Garmin 64S getting bad reviews?

[+frits73]

I was planning to buy the Garmin 64s this weekend. Been waiting for the bluetooth feature on a geocaching type GPSR for a long time. But of the five reviews on this product on amazon.com, three rate the 64s two (2) stars? Surprises me since the 60s and the 62s have had great reviews. Please note that I own the Garmin 60s and I'm quite please with this GPSR.

Here are some of the typical complaints:

 

"I noticed that while I was standing still in a parking lot it continued to record moving time"

 

"Seems to be the furthest away from caches when caching in a group. I would have thought with GLONASS, that I would be at least on par with others. e.g. 130ft off when someone yells found."

 

What say you? (64 series owners)

Edited April 11, 2014 by frits73

[Forkeye]

That is normal. Garmins never work correctly right out of the gate. It will take about a year or two for all the bugs to be worked out of the software. We are the beta test site for the software, its normal.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Forkeye

[+BikeBill]

I saw those reviews, too. One wonders if there was a bad unit or two out there or the problem was user error. Not everyone that posts reviews has high technological literacy and might not know how to setup/use the device properly. Maybe he was trying it out under power lines or other interference.

 

Also, the people that review are often those that are upset with the product for whatever reason. The people that are happy with the unit aren't always motivated to review.

[+splashy]

If you buy it for the Bluetooth be SURE it works, because on other models it doesn't.

[insig]

http://www.gpscity.com/garmin-gpsmap-64s.html#reviews

http://gpstracklog.com/2014/03/hands-garmin-gpsmap-64s.html

[insig]

If you buy it for the Bluetooth be SURE it works, because on other models it doesn't.

 

What do you mean by this?

[+splashy]

The OP wrote

"I was planning to buy the Garmin 64s this weekend. Been waiting for the bluetooth feature on a geocaching type GPSR for a long time. "

 

Many people want a Gps model with BT, because they want to tether with their phone, until now this seems not possible even if the model has BT.

[insig]

Bluetooth is used for faster transfer speed between compatible devices (right now, only Oregon 600/650 and GPSMAP 64) when you send tracks, route, waypoints, geocaches, photos, and custom maps. Transferring to other units (like from a 64 to a 62) will use ANT+ which is slower.

 

Bluetooth is also used for things like livetrack, smart notifications, etc. It doesn't let you use your cell phone's internet connection to surf the web on your 64 or connect to geocaching.com and download geocaches. You can however transfer things from BaseCamp mobile to your 64. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a way to transfer geocaches.

[+frits73]

Thanks everyone for your input. Best advice I have for myself is to wait, be patient, and see how the Garmin 64s works in the long run.

 

Secondly, The main reason for buying this unit is to upload geocaches to my smart phone when I'm far away from home and then load the caches to the GPSR via Bluetooth. Currently, I carry a small notebook, find a local wireless connection, and upload the caches to the Garmin 60s GPSR.

 

I'm a little confused but is it possible to upload caches via Bluetooth from the smart phone?

Edited April 11, 2014 by frits73

[insig]

I'm a little confused but is it possible to upload caches via Bluetooth from the smart phone?

 

Not that I know of.

[+splashy]

That's what I'm trying to warn you from, on this moment not, Garmin seems to have it's own kind of BT protocol people say.

Edited April 11, 2014 by splashy

[insig]

They don't have their own BT protocol, they're just not using BT for what you want them to use it for. There's a difference between the means by which things are transmitted (BT) and the things that get transmitted via the aforementioned means. They're not using BT for what you want them to use BT for -- this is completely different than them using their own top-secret communications protocol that doesn't get along with anyone else.

 

Yes, you can't connect to geocaching.com and send caches via bluetooth from your smartphone to your 64. While that might be disappointing, it's much different from saying things like "If you buy it for the Bluetooth be SURE it works, because on other models it doesn't." A more appropriate thing to say would be something like "If you buy it for the Bluetooth, make sure you understand what you can and can't do using the bluetooth connection before purchasing it."

[+splashy]

Nothing secret here, it just doesn't work like the normal BT gadgets do, therefore there might not be an interaction as some people expect from this Garmin BT.

If it doesn't do a basic function like sending caches from a smartphone, I wonder what is it made for??

[insig]

As I stated earlier, it's used for things like wirelessly sharing between units up to 50 times faster than ANT+. It's also used for smart notifications, livetrack, Garmin BaseCamp mobile connectivity, and Garmin Connect mobile connectivity.

[DriverFound]

I have the 64st (with current firmware 2.60) which has the same hardware as the 64s aside from the larger internal memory and preloaded Topo map.

 

I've been using my 64st for couple weeks now (I did exchange for another unit thinking there was a fault with the Tempe sensor - I posted about it on this forum as well) and it has performed great. I consistently get 3m accuracy (GPS + GLONASS). There was supposedly a GLONASS outage a week or so ago and that was the only day the 64st's reception went crazy. The tracklog was all over the place. I was running my 60CSx and 62s along side 64st when I was out. At that time there was no reception issue on the 62s and 60CSx so I set 64st to only use GPS and it was functioning properly.

 

In terms of BT Geocache to the GPS, using BaseCamp Mobile, if you have the caches (GPX) stored on your myGarmin cloud storage, you can send them to the GPS via your phone. I do this with my iPhone 5S without issue. (I deleted the preloaded cache) . It's convenient to upload tracks to cloud storage then later download it onto BaseCamp on my laptop without the USB cable.

