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Garmin GPSMAP 64 Series


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OSM maps work fine. Pirated or bootleg copies of maps that you buy online will not work.

 

From the Garmin website:

 

"GPSMAP 64st comes with a built-in worldwide basemap with shaded relief, preloaded TOPO 100K and a 1-year subscription of BirdsEye Satellite Imagery for a photo-realistic view. Adding more maps is easy with our array of detailed topographic, marine and road maps. With 8 GB of onboard memory and microSD™ card slot, you can conveniently download TOPO 24K maps and hit the trail, plug in BlueChart® g2 preloaded cards for a great day on the water or City Navigator NT® map data for turn-by-turn routing on roads (see maps tab for compatibility). In addition, the 64st is compatible with Garmin Custom Maps, a map format that allows you to transform paper and electronic maps easily into downloadable maps for your device, for free."

 

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/handhelds/gpsmap-64st/prod140024.html

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I specifically asked Garmin support last week if the new GPSmap64s had been changed as to how it authenticates its maps and the answer was yes!

I have a copy of City Navigator N America 2014.40 that works great in a Oregon 450 and a Oregon 650 and in a Montana 650 but will not authenticate in the GPSmap64s.Paid $30.00 from an Amazon supplier did not realize it was a copy until it showed up !

Have a friend that had the same results in the New Monteria.

Waiting on a litigate map card {$75.00) from GPS City to see how that works out ??

It does appear Garmin has stuffed the hole in its map piracy at least with the use of the City Navigator N. American card copies?

 

What Amazon supplier?

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OSM maps work fine. Pirated or bootleg copies of maps that you buy online will not work.

 

From the Garmin website:

 

"GPSMAP 64st comes with a built-in worldwide basemap with shaded relief, preloaded TOPO 100K and a 1-year subscription of BirdsEye Satellite Imagery for a photo-realistic view. Adding more maps is easy with our array of detailed topographic, marine and road maps. With 8 GB of onboard memory and microSD™ card slot, you can conveniently download TOPO 24K maps and hit the trail, plug in BlueChart® g2 preloaded cards for a great day on the water or City Navigator NT® map data for turn-by-turn routing on roads (see maps tab for compatibility). In addition, the 64st is compatible with Garmin Custom Maps, a map format that allows you to transform paper and electronic maps easily into downloadable maps for your device, for free."

 

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/handhelds/gpsmap-64st/prod140024.html

 

Note that the bolded, giant quote doesn't actually refer to the OSM/GPSFileDepot maps. It refers to raster maps that are similar to BirdsEye and Topo.

 

That said, I've had zero problems with maps grabbed from GPSFileDepot, Open MTB Map (using OSM data), nor OSM data pulled using the link that insig posted. I'm curious where christopher.spitler got his OSM data, as it might be a corrupted copy. It's possible that the authentication error is a generic error message that a corrupted .img file will also trigger.

Edited by Kolenka
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Nope, I don't understand because I am using OSM maps on mine with no problem.

 

Just returned from trip to Europe, traveling through seven countries. If I was to be going back and forth< I would have purchased the Garmin maps, however i am not. Being there only one time I don't need to spend the money, and the small area I would have covered were in fact done just very fine with OSM maps. Not sure where someone is getting the factual information that non-garmin maps would not work. I broke copied them fine into the same location my other maps are located, and activated as I traveled through the countries.

 

The only issue I have had so far is while on track to a cache, and I switch to compass view it freezes about 1 out of 10 times, and the only way to recover is open the back, disconnect a battery, thus shutting the unit down, and restarting, which it does just fine,

 

Really was wishing when I got back, there would be an update waiting to fix it, just like I had on my 62

'

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Picked mine up just before my trip to europe. Good thing I took along my 62s as well since had some buggy issues.

 

The unit loads fast, lots of room, added maps for each country I was in, (7 in all)

 

My main bug that I found very annoying was:

 

Pick target cache, hit go, and head out. Switch screens to compass screen for direction and distance, unit totally locks up about 20% of the time.

 

Only solution was to pull the battery and restart, which then the unit worked fine.

