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Garmin 64s horrible accuracy


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I have a new 64s I have used it a few times now for geocaching, but the accuracy seems horrendous. My cell phone and 15 year old Magellan meridian get me much closer. If I use the compass screen the compass jumps. It will say 30' straight ahead then all of the sudden the arrow will spin 180 degrees around and say I'm 100' away. This happens on the map screen too. One min I'm on track next min the whole map spins and I'm way off. Even when right on top of a cache according to phone and Magellan the garmin is always way way off. I'm not happy considering this is a 400$ unit. Quality isn't great either. Scree scratches ridiculously easy. I'm gentle with my electronics and already have two scratches on the screen. I feel like I could scratch it with a fingernail. There's no protective bezzle around the screen . Pretty poor for a high end unit. Can anyone help me figure out why the accuracy is so bad? Great reception lots of satellites locked on. Open sky no obstructions. Tried with glonass on and off no difference. Any help would be appreciated.

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I'm with Gitchee....make sure you don't have it set for on-road navigation. It will try to keep you on the nearest roadway. Do you find that it seems to be pointing you back towards the road?

 

The Zagg's screen protectors are very good by all accounts, but pricey. I bought a 3-pack of cheap iPhone screen protectors from WalMart and trimmed them to fit my Oregon 550 (which is a touch screen so the front is all screen and gets a lot of contact with gritty fingers, etc.)...I've had the first one on for over a year now and no sign of wear yet.

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Not using a Garmin, hence not familiar with their settings choices... I looked at the 64s manual online.

 

I think Walt hit the nail on the head. I was unaware that LOCK ON ROAD even existed. :blink:

Whatever happened to Hiking vs Routing???????

 

Routing Settings

The device calculates routes optimized for the type of activity

you are doing. The available routing settings vary based on the

activity selected.

Select Setup > Routing.

Activity: Sets an activity for routing. The device calculates

routes optimized for the type of activity you are doing.

Route Transitions: Sets how the device routes from one point

on the route to the next. This setting is available only for

some activities. Distance routes you to the next point on the

route when you are within a specified distance of your

current point.

Lock On Road: Locks the blue triangle, which represents your

position on the map, onto the nearest road.

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Thanks for the quick replies. I checked the settings, it was set to direct route which I kept and lock to road which I changed. I noticed that the compass still wasn't working. The arrow stayed put no matter what direction and my heading in degrees was not going 360 all the way around. I calibrated the compass and now it works fine. I'll try and get out tomorrow and see if the accuracy and other issues have changed. Thanks again.

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Also having accuracy problems.

 

I 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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Also having accuracy problems.

 

I 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.

Problem with this post is that the coordinates and the hide are two different things.

 

Coordinates are the location which the hide is SUPPOSED to be... but this isn't always so, for a multitude of reasons.

You are better off not using cache placements to judge the accuracy of your unit.

 

If you want to see just how "accurate" your unit is, go find some known NGS Benchmarks.

 

As an aside, the "gps read an accuracy of 9 feet" is not accuracy at all. It is Estimated Position Error (a consistency factor).

Certainly, the lower that number, the closer you can figure it will put you at/near the cache coordinates -- but a number up to and beyond 250 ft doesn't mean that it won't deliver the same "accuracy".

 

EDIT TO ADD: If this post refers to Bridges of Ramsey County , it has had problems since it was placed. Read prior logs of the placement.

Edited by Gitchee-Gummee
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Thanks for the quick replies. I checked the settings, it was set to direct route which I kept and lock to road which I changed. I noticed that the compass still wasn't working. The arrow stayed put no matter what direction and my heading in degrees was not going 360 all the way around. I calibrated the compass and now it works fine. I'll try and get out tomorrow and see if the accuracy and other issues have changed. Thanks again.

 

Ths happens to me a few time EACH time I use my 64s. Each.time.

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The old Etrex 'H' is still regarded as the most accurate and preferred still by aviators.

 

I'm pretty sure that just about ANY gps unit would be great with a view of the sky like that achieved in an airplane. Up that high an old WAAS enabled Magellan explorist 100 is probably just as accurate as a Trimble. As long as WAAS corrections can be made the playing field is even. However I haven't tested any of that, just speculation <citation needed>.

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The old Etrex 'H' is still regarded as the most accurate and preferred still by aviators.

 

I'm pretty sure that just about ANY gps unit would be great with a view of the sky like that achieved in an airplane. Up that high an old WAAS enabled Magellan explorist 100 is probably just as accurate as a Trimble. As long as WAAS corrections can be made the playing field is even. However I haven't tested any of that, just speculation <citation needed>.

 

Aviators need a GPS accurate enough to find an airfield. Geocachers need one accurate enough to find a bison tube in the woods 😎

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Aviators need a GPS accurate enough to find an airfield. Geocachers need one accurate enough to find a bison tube in the woods

 

Very true, speaking to my point. Airfields have the distinct characteristic of being quite large. :lol:

Edited by yogazoo
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The 64 is quite possibly one of the most accurate Garmin handhelds to date. The hardware can produce accurate results but the environments change. Is it possible that there might be interference near where you perceive the inaccuracy? Power lines? Cell phone towers? underground electrical cables?

 

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

 

Uhhhh? have you updated the firmware to the latest version? :antenna:

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