 

Overall I'm happy with the 64st.

[insig]

In terms of BT Geocache to the GPS, using BaseCamp Mobile, if you have the caches (GPX) stored on your myGarmin cloud storage, you can send them to the GPS via your phone. I do this with my iPhone 5S without issue. (I deleted the preloaded cache) . It's convenient to upload tracks to cloud storage then later download it onto BaseCamp on my laptop without the USB cable.

 

Really? I didn't know that. Too bad I have an older android phone!

[+frits73]

Thanks Drivefound for your input. I just received the following from another Garmin 64s owner. This comes from an amazon.com customer:

"The 64s has a couple Bluetooth features for compatible smartphones. Some will require the installation of Garmin Connect Mobile or BaseCamp. The main features are Phone notification, Live Track and Activity uploads. You cannot transfer geocaches via the smartphone. You can do that between compatible GPS units."

 

So it looks like Driverfound has found a way to perform cache transfers between a smart phone and the 64s(st).

Too bad Garmin has to complicate matters.

[DriverFound]

Here's what I did:

 

Download geocache or any waypoint. GPX/LOC file.

On my laptop, import the file into BaseCamp.

Upload the geocache (which is just a waypoint) to myGarmin Cloud Storage.

On my iPhone, using BaseCamp Mobile. Connect to 64st.

On the Cloud tap in BaseCamp Mobile, select the geocache and Copy to Device.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Here's what I did:

 

Download geocache or any waypoint. GPX/LOC file.

On my laptop, import the file into BaseCamp.

Upload the geocache (which is just a waypoint) to myGarmin Cloud Storage.

On my iPhone, using BaseCamp Mobile. Connect to 64st.

On the Cloud tap in BaseCamp Mobile, select the geocache and Copy to Device.

 

Since a laptop is involved anyway, why not just load the GPS unit using the laptop ?

[DriverFound]

Since a laptop is involved anyway, why not just load the GPS unit using the laptop ?

 

True. However, you'd need the USB cable. Just to show it is possible to send geocaches from phone to GPS.

[+ecanderson]

Also, the people that review are often those that are upset with the product for whatever reason. The people that are happy with the unit aren't always motivated to review.

True, but compare those reviews to those of other Garmin models whose users have the same motivation, whatever it happens to be, to post a review. In this case, the inability of some to use other than Garmin maps has hurt the 64's reputation. We've seen some similar complaints here, though for whatever reason, they are not universal. Two others complained of what appears to be quite a bit of drift in the computed location vs. units they have used in the past.

[+ecanderson]

That's what I'm trying to warn you from, on this moment not, Garmin seems to have it's own kind of BT protocol people say.

It's a 'profile' in Bluetooth-speak, vs. a 'protocol'. Just to clarify a bit further ... one of the very basic Bluetooth profiles is 'SPP' (serial port profile). It's designed to replace a physical serial port data stream with a wireless equivalent. As you know, the data over a serial port has no particular meaning apart from what the code on each end agrees is meaning. It could be anything. Moving data between two devices using SPP is entirely a function of what meaning the code gives to the data. Imagine, for example, that a serial port could have had printer text and commands or a binary program flowing from a 300 baud modem. The serial port doesn't know what it is, any more than the SPP profile dictates anything about what is going across the connection.

[+bruschetta]

Any further reviews on this device? I'd like BT as well!

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Any further reviews on this device? I'd like BT as well!

 

The current owners seem quite satisfied....this thread is older and when a unit is first introduced it has lots of bugs which are eliminated by updated firmware

[+Red90]

I'd like BT as well!

 

Keep in mind the BT features available are quite limited. I'm not trying to discourage you, but you should be aware of what this gets you. Note the Oregon 600 series and Etrex 35 have BT as well.

[+geodarts]

I'd like BT as well!

 

Keep in mind the BT features available are quite limited. I'm not trying to discourage you, but you should be aware of what this gets you. Note the Oregon 600 series and Etrex 35 have BT as well.

 

Other than turning bluetooth on to see what it could [not] do, I have never used it. My iPad or IPhone supports mobile basecamp, but my only interest would be to transfer gpx files from the caching app that I use. Basecamp opens the files as waypoints rather than geocaches, which have to be selected individually. Since I have other ways to transfer the full gpx file from my phone to the gpsr, this is rather tedious. I suppose it could come in handy if I wanted to use the gpsr and had not downloaded coordinates for a specific cache to the unit, and did not have any other means to connect the phone. But in that situation it has seemed easier just to enter the coordinates by hand.

 

Mobile basecamp will also transfer tracks, of course. But the generally poor reviews for the basecamp app speaks for themselves.

 

I cannot find any way to use the Bluetooth with my android tablet. So what you see is what you get, which is not very much if you expect more out of this feature.

Edited July 7, 2015 by geodarts

[+Red90]

You can use Basecamp Mobile (which transfers tracks, routes and waypoints via the Garmin Cloud account and transfer any "Adventures"). The app also pushes text messages to the GPS.

 

You can also use Garmin Connect, which works with Android. That will upload tracks, waypoints and such to create activities in your Garmin Connect account, which you can share, automatically with others if you wish.

 

Both limited. Hopefully they will add features. The addition of BT to the new etrex gives hope. Integration with the Groundspeak app would be a great start.