Garmin 67, 67i and Etrex SE

[+RCsnowball]

I have the Etrex SE and have been having good tracklogs last couple of days. Displayed on Garmin explore you can see the accuracy difference vs Fenix watch. Lines match up with pathing. Without much hindering line of sight though. Battery life so far is good. I just got SE couple days ago. Using Alkaline. Have lithium coming. Tracklog at defaults for most part. Did not see a delay setting or need to find it.

[+Gamma5]

Just noticed this thread.

 

I have a brand new GPSMAP 67 and it has a few bugs related to geocaching.

 

1) Geocaching Live -> Geocaching Lists does not work, it causes the GPS to reboot.

 

2) There is a geocache name display problem for some .gpx files obtained from Groundspeak.     The problem is worse if the .gpx or .ggz file is generated by another program like GSAK, in that case, the display problem is present for all geocaches.

 

3) The Compass 'Distance to dest.' field is useless when searching for geocaches (or waypoints).  The distance is jumpy and when you get near the geocache,  the distance drops to 0 and stays at 0 even if you move around a bit.   It will stay at 0 unless you move several meters away.  I had to get my old Oregon 600 out of my pocket to find any geocaches the day I was trying it out.

 

4) USB mass storage mode is no longer supported, only MTP mode.  Some applications, like GSAK, cannot export geocaches directly to this GPS.  

 

All of the above are documented here: http://www.gpsrchive.com/Discussion/viewforum.php?f=165

 

I do not know if or when these will be resolved by Garmin.

[+barefootjeff]

1 hour ago, Gamma5 said:

3) The Compass 'Distance to dest.' field is useless when searching for geocaches (or waypoints).  The distance is jumpy and when you get near the geocache,  the distance drops to 0 and stays at 0 even if you move around a bit.   It will stay at 0 unless you move several meters away.  I had to get my old Oregon 600 out of my pocket to find any geocaches the day I was trying it out.

 

I bought a new GPSMAP 67 a week ago to replace my aging Oregon 700, and have observed the same thing when out caching with it, except the distance doesn't stop at zero, it's been maybe 6 or 8 metres from the cache and then it just seems to stop updating. I was hoping there might be a setting related to this but couldn't see anything relevant in either the manual or gpsrchive.

Edited March 28, 2023 by barefootjeff

[+Gamma5]

13 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

I bought a new GPSMAP 67 a week ago to replace my aging Oregon 700, and have observed the same thing when out caching with it, except the distance doesn't stop at zero, it's been maybe 6 or 8 metres from the cache and then it just seems to stop updating. I was hoping there might be a setting related to this but couldn't see anything relevant in either the manual or gpsrchive.

 

I have updated my GPSMAP 67 to software version 4.70 from 4.40 released today and the issue was not resolved.  During my quick test today, I have also noticed the same thing as you.  3 meters from my target (a waypoint this time) and it stopped updating the distance.  Stuck at 3 this time.    

There is definitively something wrong with the distance to dest data field.  And the compass arrow, it stops pointing to the destination as well.

 

If you experience this problem, please send a report to garmin as well (Product.Support@garmin.com). Include your GPSMAP serial number and Software version. The more reports, the better the chance for a fix.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Gamma5

[+Atlas Cached]

FYI, the distance does count down properly in the waypoint manager list.

 

 

Edited August 2 by Atlas Cached
Spelling

[Proteincacher]

I can really recommend to look up into the gpsrchive forum. The GPSMAP 67 is so horrible, there are many topics about missing options and poor accuracy compared to the 66sr.

[mimichris]

In fact, apart from the lower consumption and the Beidou system in addition, it is not much new compared to the 66sr, moreover on GPSArchiv, the 67 has major problems of youth, Garmin has never managed to come out a GPS without any bug, which is a shame, Garmin has been manufacturing GPS for decades and must know how to make a GPS without any problem. The new version 4.70 of the firmware does not bring anything more and does not correct any error visible by the owners of 67. Those which bought some on GPSArchiv have a 66sr and can make comparisons, for the moment they prefer their 66sr.

[+luvvinbird]

Yes, it is a shame that a new handheld is introduced by Garmin that, once again, appears to have missed the quality control testing prior to release. Oh well, I guess us beta testers will do that for them. Hasn't it always been that way? Sorry, but I'm not impressed. We waited far too long for update 570 on our 66sr's. I don't want to go through that nonsense again with the 67. But hey, convince me otherwise.

[Proteincacher]

This device is horrible how it is now. Beside the poor accuracy, since the keypad lock does not turn on automatical, the screen turns every few seconds on, when I put it into my backpack. This has the consequence, that the battery is dranining as fast as with the 66sr. So beside Beidou, what has no advance since the accuracy is really poor, GPSMAP 67 ist just a poor version of 66sr just with USB-C instead Micro-USB. This device should not be released in this form.

[robertlipe]

On 4/1/2023 at 5:15 PM, luvvinbird said:

 I guess us beta testers paying customers will do that for them. 

