60csx issues

[+GeoBroke]

Picked up the CSx Friday for our weekend of Hiking & Caching. I have read about all the praise about having great reception and almost paperless GeoCaching. Seemed to me that once we got a signal it wouldn't lose it, but if we were narrowing in on a GeoCache it would change the distance from a couple feet in one direction up to 100 feet the other way. Granted most of our caches were in forested areas but isn't that one of the hilights of the 60csx to have a good signal in the woods? We reached a lake at about 3000ft and got an error saying that no signal was available, how could that be out in the open? We missed 3 caches at that lake because of this. My wife wants to return it and get the Dakota 20 or stick with our old Sport Track Pro, didn't have a good signal in the woods, but was always accurate.

 

Thanks for letting me rant.

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Picked up the CSx Friday for our weekend of Hiking & Caching. I have read about all the praise about having great reception and almost paperless GeoCaching. Seemed to me that once we got a signal it wouldn't lose it, but if we were narrowing in on a GeoCache it would change the distance from a couple feet in one direction up to 100 feet the other way. Granted most of our caches were in forested areas but isn't that one of the hilights of the 60csx to have a good signal in the woods? We reached a lake at about 3000ft and got an error saying that no signal was available, how could that be out in the open? We missed 3 caches at that lake because of this. My wife wants to return it and get the Dakota 20 or stick with our old Sport Track Pro, didn't have a good signal in the woods, but was always accurate.

 

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

there could be a million factors at play here, but here are some suggestions...

 

1. make sure you get the latest firmware installed on it. some units can sit on the shelf for years and because of that you may have an older firmware version with more bugs.

 

2. let the gps sit out in the open (turned on of course) for about 15 minutes before you first start using it. I realize that even if you didnt do this, the gps may still work just fine and everything appear normal, however you need the GPS to download a full list of satellites and their positions (also called an "almanac") for better reliability. the reason this is important is that if say one satellite drops out while hiking, the gps immediately knows where to find another one to navigate with and so on... if you lose several satellites to the point where it can't keep a fix and it doesn't have a good almanac, it will have to search the sky for other satellites while hiking... which is slow and annoying.

 

again, i'm not sure these suggestions will help you, but they are worth a shot. I don't think you have a defective GPS... I think it may just be the way you're using it (no offense).

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

but if we were narrowing in on a GeoCache it would change the distance from a couple feet in one direction up to 100 feet the other way.

If you are referring to getting close to the cache/coords, this is common. When you are at 20 ft or so, you should not be paying attention to the GPSr -- you should be looking for the cache or its' hiding spot. It causes what is known as the "drunken bee dance", a cacher wandering about as the GPSr points here, there, up here, down there, etc. It has little to do with signal hold or accuracy.

 

This is an often posed question in the forums.

 

It has no bearing on what make or model GPSr you have, they will all do it. A commercial-grade GPSr just doesn't have the capabilities to show you the cache reliably.

 

If you are at Ground Zero (20 - 30 ft circle), forget about the GPSr, it has done its' job. The rest is up to you.

Sure, occasionally it will put you atop the cache, just not all that often.

 

Clear sky at the 3000 ft level, I dunno about that one. My bet is that if your 60CSx did that, so would a Dakota. If you covered a long distance (driving?) with the unit off, refer to Tahoe Skier5000's #2 remark.

 

If you do decide to dump the 60CSx, you shouldn't have a problem selling it.

[+GeoBroke]

We left the gps on the entire 3 mile hike up to the lake and when we got there is when we got the error. We sat for 30 minutes to eat and no change to the signal either.

[+DanOCan]

Couple things to keep in mind with the 60CSx.

 

1) Calibrate the compass after every battery change. Failure to do so can lead to some really wild behavior.

 

2) Change the default settings so the compass turns itself off when you are walking, or just leave it off until you need it. Having the compass kick in while you are walking can also wreak havoc.

 

To change the settings for when the compass

 

Setup -> Heading

"Switch to compass heading when below"

I have mine set so the compass only turns on if my speed is below 3km/h for 60 seconds.

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

We left the gps on the entire 3 mile hike up to the lake and when we got there is when we got the error. We sat for 30 minutes to eat and no change to the signal either.

 

I'd restart it. You can try and update the firmware, but yes, you could have gotten a bad one. Personally, I don't think the 60 series is that much better than the CO, DK & OR lines.

[+GeoBroke]

Well, my wife didn't want to deal with it and thinks its crap compared to our old Sport Track so back to REI it goes and a new PN40 is in the mail.

[+briansnat]

Well, my wife didn't want to deal with it and thinks its crap compared to our old Sport Track so back to REI it goes and a new PN40 is in the mail.

If you couldn't keep a signal you must have had a defective unit. No consumer grade hand held on the market holds a signal better than the 60CSX. Period. The PN40 pales in comparison. I have both and geocache with the PN40 (for the paperless features) but keep the 60 in my pack for when the PN40 can't get a lock. In fact the 60 always has a lock when I pull it out from the bottom of my pack and the PN40 is lost sitting in my hand.

Edited May 26, 2010 by briansnat