Garmin GPSMAP 64s – Slippery bits of information #3

Update

Garmin GPSMAP 64s – Slippery bits of information #3 – I’ve sold it and bought the Garmin 66i.
It’s basically the same as the 64s but WITHOUT its defaults that I didn’t like. It also has Inreach capabilities. I like it. It’s a far better unit.
My new post about the 66i can be found here : https://bit.ly/2WDlrOw

The things that I do not like about this Garmin. The trip odometer is really screwed up with the original settings when you first use the 64s.

Why ? Because even if you don’t move it, like sitting down for a break, it will keep on counting the miles. Or in my case kilometres.

Now this isn’t funny as there you are walking around and you have no real idea how far you’ve walked

So :

“From the Main Menu > Setup > Tracks > Record Method, set to Distance > Interval, ) set to 0.06 miles or for those using kilometers 0.10 Kms, (the original setting were 0000.01 if my memory is correct).  I’ve set it to distance, rather than time or auto, though this is for you to try. 

Garmin GPSMAP 64s - Slippery bits of information #3

With this setting change it should allow for GPS wandering and eliminate it. If you still find the trip counter still ‘adding up’ you can always input  0.12 or 0.15 for example . (0.10 seems to work Ok for me)

Of course if Garmin had implemented an auto pause as they have in most of their GPS this wouldn’t be necessary. 

This should now giving a more accurate distance reading. ‘A suivre’ as they say in French……

The only problem with this by the way is that when you look at your GPX tracks they are horrible as they number of points are few, one every 100 metres, so after a few trials. I’ve stopped using this and have changed the settings to the same on my Fenix 5X.

Setup > Tracks > Record Method, set to Time 00:00:05 (actually on my watch its 1 sec rather than 5 secs). This makes the GPX look pretty decent when you look at it. But again if you stop, for a pee, lunch, sightseeing it will keep on recording the distance, so I no longer use the trip counter. Its just not usable.

Shame on you Garmin

Update 2020

Since these posts on the Garmin, they have finally got around to adding the 64s to Garmin Express for updates

The latest at the time of writing was October  2019, most updates seem to be bug corrections. Personally what annoys me the most and my main gripe with this machine is the still the lack of Auto Pause function as again it still makes a mess of GPX tracks if you want to export them, have a break / rest and see your GPX track all messed up.

In 2019 I used this Garmin for a six days hike. Again I love the screen and the free Open Streets maps that I downloaded to it. Battery life is still a worry, even with battery saver, screen settings set to save battery. You only get about two days max out of it. I finally got around to buying their expensive rechargeable battery pack so could recharge the unit basically every night without having to carry spare batteries. 

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