Garmin Oregon v2.93 beta released

March 10, 2009

Garmin releases Oregon v2.93 beta to correct some problems created in v2.86 beta.

Changes made from version 2.86 to 2.93:

Please report any problems with beta software to OregonBeta@garmin.com
Improved GPS reception
Improved connection reliability with Spanner
Fixed GB Discoverer map not displaying while zooming (introduced in 2.86 beta)
Fixed roads not showing on maps with satellite imagery (introduced in 2.86 beta)
Fixed map with no DEM data drawing with a gray background (introduced in 2.86 beta)

March 10, 2009

Installed - No problem.

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4393

March 10, 2009

8) Thanx

I'll try that, although it's the 1st fix I'd benefit from.

Never noticed a problem with Spanner, and don't use the other fixed features - yet

March 10, 2009

Fixed GB Discoverer map not displaying while zooming (introduced in 2.86 beta)

Certainly improved this point.

3k · March 10, 2009

The map redraw issue caused when your finger panned into the zoom control seems to be fixed.

March 10, 2009

The map redraw issue caused when your finger panned into the zoom control seems to be fixed.

Almost ... if you select a point on the map to get the push pin and the button at the top and then scroll into that button, it still has the bug.

JetSkier

March 10, 2009

I also noticed that my "Custom POIs" are now called "Extras".

JetSkier

1.9k · March 10, 2009

Is it me or do we have a Poi issue again??

Not seeing my custom poi's and different poi categories.

3k · March 10, 2009

POIs are now under "Extras" not "Custom POIs" on the WhereTo? menu

The All databases selection seems to work now although the spell search under All databases is kind of broken -- sometimes it returns a POI sometimes it returns a category.

3k · March 10, 2009

The map redraw issue caused when your finger panned into the zoom control seems to be fixed.

Almost ... if you select a point on the map to get the push pin and the button at the top and then scroll into that button, it still has the bug.

JetSkier

Confirmed. So close.

2.1k · March 10, 2009

Someone get on the trails and see how the accuracy and WAAS is working!

1.9k · March 10, 2009

POIs are now under "Extras" not "Custom POIs" on the WhereTo? menu

The All databases selection seems to work now although the spell search under All databases is kind of broken -- sometimes it returns a POI sometimes it returns a category.

Right, thank you.

3k · March 10, 2009

I tried a couple of quick experiments over lunch and while I can't draw any conclusions about the GPS performance it doesn't look worse than 2.86.

I was encouraged when I enabled WAAS that it locked in 30-45 seconds with a clear view to 51 (this has always taken 4-5 minutes). However as a drove around I noticed that 51 kept coming in and out until I finally lost it and the Oregon started its long hunt though other satellites which are marginal around here. Maybe the lock with a clear view has been improved but under cover I'm guessing things probably don't work any better than 2.86.

I took a walk over an "L" shaped course 3-4 times to see how the track performance was and it was good but again the one place where it showed some variation (30') was where there are some tall pines on one side. My sense is that the unit didn't feel quite as jumpy as it did in 2.86 and the tracks do look a little cleaner but I'll have to get it out in the woods under some real cover tonight/tomorrow to see how it performs.

March 10, 2009

Haven't tried out too much, just installed it, but accuracy is MUCH better...Locked on WAAS quicker and GPS accuracy inside mys house was in the mid teens and not less then 10 feet. Map re-draw appears a little different but can't put my finger on what is different, seems maybe a little faster.

2.1k · March 10, 2009

Haven't tried out too much, just installed it, but accuracy is MUCH better...Locked on WAAS quicker and GPS accuracy inside mys house was in the mid teens and not less then 10 feet.

That's was my first impression of v2.86 and it turned out to be a dud. I went on a walk, similar to g-o-cachers, I saw WAAS at first but with a few tree branches and a clothes line in the "way" I quickly lost WAAS. My tracklog was also jumpy jumpy jumpy but I'll do some more extensive tests to see for sure.

And still... for the ump-teenth time, no native Waypoint Averaging.

