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New Garmin Vista Hcx Software 2.70


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View the chipset update rgn file in a hex editor. Its plainly stated right there in the code.

ok thanks FiveNines, that makes it!

 

Motorcycle_mama, I am sorry but I don't think the links you provided could be consider as a proof. Unless I am wrong, forums (I know quite well GpsPassion and contribute rather frequently) are only reporting what they have heard, but no direct proof.

 

Again, unless I am wrong, Garmin official website doesn't indicate which chipset is used. From my standpoint, rgn file information are relevant.

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I am back on 2.70/2.30 I tried this set up today:

 

on my bike:

No drifting. (Etrex was in my backpocket) A very accurate track in Mapsource!

tripcomputer 52.5km and in Mapsource 52.1 km ( I think this is acceptable)

no problems with moved/ stopped time (only a couple of seconds stopped time over 1hour30min)

 

hiking:

No drifting (Etrex was in my breast pocket) A very accurate track in Mapsource!

tripcomputer 2.0km and in Mapsource also 2.0km (perfect)

moved time/ stopped time 21min40sec / 0min51 sec (this is not correct, I did not stop!)

 

So, I think that this setup gives better results than 2.70/2.60 firmware.

moved time/ stopped time calculation is better in 2.70/2.60 but this is of minor importance for me.

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When you hike with clear sky there is no problem.

The problem mostly occurs when you enter a position with bad reception - i.e a forest - and then you hike in that place or after a while come out to the clear sky the unit doesn't recover and that's when the drift start's.

So tell us more about the route you hiked...

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When you hike with clear sky there is no problem.

The problem mostly occurs when you enter a position with bad reception - i.e a forest - and then you hike in that place or after a while come out to the clear sky the unit doesn't recover and that's when the drift start's.

So tell us more about the route you hiked...

 

I hiked where I experienced drifting in the past with my Etrex with Firmware 2.70 and GPS firmware 2.60. I carried the Etrex in my breastpocket. (so non optimal receiving conditions).

The track in Mapsource is very accurate (nice strait lines exact on the road I walked). Much better as I got with 2.70/2.60.

Why not try for yourself? It only takes 5 minutes to install.

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I created another thread about a week ago "Vista HCx solution...". I reported that my all-but-useless Vista HCx was finally accurate in tracking caches after upgrading to 2.70 / 2.60 AND doing a hard reset. While I don't claim to have any info on speed, stopped time or distance, I can truly say that the accuracy is now incredible. Over two weekends, all caches (five) have been within several feet of accurate. One that was 121 feet off last Saturday was reading one foot when held over the cache. Two small park roads crossed at a 90 degree angle were right on (w/ NA NT 2008) at the maximun zoom. The track log w/ the unit held in my hand (hanging by my side most of the time for the five mike hike in fairly dense woods w/ 99.5% tree cover) was right on. There were no drop outs for the first time in months and out/back routes overlapped each other. Accuracy read 17 feet +/- 5 feewt for most of the hike, but it didn't seem to have a negative impact on the readings.

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When you hike with clear sky there is no problem.

The problem mostly occurs when you enter a position with bad reception - i.e a forest - and then you hike in that place or after a while come out to the clear sky the unit doesn't recover and that's when the drift start's.

So tell us more about the route you hiked...

 

I hiked where I experienced drifting in the past with my Etrex with Firmware 2.70 and GPS firmware 2.60. I carried the Etrex in my breastpocket. (so non optimal receiving conditions).

The track in Mapsource is very accurate (nice strait lines exact on the road I walked). Much better as I got with 2.70/2.60.

Why not try for yourself? It only takes 5 minutes to install.

 

Of course i tried Snezka hike

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I know that I'm crossposting, but this is very important I think :D

 

Yesterday I downgraded the chipset software from 2.60 to 2.30 using this link:

 

http://www.garmin.com/software/GPSChipsetT...onFile__230.rgn

 

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to find chipset 2.40, 2.50 and 2.60?

 

You can easy get region file V2.60.

First downgrade to V2.30, than erase all in dir c:\documents and settings\(your name)\Local Settings\Temp (first enable "show hidden files" somehow!)