 

This made me feel that the actual cache info was not corrupted, but something, someplace is either causeing an intermittent crash or the sequence is causing an issue. Was thinking, maybe there would be a update when i got back, but nothing yet.

 

Running v 2.6 and in geocaching mode.

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Got mine last week from GPS City. I've got an issue with the maps on the micro sd card they will not load !! The error message says "Can't authenticate maps. Contact Content seller for help"

Anybody else having this issue?

Took the latest firmware and still getting the error message.

The maps are the Garmin North American road maps and they work in a Oregon 450 and a Oregon 650 and in a Montana.

 

Garmin has changed the way maps are authenticated on the 64. The days of downloading and using "unlocked" City Navigator .img files are gone on the 64 and will soon be gone on the rest of the bunch as well.

 

If you have legitimately licensed and paid-for maps or open source (free) maps that won't authenticate then I would contact Garmin and let them know which map(s) your having an issue with. If you have an illegitimate City Navigator .img file then I'm pretty sure at the very least your complaint will fall on deaf ears.

 

Got my 64s today and swapped the SD card from the Etrex 30 into the 64s. The SD card had tons of geocaches, a Garmin 24K topo map, plus 6 or 7 maps from gpsfiledepot and two custom maps from Google Earth. It recognized them all without a hitch. All the caches were showing up as unfound, and then I remembered to transfer the geocache_visits.txt file over and all was well again.

 

Set up the bluetooth notifications and activity sharing with my wife's iPhone 5. Really, really nice. It looks like it sends a track segment to the web page through the phone about every 3 to 5 minutes. It's recording more points than that, it just sends a batch every 3-5 minutes. My phone is a Samsung GS3, and I'm bummed because the bluetooth doesn't recognize it. Support forums are complaining about GS3 bluetooth not working with 4.0 devices, so it looks like the problem is with the Samsung. I hope an update fixes it or I might upgrade the phone when I see a deal come along.

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Just tossing in my $0.02 here, but I have 9 Garmin GPS receivers and 9 Garmin purchased City Navigator maps on SD cards and never had an issue. So there... :laughing:

 

Same here, I only buy when ready, and happy to pay fair market price, those maps take a huge investment to program, and are pretty cheap compared to not having any routable device.

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The tile limit on the Etrex 20 is 3000!

 

What is the tile limit on the 64?

 

:huh:

 

Garmin hasn't updated their support pages for the limits on the 64 yet, and while I could guess, it wouldn't be a very good one. The 64 is supposed to handle more waypoints than even the Oregon 600, but it may still mean a 3000 tile limit like the 62, or we could finally see a limit of 4000 like the Oregons. Dunno yet. And I have yet to scour an intentially overloaded SD card to try to find one of those dropped tiles.

 

 

just checked on the Garmin site and it is 5000 Waypoints/favorites/locations

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Got my new City Nav N American card today and it worked with no problems at all in the GPS map 64 !!

 

You have to be really really careful with those Micro SD cards. I have lost 2 of them as the mechanism that holds them in randomly comes loose and when you are changing batteries in the field the SD card will fall on the ground. Luckily they were just the SD card with OSM maps on them.

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<br />
<br />
<br />The tile limit on the Etrex 20 is 3000!<br /><br />What is the tile limit on the 64?<br /><br /> <img src='http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/public/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':huh:' /><br />
<br /><br />Garmin hasn't updated their support pages for the limits on the 64 yet, and while I could guess, it wouldn't be a very good one. The 64 is supposed to handle more waypoints than even the Oregon 600, but it may still mean a 3000 tile limit like the 62, or we could finally see a limit of 4000 like the Oregons. Dunno yet. And I have yet to scour an intentially overloaded SD card to try to find one of those dropped tiles.<br />
<br /><br /><br /><br />just checked on the Garmin site and it is 5000 Waypoints/favorites/locations<br />
<br /><br /><br />

That's using GPX format, I'm sure. The 64 is supplied with 250,000 world wide caches, in GGZ format. I downloaded my 64s's GGZ file and imported it into GSAK to see what was there. Yes, it had 250,000 from all over the world. I experimented and added a few thousand to that. GSAK's 'Garmin Export' macro supports GGZ output, so you can truly have hundreds of thousands of caches/waypoints on the device.

