Inventarisatie vragen/thema's Expert Forum Outdoor

[www.gps.nl]

Beste GPS-vrienden. Tijdens de officiele opening in Notter (17 mei a.s.) vindt er een ook een expert-forum met productspecialisten van Garmin plaats. (zie ook http://opening.gps.nl en http://forum.gps.nl/viewtopic.php?t=19062)

Bedoeling is om met een groep van maximaal 100 deelnemers in rechtreekse dialoog met Garmin te gaan, bijvoorbeeld om meer duidelijkheid te krijgen over (on)mogelijkheden van bepaalde toestellen; wensen van gebruikerszijde weer te geven en om te horen hoe Garmin de toekomstige ontwikkelingen ziet.

Deze thread is bedoeld ter inventarisatie van vragen/opmerkingen etc etc. Heb je een vraag/opmerking waarvan je zou willen die die tijdens het OUTDOOR (dus m.n. wandelen en fietsen) expert-forum aan bod komt: stel hem dan hieronder.
let op
Het is NIET de bedoeling daar vervolgens op de reageren c.q. te gaan discussieren. Maak daarvoor echter gerust elders op dit forum een thema aan.
De voertaal van het expertforum is, noodzakelijkwijs, Engels. Daarom liefst de vragen/opmerkingen hieronder ook in het Engels. (dan kan Garmin alvast meelezen).

[Jacob_Bax]

My first question.

The 60CSx has an electronic (magnetic) compas. At the moment the GPS logs the GPS/calculated heading in the tracklog, instead of the electronic one. Is it possible to use the electronic compass heading in the tracklog? This way, when you use your gps for geotagging digital pictures, the angel of view is correctly displayed (if the geotagging program can handle this feature ofcourse).

[edited by elsinga, as requested ]

[ECM]

Hi there

Looking forward to meet you and present some of our users questions.
Great idea!

My question would be:
I recently purchased a Colorado. It has some bugs in it, discussed on this and other forums. The new Beta firmware (2.51) seems to repair some but not all know bugs. In fact, it introduces a new one.

A very good source for world wide user info is this site : http://garmincolorado.wikispaces.com/ (check out the "Issue list!" http://garmincolorado.wikispaces.com/Issues+List )

Are you engineers familiar with this site (or similar) and are you using this valuable info when improving your software??

Thanks

[Dirk]

All modern electronic compass gear use the 3-axis so it doesn't matter how you hold your GPSr. Please consider buildingg 3-axis electronic compass in the next Garmin GPSr.

[Dirk]

What's Garmin view on the combination of GPSr and automotive routes created in a cardset in mapsource ?

I was very fond of the GPSr that took over the route I created in mapsource without recalculation (given the computer and the GPSr have the same cardsets). This was Garmin's USP that made me choose for a Garmin unit.

Nowadays 90% of the GPSr are recalculating the route, often mutilating the mapsource route.

Please consider having the possibility to send routes to all automotive capable GPSr and please provide a "do not recalculate route" option.

I would also appreciate a GPS VI model, I don't mind paying the price of 2 GPSr for one splendid GPSr that can be used on and off road.

[ben_gps60]

A nice feature added in a recent software update to the 60CSx, is the ability to save tracklogs onto the memory card. They are in GPX format, but can’ t be used for trackback
I make long off-road bicycle trips (prepared in mapsource with topocards) and would like to save multiple long tracks myself on the memorycard. The 20 tracks with 500 point are inadequate for long trips.
It would be great to use the memorycard for saving the prepared tracks. Just need the option to trackback from the tracks on the card (for tracklog as wel as prepared tracks)
Ben (GPSmap 60 csx)

[corbin]

Het niet kunnen ontvangen via de speaker van de waarschuwingstonen bij naderen van bv flitspalen met de 278.
Is vast wel iemand die dit even wil vertalen. Als het maar niet vergeten wordt op de 17e.

[Translated by elsinga as requested]

There are no audible warning signals emitted when approaching a POI with speed/proximity settings on the 278.

[splashy]

Please restructure your Email "helpdesk" it really takes to long for an answer and if the answer comes, it's not always a correct answer.

Today I tried your support site
http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/home/s ... rchsupport
search on the trail / Colorado
Search waypoints, 3 answers on the whole world??
Search tracks 24 answers But many unrelated
Basicly the search answer is often Colorado or searchterm UNRELATED and unless you're complete novice, it does not really help.

I'm a garmin user from the beginning, now owning a Colorado and happy with the product, knowing soft/hardware issues exist, but a little more support would do wonders and I can't understand why you make a Colorado so flexible and also so rigid, it's impossible ( or unclear) to do some simple things thé other company has figured out a couple of years ago.

[Jas]

Please make the poi's on the colorado audible and visual. You can load them onto the device now, but you cannot see nor hear them.

Also: would it be possible to make the update-dvd's downloadable ? Now everyone is struggeling to get them, then we could just download them instantly ourselves.

Als me er meer te binnen schieten dan post ik die nog wel.

[ECM]

Another Colorado question:

I got a list of geocaches loaded. Most of them contain waypoints as well (parkingplaces, geocache waypoints etc).
They all show up in my normal "where to / waypoints" list as well, even though I have not set my profile on geocaching.