Now upgrade your GPS through webupdater. When it ends, you will have new dir in c:\documents and settings\(your name)\Local Settings\Temp - "Garmin updates" or similar. In that dir you will have file Update.rgn - It is Region file V2.60 :rolleyes:

 

I'm not at home and can't attach my vista HCx region file till tomorow. But if you can wait, I'll send it tomorow...

---------------------------------

---------------------------------

 

IMPORTANT!!! If any of you have Vista HCx upgraded at home to V2.40 or 2.50 and NOT upgraded to region file V2.60 yet, there is a possibility that you have that earliler version of regon files stored in c:\documents and settings\(your name)\Local Settings\Temp !!!! Look at your dirs, mailby some of you still have older Update.rgn file. Attach your update files and I'll compare it, but say if it is for Vista HCx or Legend HCX!! I have only Vista...

 

Regards,

L.A.

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I performed the update to 2.70 / 2.60 last week. On Saturday I went geocaching and the performance was terrible. Accuracy varied from 25 to 50 feet (or more) all afternoon on a perfectly clear day. I was not a happy camper as it was the worst performance since buying it last January.

 

Yesterday I did a hard reset (hold page button & joystick in while pressing the on button - pretty hard to successfuly accomplish while keeping the joystick centered). Went into the yard to let it download the satellite info and it was locked on in about two seconds (on a cold start)! On Saturday it had taken about a minute to lock on.

 

Today we went out caching w/ the grandkids. The performance was unbelieveable. The first cache was found while the Vista HCx said we were 5' away --- and the compass arrow was pointing right at it 5' away! OK, so I figured it was coincidence (accuracy was +- 12' at the time). Next find: It said we were 2' feet from the cache and again, it was pointing at a hidden cache that was exactly 2' in front of us.

 

Could be that this update really works after doing a hard reset. Time will tell. By the way, don't forget to reload your caches after doing the hard reset. I was minutes from leaving today when I discovered that they were gone.

 

Found this in another thread. Only a sample of one, but maybe he is onto something.

 

I have just upgraded to 2.70/2.60, how can I tell if I have managed to do a hard reset successfully?

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I created another thread about a week ago "Vista HCx solution...". I reported that my all-but-useless Vista HCx was finally accurate in tracking caches after upgrading to 2.70 / 2.60 AND doing a hard reset. While I don't claim to have any info on speed, stopped time or distance, I can truly say that the accuracy is now incredible. Over two weekends, all caches (five) have been within several feet of accurate. One that was 121 feet off last Saturday was reading one foot when held over the cache. Two small park roads crossed at a 90 degree angle were right on (w/ NA NT 2008) at the maximun zoom. The track log w/ the unit held in my hand (hanging by my side most of the time for the five mike hike in fairly dense woods w/ 99.5% tree cover) was right on. There were no drop outs for the first time in months and out/back routes overlapped each other. Accuracy read 17 feet +/- 5 feewt for most of the hike, but it didn't seem to have a negative impact on the readings.

 

Blindmantoo

 

Thanks for this update. I posted a link to your other thread on this one a while back, hoping that some of the people who had tried the update would try the reset and report thier results, but they've gotten firmly into the 'downgrade to fix it' path and seemed to just ignore it.

 

I usually hold off upgrading to see what other peoples experience is first. I think at this point, I will upgrade my Vista AND do the hard reset. I'll leave my wifes Vista at 2.60/2.60 so I can do a side-by-side comparison.

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I have just upgraded to 2.70/2.60, how can I tell if I have managed to do a hard reset successfully?

 

Probably the easiest way to tell is that you will have lost all of your user entered data except the data on the welcome page and the maps and other data that are stored on the card. If you made any changes in page sequences, page setups, etc., you will have to do all of those again. You also will have to re-enter stored waypoints.

 

By the way, I tried the hard reset trick and it did not fix the problem. I did a walk in the neighborhood and plotted the track. The log recorded a "drift" - clearly the same issue as shown in the track log that one of the other people posted - although not as extreme.

