trying to figure out this Oregon 600

[+dukeofurl01]

I like how responsive it is, but it seems like there is too many options, too many dashboards, too many profiles, too many layers, etc.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to do my usual routine. So, I'm going to cache X. I choose it from the Geocaching menu, and then hit Go. I choose Automobile Routing, because I'm going to be driving there, it's across town. I get close to it, and then want to go to the compass, and have the compass direct routing to it. So I exit out of it, and switch to the compass, but it's not direct routing, the compass is still auto-routing. I want it to direct route. How do I get to do that? The only way I can think of, is to back out of that, Stop Navigation, then choose the GC menu and cache again, but this time choose Direct Routing. This is extremely cumbersome. Is there something that I'm missing? Changing the Dashboard doesn't change the routing activity. What does? (that isn't 10 steps)

 

Help!

[+kunarion]

You can use Profiles. They have entire sets of settings, independent of other Profiles, saved automatically when you select a new setting. The most basic would be the "Automotive" Profile for driving, and the "Geocaching" Profile once you've parked and are walking to the cache. But I made a copy of the Geocaching Profile, named it "CachingCar", set it up with street routing, and changed everything the way I like for use while driving to caches. I switch between that and the Geocaching Profile, which is direct routing. They each have their own select icons on the first and second pages of menus (for example, "Compass" isn't all that useful when getting driving directions, since the compass is pointing to the street). I put "Profile Change" on the first screen of most Profiles' menus.

 

I also have specialized "Dashboards" with four fields, on the Map and Compass screens, showing items I found most useful in each Profile. I don't use the Geocaching Dashboard since other more valuable items are there instead. But it's pretty cool so I once set it to show in the main menu, while the Map and Compass screens still had the small data fields dashboard. One of the fields shows the selected destination, so I always know where the GPSr is currently sending me.

 

Save, copy or rename individual Profiles within the "Garmin/Profiles" folder. And you can place custom background images there. Make a backup of that folder today, so you can return to the way it was, in case of problems.

 

You could make a copy of the Geocaching Profile, rename it, and set It up as a really streamlined custom Profile with the Geocaching Dashboard on the Maps screen, and on the Compass screen, a large data field showing "Distance To Next" (distance to the cache or selected Waypoint), then delete all the menu icons that you won't use while caching. Maybe name that Profile "EasyCache". Use it when you're in a hurry and just need a "pointer" to the cache (with a big, readable distance display). Or have it available to hand to a new Cacher at a Geocaching 101 event. Simple. Just an idea.

 

If you'd like more detail about what I've customized, let me know. I'm still refining things.

Edited June 3, 2015 by kunarion

[+dukeofurl01]

It sounds like I'm thinking about it wrong. I'll try all this tomorrow. I would like more details, as you said...

 

Thanks a ton

Edited June 3, 2015 by DukeOfURL01

[+kunarion]

You can set it up to fit the way you use it. Or set it to seem more like a previous GPSr you liked. But it seemed to me that the "Geocaching" features set up out-of-the-box by Garmin were rather un-Geocaching . I've adjusted a bunch of settings.

 

There are two Profiles that I switch between, “Geocaching”, and “CachingCar” which is a copy of the Geocaching Profile modified for driving. It has “Automobile Driving” routing, while Geocaching has “Direct Routing”.

 

CachingCar Profile:

The first menu screen has WhereTo, Geocaching, Active Route, Profile Change, Map, and Compass. All the other menu icons are relegated to other screens, generally in the order of how often I use them.

 

The main menu has the Status large data field (that's the default and shows a clock), although this is where you could put the “Geocaching” dashboard. But that one confuses people, since if you're navigating to a waypoint, therefore have no cache selected, the Geocaching dashboard points to the nearest cache, not the waypoint. Just something to keep in mind.

 

The Map dashboard has Destination, Distance to Dest, Time of Day, and ETA at Dest. The map changes automatically to show turns, once you click "Go". I then sometimes switch to "Active Route" if the route is especially tricky.

 

The Compass screen has Destination, Distance to Next, GPS Accuracy, and Location (just in case I need the Lat/Lon at any given point while walking).

 

Geocaching Profile:

The first screen has Whereto, Geocaching, Setup, Profile Change, Map, and Compass. For quick access, I keep most icons such as “Profile Change” located in the same spot on the screen in various Profiles where possible.

 

The Map screen has no particular dashboard in my Profile. It's usually hidden so I have a full screen map. Maybe I'd use Date, Time of Day, Distance to Dest, and Compass Heading, but I'll still keep that dashboard out of the way most of the time.

 

The Compass screen has Destination, Distance to Next, Location of Destination, and Time of Day (maybe I'll change that one to “Date” so I always know ).

 

I have the screens different enough, so that in case I forget to switch from CachingCar to Geocaching, I can quickly tell which Profile is on screen, and I can maybe discover my mistake before looking for a cache in the street.

 

There's another setting to look at: Setup/Map/Zoom Level. The factory default setting hides Geocaches too soon (for my area) when zooming out on the map, so I changed it to “5 Mi”. I have the Zoom setting hide cache icons when they'd become just a huge mass of icons.

 

There are two hardware buttons on the side of the 6xx, a power button and a "user button". A single press of then user key by default allows a quick snapshot of the current location (to save the waypoint). The User button can be configured to select between three menu actions, and the Power button, two additional actions! The only thing I've changed is setting the User Button to "Change Profile" on two presses. But with 5 options at your fingertips, there's more customization that could be done.

Edited June 3, 2015 by kunarion

[robertlipe]

If anyone ever meets an engineer at Garmin, please take them on a geocaching trip on a single day of, say, 50 finds and let them use the GPS to navigate in car and on foot. By the end of the day, he or she should have a mental map of how to make a better UI that doesn't require dozens of key presses between finds. (Or at least admit there's a problem and engage an actual UX designer to fix that workflow.)

 

The number of button presses are why many of us keep a routing unit on the dash and a geocaching unit on our belt clips. Even at that, the 400's geocaching dashboard will let you walk straight to the cache but still takes about a dozen keystrokes to actually mark the cache as found, but at least you're not changing profiles every time on your walk to or from the car.

 

Then again, Garmin sells twice as many GPSes this way, so perhaps it's by design...

[+HHL]

If anyone ever meets an engineer at Garmin, please take them on a geocaching trip on a single day of, say, 50 finds and let them use the GPS to navigate in car and on foot. [...]

 

If he's smart he would use a Montana. Profiles changes automatically from Cruise to Geocaching and reverse by putting and releasing the unit to the cradle. Creating a found log just needs four button hits (:mad:not dozens).

Hitting the on/off button twice just toggles two profiles (sometimes I like to get rid of the Geovcache Dashboard when navigating an additonal waypoint).

The only feature the Montana is really missing is having a way to choose from waypoint or pois when using the "Enter Next Stage" feature within the Geocache mode.

 

Hans

[+Mineral2]

You can set up one of the user buttons with a shortcut that switches you to direct routing from automobile routing.

 

The correct way to do this without stopping your navigation is to go to your "go to" menu (which you can also have set to display with the user button) and instead of selecting "stop navigation," select "change routing activity" which will let you choose direct routing. No need to go back to the geocache menu and reselect it.

[+dukeofurl01]

Nevermind...

Edited June 5, 2015 by DukeOfURL01