Edited October 14, 2008 by BLIXX88

[BLIXX88]

Well I got 3 out of 5 caches last weekend and the arrow seemed to work just fine, (Garmin 60csx version 3.70). It moved around a bit but never did a crazy Ivan. All in all I was very impressed with the unit. It's not like I expect it to lead my hand right to the cache and call me Joey.

[Yearofthegoat]

How do you determine your firmware version on the GPSr itself, without plugging it into your PC? (OK - I'm lazy!). I've just spent 15 minutes scrolling through all of the setup pages.

 

button presses in [ ]:

 

[Menu], [menu], select Setup, [Enter], select System, [Enter], select Software Version [Enter]

[roybassist]

button presses in [ ]:

 

[Menu], [menu], select Setup, [Enter], select System, [Enter],[Menu], select Software Version [Enter]

Fixed

[+vectis]

Reset compass today and WHOOPEE!!!!

Back to normal. Thanks for the info folks. Magic

[zedex]

Hi Folks.I am having the exact same problems with my 60 csx. Software 3.50. My compass was completely unoperational. No matter which way i pointed the gps it remained steady as in it did not move. Also. Following my track back to my quad(elk hunting) my map pointer was pointing 180 degrees to the track. So i became dissoriented as this has never happened before and had no idea WTF was going on with the gps. I did several compass recalibrations and still compass was basically frozen. My track pointer also was facing backwards. I managed to find my way back thank god i had a good idea where i was.

I got ahold of garmin when i returned from hunting and they said that my software needed to be updated to 3.70. I did this as well as a hard reset and all seems fine now but still i wonder what happened. I questioned why this happened and i will paste garmins response .

 

Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

 

I am glad the unit is now working properly for you. In one of the

software version, it corrected this issue that you were having both on

the compass page and the map page. The unit should no longer have that

issue. I would recommend extensively testing the unit before you go

hunting again. Please let me know if you see this problem again.

 

I have really lost faith in my csx. If i hadn't known my approximate location when i was elk hunting i would have been up sh1t creek .

Edited October 16, 2008 by zedex

[+KJcachers]

is version 3.70 available for download anywhere?

 

Nevermind, I found it.

Edited October 16, 2008 by KJcachers

[+Team Christiansen]

I have lived in Apple Valley, California, for the last several months and haven't had any problem. I have 3.7.

 

But this week, I visited Colorado Springs, Colorado, and did a few caches. My compass pointer went nuts. Most of the time, it was exactly backwards, even the map page was backwards. Sometimes it was correct, but mostly backwards.

 

Reading one of the posts above, I thought to try the new location option on the satellite page, but that option is grayed out and I can't select it.

 

How do you do hard reset?

[+Team Christiansen]

Flipping through some setup options, I noticed my GPSr was set on Alkaline. However, I had just barely put some rechargables in before hopping the plane to Colorado.

 

Could that be the problem?

[+storm180]

Has nothing to do with the battery, mine was always set correctly. Since I upgraded to 3.70 I have not seen it happen again. Once again it does not happen all the time, seems to be once in a blue moon.

[+DanOCan]

I have really lost faith in my csx. If i hadn't known my approximate location when i was elk hunting i would have been up sh1t creek .

 

Realistically, if you put yourself in a situation where you are totally depending on any piece of electronic equipment you are pretty much hosed anyway.

[roybassist]

I thought to try the new location option on the satellite page, but that option is grayed out and I can't select it.

That's because you had a satellite fix. It only works when you don't.

 

How do you do hard reset?

With the unit off, press and hold the ENTER and PAGE buttons at the same time while powering it on.

All waypoints, tracks, routes will be lost and user settings will be back to factory defaults.

[zedex]

Well. After installing 3.70 i thought all my problems were over...NOPE. Went hunting again and tried to track back. No dice. It sent me in the wrong direction. Went to my compass page, recalibrated several times,compass remained locked up. I contacted Garmin again and the unit is now sent away to get repaired. Under warranty.

Delorme is looking real good to me about now.

[golfgunny]

I had this problem with my 60 and with my new Colorado, until I figured out the difference in the compass modes. If you are in "sight and go" mode, the pointer will not point to the cache (or the next waypoint), but will point to your intended "track," or the imaginary line between your starting point, and your waypoint/cache. In other words, it's designed to let you know if you're getting off course. Setting the default compass mode to "distance/bearing," fixed the problem for me.

 

I'm not sure if that is, or isn't, the problem some of you are facing, but wanted to point it out. Hope it helps.

[+Fuchsiamagic]

I upgraded mine from 3.20 to 3.70 a few weeks ago, and so far, the bearing pointer has worked correctly, HOWEVER, it still suffers with the same problem which I have had right from the beginning: 9 times out of 10, when I stop the car and get out, the map display freezes and it doesn't move as I walk along or change direction. A power off and on seems to be the only way to get it working again. Does anyone else get this problem?

[+Col. Bucky]

I upgraded mine from 3.20 to 3.70 a few weeks ago, and so far, the bearing pointer has worked correctly, HOWEVER, it still suffers with the same problem which I have had right from the beginning: 9 times out of 10, when I stop the car and get out, the map display freezes and it doesn't move as I walk along or change direction. A power off and on seems to be the only way to get it working again. Does anyone else get this problem?

Several fellow 60csx owners and I have been having this same problem with the screen freezing up while navigating. Mapping software is being used, but we're not sure if that's the cause. It almost seems like the unit is trying to process too much information at one time and is getting overloaded. Not sure as to the solution for that, but you are definitely not alone.

[+humboldt flier]

Same experience here, I have been calibrating the the compass frequently and have been in a happier place.

[zedex]

well. I recieved my CSX back from the repair facility and even though the documentation is all in french. The only part that was in english was "need to be recalibrated"

 

Maybe someone here speaking french can translate this into english.

 

probleme confirme.

l'appareil a ete recalibrer

gps capte bien signaux satellites .gps conforme aux specifications.

Mise a niveau du logiciel(derniere version)

[+Team Rijon]

well. I recieved my CSX back from the repair facility and even though the documentation is all in french. The only part that was in english was "need to be recalibrated"

 

Maybe someone here speaking french can translate this into english.

 

probleme confirme.

l'appareil a ete recalibrer

gps capte bien signaux satellites .gps conforme aux specifications.

Mise a niveau du logiciel(derniere version)

 

problem confirms.

the apparatus was recalibrated

gps collects satellite signals well .gps in conformity with the specifications.

Levelling of the software (last version)

[+Fuchsiamagic]

Just a quick note to say that I have had no more trouble with my 60CSx since upgrading to 3.70 back in September, so that seems to have fixed it! Both the arrow pointing the wrong way and the freezing up problem seem to have gone away so I'm a happy bunny!