Etrex 30 – Electronic compass woes (recommend something else?)

[+duckson]

Only had the unit a couple of days and I’ve noticed the electronic compass (the only reason I got the 30 over the 20) is acting very odd.

I can point it pretty much exactly north (put the GPS in demo mode beforehand and I’m obviously standing still, GPS is reporting 0km/h, compass is on auto) and then rotate it 180 degrees and it doesn’t point south! Points SE or SSE or similar! Recalibrated lots of times and very slowly, batteries out (Uniross 2500mAh NiMH) and in and re-calibrate either fixes it very briefly or doesn’t at all.

 

Did a couple of geocaches yesterday and it was decent, even reporting a 3m accuracy under tree cover in a wooded area although the compass did lock up when I was in the area of the cache and wouldn’t recalibrate, had to pull the batteries before it would.

 

Note I’m running firmware 2.80, all the caches are stored on the phone and I don’t have a micro SD card in.

 

I’m on the verge of taking it back for a refund and changing it for a 20 and saving £40 or getting something else (Dakota) or another brand....any suggetions (paperless geocaching a must)?

[Forkeye]

My compass seems fine ,though I dont really trust any Garmin compass.I dont know about functionality in demo mode.For geocaching you dont even need one,for back country use I always have a real compass,that I can trust.I recently communicated with Garmin on the fact that my old 76csx did not display the correct magnetic declination for my area any longer ,Mapsource,Basecamp and my Etrex 30 did,this could mean that depending where you live your compass accuracy could change rapidly anyway since it appears that the compass did not get declination correction from either of those 2 computer programs.After several emails I never got an awnser.For along time I used my Garmin 12 and a real compass and could find geocaches with just as much accuracy as I can today

[RamblinBear]

I find the compass on my etrex 30 pretty good - the only thing is it needs frequent calibration, like each time I turn it on (annoying but only takes 30 seconds or so). Regular recalibrations may fix your issues.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Strange....maybe another bug in the Etrex firmware that will get corrected in a future firmware release.

The 3-axis compass in the Oregon 450 and 62S work well...the 62S rarely needs calibrating even after a battery change while the 450 pretty much needs recalibration after each change. The 60 CSx, while being 2-axis, did O.K. but on occasion, for no reason, would need calibration.

The Magellan Meridian Platinum has the smoothest most reliable 3-axis I have ever used.

IMO this feature is second only to mapping in a handheld as once you've selected a cache to find the pointer will always point at the cache even if you're moving very slowly ( or stopped ) as you will be in difficult terrain.

[+duckson]

Hmm well maybe i was jumping to conclusions.

I must admit most of my testing was done in work and i think the metal window frame, laptop, monitor etc where i sit was disturbing the compass as its been ok outside and when i'm testing it at home. Will keep an eye on it but happier now!

Edited July 26, 2012 by duckson

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Hmm well maybe i was jumping to conclusions.

I must admit most of my testing was done in work and i think the metal window frame, laptop, monitor etc where i sit was disturbing the compass as its been ok outside and when i'm testing it at home. Will keep an eye on it but happier now!

Yeah, a good bet that it'll work better outside, where it's supposed to work.

[+duncanhoyle]

My Etrex 30 has had compass problems since I got it last year. It regularly needs calibrating and yesterday I had to do to over 4 times. On one walk in Feb this year I was probably into double figures for recalibrating over a 10 mile walk.

One strange thing I noticed yesterday was that it took me accurately to one cache with the compass working correctly but when I marked it as found and chose the next closest the compass was pointing 180 degrees off and the triangle indicating gps orientation was also wrong. Recalibrating fixed it.

I have the latest firmware and it's been doing this for as long as I've had it. The previous Extrex30 I had (which had to be replaced because of a fault with the sound) also had this issue.

 

I'm considering replacing it with a 62s

[+BAMBOOZLE]

My Etrex 30 has had compass problems since I got it last year. It regularly needs calibrating and yesterday I had to do to over 4 times. On one walk in Feb this year I was probably into double figures for recalibrating over a 10 mile walk.

One strange thing I noticed yesterday was that it took me accurately to one cache with the compass working correctly but when I marked it as found and chose the next closest the compass was pointing 180 degrees off and the triangle indicating gps orientation was also wrong. Recalibrating fixed it.

I have the latest firmware and it's been doing this for as long as I've had it. The previous Extrex30 I had (which had to be replaced because of a fault with the sound) also had this issue.

 

I'm considering replacing it with a 62s

 

I don't think you'd regret getting a 62S......best GPS I've ever used for geocaching.

[tr_s]

 

I don't think you'd regret getting a 62S......best GPS I've ever used for geocaching.

 

Agree - it's a good solid product overall.

 

Compass on the 30 - quite useless; just dies frequently or starts pointing in the wrong direction... the best feature of it is the ability of having it turned off... get a 20 instead if you like the new eTrex line and don't need a barometer.

[+duckson]

Anyone noticed any issues with the compass when looking for a cache? ie its ok and points in the right direction when stood still which the 20 wouldnt?

[+Don_J]

Hmm well maybe i was jumping to conclusions.

I must admit most of my testing was done in work and i think the metal window frame, laptop, monitor etc where i sit was disturbing the compass as its been ok outside and when i'm testing it at home. Will keep an eye on it but happier now!

 

On my 60CS, if I calibrate it while standing next to my car, or a big metal object like a chain link fence, it gets flaky as soon as I move away and I have to recalibrate it again. Once I'm on the trail it is usually fine.

[+duncanhoyle]

Anyone noticed any issues with the compass when looking for a cache? ie its ok and points in the right direction when stood still which the 20 wouldnt?

 

Me. See my post 3 or 4 above this one. My compass issues are when stood still and when moving.