Edited March 10, 2009 by yogazoo

March 10, 2009

8) Thanx

I'll try that, although it's the 1st fix I'd benefit from.

Never noticed a problem with Spanner, and don't use the other fixed features - yet

There is BIG difference.. Oregon now supports A301 protocol pro tracklog transfer into PC in Spanner mode. So it would be use-able for competitions (declaration of flights, XC trails, ... ) and some business applications as source of valid and not tampered tracklog data.

Thank you very much Garmin !!! Perfect implementation.. Tested and working as expected.. Further testing needed, but this could be used as example of very positive approach to customer specific requirements..

BR

Radek Kafka

Edited March 10, 2009 by kafkar

March 10, 2009

Map re-draw appears a little different but can't put my finger on what is different, seems maybe a little faster.

I know what you mean, something is odd about it. If I scroll a little off shore out over the Pacific

Ocean (8mi or lower) I get white patches that won't draw unless I scroll a bit more.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Low Bat

March 10, 2009

Well so far so good. I was one of the ones having HORRIBLE results with 2.86. Errors of over 500 feet. Today I used my same test walk that I have used previously (comparing the Oregon to my 76cst). First result was very positive. GPS accuracy was never less than 4 metres (about 14 feet) and the tracklog on the out and back trail showed a maximum deviation of about 20 feet. Much much better.

The other major improvement was WAAS. With 2.86 even in open sky I could only get a couple of birds to lock on, today I had 8 of 9 birds with WAAS lock in open sky.

This is a very preliminary test so will rerun over the next week and test WAAS in more real world (light tree to heavy tree cover) environment.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

March 11, 2009

Well I have trouble getting a GPS signel at home so I have hung my OR out the window (from 2 floors up - currently praying) as I want some inprovement in accurecy, just some will be nice.

Having said that some times it is spot on other times it can be 200ft off. So heres me hoping and waiting.

Ofcouse I'll give it some proper skytime soon I'm just inpatient that way.

March 11, 2009

Finally a WAAS lock! In the previous beta versions the WAAS sat was visible, it just never locked on. It does however need a clear view of the sky or the green bar disappears. Funny, even when the green bar for WAAS disappears the other sats are still showing a "D". I guess it still needs some fine tuning. I'm glad Garmin continues to make improvements.

March 11, 2009

The reversed battery profile (NiMH reading less bars than alkaline) present in the two previous beta versions seems to have been fixed.

March 11, 2009

This is the best I've seen in the UK.

March 11, 2009

8) Thanx

I'll try that, although it's the 1st fix I'd benefit from.

Never noticed a problem with Spanner, and don't use the other fixed features - yet

There is BIG difference.. Oregon now supports A301 protocol pro tracklog transfer into PC in Spanner mode. So it would be use-able for competitions (declaration of flights, XC trails, ... ) and some business applications as source of valid and not tampered tracklog data.

Thank you very much Garmin !!! Perfect implementation.. Tested and working as expected.. Further testing needed, but this could be used as example of very positive approach to customer specific requirements..

BR

Radek Kafka

I think I have it, when you scroll on the map it appears to draw the map and then add the shaded relief. I only have the basemap and no other maps install at this point. Does anyone else have this issue? It also appears to scroll a little slower including the re-draw. Considering writing to Garmin to advise them of this but would like to see of others are having the same issue.

March 11, 2009

Haven't tried out too much, just installed it, but accuracy is MUCH better...Locked on WAAS quicker and GPS accuracy inside mys house was in the mid teens and not less then 10 feet.

That's was my first impression of v2.86 and it turned out to be a dud. I went on a walk, similar to g-o-cachers, I saw WAAS at first but with a few tree branches and a clothes line in the "way" I quickly lost WAAS. My tracklog was also jumpy jumpy jumpy but I'll do some more extensive tests to see for sure.

And still... for the ump-teenth time, no native Waypoint Averaging.

On further testing I too loose WAAS very quickly. I had placed my GPSr down for a little bit, sad I know my hand felt naked , and when I picked it up and moved (still in clear sky) I lost the WAAS. Accuracy still appears to be better though WAAS or not, though I haven't taken it into a treed area yet to see.