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Got my new City Nav N American card today and it worked with no problems at all in the GPS map 64 !!

 

You have to be really really careful with those Micro SD cards. I have lost 2 of them as the mechanism that holds them in randomly comes loose and when you are changing batteries in the field the SD card will fall on the ground. Luckily they were just the SD card with OSM maps on them.

 

I start every caching outing with freshly charged Eneloops so I will die before the batteries. In over 10 years I've only changed batteries once or twice in the field.....I carry spares but never use them.

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@FunnyNose

Lost the first one in my Oregon 450 as well. Ever since, there's been a bit of tape over it and the stainless steel cage that holds it. No more issues when changing batteries.

Great idea, same happened to me with my 62 while night cachung in the foothills, lost my City Nav. Lucky for me made about 6 copies as I had a bunch of spare micro cards

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I'm thinking of buying the Garmin 64S for geotagging purposes. What's the major difference between the 64 and 64S that may be of use for the purpose of being used as a data logger? Both devices have 4GB of RAM, which is great. The lack of the 3-axis compass isn't an issue for me. Lack of barometric altitude sensor isn't a big deal. Does the 64S have Bluetooth? If so, can I transfer GPX log files from the 64S to a PC or iPad Mini via Bluetooth? If not, I'm starting to think that I'm better off saving myself $100 and get the base Garmin 64 model.

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...What's the major difference between the 64 and 64S that may be of use for the purpose of being used as a data logger?

Little practical difference for that. Extra memory, yeah, but both are already in the realm of "plenty for data logging." The 64s battery doesn't last as long, 16 hours vs 20 for the 64, might matter on longer runs if you can't remember to bring extra batteries on a long trip.

 

The other things you get for the extra $ (compass, barometer, wireless data transfer, smart phone link) have their uses for some folks - but won't matter for data logging.

Edited by user13371
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If you're just using it as a data logger, why not save your money and get a 62s instead?

 

I already have the 62s. Can we just stick to the topic here? I'm not going to outline every single reason why I want to upgrade to the 64.

 

Help?

 

HEY SARGE!! Stick to the topic! :rolleyes:

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If you're just using it as a data logger, why not save your money and get a 62s instead?

 

I already have the 62s. Can we just stick to the topic here? I'm not going to outline every single reason why I want to upgrade to the 64.

 

Help?

 

HEY SARGE!! Stick to the topic! :rolleyes:

 

I did. :rolleyes:

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I've had my 64s for 2 weeks now, and as it's my first GPS (aside from a nüvi) I'm quite happy with it.

The Owner's Manual, on the other hand is a bit lacking...

... so maybe somebody can answer my question: Where do I have to save images on the 64s in order to see them with the Photo Viewer?

Thanks,

UCB96

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Anyone else with a 64s or 64st having trouble with the electronic compass? Mine seems to stick frequently and I have to calibrate it often, sometimes a couple times in an hour. Trying to decide if it's a firmware bug that will be fixed in a future update or if mine is defective.

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... the electronic compass? Mine seems to stick frequently and I have to calibrate it often, sometimes a couple times in an hour. Trying to decide if it's a firmware bug that will be fixed in a future update or if mine is defective.

Known issue. Garmin has acknowledged it. Hopefully they'll get a fix out soon. In the meantime, disable the compass screen to avoid the lockups.

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... the electronic compass? Mine seems to stick frequently and I have to calibrate it often, sometimes a couple times in an hour. Trying to decide if it's a firmware bug that will be fixed in a future update or if mine is defective.

Known issue. Garmin has acknowledged it. Hopefully they'll get a fix out soon. In the meantime, disable the compass screen to avoid the lockups.

 

No. that's not what I'm talking about. I don't have any lockups. The compass arrow just stops turning and the heading stops updating, or may point 90-180 degrees off. Happens on the compass screen as well as the map screen. Run a Calibrate and it will be fine again for anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple hours.

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Curious what folks think overall of their 64 units -- considering an upgrade to one, but it sounds like there are some firmware teething issues. Also, can anyone comment on real-world battery life, especially using Eneloop NiMH cells?

