+Foothills Drifter Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Howdy...... I have used a Garmin Vista HCx sense 2006. Now I have a Garmin Oregon 450. Do I need to do a recal. after I change the batteries? I did on the HCx...do I need to do it on this 450...? THANKX! Vern / Foothills Drifter... Quote Link to comment
+Atlas Cached Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Howdy...... I have used a Garmin Vista HCx sense 2006. Now I have a Garmin Oregon 450. Do I need to do a recal. after I change the batteries? I did on the HCx...do I need to do it on this 450...? THANKX! Vern / Foothills Drifter... Do you have the correct Battery Type selected in Setup on the Oregon 450? (Important) Garmin recommend you do this, however, when using identical batteries, I have found it is not always necessary. Depending on the battery type, and the amount of iron in the battery, the magnetic field around your GPSr will be affected, thus the GPSr needs to know what to adjust for. When you switch battery types, you certainly should re-calibrate the compass! Quote Link to comment
+luvvinbird Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I don't recalibrate every time, either. I use my 450 for geocaching only so I must admit I'm not as critical about the compass accuracy after changing the batteries. But I have observed that the compass doesn't really seem to be affected much. Quote Link to comment
+harbhippo Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I don't recalibrate every time, either. I use my 450 for geocaching only so I must admit I'm not as critical about the compass accuracy after changing the batteries. But I have observed that the compass doesn't really seem to be affected much. This is good to know. I've been recalibrating my Oregon 450 with every battery change. I always use the same kind of batteries. For some reason, that last calibration step fails about half the time. I'd love to be able to skip it. Quote Link to comment
+Foothills Drifter Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Howdy...... Thankx for all the replies. At this time I am using alkaline batteries (the GPSr is set for these batteries). When these are 'done'I am going to use rechargeable batteries (and change the setting) I will recalibrate when I make the change. THANKX!!!! Vern / Foothills Drifter... Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I don't have that particular unit but my Garmin's units with that feature seem to require recalibration after each and every battery change and generally a few times in between or they just seem to offer wonky readings. Quote Link to comment
+Foothills Drifter Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) I don't have that particular unit but my Garmin's units with that feature seem to require recalibration after each and every battery change and generally a few times in between or they just seem to offer wonky readings. Howdy...... I will recalibrate when ever I change batteries........ Vern / Foothills Drifter... Edited February 7, 2013 by Foothills Drifter Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Or you could get a Montana that never needs a battery change. Quote Link to comment
+eusty Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Or you could get a Montana that never needs a battery change. Wow! Has Garmin found perpetual energy? Or is it wind up? Actually the issue is related the the battery voltage so the Montana should suffer the same. That said I've never really seen any issue on my 450. Quote Link to comment
tr_s Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Apparently it seems possible to make a self calibrating solution. My androidphone compass will giving the right directions again within a few minutes of walking even if a weak permagnet is suddenly taped to the case. (Note, my finding, I don't recommend you try this, have no idea about how the magnetometer is designed and if it can possibly be damaged by a strong B-field) Quote Link to comment
39_Steps Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 From reading these threads I have inferred that the lithium cells, either rechargeable or primary, may provide a more constant voltage curve until nearly depleted than alkaline or NiMH cells. Therefore require fewer compass recalibrations may be required. Battery chemistry magnetism, the ability to recharge without (re)moving the lithium ion cells, and shorter run times when unplugged from a 12v power supply in the car may also contribute to more consistent voltage and thus more consistent compass performance with li-ion rechargeable batteries in Delorme gps devices. Quote Link to comment
+BAMBOOZLE Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Howdy...... I have used a Garmin Vista HCx sense 2006. Now I have a Garmin Oregon 450. Do I need to do a recal. after I change the batteries? I did on the HCx...do I need to do it on this 450...? THANKX! Vern / Foothills Drifter... I load new NIMH rechargeable batteries before each outing standing in the same place in my dining room....I know exactly where N is and if my 450 and 62S are dead on then no calibration is necessary. Using Eneloop 2500 batteries ( highly recommended ) no calibration is usually needed....with other NIMH batteries calibration was necessary far more often. It takes less than 30 sec so it may be just easier to do it then you know you're good to go. Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) Howdy...... I have used a Garmin Vista HCx sense 2006. Now I have a Garmin Oregon 450. Do I need to do a recal. after I change the batteries? I did on the HCx...do I need to do it on this 450...? THANKX! Vern / Foothills Drifter... I've had an Oregon 450 since about a month after they were introduced. Thousands of miles traveled and thousands of caches and hundreds of benchmarks logged. Rarely have I recalibrated. Only when I've thought it was a little squirrely on altitude, which being barometric is usually off by as much as 10% anyway. I've probably recalibrated less than a dozen times over the years. edit: two nuggets of advice Kkeep your pocket queries on the micro SD card. Occasionally I've encounted some bug which loses most caches on the display due to batteries running out or inexplicable behavior. If the query is in the internal memory it must be removed, rebooted and rewritten - a difficult task if the malfunction happens in the field, which has happened a couple of times. With the queries on the micro SD, simply power down, remove micro SD, restart, power down, replace micro SD and then start again. It should load all caches and waypoints again. When replacing pocket queries I highly recommend hooking your unit up to the computer, delete old queries, power down and restart before adding new query files. I have on more than one occasion observed the Oregon 450 not showing all caches contained in the queries if overlapping queries are added and removed without restarting. Edited February 7, 2013 by DragonsWest Quote Link to comment
BMW JEDI Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 edit: two nuggets of advice Kkeep your pocket queries on the micro SD card. Occasionally I've encounted some bug which loses most caches on the display due to batteries running out or inexplicable behavior. If the query is in the internal memory it must be removed, rebooted and rewritten - a difficult task if the malfunction happens in the field, which has happened a couple of times. With the queries on the micro SD, simply power down, remove micro SD, restart, power down, replace micro SD and then start again. It should load all caches and waypoints again. When replacing pocket queries I highly recommend hooking your unit up to the computer, delete old queries, power down and restart before adding new query files. I have on more than one occasion observed the Oregon 450 not showing all caches contained in the queries if overlapping queries are added and removed without restarting. Excellent advise. I have had similar experience, and now do exactly as you suggest. Quote Link to comment
+eusty Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 From reading these threads I have inferred that the lithium cells, either rechargeable or primary, may provide a more constant voltage curve until nearly depleted than alkaline or NiMH cells. Therefore require fewer compass recalibrations may be required. Lithium are far better at holding a constant voltage than NiMH. Pity Li-ion 14500 weren't 3.7v Quote Link to comment
+Foothills Drifter Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Howdy...... THANKX for all your replys / help. Vern / Foothills Drifter... Quote Link to comment
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