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Probably the easiest way to tell is that you will have lost all of your user entered data except the data on the welcome page and the maps and other data that are stored on the card. If you made any changes in page sequences, page setups, etc., you will have to do all of those again. You also will have to re-enter stored waypoints.

 

Thanks for your quick reply. My data, waypoints etc is still there, so will have to try again.

Edited by Canonuser
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I have an early model Vista HCx (bought it in August 2007). I had never seen the drift until recently (although to be honest I hadn't really been walking in difficult reception conditions very much). When I saw it, I had just turned the unit on (we were approaching a cache) and put the GPS on my belt. There were trees on the path but not dense forest. When I reached the cache area, I looked at the screen and my track was about 30 meters off from my previous tracks, and the EPE circle was big and getting bigger. I looked at the satellite screen and it showed the EPE going from 20 meters slowly climbing up to 25 meters, even though the satellites showed very good reception. I finally rebooted it and it immediately snapped back to the correct location. I think this happened with 2.60. When I upgraded to 2.70 and tried another cache with similar conditions (GPS on my belt, some trees around), it happened again, but with less severity. But even after rebooting the location was wandering (this was on a 4.5 difficulty cache, too, dangit--could have used some help from the GPS!).

 

Anyway, after reading about Blindmantoo's suggestion, I did a hard reset and tried the same cache again (with the GPS on my belt). This time, no drift but the accuracy still wasn't very good (When I held it over the cache spot, it was pointing me 6 meters away when I was at GZ), so it wasn't a "slam dunk", and I'm not convinced that it fixed the drift problem anyway. I haven't tried reverting to GPS software 2.3 yet, but I may if this continues to be a problem.

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FOR all of the skeptics out there......

I created another thread about a week ago "Vista HCx solution...". I reported that my all-but-useless Vista HCx was finally accurate in tracking caches after upgrading to 2.70 / 2.60 AND doing a hard reset. While I don't claim to have any info on speed, stopped time or distance, I can truly say that the accuracy is now incredible. Over two weekends, all caches (five) have been within several feet of accurate. One that was 121 feet off last Saturday was reading one foot when held over the cache. Two small park roads crossed at a 90 degree angle were right on (w/ NA NT 2008) at the maximun zoom. The track log w/ the unit held in my hand (hanging by my side most of the time for the five mike hike in fairly dense woods w/ 99.5% tree cover) was right on. There were no drop outs for the first time in months and out/back routes overlapped each other. Accuracy read 17 feet +/- 5 feewt for most of the hike, but it didn't seem to have a negative impact on the readings.

 

Followup on the above post... Here is additional info supporting the positional accuracy after upgrading to 2.70/2.60 AND doing a hard reset after the upgrade.

 

This weekend I did the same hike (this is five miles) as last weekend. The two tracks are seen in the google earth map as perfectly overlaying each other. The hike is in the woods, under tree cover. Last week it was 75 and sunny, today it was 85, humid and overcast. I mentioned above that a cache registered one foot last weekend when the GPS was held over the cache. Well, today was a first. The GPS read 0 feet while holding it over the same cache. Today the accuracy was typically 17' +/- 7'. Here is the map w/ both track logs overlayed:

 

highbanks.jpg

 

Here is the google earth image of another local park where the hiking trail (about 2.25 miles) can be seen because the image was taken in winter. It is under tree cover in the summer. Below it is the same trail, but with the Vista HCx track overlayed in google earth.

 

blendon.jpg

 

blendonGPS.jpg

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Here is my track. Hike is about 7.5 miles total. Saw deviations of maybe 50 to 75 feet at most. Trail has a mountain on one side and I would say moderate tree cover. Nothing too thick. Maybe my tree cover isn't thick enough to cause a drift to start.

 

Second image is a closer view of what the canopy looks like

Using 2.7/2.6 on my vista hcx.

 

trail.jpg

 

trail2.jpg

Edited by Team Loloboto
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I hope everone with this problem is contacted Garmin, and sent screen shots of the track log. They will not try to fix the problem unless we ALL do.

