60 CSx compass

[+scottyw]

My 60 csx is very accurate as long as the compass is calibrated. It seems though as I have to recalibrate it ever time I turn the unit on or I don't get the accuracy. Is there anyway around this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[jholly]

My 60 csx is very accurate as long as the compass is calibrated. It seems though as I have to recalibrate it ever time I turn the unit on or I don't get the accuracy. Is there anyway around this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Whats the problem with re-calibrating? I re-calibrate my 76CSx a couple times a day if I'm traveling or the geology changes. Takes less than a minute. It seems to be a "feature" of electronic compasses.

[+scottyw]

My 60 csx is very accurate as long as the compass is calibrated. It seems though as I have to recalibrate it ever time I turn the unit on or I don't get the accuracy. Is there anyway around this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Whats the problem with re-calibrating? I re-calibrate my 76CSx a couple times a day if I'm traveling or the geology changes. Takes less than a minute. It seems to be a "feature" of electronic compasses.

 

I guess there's no "problem" with calibrating the compass. I've got a venture hc that doesn't have the compass and I guess I will get use to my wife finding caches with it while I'm playing with the new high dollar gps.

[+JPatton]

Try changing the speed when the electronic compass kicks in. Menu>Menu>Setup>Heading. It defaults to 10 mph I believe. Change it to something like 1 mph for 5 seconds. This has fixed similar problems for several cachers I know.

[+ecanderson]

My 60 csx is very accurate as long as the compass is calibrated. It seems though as I have to recalibrate it ever time I turn the unit on or I don't get the accuracy. Is there anyway around this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Nope. The chip that manages the unit's sense of rotation is voltage sensitive. Any time the voltage drops (from battery use) or increases (from sitting idle for a while) or really increases (new set installed), the previous calibration is whacked, and you need to calibrate again for the voltage of the moment.

 

I get around this by always keeping a couple of fresh sets around, and installing them as soon as the battery indicator drops from full to the 2nd "bar" down. At that point, I'm usually already starting to see a bit of funkiness in the readings. By swapping them out, I can avoid the calibration game most of the time. The only time I'll calibrate is if I get caught out without a set of spares.

 

Even the newer 3-axis models suffer from this. Why Garmin can't come up with the necessary voltage regulation to supply that chip in order to avoid this is beyond me. Constant recalibration is silly.

 

Still, I love my mag compass and the ability to use its output to generate a bearing against a target. Had a Dakota 10 in hand the other day, and it drove me nuts not to be able to take a bearing on a cache unless I was in motion.

[GermanSailor]

My 60 csx is very accurate as long as the compass is calibrated. It seems though as I have to recalibrate it ever time I turn the unit on or I don't get the accuracy. Is there anyway around this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I don't believe that the compass calibration has anything to do with the unit's accuracy. The compass has to be calibrated after every battery change. But you cannot calibrate the GPSr itself.

 

GermanSailor

[+ecanderson]

I don't believe that the compass calibration has anything to do with the unit's accuracy. The compass has to be calibrated after every battery change. But you cannot calibrate the GPSr itself.

 

GermanSailor

If you mean coordinate accuracy, I agree. That's why I was assuming the OP meant he was having trouble with the accuracy of his compass.

[+scottyw]

I don't believe that the compass calibration has anything to do with the unit's accuracy. The compass has to be calibrated after every battery change. But you cannot calibrate the GPSr itself.

 

GermanSailor

If you mean coordinate accuracy, I agree. That's why I was assuming the OP meant he was having trouble with the accuracy of his compass.

 

I'm not talking about accuracy. the thing it does is when I'm going to a cache the compass needle that normally pionst in the direction of the cache either locks up or points way from the line to the cache. If I stop and recalibrate the compass everthing is fine. Unfortunatly this happens about ever other cache and doesn't seem to matter if I've left the unit on or not. Setting the unit to use the compass only if I'm going less that 1 mph for than 180 seconds has really helped.

[+ecanderson]

Setting the unit to use the compass only if I'm going less that 1 mph for than 180 seconds has really helped.

Ah well, there IS that! What was your setting before? I leave my Summit HC set at mag compass for 5 sec @ < 5mph, GPS for faster than that.

[+Walts Hunting]

Most everyone I know turns off the compass and it works much better. As soon as it gets two points while moving it shows the correct direction.

[+scottyw]

Most everyone I know turns off the compass and it works much better. As soon as it gets two points while moving it shows the correct direction.

