Question About GPS Map 64s Functionality

[+Cheminer Will]

I found the below comment on the Amazon page for the 64s.  I am not so concerned about the first enabling point although it does seem inconvenient.  BUT is it really true that when you delete the active track in order to start a new track, that all previous tracks are deleted?  Or is there a way to save a track before starting a new one that then preserves old tracks until they can be downloaded into Base Camp?  On hikes, I often create more than one track in the same day or camping trip. I currently have an old 60Csx that is starting to have issues and on that I just save a track that I want to download later and then I can reset to start a new track.

 

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Yes. I agree with both of your points. It is a MAJOR nuisance to have to enable tracks to be viewed that you have loaded onto to GPSMAP 64. Likewise I got caught a couple of times when deleting the active track also deleting the data log. Assuming that things worked the same as on the 60csx, I deleted the current track after a morning hike and assumed that I would not lose the data log when I reset things for an afternoon hike. Nope. The track for the morning hike is gone forever.

 

[+Timpat]

Why delete the active track? I have my tracks 'archived weekly' where all tracks are Auto Archived in the Garmin/GPX/Archive folder. You have other track archive options such as: When Full/Daily/Weekly. I then can use Mapsource or Basecamp to view and edit tracks I want. I like to save all my tracks on the PC for future reference.

[+Cheminer Will]

My question is more about if the quote about the 64s is correct or if there is a way around it?

As far as why, maybe I am not as good in Basecamp as I could be, but I just find it easier to import each track individually rather than as one big track made up of multiple paths and then edit it down to what I want in Basecamp. 

And to clarify what I think the person in the original quote was saying:  On my 60CSx, if I want to start a new track, I can do that without the previous track being deleted.  I think the complaint they had was that on the 64s, starting a new track, deletes the active track and there is no way to get it back. Here is another person saying the same thing.

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Another big problem I ran into with the 64s was if you delete the active track it also deletes the data log. Not so with the 60Cx.

What I want to know is if on the 64s you can name and save the active track and then start the active track over new and end up with both.  If yes, then I am not sure why the above seems to be a common complaint?  Now I save any track I want and then it is there, clean and by itself when I want to put it into Basecamp.

Edited August 30, 2017 by Cheminer Will

[+Mineral2]

Yes, you can save your track prior to clearing it. You can even save parts of a track, though this feature doesn't always work as intended - that is, the GPS attempts to identify track segments for you. 

But yes, if you start your hike with a fresh track, you can save it when you get to the car, and then clear the active track for the next hike.

[+Cheminer Will]

OK - Thanks.  Often in a day I will have more than one hike or several pieces of a longer hike.  Saving the 1st track before starting a new one is a logical and easy thing to remember to do.  Makes me wonder why I have seen complaints about this as long as you can save a current track before starting a new one.

[+JohnCNA]

Most users don't realize there are several options for handling tracks in the setup menu. One of the options is Archiving.  The GPS will create one long track until it needs to archive it. Even if you turn it off and on again, it will join the last known position with your current position and continue adding to the track. You would actually want it to do this if you stopped in the middle of a hike to change batteries.  My point is if the archiving is set to a long period like Weekly and you clear the current track, you could be clearing a whole week's track.  If the option is set to "When Full", it will build one very long track until it hits a memory limit, so yes, you could conceivably clear a month's worth of track if that's how you set it up.  Personally, I set mine to Daily and then manually Clear/Save/Start when I want it to.

Like yourself, I often have more than one track per day that I want to save.  A workflow for me is below:

Arrive at trailhead and power up GPS. Wait for position.
Select Current Track and Clear it.
(Starts recording a brand new track)
End of hike - Save track.
(Track name defaults to date&time, or give it a name that you want)

Next trailhead:
Select Current Track and Clear it.
(Starts recording a brand new track)
End of hike - Save track
(Track name defaults to date&time, or give it a name that you want)

I find Garmin's BaseCamp to be a very nice tool for saving and editing Track files. I can trim off those parts where I forgot to save it before driving away.  I can trim off the parts where it got a stray signal and showed me as departing 100 feet off the trail and back again, etc. Join multiple tracks into one longer one, etc.  Turn a track into a Route that you can send to a Nuvi or use with a routable map on the 64. And archive the tracks in BaseCamp.

[+Cheminer Will]

That is a great summary of how I do it now with my 60Csx.  And now I know that when the time comes that the 60Csx ceases to limp along, I can go to a 64s or whatever model seems best and be OK.  I got the 60Csx when it first came out, so I have made good use of it!  I know some of the later models like the Oregon have some other functions, but I like having the buttons rather than a touch screen. 

Does the 64s have a timed off that you can select, where if the unit does not move for 10 minutes or so, it will power down to save the battery?

[+Mineral2]

I don't know about powering down with lack of movement, but it should have a battery save mode where the screen gets turned off after a set amount of inactivity with the unit. With my Oregon, I set it to turn the screen off after 30 seconds of not using it. But the GPS is still on and collecting data. The screen is one of the biggest power draws on the batteries.