Garmin GPSMAP 64st compass failure

[+olytreeman]

I have a Garmin GPSMAP 64st and was out geocaching yesterday. Everything was working fine until I got to a cache and the compass went haywire. The distance to destination bounced around from 150 ft-0 ft. The map worked just fine I could zoom in and out and it would take me to the spot. I then turned the unit off and on then recalibrated the compass and still the same. When I went off geocaching mode the compass works just fine.

I checked for an update but nothing new. Has anyone else had any issues and what if any is the fix. Mine is only about 2 months old.

[+Red90]

Do you have "lock on road" turned on?

[+JohnCNA]

The compass function will not affect your 'distance to cache' reading. It only shows the direction to the cache. Jumping coordinates of that magnitude would typically indicate poor GPS satellite reception. If you're not set for 'Direct Routing' and if you do not have 'Lock on Road' turned off, you will see some very erratic routing displays. You might want to go back to the Geocaching profile and then check those two settings, since your device seemed to work properly when using a different profile. Each profile can have it's own settings, in addition to just the general look of the dashboard.

[+olytreeman]

The compass function will not affect your 'distance to cache' reading. It only shows the direction to the cache. Jumping coordinates of that magnitude would typically indicate poor GPS satellite reception. If you're not set for 'Direct Routing' and if you do not have 'Lock on Road' turned off, you will see some very erratic routing displays. You might want to go back to the Geocaching profile and then check those two settings, since your device seemed to work properly when using a different profile. Each profile can have it's own settings, in addition to just the general look of the dashboard.

 

I have 4 data fields on my compass page, one of them is distance to dest.

I didn't have it on "lock on road" and I had taken it off "direct routing". Put it back to direct routing and went back out this evening and everything seemed to be working great.

Thanks for your help.

[+olytreeman]

Since I had already posted about my Garmin 64, thought I would just post again in the same link.

One day when I was looking for caches when I had the map up on the screen I was able to see all the caches that were in the area. That is not the case any longer. The only one that shows up is the one I am looking for. Does anyone know why that may have been and if it is possible to get that feature back?

Got some great help before and thought I would try again.

The 64 is so much more user friendly "for me" than my Oregon 450 was.

Thanks for any help.

[+JohnCNA]

In the map setup area, there's a setting for zoom levels. Check to see that the zoom setting for geocaches is set to Auto. The factory default setting requires you to be zoomed in pretty close before geocaches show up on the map.

[dgronjord]

I have a Garmin GPSMAP 64st and was out geocaching yesterday. Everything was working fine until I got to a cache and the compass went haywire. The distance to destination bounced around from 150 ft-0 ft. The map worked just fine I could zoom in and out and it would take me to the spot. I then turned the unit off and on then recalibrated the compass and still the same. When I went off geocaching mode the compass works just fine.

I checked for an update but nothing new. Has anyone else had any issues and what if any is the fix. Mine is only about 2 months old.

I have had a similar compass problem on my 62ST once during trekking (no geocaching mode). Calibration did not help, neither turning GPS off and on. But changing/removing the batteries helped. The problem have not turned up again since then.