Compass on Garmin Etrex 10?

[Foxymoron]

Hi, geocaching newbie here!

 

I just bought a Garmin etrex 10 so I don't have to keep borrowing my wife's iphone. Haven't tried much with it yet.

 

I'm currently in an Oslo hotel room trying to find my compass bearings to get an idea where the sun is going to rise so I can setup a timelapse. My Etrex 10 has a compass but I'm not having much luck with it. The specs for the etrex 10 says it does not have a digital/electronic compass, but there is a compass option and I can (I believe) use it to point to a destination I've selected. There are NSEW bearings on a circular dial but currently it just seems to twitch about and doesn't respond when I turn it to try and make it respond and point north. I've got a satellite reasonable signal.

 

Can anyone explain how this is supposed to work? I don't understand why, if it can lock onto multiple satellites simultaneously, it can't find north...? I've tried setting it to take me to the north pole, (N:90 E:00) thinking that the arrow will then point north and I can use the NSEW circle to find the other cardinal points, but it still seems unresponsive.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Steve Law

[+shantz_uk_&_cleverclogs]

Hi, geocaching newbie here!

 

I just bought a Garmin etrex 10 so I don't have to keep borrowing my wife's iphone. Haven't tried much with it yet.

 

I'm currently in an Oslo hotel room trying to find my compass bearings to get an idea where the sun is going to rise so I can setup a timelapse. My Etrex 10 has a compass but I'm not having much luck with it. The specs for the etrex 10 says it does not have a digital/electronic compass, but there is a compass option and I can (I believe) use it to point to a destination I've selected. There are NSEW bearings on a circular dial but currently it just seems to twitch about and doesn't respond when I turn it to try and make it respond and point north. I've got a satellite reasonable signal.

 

Can anyone explain how this is supposed to work? I don't understand why, if it can lock onto multiple satellites simultaneously, it can't find north...? I've tried setting it to take me to the north pole, (N:90 E:00) thinking that the arrow will then point north and I can use the NSEW circle to find the other cardinal points, but it still seems unresponsive.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Steve Law

Try going out in the street and walk with it, you need to be moving to make the compass react, just turning on the spot wont make it react. Hope this helps.

[Foxymoron]

Really? Why is that?

 

(Thanks for your reply!)

[+Indotguy]

Really? Why is that?

 

(Thanks for your reply!)

 

Because, as you have already stated, it does not have an electronic compass. The compass pointer on the Etrex 10 & 20 will only work as a compass when the GPS is receiving satellites signals and you are moving.

[Foxymoron]

hmm I doubt that it will work in a hotel room then. Still I'll give it a try.

 

Cheers

[tr_s]

And whether the hotel room lets in enough signal to recognize the movement in such a confined space.

[+Cacheoholic]

Your GPS does not have a compass. Your GPS measures your location once every second. So if you move in a straight line for 2 seconds the GPS will measure your location in at least 2 points and can calculate your direction of travel. The GPS has a compass display that calculates direction as long as you are moving. Some GPS’s have electronic compasses that will work without moving.

[Foxymoron]

Ok, now I understand. That would explain why it sometimes twitches and moves but then stops again and doesn't respond to me turning the gps in my hands. I'll experiment with walking side to side in front of the window, should be able to see if I get a consistent trend towards one direction.

[Foxymoron]

Hi Sussamb,

 

As per original post, I'm in an Oslo hotel (as I regularly am) and as I'm often quite high up I like to record timelapses out of the window with my HD webcam and laptop (see an earlier attempt

if you're interested). I wanted to capture the sunrise but needed to pinpoint exactly where the sun rises - hence the need for a compass.

[Foxymoron]

Not sure how the duplicate posts happened...