 

[Edit: Wondering if it's possible to disable the 'page ribbon' interface on the 64-series, as was possible on the 62-series.]

Edited by Pacific NW
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Curious what folks think overall of their 64 units -- considering an upgrade to one, but it sounds like there are some firmware teething issues. Also, can anyone comment on real-world battery life, especially using Eneloop NiMH cells?

 

I don't know what you're upgrading from but you might consider the 62 series. IMO the 64 does not offer that much more considering it costs twice as much.

I only use Eneloops ( 2500 ) in my 62S and start each outing with a freshly charged pair.....they always outlast me and on occasion I have long ( 10-12 hr) outings .

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Thanks -- had the 62S in the past, running a 450 currently. :) I was pretty skeptical and didn't think GLONASS would amount to much in my location, but after seeing an Etrex 10 in person, I realized it makes quite a bit of difference. So I'm definitely leaning towards GLONASS in my next unit, and the lukewarm reports for the Oregon 600 have me holding back on that one.

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Well, the 64s I had on order came in at my local REI, so I've had a little time to play with it.

Why'd I grab it when I already have an Oregon 600?

 

Kolenka, when you've had a chance to use the 64s more in the mountains, can you let us know if you found any differences in GPS reception between the two units? I've been curious how much a difference the quad helix antenna makes.

 

Your experience with wet weather and the touch screen has been helpful too.

 

Thanks. Jake.

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Just some comments on the City Navigator and "maps from an old broken unused gps" problem with the 64s.

 

I was replacing my worn out and peeling 62s and rather than order a new 64s online and wait a week or so I decided to drive 40 miles to pick one up at the nearest store that carried it. The first thing I did when I left the store and got into my car was insert my micro SD card with CN 2010 into the 64s and navigate home without any problems. I then bought a CN 2015 micro SD card from Ebay and it didn’t work because the 64s couldn’t authenticate the CN maps.

 

The Ebay CN 2015 card would work in my old 62s with no problems and the CN 2010 that worked in the 64s was a copy I made from my genuine original legitimate CN 2010 from Garmin. I was nervous not having a backup in case the card failed or I lost it so I stashed the original CN 2010 micro SD card in a safe place and have used the copy for a few years with no problems. The card I put in the 64s when I bought it was that copy of the CN 2010 maps I made and it worked fine in the 64s. Apparently there are changes in both the new maps and the 64s that make sure you have a legitimate map file and it isn’t just the 64s that will prevent you from using certain maps. Even though these Ebay listings give you the impression that the card you're buying is legitimate, it won't work in newer GPS units that do check.

 

I returned the Ebay card for a refund and am now in the process of buying a ‘real’ micro SD card with the latest CN 2015 maps from Garmin.

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Just some comments on the City Navigator and "maps from an old broken unused gps" problem with the 64s.

 

I was replacing my worn out and peeling 62s and rather than order a new 64s online and wait a week or so I decided to drive 40 miles to pick one up at the nearest store that carried it. The first thing I did when I left the store and got into my car was insert my micro SD card with CN 2010 into the 64s and navigate home without any problems. I then bought a CN 2015 micro SD card from Ebay and it didn’t work because the 64s couldn’t authenticate the CN maps.

 

The Ebay CN 2015 card would work in my old 62s with no problems and the CN 2010 that worked in the 64s was a copy I made from my genuine original legitimate CN 2010 from Garmin. I was nervous not having a backup in case the card failed or I lost it so I stashed the original CN 2010 micro SD card in a safe place and have used the copy for a few years with no problems. The card I put in the 64s when I bought it was that copy of the CN 2010 maps I made and it worked fine in the 64s. Apparently there are changes in both the new maps and the 64s that make sure you have a legitimate map file and it isn’t just the 64s that will prevent you from using certain maps. Even though these Ebay listings give you the impression that the card you're buying is legitimate, it won't work in newer GPS units that do check.

 

I returned the Ebay card for a refund and am now in the process of buying a ‘real’ micro SD card with the latest CN 2015 maps from Garmin.