2.1k · March 11, 2009

Accurcay also appears better on a small test, but similar WAAS with previous version(s)... gains WAAS quickly, holds for a while, then vanishes. Back intermittently.

March 11, 2009

I loaded the new beta yesterday afternoon and only had the GPSr on for the drive home from work yesterday and back to work today. I did see the quicker lock on the WAAS satellite #51, then it dropped the lock. Out of shear coincidence, about the time it was just about to re-acquire #51 the unit lost power (on external Garmin power adapter). I hit the power button nearly immediately and the unit was back on and reporting a 12 foot GPS Accuracy as soon as the screen came up, and had a WAAS lock on #51 within about 30-45 seconds. It kept the WAAS lock for the last half of my 20 mile drive home with no problems. It also appeared to keep teh lock for the full 20 mile drive to work this morning.

I do not think the power issue was related to the update, but this was the first time that my Oregon had done this. I used to see it in spells on my Colorado 300. The CO would lose power once or twice on the way home from work, then maybe again once or twice more in the same week, then it would got for over a month with no problems...

March 11, 2009

I loaded the new beta yesterday afternoon and only had the GPSr on for the drive home from work yesterday and back to work today. I did see the quicker lock on the WAAS satellite #51, then it dropped the lock. Out of shear coincidence, about the time it was just about to re-acquire #51 the unit lost power (on external Garmin power adapter). I hit the power button nearly immediately and the unit was back on and reporting a 12 foot GPS Accuracy as soon as the screen came up, and had a WAAS lock on #51 within about 30-45 seconds. It kept the WAAS lock for the last half of my 20 mile drive home with no problems. It also appeared to keep teh lock for the full 20 mile drive to work this morning.

I do not think the power issue was related to the update, but this was the first time that my Oregon had done this. I used to see it in spells on my Colorado 300. The CO would lose power once or twice on the way home from work, then maybe again once or twice more in the same week, then it would got for over a month with no problems...

If the power issue is related to the external power put a set of batteries in it. That way when it loses external power there is not an immediate shut down. You'll have 30 seconds to fix the cord or tell the unit to use the batteries.

Installed 2.93 last night. No obvious interface and operational changes from 2.86 that I can see at first blush. Some things I'd still like to see changed:

- A 'Voltage' data field. The battery icon is OK but would prefer a Voltage field. Doesn't have to replace the icon option, just there as a possible field to choose.

- Would like to be able to display the barometric pressure on the trip page. Unless I'm missing it completely this field is not available for selection.

- Change the way routes are named. Would like to name a route what I want instead of the automatic way it does it now (starting point name to ending point name).

March 11, 2009

Well I am not convinced yet that a hide is more accurate with the Oregon than my 60csx ......Although the Oregon v2.93 is { sometimes} more accurate at my home cords thn the csx......BUT what about in the Boonies ??????.........Really ,Oregon,Inpress me ????? I'm not ready to leave the CSX home yet..How about you ???...

March 11, 2009

I've just upgraded from 2.85 to 2.93 (having avoided 2.86 after reading the thread about it). I thought I'd test it quickly on my way home, and to my inexperienced eye I can't see any significant difference between the tracks. There are certainly no major inaccuracies or drifts in either. The only differences I notice is that the jumping behaviour that sometimes occurs as the gps initally finds (or loses) its signal isn't recorded on the 2.93 track (blue), however, this is just one track so it may just be a fluke. Also, the gps was still obtaining satellite information for the first half of the journey (that's what the white bars mean, right?). Regardless of this, the gps reported an accuracy of 3m all the way home (as it did with 2.85), but never achieved a WAAS lock (nor did 2.85 for me).

This journey is through Brighton in South East England, with a clear view of the sky along the majoity of the route. I'm was on my bike and travelling at about 20-30km/h. The red trace was recorded using 2.85 and the 2.93 trace is blue.