Improvement suggestion: Make these special geocaching waypoints into a seperate folder, so they do not clutter the normal waypoint lists.

[ECM]

Colorado continued

Suppose I am out on a field day, and I want to plan a hike on a trail, as shown on my Topo map.
Can you demonstrate how this is done "on the fly".



Current possibility is only
a) by making a list of waypoints
b) turn this list of waypoints into a route.

This is very time consuming, and very user unfriendly. Even on the Zumo you can simply slide /sroll on the mapscreen and create an off road route by just adding points on the map!!

Why is it that a "state of the art" outdoor unit misses the simple function of making a route by just adding / entering a list of map points (while at the same time building that route)

[TDM900]

Remarks regarding GPSMAP60C(S)x
I would like to have a feature restored in a future firmware update:
In firmware 3.20 and before one could send POI to the GPS, set declutter to ON and just see on the map only my own defined POI only, and not the POI included in the maps loaded.
This was (is) a very usefull option as it makes the map on screen more readable, and the POI loaded by myself are important to me, because I load them to the GPS for a reason
In the newer formware versions (3.30 and higher) this behavior is different.
When one sets the option declutter to ON then all POI disappear, whether loaded by yourself or present in the maps loaded.
You can only manage a little declutter by yourself by fiddling with the options of text size and waypoint size and text visibility, but you now will always see the POI present in the maps together with the POI loaded by oneself.

As for other options, I second the option to make the tracks loaded on memorycard visible and accesible to use for trackback.

Keep the GPSMAP60C(S)x in production at least until the Colorado has the same options as the GPSMAP60C(S)x and preferably better
Then maybe the current GPSMAP60C(S)x owners will switch.

[jkelder]

Point for discussion: MapSource / Training Center

Garmin comes with two programs:

MapSource.
With this program it’s possible to receive tracks, routes, waypoints and charts from the GPS device.
It’s also possibble to make routes (direct/indirect), tracks,waypoints and chart selections for sending to the GPS device.
The main file extensions are .gdb and the more common .gpx

Training Center.
With this program you can receive the history files from the GPS device (Forerunner/Edge), import histories/courses/workouts (.crs / .tcx) and export histories, courses/workouts (.tcx)
It’s however not possible to make routes/tracks in Training Center yourself. Even it is not possible to send additional course points in the courses to the device.
Adding a course tool in the same way as the track tool is working in MapSource, should eventually be a nice option.

It’s understandable, integrating these two programs in one program for all Garmin users is not interesting due to different user groups (automative, outdoor, fitness).
But as an user of both Garmin programs MapSource and Training center I can ’t understand, why in MapSource the possibilities to import/export .crs/.tcx files and why in Training Center the possibilities to export/import .gdb/.gpx files are failing.
A self made track within MapSource can be very interesting for the Forerunner/Edge devices, special for the offroad mountainbiker user group.

At this moment external convertor programs (Gpx2Crs, TCXConvertor, GPSies) have to be used to be able to work between Garmin’s MapSource and Garmin’s Training Center, for me a strange situation.
By the way, my proposal several years ago to implementate the WinGDB-option (direct/indirect routes/tracks conversion within Garmin's ambient) within MapSource never came to a realisation untill now.

[djsomsen]

The magnetic Compass of the GPSmap 60 CSx can be switched off. A similar function is missing for the barometric pressure sensor. When you are in a plane, interested in the elevation (or is it altitude?), one should be able to disable the barometric pressure sensor and have all hight related data be based on GPS elevation.

In addidtion, it would be nice to have the GPS Elevation availble as datafield on (at least) the Altimeter screen. Now this datafield is only available via the Menu of the Satellite page, and it is frozen data.

[fafsim]

About 15 years ago I started using GPS devices, at first with a Magellan, followed by several Garmin devices. I have used these devices for sailing, hiking, cycling and auto-motive in many parts of the world. At present I use the GPSMap 60 CSx. My remarks refer mainly to the 60 CSx.

Speaking generally I can state that I am satisfied with hardware, design and most of the functionality. Nevertheless I would prefer a design which is less dependent of Mapsource , with some built-in features enabling the user to work with the unit “on track” (in fact transfer some features of Mapsource to the unit itself).

I am not impressed by the customer focus and -orientation of Garmin as a commercial organization.
Let me give some examples:
- The exceptionally poor manuals of the products (it should be really easy to use lots of the practical tips and the experiences which are presented every day on the user-forums to improve/extend the manuals).
- The poor response of Garmin’s helpdesk (are you afraid of thieves of your company or product secrets?)
- The excessive safety procedures which are in use (Mapsource/map software) which are too complicated and cause lots of troubles for the user. Sometimes I get the impression that your policy is primarily (or even solely) aimed to safeguard your products and the customer is forgotten.
- There is a clear dissimilarity between the positive attitude of the Waypoint team and the behavior - as we experience it – of the Garmin organization.
- I am not an admirer of the products of your competitor Tom Tom, but I am convinced that with respect to customer orientation they do a better job which declares part of its success. So if Tom Tom would launch a product range for the outdoor market this might become a major threat for Gamin.