 

I was informed by this forum that many of the maps sold on Ebay are pirated ....whats puzzling is they are openly sold on the largest auction site in the world by power sellers that even use links direct to Garmins website.....I guess Garmin doesn't care.

What I don't understand is how you were able to make a usable copy of your authentic Garmin CN 2010 SD card....if this is true I could have saved a lot of money because I have purchased multiple CN cards from Garmin....heck, I could have made copies.....in fact, I'll try it.

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Well, the 64s I had on order came in at my local REI, so I've had a little time to play with it.

Why'd I grab it when I already have an Oregon 600?

 

Kolenka, when you've had a chance to use the 64s more in the mountains, can you let us know if you found any differences in GPS reception between the two units? I've been curious how much a difference the quad helix antenna makes.

 

Your experience with wet weather and the touch screen has been helpful too.

 

Thanks. Jake.

 

I have used the 62S ( quad ) in every mountain range in the U.S. and its always dead on. The only time I've ever lost reception was in a volcano crack by mono lake Cal.,...I was squeezing through with about a 2 foot view of the sky......as soon as the crack opened up a bit I had reception that was so good it pinpointed the same GZ as when I climbed to the top of the 80' deep crack and used a clear view of the sky to do it.

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Well, the 64s I had on order came in at my local REI, so I've had a little time to play with it.

Why'd I grab it when I already have an Oregon 600?

 

Kolenka, when you've had a chance to use the 64s more in the mountains, can you let us know if you found any differences in GPS reception between the two units? I've been curious how much a difference the quad helix antenna makes.

 

Your experience with wet weather and the touch screen has been helpful too.

 

Thanks. Jake.

 

Not really any experience with wet weather, although rain does pose a problem with capacitive touch. Impurities in the water drops can be seen as touches, but I tend to lock the screen while out and about usually.

 

As for reception, the 64s does get better accuracy than the 600 in dense forest. If the 64s is in the teens, the 600 is in the low 20s. If the 600 reports about 30ft accuracy, then the 64s will report in the low 20s. In general, there was less error in the tracks as well (about 1/4th-1/3rd less).

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Curiosity got the better of me, so I recently stopped by REI to check out the 64S in person. They had one on display, along with several other models, including the Oregon 600. I put each GPS on the 'Satellite' page and stood back to watch. The 64S pulled in a ton of satellites and was reporting a 9 ft. accuracy/EPE right there in the middle of the store! (The Oregon 600 was no slouch either, reporting a 15-17 ft. accuracy/EPE reading.) Not exactly a scientific test, but needless to say, I walked out with the 64S.

 

Installed the latest firmware and calibrated the compass, and so far (knock on wood), no hiccups as far as the compass page goes or switching screens. One thing I noticed is strange behavior with a newer micro SD card already loaded up with free maps (from Switchbacks' NW Topos, Open Street Maps, Planimetric Maps, etc.). I popped it into the memory chip slot on the 64S and fired it up. After going into the Map Setup menu, there was no way to enable/disable these free map sets individually. So I pulled the card, left it out, and re-installed these free maps onto the 64S internal memory. Bingo! All maps now show up and are now able to be enabled/disabled individually. So I'm not sure what the deal is... more experimenting needed.

 

Also, this one is strange: Loaded a GPX file to the unit which happens to include some nearby caches with a size of "Other" or "Not Chosen". For some reason, with each power-on cycle, the unit will *not* show these particular caches on the map, despite no filter being applied. (They will however be selectable in the cache list by name or distance.) You must then go into the Geocache Filter screen (from the map screen) and select "Apply Filter". Then, magically, these "Other" and "Not Chosen" caches will appear on the map. Reported this to Garmin, we'll see what they say...

Edited by Pacific NW
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Garmin got back to me about the problem with "Other" and "Not Chosen" sized caches not showing on the map at power-up:

 

"Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I am happy to assist you. I do apologize for any dissatisfaction with your device. However, what you have described is normal use of the device."