3k · March 11, 2009

Here's an image with some tracklog comparisons which I think are pretty representative of 2.85 and 2.86. The 2.93 track is based on a log I recorded this morning, so I'm not sure how "typical" it will be. The yellow log is my track reference, averaged from many tests with the OR, CO and 60csx.

Observations:

- 2.85 looks very smooth but highly averaged and tends to cut corners and miss detail along the track

- 2.86 track log looks very "ragged" and note the 80'-100' drift in the upper right corner

- 2.93 similar ragged look as 2.86, but relative to the reference track on my test course it was very good, as good as the Colorado and 60csx

My only other experience with 2.93 was on another short walk yesterday where I was moving faster under less cover. This track has much less noise than the one above. The Oregon's issues are definitely made worse under cover when moving slowly <2.5mph. Even in 2.93, at slow speeds I still see that about 10-15% of my time is recorded as stopped even though I never stopped once. If I watch my speed I see that it does periodically drop to zero for several seconds, my cursor stops moving and is typically followed by an erratic jump in the my location and the track. In 2.93 these are pretty minor jumps, most on the order of 20'-30' but there was one in the upper left corner that was 40'-50'.

Need more testing to convince myself that 2.93 is actually better, but this is at least a little promising. As for WAAS, I see slightly better lock times with a clear view, but under tree cover I drop WAAS very quickly.

March 11, 2009

Thanks for posting that Scott, interesting. Looks like this is a step in the right direction for a good fix to the tracking error problem.

March 11, 2009

If the power issue is related to the external power put a set of batteries in it. That way when it loses external power there is not an immediate shut down. You'll have 30 seconds to fix the cord or tell the unit to use the batteries.

My Oregon had batteries in it at the time, as my Colorado 300 did every time it had the random power off issues. As for the "do you want to remain on" option, while it is supposed to display, experience has shown that on the Colorado it did not always do what it was supposed to do. I had reported a problem to Garmin on my Colorado with the [seemingly] random power off when disconnecting external power. They never did anything other than send me an email that it should not do that and that it didn't do that on their unit they tested with. That report was almost 5-6 months ago now, but since I no longer own that GPSr I am less worried about it, other than that the same bug might be creeping its way into the Oregon line...

March 12, 2009

How can a person in the USA tell if his OR 400t has WAAS lock?

March 12, 2009

How can a person in the USA tell if his OR 400t has WAAS lock?

First you need to make sure your receiver is in WAAS mode...setup -> system -> GPS -> WAAS

Once you do that, go back to the main menu and press the signal strength bars to go to the sat. page, once there and a clear view of the sky, look for the "d" to start showing up at the base of the green bars, then you have WAAS.

2.1k · March 12, 2009

Long drive with OR and new beta on it, random power offs.

March 13, 2009

Long drive with OR and new beta on it, random power offs.

Mhhh, can't confirm that. Had a 3 1/2h car-navigation yesterday with the new FW and the OR didn't powered off randomly.

March 13, 2009

Has anyone tried a "Wherigo" with this release yet? With previous versions, Wherigo's locked up on my device. I didn't try it with version 2.86 but did with older versions.

Also, what is the "Maps with satelite imagery introduced in version 2.86 beta" about. Does the Oregon support satelite imagery on the screen now?

3.1k · March 13, 2009

Has anyone tried a "Wherigo" with this release yet? With previous versions, Wherigo's locked up on my device. I didn't try it with version 2.86 but did with older versions.

Also, what is the "Maps with satelite imagery introduced in version 2.86 beta" about. Does the Oregon support satelite imagery on the screen now?

I have done lots of Wherigo's on the OR and it is my experience that the issue is with the Wherigo player which has not changed in several firmware releases. I have never seen a "hang". Seen lots of power off's.

Tasks do not work properly with OR's. Also, if you press buttons too fast it can cause the OR to power off. For example, if you click on an item and click on the "TAKE" button, you have to wait for the screen that says you have taken the item. The OR will display an interim screen and it is easy to jump the gun and press a button too fast.

You can also get in trouble if the zone is very small and the OR drifts out of the zone before you do whatever you have to do.