 

I have. But, I didn't send the screen shots - I sent the track log from the file created in MapSource. I suspect that the track log would be more helpful to them than the screen shot because they would get the data, as recorded. It's also a smaller file. I'd also encourage people to be polite. I have had a few exchanges with Garmin since I purchased the Vista HCx and I have always had the impression that they are trying to be helpful. Based on the posts here regarding issues with the Vista HCx, the Colorado and the Oregon, I get the sense that us end users might be beta testers for Garmin. But, if that is the case, it's a management decision, not a decision made by the people who are trying to provide us with tech support.

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I agree with jmundiger. Although the person on the phone or the once receiving your email is the easiest to scream at 99% of the time your issue is not their fault. Anger will get us nothing but ignored by Garmin. I too will send a track log using my current 2.70/2.30 which I have no issues with (aside from a slight error in distance measurement) and then I will upgrade my other unit to the current software and show how it is in major error through tracklog. Hopefully, Garmin will take our request to their research department and the techs will analyze our data. Happy caching!

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Just a quick note that I installed GPS firmware 2.30 (kept software at 2.70) in my Vista HCx and went for a hike this weekend. Didn't see the drift (maybe... I reset it once when I was driving to the trailhead due to high error in a tight canyon). The conditions may not have been right to create the drift, though--I held the GPS in my hand the whole trip, with the screen facing up. There was some tree cover, but at least half the trip was exposed. The out and back tracks are very close together. The best part is the odometer, though. It read 11.8 km (7.3 miles) when I got back to my pickup, and analyzing the tracklogs later, it also showed exactly 11.8 km. So, software 2.70 seems to do the trick for the odometer, and 2.70/2.30 seems to be a good combo overall.

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Now I know what Garmin thinks of version 2.70. I was so frustrated with my Vista HCx (purchased in February, and had many phone and email conversations about it with cust. serv since then) that I convinced the customer service guy to give me an RMA number to send it in for replacement. Garmin sent me a new Vista HCx with an OLDER serial number than the one I sent it. Funny thing is that the service report says "Unit passes all testing and is within operation limits." So, the first thing I did was check the software...and they sent it with 2.20/2.30

 

So, even Garmin doesn't trust newer software versions, I guess. I'm going to upgrade the software and do the hard reset and then go test it next week.

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I just bought a Vista HCx today and should get it in a few days. Hopefully it wil be a newer unit so i can report if it has the same issues. I cant believe garmin let this issue go on so long. I have always been happy with garmin in the past and hope i made the right decision. I think the best update is the 2.70/2.30 from what i read. I will report back with some tests soon!!

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I have seen some major drift on mine with 2.5/2.6. (like walk in a big few mile circle, and my start and end points are 300 yards apart.) I never had it when it was brand new with first software. I now have 2.7/2.6 as of tonight, but reading here it doesn't seem like it's going to help much.

 

how can I downgrade to 2.70/2.30?

 

what is you defination of hard reset after updating? just turning it off and on? or going into the settings and doing a factory reset? (is there one?)

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.....

 

what is you defination of hard reset after updating? just turning it off and on? or going into the settings and doing a factory reset? (is there one?)

 

A hard reset can be done by:

 

1. push the rocker AND the upper right button.

2. While doing this, push the on/off button.

 

I'ts quite difficult to do. If succesfull, all your settings should be erased, exept for the data on the SD-card.

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General question about the drift issue.

 

I am running with a webupdater set up of 2.7/2.6 on my Vista HCX. I have noticed over the past couple of weeks (post upgrade), that when geocaching my accuracy at GZ has been very poor. I realize the other factors involved, but it does seem to be worst than previously noticed.

 

Is the drift issue only related to the track log, or does it also effect your reported on the ground location in real time. Also when the drift occurs, does the inaccuracy show on the GPSr (sat page), or only on the track log when it has been downloaded.

 

Regards Tarot

Edited by Tarot
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Is the drift issue only related to the track log, or does it also effect your reported on the ground location in real time. Also when the drift occurs, does the inaccuracy show on the GPSr (sat page), or only on the track log when it has been downloaded.