 

Thanks for your reply. I would gladly turn the compass off if I could figure out how. I haven't found the option and I'm sure there is one. Thanks again.

[Forkeye]

Most everyone I know turns off the compass and it works much better. As soon as it gets two points while moving it shows the correct direction.

 

Thanks for your reply. I would gladly turn the compass off if I could figure out how. I haven't found the option and I'm sure there is one. Thanks again.

 

JUST PRESS AND HOLD THE PAGE BUTTON DOWN UNTIL YOU GET THE TURN OFF COMPASS REQUEST

buy a compass that you can adjust declination on,for geo caching I use an orienteering ,mirrorless one,and for back country travel a mirrored sighting one.

[+ecanderson]

buy a compass that you can adjust declination on,for geo caching I use an orienteering ,mirrorless one,and for back country travel a mirrored sighting one.

If all you need it for is the compass feature, that's fine. But if you like the fact that the Garmin will use the current orientation of the device in your hand to compute a vector to the cache, that's another story. I'd hate to have to sit there with a calculator, my position, the cache's position, and a regular compass - all to duplicate what the arrow does when asked. When functional and calibrated, it works well enough.

 

If a practice session in orienteering is something a person likes to do for every back woods cache, fine .. else ..

Edited April 4, 2010 by ecanderson

[+Walts Hunting]

the current orientation of the device in your hand to compute a vector to the cache,

 

All you have to do to get the orientation is walk about 20 feet before or after you ask it to point to the cache.

[+scottyw]

Most everyone I know turns off the compass and it works much better. As soon as it gets two points while moving it shows the correct direction.

 

Thanks for your reply. I would gladly turn the compass off if I could figure out how. I haven't found the option and I'm sure there is one. Thanks again.

 

JUST PRESS AND HOLD THE PAGE BUTTON DOWN UNTIL YOU GET THE TURN OFF COMPASS REQUEST

buy a compass that you can adjust declination on,for geo caching I use an orienteering ,mirrorless one,and for back country travel a mirrored sighting one.

 

Thank You. That's what I needed.

[+ecanderson]

the current orientation of the device in your hand to compute a vector to the cache,

 

All you have to do to get the orientation is walk about 20 feet before or after you ask it to point to the cache.

Often convenient .. not always possible. One of my nemesis caches simply doesn't allow for that. Have a peek at THWAMP, GCMY19. Granted, it's a worst case situation, but it happens a lot in non-urban environments. Sometimes here in the mountains, having to walk 20' in any direction can be a real hazard There are times when it's REALLY nice just to stand in a spot, shoot a bearing, and figure out how the devil you're going to get from where you are to where it points. Edited April 5, 2010 by ecanderson

[Forkeye]

buy a compass that you can adjust declination on,for geo caching I use an orienteering ,mirrorless one,and for back country travel a mirrored sighting one.

If all you need it for is the compass feature, that's fine. But if you like the fact that the Garmin will use the current orientation of the device in your hand to compute a vector to the cache, that's another story. I'd hate to have to sit there with a calculator, my position, the cache's position, and a regular compass - all to duplicate what the arrow does when asked. When functional and calibrated, it works well enough.

 

If a practice session in orienteering is something a person likes to do for every back woods cache, fine .. else ..

 

??????There is nothing to calculate when using a real compass and a gps,the gps tells you the bearing to the cache/waypoint,set your compass declination scale to your current declination and your gps to true bearings and away you go and its virtually never wrong.

[+Prime Suspect]

There's nothing wrong with your electronic compass that can't be fixed with better batteries and a few minutes learning how to properly use it. Unfortunately, there's a cadre of e-compass haters and Luddites who like to bad mouth them. Ignore them.

[+scottyw]

There's nothing wrong with your electronic compass that can't be fixed with better batteries and a few minutes learning how to properly use it. Unfortunately, there's a cadre of e-compass haters and Luddites who like to bad mouth them. Ignore them.

 

I'm not an "e-compass hater" whatever that is. I just happen to prefer MY gps without it. And I very much appreciate the help I got with turning it off from the people that took some of their time to help me out. I really wasn't searching for an opinon from somebody on the merits of the compass. All I wanted was some help and I got it. Thanks again to the people that helped.

[Forkeye]

I am not an e compass hater either,I just like having a real compass along because I dont always trust my e compass.Guess I am old school and like rock solid reliability and simplicity.