Oregon 550 Compass Problems

[+mjlambert]

I recently purchased my first GPS unit, an Oregon 550. I wanted to use it for geocaching instead of my EVO phone. But, I’m having problems with accuracy. The turn by turn direction work well, but once I get close to the cache and switch to the compass, it points me in the wrong direction and the distance is to target is not right. Since this is the first time I’ve used a GPS unit I’m wondering if there are some settings that I don’t have right or if anyone can help me with this. I’ve tried recalibrating the compass and it doesn’t help. Can anyone help?

 

Thanks,

Mike

[+Chief301]

I have the same unit. Two things you need to look at:

 

Calibrate the compass. You do this through "Setup" under Heading. It's a simple procedure, takes about a minute. Some folks recommend doing a calibration every time you do a battery swap....not sure why, but it seems to help and I've made it a habit

 

Second, (and more importantly), once you get off the road make sure to switch from on road to off road navigation. The on road navigation wants to keep you on the road, so once you get off the road the compass will keep pointing you back to the nearest road. I still sometimes forget to switch back to off-road and get confused for a minute till I remember.😟

 

While you are navigating to the cache, go back to the menu and hit Where To. Here you can toggle between Navigate On Road and Navigate Off Road. On road will stick to roads and give your turn-by-turn directions, off road will draw a straight line to the cache.

[+larryc43230]

To add to Chief301's excellent post, there is an intermittent bug in some versions of the firmware for this unit where Navigate Off Road is changed to Navigate On Road when you power up the unit. If the compass arrow and the distance to the cache seem to be way off, double-check that setting. This bug has bitten my 550T several times.

 

--Larry

[John E Cache]

Your position that the GPS reports can be 30 feet off depending on conditions. If you are close to the cache that fuzzy position can be N,E,W or S of the cache, then. Distances of 30 ft or less are meaningless.