 

I sure don't recall this behavior with the Oregon 450 that I just parted with. It would show all caches, no matter what their size, with the default settings at power-on. For that matter, I don't recall this behavior with the 62s, either. Curious if anyone else has run into this? :blink:

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Yet another 64s oddity, this is running firmware 2.80:

 

Apparently I spoke too soon above and jinxed myself. The magnetic compass (with full Eneloop NiMH batteries and good calibration) seems to have a mind of its own. If you stand in one spot and slowly rotate with the GPS held out in front of you, the magnetic compass heading will rotate with you, then it will "snap" to other compass bearings briefly, then quickly "snap" back to your previous heading. Example -- you are rotating and at a bearing of S the compass suddenly shows E or W, then lags and snaps back to S.

Edited by Pacific NW
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Had not used the compass much so i tried the the rotate test. the compass did rotate at times, but at other times i was facing north while the compass read south.

 

I also found a geocache despite the poor accuracy of the 64s unit. Standing about 5 feet to the south of the hide so that i was out of the trees, the gps read an accuracy of 9 feet and indicated that the geocache was 69 feet to the east. Activity was set to Direct Routing and Lock on road set to No.

 

Seems to be a bit off.

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I again contacted Garmin, this time about the compass issue. Their response was to calibrate the compass after every battery change, and avoid interference from nearby metallic objects. Since I was already doing this, it's not much of a help. If anything, I hope these bug reports are at least making it to the software/firmware folks. Not holding my breath, but at least crossing my fingers.

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I again contacted Garmin, this time about the compass issue. Their response was to calibrate the compass after every battery change, and avoid interference from nearby metallic objects. Since I was already doing this, it's not much of a help. If anything, I hope these bug reports are at least making it to the software/firmware folks. Not holding my breath, but at least crossing my fingers.

After enough reports, they will eventually figure there is a real issue there. I have been in communication myself with Garmin about this issue, and have received instructions to do a master reset, go back to just the basemap, etc. They weren't aware that it's a common problem yet. I am on my second 64s; the store exchanged the first one for me. Same behavior. I believe it is a firmware issue, very similar to what I had with the eTrex 30 two years ago when it was new. It mostly had to do with the coordinate averaging and how quickly it switches from compass to GPS and back again when your movement is close to the threshhold 'switching' point. It was fixed with a firmware update.

 

What I *think* is happening is it is responding too fast to spurious signals and deciding I am moving. So it switches the compass off and shows a GPS heading instead. And then switches back to the compass when it does not see continued movement. There have been times that the compass completely froze and did not turn at all while I was dodging and turning during heavy bushwhacking under heavy tree cover. If I just stopped for a few seconds, the compass would come alive again. Again, I think it had decided I was moving fast enough to switch from compass to gps heading display. When it's showing a GPS heading, it does not matter which way the device is pointing, it will show the heading of your movement. Try it sometime. Get to a good walking pace in a straight line and note the heading. While continuing to walk at a good pace, turn the device 90 degrees sideways. Your heading will not change, even though the device is now pointing 90 degrees off from before. This is how it's supposed to work, actually. The compass is only active when you are below a certain threshhold of movement.

 

At any rate, I have had identical performance between two units, manufactured a couple months apart. I doubt it is a hardware defect, based on VERY similar issues with the e-compass in the eTrex 30 when it was new. I'm sure, given time, it will get fixed with a firmware update, just as it was with the eTrex.

 

I have noticed another minor bug with the 64s, in that it turns the track display on whenever I mark a geocache as found. Both 64s's did this. I have my tracks set to "record-do not show". It's not 100% repeatable, so there might be another UI step I'm missing somewhere that does that. But during a long caching day in the woods, I would find my current track showing on the map almost every time after I would mark a cache as found and then go to the map to see where the next one was. On the other hand, maybe they're doing that on purpose. As in, "Now follow the track back to the trail you just bushwhacked in from. Don't even think of going cross-country towards the next one". laughing.gif

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Yet another 64s oddity, this is running firmware 2.80:

 

Apparently I spoke too soon above and jinxed myself. The magnetic compass (with full Eneloop NiMH batteries and good calibration) seems to have a mind of its own. If you stand in one spot and slowly rotate with the GPS held out in front of you, the magnetic compass heading will rotate with you, then it will "snap" to other compass bearings briefly, then quickly "snap" back to your previous heading. Example -- you are rotating and at a bearing of S the compass suddenly shows E or W, then lags and snaps back to S.