I think you misspelled a few words, luvvinburd. :-)

I'm kind of with the lynch mob that's forming above. They've been releasing some variation of the same code since, what Colorado days and yet every new release - even when the release is "add one more set of satellites" always is contemptuous. It just doesn't make sense how they seem to regress Every. Single. Time.

Disclaimer: I don't have one of the receivers in question and this is more of a comment on two+ decades of observed performance.

[capt caper]

In support of Garmin I own a 700 Montana. Bought it soon after it hit the market. For my use it's been awesome. Which is hiking and some Geocaching all day with the wife. I leave it on tracking a point every 3 seconds. Save the track after each outing. Load old ones back in as well as adding waypoints. The screen is the best I've have since owning many gpsr's back to 1998 as well as the battery life.  I can't ask more from that unit.

[Proteincacher]

I think it needs here some clarification why people are upsets with the GPSMAP 67, and yes 67 not the inreach version. Especially those people are upset who had a 66sr, otherwise they couldn't know the difference.

 

The 66sr has an excellent accuracy with around 1.8m and is really reliable even in difficult terrain. The accuracy is really stable and not just for a brief moment. Since it has the same Satellites systems on board+ Beidou and Multi-band also like 66sr, it is natural to have the expectation, that the 67 should perform at least the same. That is unfortunately not the case. The 67 has an average accuracy of 2.5m-3m and it is not really reliable. For really brief moments it gets an accuracy like 1.6m-1.9m, but that are only seconds and is far away from being stable with this accuracy like the 66sr.

 

Although the 66sr had some GPS chip improvement over the years, the consumer would expect, that garmin would use their knowledge to release an already polished product.

 

Also there is a flawed design choice. You have to lock your keypad manual everytime. There is no automatic keypadlock, what the 66 series and every dumbphone have. That is really annoying and if you forget to lock the keypad, the device drain your battery much faster, if you store it in your pocket.

 

I don't know if somebody noticed it too, but they used the same cover for the USB-C like for the Micro-USB. It closes now much much harder and I am not sure if it really protect from water, since if you don't really push it hard and pet firmly around the edges there will remain some gaps. When I got my package and saw the harder, my first reaction was almost to send it back.

 

Last but not least there are some bugs, which garmin support seems to see as a feature. For example "Lock on road" activates itself when you start a navigation, even when activity is set to "hiking" in the setup menue Routing. Also WiFi activates randomly by itself for brief moments, without notification. I didn't ask the garmin support about the Wifi bug, but I am afraid they will see it as a "feature" again.

 

 

 

So to summarize, compared with the 66sr and the really strange handling of the reported bugs by the support, the 67 seems to be at least for now a total no go. I would buy a 66sr from all the people now who try to sell it, because they think 67 is the better choice. There is for sure better to go with the 66sr even with its shorter battery life and Micro--USB than to get a 67 now.

 

 

I would not hope for a fix soon, because they even released the 67 with an obvious bug. On the satellite page some satellites bars are shown twice and it was not fixed with the first firmware update after the release. This bug was known even for the guys who had a prototype.

 

If people not write a lot of mails or try to call/chat with garmin support, but just complain in forums, garmin won't fix it. There were a lot of bugs with the 66sr which were fix 1 year later.

Edited April 5, 2023 by Proteincacher

[+gpsblake]

Has anyone tried to put the base routing file from the old Etrex 10  on the Etrex hC to see if it can take it?

 

I am thinking about getting this model, to use as a cycling computer mostly but geocaching from time to  t ime. 

[+GOT GPS?]

Does anyone know of the battery size in the GPSMap 67 ?

For reference the Lithium batt. pack in the Montana 650t is 2000 mah @ 7.4Wh

Being built-in I would imagine it having a much higher capacity, than the one mentioned above..

 

My NiMH battery pack is stuck in place in the 64st. That was always impossible to remove being super tight.

Edited June 12, 2023 by GOT GPS?

[+Hynz]

20 hours ago, GOT GPS? said:

Does anyone know of the battery size in the GPSMap 67 ?

For reference the Lithium batt. pack in the Montana 650t is 2000 mah @ 7.4Wh

Being built-in I would imagine it having a much higher capacity, than the one mentioned above..

There was just a thread in the german forum including a picture:

https://www.geoclub.de/forum/t/gpsmap-67.82585/

 

It's 3,8 V / 3100 mAh / 11,78 Wh

[Sgt_Strider]

Has anyone tested to find out how long it takes the Garmin 67 to go from 0% to 100% battery life?

[+Atlas Cached]

I don't think anyone has had enough time to get a GPSMAP 67 anywhere near 0% battery....

[+Red90]

I figured I should chime back in since I was so skeptical....

 

I got a 67i and recently finished a 4 day hiking trip.  I look at it quite a lot.  Track log recoding at most.  inReach not turned on. Everything else stock.

 

15% battery loss from the trip.  Probably 8 hours a day.

 

Using this battery monitor, Connect IQ Store | Free Watch Faces and Apps | Garmin

 

 

[+Atlas Cached]

So, Red90, are you happy with those numbers?

[+Red90]

On 8/2/2024 at 4:33 PM, Atlas Cached said:

So, Red90, are you happy with those numbers?

 

Definitely.  <5% per day is amazing.