Oregon 450 update to 5.0 issues

[+BMndFul]

Just curious if any one else is have issues with the 5.0 update in the US. I followed the direction exactly, down to new batteries. I purchased the unit a week ago work great could not have been more happy using it for kayak nav and geocaching. The Electro-compass worked great. After the update i immediately had problems with satellite acquisition. i waited for over 30 minutes in clear air. Nothing. I figured the unit had been bricked. I tried numerous hard and soft boots. The next morning the acquisition was back. After doing some map work on my apple and transferring files, zing....no acquisition again. It turned back on after messing with it for approximately 20 minutes. I re-calibrated and went geocaching. I am not sure what is happening, the compass does not work even close to how it did. When walking it jumps all over the place. The feet counting down, yet compass pointing backwards saying I should go in the opposite direction etc. Not sure what to do. I am considering taking it back to REI, for exchange then no messing with the update. I really liked the unit before the update now I dont feel it works as well overall.

[+dfx]

Had no problems with 5.0 myself...

[+michaelnel]

the compass does not work even close to how it did. When walking it jumps all over the place. The feet counting down, yet compass pointing backwards saying I should go in the opposite direction etc

 

That's exactly what the compass did on the two Montana 600s I had. Were you using direct routing or auto-routing? My Montanas misbehaved as you describe when they were in auto-routing mode with either City Navigator or OSM routable street maps, but the compass worked normally when I was in direct routing mode.

[+Ground Buzzard]

Updated my Oregon 550t to version 5.00 today. So far it appears that everything is perfect: strong signals, rapid satellite acquisition, compass is right on (after re-calibration), etc. Which is not to say, of course, that bugs won't crawl out of the woodwork later...

 

But I'm happy so far.

[+BMndFul]

the compass does not work even close to how it did. When walking it jumps all over the place. The feet counting down, yet compass pointing backwards saying I should go in the opposite direction etc

 

That's exactly what the compass did on the two Montana 600s I had. Were you using direct routing or auto-routing? My Montanas misbehaved as you describe when they were in auto-routing mode with either City Navigator or OSM routable street maps, but the compass worked normally when I was in direct routing mode.

 

How did you resolve the issue? Auto routing is significant benefit to get from cache to cache. I am not aware of how to switch from auto routing to direct on the fly with the unit. It would be fine to auto route to a CZ, then switch over to direct for the final compass nav to the prize.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

the compass does not work even close to how it did. When walking it jumps all over the place. The feet counting down, yet compass pointing backwards saying I should go in the opposite direction etc

 

That's exactly what the compass did on the two Montana 600s I had. Were you using direct routing or auto-routing? My Montanas misbehaved as you describe when they were in auto-routing mode with either City Navigator or OSM routable street maps, but the compass worked normally when I was in direct routing mode.

 

How did you resolve the issue? Auto routing is significant benefit to get from cache to cache. I am not aware of how to switch from auto routing to direct on the fly with the unit. It would be fine to auto route to a CZ, then switch over to direct for the final compass nav to the prize.

 

You could set a profile for DRIVING and one for GEOCACHING ( name them what you want ) tweak your DRIVING profile for driving to parking and your GEOCACHING for walking to GZ.

Edited September 2, 2011 by BAMBOOZLE

[+michaelnel]

How did you resolve the issue?

 

The problem existed in FW 2.40 and 2.50, and I sent it back to Amazon for a refund. I have looked through the summaries of things fixed in subsequent releases and there is no evidence it was fixed in 2.60, 2.70, 2.80, 3.10 or 3.20 either.

Edited September 2, 2011 by michaelnel

[+BMndFul]

Just got off the phone with Garmin. Funny tech said "yep, it was designed to do that." He explained that what was happening is that auto routing was trying to find a road to route to the waypoint. Solution is to change the setting to "off road" once you arrive at the site. I will give this a try tonight. Makes sense. Changing profile does not fix the issue, because automotive and geocaching apparently both auto route.

[+michaelnel]

I will be interested to hear the results of your test. When I dealt with Garmin on the matter their response was:

 

"I took a Montana out today to OX1AABN just now, configured like your unit, with a recent version of city navigator. The current behavior is disappointing. I had no problems with direct routing, but using the compass with city navigator was unusable. We will correct this."

Funny how your guy said it was designed to do that, and the design guy I dealt with at montanabeta said the above.

One of the two is BS.

Edited September 2, 2011 by michaelnel

[+michaelnel]

... and setting it to "off road" once you arrive at the site is nonsensical. We are concerned with how to to get to the site. If we are already AT the site, we don't need a GPS at all. Further "off-road" is just another way of saying "direct" routing.

[+BMndFul]

... and setting it to "off road" once you arrive at the site is nonsensical. We are concerned with how to to get to the site. If we are already AT the site, we don't need a GPS at all. Further "off-road" is just another way of saying "direct" routing.

 

I certainly do not know what I am talking about do to lack of experience..... Does it make sense it is a CN issue trying to nav to an off road waypoint? I am going to play around with CN...and then load in Topo 24K west and see what happens. Topo appears to have fairly decent road definitions. If I can auto route, by car then use compass on foot to without issue, then I will probably just use topo for caching.

[+michaelnel]

No, the issue isn't you, Russ, it's the Garmin CubeDood.

[+BMndFul]

No, the issue isn't you, Russ, it's the Garmin CubeDood.

 

Ok found a solution.... I down loaded Topo to a microSD. I use automotive profile. Pick my cache spot, hit GO to auto route to the CZ. Once at the CZ. Go to set up: Routing: Guidance Methods: Off Road.

Go to compass use as needed. Go to track manager clear current track.... Rinse and repeat. Very happy. You can switch from automotive to geocache but it not necessary. It just appears to change the order of the buttons.

 

I am not sure if this is "The Way", but it working for me and solved that stupid roaming arrow issue. The Topo 24K West work well on the road. Not sure if I even need city nav in California.

[+yorelken]

I've been playing around with the "Where to" button. Once you establish which cache you are after, I can switch to "on road" or "off road" routing. It always seems to start with the "on road" function, which I find a pain.

[+lodgebarn]

I've been playing around with the "Where to" button. Once you establish which cache you are after, I can switch to "on road" or "off road" routing. It always seems to start with the "on road" function, which I find a pain.

That is most likely because it is the default for your active Profile. Try Setup/Routing and you will see various options e.g. How to calculate routes (Car or Pedestrian - you may have it set to Car) , Lock On Road etc. Changing one of these may help you get the correct default.