 

Hi PacificNW,

 

I experienced the same thing and had a hunch that the compass mode was the culprit. Sometimes, even when standing still, the GPS can bounce around. Depending on how far that bounce is the unit can register a speed. When the speed jumps above a certain number the unit's GPS Heading kicks in and it can mislead you by jumping around a bit. The phenomenon is known as "spidering" and it's just a symptom of satellite position error that naturally presents by jumping around ever so slightly despite standing still.

 

Test this by making "Speed" one of the data fields on the compass page. Now rotate and keep an eye on the speed and if your compass starts jumping around I'll bet there is a speed being registered that automatically triggers the GPS Heading. It explained the jumpiness on mine.

 

Cheers!

Edited by yogazoo
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Well, the 64s I had on order came in at my local REI, so I've had a little time to play with it.

Why'd I grab it when I already have an Oregon 600?

 

Kolenka, when you've had a chance to use the 64s more in the mountains, can you let us know if you found any differences in GPS reception between the two units? I've been curious how much a difference the quad helix antenna makes.

 

Your experience with wet weather and the touch screen has been helpful too.

 

Thanks. Jake.

I upgraded from an eTrex 30 to the GPSMAP 64s. Both have GLONASS. I also was interested to see if the quad helix antenna of the 64s would give even better reception than the '30. Sitting side by side on my kitchen table, the e30 sat screen registered accuracy of 15 feet, the 64s registered 11 feet. Out in the woods, the e30 registered 10 feet, the 64s registered 7 feet. I had GLONASS and WAAS running on both units. This was in line with what I expected. Not a huge difference, but noticeably better. And in my opinion, the eTrex 30 already had exceptional reception. The only time I ever lost signal with the '30 was in a cave, tunnel or building. We don't have too many canyons here in IL, so someone else will have to report back with a narrow canyon test.

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Thanks guys -- that makes complete sense, perhaps they need to fine-tune the way the unit handles the signals when you're standing still. On the plus side, it seems very sensitive! I guess maybe TOO sensitive. :)

 

I'm pretty sure a fix will be in the works for this. The Oregon 6xx doesn't behave this way. For now I guess just be aware of what's happening so it doesn't drive you crazy. :)

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Sitting side by side on my kitchen table, the e30 sat screen registered accuracy of 15 feet, the 64s registered 11 feet. Out in the woods, the e30 registered 10 feet, the 64s registered 7 feet.

While this may turn out to be a valid comparison, understand that EPE is rather subjective and entirely a function of the methods used by the person writing the firmware to create that number, and they may not be using exactly the same algorithm on both of these units.
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Sitting side by side on my kitchen table, the e30 sat screen registered accuracy of 15 feet, the 64s registered 11 feet. Out in the woods, the e30 registered 10 feet, the 64s registered 7 feet.

While this may turn out to be a valid comparison, understand that EPE is rather subjective and entirely a function of the methods used by the person writing the firmware to create that number, and they may not be using exactly the same algorithm on both of these units.

 

Well, I'm pretty annoyed with Garmin tech support right now. I had entered a ticket for my sticking compass issue and mentioned my opinion that the unit is not releasing 'GPS Compass' and going back to 'electronic compass" mode fast enough when movement has stopped. I had noted this behavior on two different 64s's.

 

I got a response back that "at no time do models with electronic compass revert to GPS heading. Models with electronic compass always display magnetic compass headings."

 

This is contrary to my understanding, and does not agree with the GPSMAP 64s manual which states on page 4, "Compass: Automatically switches from an electronic compass to a GPS compass when you are traveling at a higher rate of speed for a period of time."

 

Guess I won't get my hopes up for a firmware update on this real soon, if Garmin is still in a state of denial.

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Guess I won't get my hopes up for a firmware update on this real soon, if Garmin is still in a state of denial.

 

I received a confirmation from Garmin tech-support that the source of this issue has been identified and will be fixed in a coming release.

 

Easy does it guys. Keep Calm and Geocache.

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