+katguy Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 I recently upgraded the firmware on my SporTrak Pro from 4.02 to 5.00. Now I notice that whenever the alarm beeper goes off, the backlight also comes on. I do not remember this happening with 4.02. Has anyone else noticed this? More importantly, does anyone know of a way to stop this (other than going back to 4.02/3, or disabling alarms)? I have not done the experiment to see if the light still comes on if alarms are enabled and the beeper is shut off. I have emailed Magellan support and will post their reply when they get to it. Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 If you ask me, it's a bug. It shortens battery life and - more annoyingly - hoses the ability to touch type on the unit because after hte backlight times out, the first keystroke is now eaten to turn the backlight back on. If you ask Magellan, they claim it's a feature. (At least they did when I filed a bug report on it in early Nov.) Not to start a mailbox stuffing campaign, but perhaps they need some more people telling them this is an undesirable behaviour... http://www.magellangps.com/en/support/request.asp Quote Link to comment
+SBPhishy Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Not to start a mailbox stuffing campaign, but perhaps they need some more people telling them this is an undesirable behaviour... I think we should start a mailbox stuffing campaign. I would really like to use the alarms, but I don't for fear that I will forget about the backlight turning on. I use my GPS much more during the day than at night anyways, so whats the point. EVERYONE EMAIL MAGELLAN! ALso, does this occur with the Meridian Gold's? I just ordered one... Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 It happens in all 5.x firmware versions I've seen to date. Gold, Plat, STMap, STPro, and the Colour mutants of ST and Meridian share this and related 5.x firmware defects. Quote Link to comment
+SBPhishy Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 wow... that sucks. So when I use Direct Route, I have heard that it beeps at every turn on the route, does that mean that the backlight will almost always be on? Quote Link to comment
+ThisWayOut Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Yes, that's exactly what happens. I just used my DirectRoute on my ST Pro yesterday. IMO, if they thought about enough to call it a feature, they would have thought about adding the option to NOT turn on the light at every turn. Quote Link to comment
+SBPhishy Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Thats completely retarded. I'm glad the traveler pack comes with the cigarette adapter thingie. They need to release a patch just to fix that. I think that's enough of a problem to deserve some attention. Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 The beeping is enough to drive a man crazy. I wound up sacrificing my "lost lock" alarm - which, admittedly, almost never goes off but it's sure nice to know when it happens, and turning of all audio alarms just to shut up the DirectRoute Gong Show. Yes, the backlight will turn on on every turn with the current firmware and, as a result, will essentially be ON during active use. It will turn on when you approach every waypoint (becuase it turns on a proximity alarm even if you're using a PtP route) and it will turn it on when you remove it from the docking cradle to leave the car to actually go to a cache and then then it will continue driving me mad, it's just another way of passing the day... turn it on, turn it on, turn it on again[1]. [1] Bonus five points for naming that tune. Quote Link to comment
+SBPhishy Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 i hear so many people saying that direct route beeps so much. doesnt it only beep when you come to a turn on your route? Quote Link to comment
+2dest Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 It's not a problem for me - I just don't need the alarms. But do we really know how much the use of the backlight affects battery life? I'm sure using it does drain the batteries somewhat, but I haven't noticed that it is a significant problem. I haven't run any controlled experiments but I haven't been aware of a drain problem when I use the backlight at night. Quote Link to comment
+SBPhishy Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 It doesn't drain it at an insane rate or anything, but it definitely makes a significant difference from what I have seen. I haven't done any experiments either, but I find that when I do night caching, I notice that my batteries last a significantly shorter time. This is right out of the manual: "The backlight causes severe drain on the batteries in the SporTrak." Apparently, it's significant enough to warrant the term "severe". Quote Link to comment
+DomHeknows Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 no wonder my batteries went down really quick. In the daylight the only way you can tell backlight is on is to hold the unit to your ear and listen for the humming. Seeing as though the alarm comes on EVERYTIME i go geocaching - when i get out the car and disconnect the car adapter - the light was draining rapidly and I didn't know!...maybe i should go nightcaching as then I'd know if the light was on - second thoughts i'll just go back to 4.0x firmware. Quote Link to comment
+SBPhishy Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Yeah, it's pretty stupid. you can set the backlight timer to turn the light off pretty fast, but then the first time you press a button, the light turns back on, and you don't even know it. I won't be able to go back to 4. whatever firmware, because the Meridian needs the newest one to run Direct Route. Dammit! Quote Link to comment
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