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Garmin 60csx problems


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Recently got a Garmin 60csx, used and it was working great at first, now not so much. In comparison next to my Android runing (reference to unauthorized application removed by Groundspeak) (which has led me to many caches, pretty dead on) the Garmin is now showing way off. For starters, I think the compass SOMETIMES points 180 deg off. It seems to do this with and without the electronic compass on or off. I have calibrated it several times. Also, the distance is way off too. The Android will show 29ft, while the Garmin shows 380ft. I have tried multiple settings of the unit. i am running the latest software and have latest topo maps installed. In the beginning, it was great, now it seems so unreliable. I got this for my wife, since I have the Android, so she could cache with the kids when I am at work.

 

Does anyone have any ideas of what can be wrong? Anything I should try?

 

Thanks in advance, fellow cachers...

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coordinate datum set to wgs84?

 

Yes, since day one. Should the North Reference be Magnetic or True? Would I get different results between the two?

 

EDIT: I have reset most of the unit back to default. I will try again later and see how accurate it is.

Edited by CoxFamily2003
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Yes, since day one. Should the North Reference be Magnetic or True? Would I get different results between the two?

yes and no. the arrow will always point to the cache, only the compass rose underneath will be rotated differently. it will also make a difference when projecting waypoints.

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Just a shot in the dark here.

Got to ask what kind of cache are you doing when its that far off? Close to a road, park and grab or off into the woods?

When you do a "Go to" are you choosing "follow road" and the cache is off the road a ways? The unit marks a spot on the nearest road, not the cache, and navigates to that spot unless you switch over to "off road" or started with "off road" which would use the cache as ground zero.

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Just a shot in the dark here.

Got to ask what kind of cache are you doing when its that far off? Close to a road, park and grab or off into the woods?

When you do a "Go to" are you choosing "follow road" and the cache is off the road a ways? The unit marks a spot on the nearest road, not the cache, and navigates to that spot unless you switch over to "off road" or started with "off road" which would use the cache as ground zero.

 

never thought of that... I usually use the maps to get me there and never switch over. I could try that.

 

I've noticed this type of behavior when my batteries were getting low. Have you tried fresh batteries and compass calibration?

 

My batt had 2 bars, I just put a new set in, will try at the next cache.

 

Is your firmware up to date? If nothing else works, back up your data and do a hard reset.

 

yes, firmware is up to date. I went through the manual and found nothing on hard reset. What is the procedure to do that? Should have done that when i first got it (again... used)

 

Thanks for the tips.

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Just a shot in the dark here.

Got to ask what kind of cache are you doing when its that far off? Close to a road, park and grab or off into the woods?

When you do a "Go to" are you choosing "follow road" and the cache is off the road a ways? The unit marks a spot on the nearest road, not the cache, and navigates to that spot unless you switch over to "off road" or started with "off road" which would use the cache as ground zero.

 

I'll bet that's the problem. That tripped me up a couple of times before I figured out what was going on.

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I use mine in off road but I can be walking down a straight trail and the compass swings back and forth. The needle stays on the same bearing/heading. I end up taking a real compass with me to keep me hiking through the woods in the right direction. I only use the 60csx to watch the distance come down. Thats the only thing I am unhappy with on the 60csx

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I use mine in off road but I can be walking down a straight trail and the compass swings back and forth. The needle stays on the same bearing/heading. I end up taking a real compass with me to keep me hiking through the woods in the right direction. I only use the 60csx to watch the distance come down. Thats the only thing I am unhappy with on the 60csx

 

Do you calibrate the compass every time you change batteries? If you don't it will act fluky.

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Just a shot in the dark here.

Got to ask what kind of cache are you doing when its that far off? Close to a road, park and grab or off into the woods?

When you do a "Go to" are you choosing "follow road" and the cache is off the road a ways? The unit marks a spot on the nearest road, not the cache, and navigates to that spot unless you switch over to "off road" or started with "off road" which would use the cache as ground zero.

 

I'll bet that's the problem. That tripped me up a couple of times before I figured out what was going on.

 

That was it. I had it set to that originally, then when i put the updated maps on it, I think it must have changed it to follow road by default. Once I selected off-road in setup, it now asks when i do a find if I want to route off road or follow roads. Now if I can just teach the wife how to use it :(

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