 

Based on my experience (which is probably not as much as that of some others who have posted about this) is that it affects the track log, probably affects the data on the trip computer and affects accuracy after the drift occurs. There are probably a couple of things to try. First, record a track log for your hike and download it to MapSource (or other program) and view it. The "drift" will appear as a distinct aberrant leg somewhere along the track. Note that this is a noticeably distinct jog in the track - not just a variation, within standard deviation, from the path that was actually walked.

 

Another thing to note is the level of accuracy. My Vista HCx typically operates at 12 ft. +/- accuracy. When I have experienced the "drift" issue, the accuracy level is considerably larger than than.

 

Third, if you are close to gz and think that drift has occurred, turn it off and back on. If an error occurred, it should clear and the gps will show you at a different spot than it recorded before you turned it off.

 

In my experience, I have noticed that this issue does not consistently occur. It seems to be related to recording while moving at a walking pace, especially when walking slowly and with something less than an optimal view of the sky. But, I have had it occur when I was walking with a good view of the sky. I've also hiked in situations with slow uphill stretches and the skyview compromised by both terrain and trees and still recorded a pretty good track log.

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Is the drift issue only related to the track log, or does it also effect your reported on the ground location in real time. Also when the drift occurs, does the inaccuracy show on the GPSr (sat page), or only on the track log when it has been downloaded.

The track log is simply a record of where the unit thought you were over time. So yes, if you are experiencing drift, your real-time position (as reported by the unit) is incorrect. However, unless you have a reference point (for example, a known landmark or previously placed accurate waypoint), the error will not necessarily be apparent to you on the ground. It will be apparent when you upload the track log and look at it on the map.

 

When drift occurs, it is usually accompanied by higher than normal EPE (sometimes as large as 100 feet). However, even the high EPE is not sufficient to account for the actual error in reported position (which can be as large as 600 or 700 feet.) The EPE will be reported on the satellite page. Noticing that EPE is abnormally high is your best shot at detecting the drift problem in real time if you are in unfamiliar territory.

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I have my Legend Hcx for a week now, and upgraded to 2.70/2.60. I've experienced no problems. I DID perform a hard reset after the upgrade. Some say that a hard upgade solved the drift problem.

But it's a little bit quiet on this forum regarding the drift issue....

 

So, does anyone still have the drift problem????

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I downgraded several weeks ago from 2.70/2.60 to 2.70/2.30. With 2.70/2.60 I was periodically seeing drifting up to several hundred feet (>30m). With 2.70/2.30 after 15 or 20 hours of hiking I have not yet seen the kind of drifiting I was seeing on the other software combination, although I still see regular spreads of up to 60ft. between tracks which retrace each other along the same route. Also, with 2.70/2.30, the Trip Computer errors again are present. The Stopped and Moving Time readouts can have errors of 30% percent or more.

 

There are several threads on this Forum concerning the drift problem, but it may be that people feel there is not much more they can do but report the matter to Garmin and live with it.

 

Don

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I have my Legend Hcx for a week now, and upgraded to 2.70/2.60. I've experienced no problems. I DID perform a hard reset after the upgrade. Some say that a hard upgade solved the drift problem.

But it's a little bit quiet on this forum regarding the drift issue....

 

So, does anyone still have the drift problem????

 

 

I have the Vista HCx and it had the drift problem. After upgrading and doing the hard reset it has not had the drift problem once, After every use I upload the track and view it in Mapsource & Google Earth.

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I have my Legend Hcx for a week now, and upgraded to 2.70/2.60. I've experienced no problems. I DID perform a hard reset after the upgrade. Some say that a hard upgade solved the drift problem.

But it's a little bit quiet on this forum regarding the drift issue....

 

So, does anyone still have the drift problem????

 

 

I have the Vista HCx and it had the drift problem. After upgrading and doing the hard reset it has not had the drift problem once, After every use I upload the track and view it in Mapsource & Google Earth.

What about the odometer issue that everyone fusses about? Do you have that after the upgrade/hard reset?

