+canpaddle Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 (edited) Has anyone used this unit the Garmin GPSmap62s and experienced that in the waypoints being off by 30-70 feet or so. I will walk up in a open feild and mark a tree or bush for example and walk away about 100 feet or so and come back to the waypoint and the map62 is off on the marked wp. I have used several other gps units as a check against the map62s that I have and have found that I get a consistant distance of 30-70 feet reading that is off. Has anyone had this problem before and has it been an easy fix possibly? I bought the unit brand new from Gander Mountain about 3 months ago. Since having the unit I have noticed that the error in the wp distance is especially true in the process of manually entering wp coordinates in the event of second and third stage multi caches for example. I believe that I also purchased a warranty with the unit for an extra price, does anyone have an idea if this would fall under some sort of warranty issues/coverages?? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly accepted. I would like to think that Garmin is real good about fixing problems such as this as Im sure that it has happened more than just this once Thoughts> advice Thank you very much all. I would like to add that when I put geocaches from the geocache.com into the map62s that the waypoints of the caches are good and that seems to be an non-issue/ also when I dump caches into the unit through a pocket querry that also seems to be always good too, non issue. Thank you Edited August 25, 2011 by canpaddle Quote Link to comment
+wigoweb Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Why not go back to Gander and request info about a warranty claim? Their policy will determine the answer; opinions from here won't mean a thing. Have you called Garmin? I have called them three or four times and always had a satisfactory response. Quote Link to comment
+luvvinbird Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Calling or e-mailing Garmin's tech support is a good suggestion. I initially had compass calibration problems on my first 62s and I contacted them about it. As a result, the unit was replaced under warranty but the whole process was painless and quickly done. It happens. Quote Link to comment
+BigDrig Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I happen to have that very same unit. I have used it for a while now. Before you go through the entire warranty process and everything else, try this: go to garmin.com, and go into mygarmin. Make sure you have the garmin communicator plugin so the site can read your gps. Then make sure there are no updates for it. Your problem might be something as simple as a glitch in the firmware that is on it. If you can, update it. See if the problem persists. If it does, then go through warranty and everything. Alot of people underestimate and look down upon the GPSMAP62s for reasons I have never figured out. I love my GPSMAP. Hope this helped. Quote Link to comment
+canpaddle Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Thank you for the replys. Yes I will check on my sales slip and am in the process of going to call Grmin and see. Why do some users look down on the GPSmap62?? It seems like a neat unit Thank you for the suggestions friends Quote Link to comment
+michaelnel Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 The GPSMap 62S is my favorite of all the dedicated GPSRs I have owned. I think it's by far the best one Garmin currently manufactures. Quote Link to comment
+BStheTech Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Is it possible you have the wrong datum or something set? Should be 84. B. Quote Link to comment
+jojamime Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 My suggestion is to first check the mapdata. This should be WGS84. Also check if the GPS is on WAAS. By this the accuracy will be less then 5 meters. Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Has anyone used this unit the Garmin GPSmap62s and experienced that in the waypoints being off by 30-70 feet or so. I will walk up in a open feild and mark a tree or bush for example and walk away about 100 feet or so and come back to the waypoint and the map62 is off on the marked wp. I have used several other gps units as a check against the map62s that I have and have found that I get a consistant distance of 30-70 feet reading that is off. To establish an accurate coordinate to begin with... best practices and all that... Be sure WAAS is enabled. Be sure your unit has good satellite lock - at a minimum, be sure your "Accuracy" reading is totally settled down - preferably to 12' or less. Do not take a single snapshot reading and assume the coordinate is good. Use "Waypoint Averaging", not "Mark Waypoint". Wait until you see 100% confidence shown. WAAS improves the accuracy a bit. A stable satellite lock with a good error margin is essential. You can't find your way back if the unit wasn't really sure where it was to begin with. Averaging can take a couple of minutes, but is well worth it. It gives the unit time to settle and averages out drift that always exists to at least some degree. Truth - doesn't hurt to repeat that a couple of times to be sure. To find the thing again... Again, be sure you've got WAAS on (it still will be if that's how you left it when you did the waypoint averaging) Give the unit time to acquire good satellite lock (unless you're still out there in the field with the thing turned on, in which case it should already be decent) Now try to find it. Assuming that your marking of the point was done with decent accuracy, and your unit is still showing that accuracy, you should get at least that close to your point. Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Is it possible you have the wrong datum or something set? Should be 84. B. He's marking his own waypoint (not someone else's) and then returning to it. Won't matter what datum he's using if it's the same one... Quote Link to comment
Whatrix Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Should having WAAS on be the default setting? I'm unsure what it actually is but when I just did it, near downtown Tucson I got more satelite coverage. Any situation where one would want to use normal or demo mode? Thanks, W BTW Mine 62s has been pretty good so far but I haven't put it through more than walking the dog in the neighborhood.... Quote Link to comment
+michaelnel Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 BTW Mine 62s has been pretty good so far but I haven't put it through more than walking the dog in the neighborhood.... They usually work extremely well for that. Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Should having WAAS on be the default setting? I'm unsure what it actually is but when I just did it, near downtown Tucson I got more satelite coverage. It should not change the number or strength of any satellite reception. WAAS serves only to fine tune the information you are already receiving from the satellites. You will know if a given satellite's data is being 'fine tuned' when you see the small letter "D" at the bottom of the satellite bar. Leaving it enabled used to draw what some felt to be a significant bit of current, but that hasn't been true for years. Yes, leave it enabled. Can't hurt, might help. What WAAS often WILL do is improve the "Accuracy" figure that can be displayed on the face of the unit. Rather than 15', it might drop to 8' on a good day. Any situation where one would want to use normal or demo mode? When you want to look at things / play with the unit when you have no satellite coverage? (Demo) Quote Link to comment
+Avernar Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 What firmware version are you using? I've noticed the latest firmware is giving me random position jumps and my track log is all over the place. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.