3k · March 13, 2009

Long drive with OR and new beta on it, random power offs.

Mhhh, can't confirm that. Had a 3 1/2h car-navigation yesterday with the new FW and the OR didn't powered off randomly.

Drove about 2.5 hours today and no shutoffs to report.

Has anyone tried a "Wherigo" with this release yet? With previous versions, Wherigo's locked up on my device. I didn't try it with version 2.86 but did with older versions.

Also, what is the "Maps with satelite imagery introduced in version 2.86 beta" about. Does the Oregon support satelite imagery on the screen now?

The Wherigo player in this version is the same version which was released in the very first software drop for the Oregon (player version 2.11)

1.9k · March 13, 2009

Been 5 hours on a mountainbike today, oregon 300 + V2.93B worked perfect all time.

March 14, 2009

Went geocaching yesterday. In previous beta v2.86 the compass bounced around when standing still. Now in beta v2.93 the compass is very stable.

Also while driving this past week with the Oregon 300 plugged into a non-Garmin cell phone charger I experienced no power shutdown problems with either this or the previous beta software versions.

Edited March 14, 2009 by Low Bat

March 15, 2009

I've managed to get WAAS locks twice this weekend since upgrading, WAAS has never worked at all for me before 2.93. Both times have been in very clear areas (no trees, at the top of a hill, for example) and the lock has fairly quickly been lost again. The first lock was hard to keep tabs on as I was on a bike, but it didn't last more than 5 minutes out of a 6 hour ride. The second time was in a different area, again with clear sky and was lost on putting the unit in my pocket.

March 15, 2009

I have the impression that 2.93 is eating the batteries more quickly than earlier firmware versions.

Maybe due to the fact that you get the occasional WAAS lock?

3.1k · March 15, 2009

I have the impression that 2.93 is eating the batteries more quickly than earlier firmware versions.

Maybe due to the fact that you get the occasional WAAS lock?

I agree. I was on a 16 km hike yesterday placing a multi cache. Took close to 6 hours and I had to replace batteries twice. Sanyo Eneloop. I was using the OR a lot to read topo maps, create/edit waypoints etc.

March 15, 2009

I have the impression that 2.93 is eating the batteries more quickly than earlier firmware versions.

Maybe due to the fact that you get the occasional WAAS lock?

I agree. I was on a 16 km hike yesterday placing a multi cache. Took close to 6 hours and I had to replace batteries twice. Sanyo Eneloop. I was using the OR a lot to read topo maps, create/edit waypoints etc.

I also agree. I was on a trip today and was using 2650 mAh Duracell full charged. Aften two hours I have to replace them.

2.1k · March 15, 2009

No power downs after 2 days of use. Seemed very stable.

March 15, 2009

I have the impression that 2.93 is eating the batteries more quickly than earlier firmware versions.

Maybe due to the fact that you get the occasional WAAS lock?

I agree. I was on a 16 km hike yesterday placing a multi cache. Took close to 6 hours and I had to replace batteries twice. Sanyo Eneloop. I was using the OR a lot to read topo maps, create/edit waypoints etc.

I also agree. I was on a trip today and was using 2650 mAh Duracell full charged. Aften two hours I have to replace them.

Two hours at 2650mA, time for new batteries that's for sure :rolleyes:

Edited March 15, 2009 by PIONEER-NL

March 15, 2009

To join in on the battery thing, I had fully charged energizer 2500's and last 10+ hours...For what ever reason I have had no problem with batteries...Set batter type to the correct type?

March 16, 2009

Full day of caching with the Beta, found 6 caches. Accuracy seems very good. Compass working perfectly. Had to change batteries once. The batteries had been in the unit for months. I don't think that was related to the beta. Unit was on for over 6hrs, no issues. :rolleyes: First time out with just the Oregon, usually bring 60csx just in case. Didn't even needthe 60. May be time to retire it.

Edited March 16, 2009 by jbar

March 16, 2009

Hiked all day with 2.93. No issues and good accuracy on tracks.

Garmin Oregon v2.93 beta released

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