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I have my Legend Hcx for a week now, and upgraded to 2.70/2.60. I've experienced no problems. I DID perform a hard reset after the upgrade. Some say that a hard upgade solved the drift problem.

But it's a little bit quiet on this forum regarding the drift issue....

 

So, does anyone still have the drift problem????

 

 

I have the Vista HCx and it had the drift problem. After upgrading and doing the hard reset it has not had the drift problem once, After every use I upload the track and view it in Mapsource & Google Earth.

What about the odometer issue that everyone fusses about? Do you have that after the upgrade/hard reset?

My odometer is fine since the upgrade. (2.70/2.60)

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What about the odometer issue that everyone fusses about? Do you have that after the upgrade/hard reset?

My odometer is fine since the upgrade. (2.70/2.60)

 

I have no problems with the odometer, Yesterday i did a MTB trail and the odometer said it was 45.0 km. My bikecomputer said 46.5 km. I met another biker with a etrex and he also had exact 45.0 km.

(We also compared the gpx data and the two tracks fitted perfectly in google earth :) )

 

I think 1.5 km is a normal deviation. Maybe my bikecomputer is wrong..?! :rolleyes:

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I have no problems with the odometer, Yesterday i did a MTB trail and the odometer said it was 45.0 km. My bikecomputer said 46.5 km. I met another biker with a etrex and he also had exact 45.0 km.

(We also compared the gpx data and the two tracks fitted perfectly in google earth :) )

 

I think 1.5 km is a normal deviation. Maybe my bikecomputer is wrong..?! :rolleyes:

 

I believe with one of the older firmware/software combos the problem was the gps odometer and track log would have significant differences.

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I have my Legend Hcx for a week now, and upgraded to 2.70/2.60. I've experienced no problems. I DID perform a hard reset after the upgrade. Some say that a hard upgade solved the drift problem.

But it's a little bit quiet on this forum regarding the drift issue....

 

So, does anyone still have the drift problem????

 

 

I have the Vista HCx and it had the drift problem. After upgrading and doing the hard reset it has not had the drift problem once, After every use I upload the track and view it in Mapsource & Google Earth.

 

 

 

At week four w/ the update. The map now contains 4 track logs for the 5 1/4 mile hike (all different colors). Still no dropouts since the 2.70/2.60 update w/ hard reset. Today the gps was at four feet at the cache on the trail. Here's the pic:

 

 

highbanks4.jpg

Edited by Blindmantoo
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I'll add in one more account of my 2.70/2.30 combination here. Went hiking again this weekend, in slightly less challenging conditions. Still under tree cover for a significant portion, and in a valley (not quite a canyon like last time). We were walking with toddlers, so I was significantly slower this time. I forgot to reset the odometer at the start of the hike, but at the halfway point, I reset it before we started back. It read 1.55 km at the end, and checking the tracklog in MapSource, it read 1.60 km. No drift showed up in the tracklog. There was one minor deviation (maybe 20 feet off for a stretch of 100 feet) but otherwise the out and back tracks were very close together. So, everything seems to be working well. I won't complain about a 50 meter discrepancy, especially when I was walking so slowly.

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Has anyone documented what 2.70/2.30 does better than 2.70/2.60? Given that I've had no issues w/ 2.7/2.6 in over a month of use, I'm curious as to what I'm missing.

When I first installed 2.70, I immediately experienced drift/track deviation, where I hadn't before (I have an early model). I did the hard reset as you suggested, and while I didn't see the drift again, it just seemed like the position was less stable--it was wandering more. The potential downside of using GPS firmware 2.30 is an inaccurate odometer, but whatever they did in software 2.70 seems to have fixed that problem. It does seem to have trouble recognizing motion below 2 km/h (a common symptom for GPS firmware versions before 2.60). I haven't paid attention to see if the trip computer shows an abnormally high stopped time vs. moving time (also a common symptom for 2.30) so if that's important to you, you might think twice about using it.

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After testing the unit this weekend under various conditions i report that the 2.70/2.60 (with Hard reset) combination for me doesn't work at all.

I have experienced major drift problems almost all the time.

So Back to 2.70/2.30 for me which works just better but of course not enough for a gps unit to rely on it for navigation by foot...

I am very disappointed i think that Garmin is ignoring our problem and their support sucks.

The only reason i don't buy a magellan with sirf iii is that i can't find topo maps for Greece

Oh god i just hate Garmin...

Edited by EFIALTIS
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As a Vista HCx owner I have been following this topic. Over the past few months I have had what must be the same problem with drifting. The first time I noticed it I was searching for a cache and followed the GPS to a spot and began searching. After 15 minutes or so I suddenly went from showing a few feet away to over 100'. I have had this same sort of thing happen a few more times with anywhere from 70' swing to just recently almost 300'. I saved the track log from that and the track in and out on the same trail are shown over 100' apart at some points. WP1 is where the GPS first sent me to look for stage 1, about 300' away. Track.jpgToday, I went out to do some maintenence on one of my caches. I turned on the Vista and it quickly got a lock. Accuracy was about 60'. So I waited to see if it would settle down and get better accuracy. Instead the accuracy slowly got worse eventually going up to 110'. At this point I switched to the sat page and saw something strange. It was showing 6 or 7 sats locked on but the colors kept flashing to a different color, not on and off like it does when it is searching. The bar stayed a solid color but kept switching colors. Has anyone seen this happen before.

Edited by out12
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Today, I went out to do some maintenence on one of my caches. I turned on the Vista and it quickly got a lock. Accuracy was about 60'. So I waited to see if it would settle down and get better accuracy. Instead the accuracy slowly got worse eventually going up to 110'. At this point I switched to the sat page and saw something strange. It was showing 6 or 7 sats locked on but the colors kept flashing to a different color, not on and off like it does when it is searching. The bar stayed a solid color but kept switching colors. Has anyone seen this happen before.

 

I have experienced a similar issue when first turning on the unit and had it happen running 2.70/2.30. I have since switched to 2.70/2.50 but have not had a chance to field test it.

 

Does anyone know where to find a copy of chipset 2.40??

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What about the odometer issue that everyone fusses about? Do you have that after the upgrade/hard reset?

My odometer is fine since the upgrade. (2.70/2.60)

 

I have no problems with the odometer, Yesterday i did a MTB trail and the odometer said it was 45.0 km. My bikecomputer said 46.5 km. I met another biker with a etrex and he also had exact 45.0 km.

(We also compared the gpx data and the two tracks fitted perfectly in google earth :( )

 

I think 1.5 km is a normal deviation. Maybe my bikecomputer is wrong..?! :rolleyes:

 

Maybe the cycle computer is correct as it doesn't cut corners!

 

-Gary

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As a Vista HCx owner I have been following this topic. Over the past few months I have had what must be the same problem with drifting. The first time I noticed it I was searching for a cache and followed the GPS to a spot and began searching. After 15 minutes or so I suddenly went from showing a few feet away to over 100'. I have had this same sort of thing happen a few more times with anywhere from 70' swing to just recently almost 300'. I saved the track log from that and the track in and out on the same trail are shown over 100' apart at some points. WP1 is where the GPS first sent me to look for stage 1, about 300' away. Track.jpgToday, I went out to do some maintenence on one of my caches. I turned on the Vista and it quickly got a lock. Accuracy was about 60'. So I waited to see if it would settle down and get better accuracy. Instead the accuracy slowly got worse eventually going up to 110'. At this point I switched to the sat page and saw something strange. It was showing 6 or 7 sats locked on but the colors kept flashing to a different color, not on and off like it does when it is searching. The bar stayed a solid color but kept switching colors. Has anyone seen this happen before.

I suspect what's happening there is that it's "seeing" more or fewer satellites. The colors are assigned to the slots. Since the signal strength display is ordered by numeric satellite ID, if it suddenly "sees" a new satellite, everything to the right of it will shift over and change color. I've seen it be a bit unstable before where one or more satellites are popping and and out of view, and that causes the color changes like you're mentioning. And to be really correct, the satellites that are shown are not based on signals it actually receives, but are the satellites it should be able to see, based on almanac data and your position.

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