lock on roads

[+Night Stalker]

I keep seeing references to turning off lock on road on the Garmin GPS or you will not be able to find your caches. I have never had this problem as far as I know. When I get close to a cache I am hunting I switch to off road and the compass page. Are the cachers that are having problems hunting using the map page and having their auto routing still turned on.

 

Can I blame all my DNF's on having the lock on road turned on?

[+Red90]

No the lock on roads option has no affect on navigation. It only affects your displayed location on the map page.

 

Routing "on road" will screw you up though as it tries to keep you on a road.

Edited October 10, 2006 by Red90

[+ThePropers]

No the lock on roads option has no affect on navigation. It only affects your displayed location on the map page.

 

Routing "on road" will screw you up though as it tries to keep you on a road.

 

I believe that what people are referring to. It defaults to "follow road" automatically, so most people are setting it up to be prompted for "follow road" or "off-road" when they pull up a waypoint and hit "go to"

[andman]

I was one of the recent people asking about the Lock On Road feature while Geocaching.

 

You explained to me what I need to do, and that is what I will be doing when I go on hunts.

 

However, I am still curious what the Lock On Road option is for since it's ok to leave it on when going off road?

 

Thanks!

[+Sputnik 57]

There are two functions with "roads" in the name that are being confused here.

 

"Lock on Roads" is a display setting that tells the GPS, "Hey, I'm DRIVING here, if the satellites tell you that I'm 20 or 30 feet from the highway, forget that and stick the cursor on the road. I promise you I'm not driving through the field next to the road." This allows the map display to be more accurate when you are driving. If you get WAY off the road, the receiver says, "Okay. I don't care what you say. You AREN'T on the road any more," and the cursor should show your actual position on the map. The main problem using 'Lock on Roads' is if you are using the map page to try to find a park-and-grab near a road. The cursor stays stuck to the road and doesn't really show you where you are. Solution: Turn off 'Lock on Roads' or use the Compass page to find the cache.

 

The second feature is a guidance method of either "follow roads" or "off-road". The Geocache function only works if the guidance method is set to "off road." Most users set the guidance method to "Prompted" so that when they head for a cache, they can use "follow roads" to get close. They follow the road as close to the cache as they can, and then from the map screen, they hit MENU » 'Recalculate' and select 'Off-Road' to use the Geocache Mode to get them to the cache. (Another way is to hit FIND » FIND » ENTR » 'Off-Road').

 

To get the GPSr to prompt you for "follow road" or "off road" Press MENU » MENU » 'Setup' » ENTR » 'Routing' » ENTR, and set Guidance Method (the first drop down) to "Prompted".

Edited October 10, 2006 by Sputnik 57

[+EraSeek]

Here is my experience with "Lock on Roads" with an actual example that has occured to me. I am planting a cache in a small town urban area. I take a fix, several fixes. I test the fix by checking which is the closest waypoint and doing a GOTO. On one or both of these (I don't remember which, I think both, because I have had it happen before or rare occasions searching at other caches) I am standing near the cache, and the Coordinates ARE correct, but the unit tells me it is 40' or more away! That is because it happened to think I was on the road nearby. I figure it out and turn off "Roads" and all pops into place. That was on my map76. On the Map76 it is usefull to have Lock on Roads on, because the guidence text for upcoming streets will not show otherwise. In my 60cx, the guidence text displays either way. The only good reason for having it on in my 60cx now is that when autorouting you may miss a turn (overrun it) because the map is not accurate which has also happened to me.

 

It will not affect coordinates of fix. It will on occasion affect where it thinks you are from those coordinates.

[+Prime Suspect]

I've noticed that the "Lock on Road" option also affects the "Reposition Here" function. I keep a "car" waypoint saved, then just use the Reposition Here option to reset it to wherever I've parked my car, so I can always find my way back. When you use this option, it resets the waypoint's coordinates to your current location, and show you how far you are from the waypoint. It should be zero, or not more than a couple of feet. But sometimes it would show that I was 50 feet or more from the car I'm standing next to.

 

The problem is that "Lock on Road" is still on, so it's measuring the distance back to the road, instead of where I'm standing. Once you move far enough away from the road, it will automatically turn off, which is why it doesn't happen every time.

[+Chuy!]

I keep a "car" waypoint saved, then just use the Reposition Here option to reset it to wherever I've parked my car, so I can always find my way back. When you use this option, it resets the waypoint's coordinates to your current location, and show you how far you are from the waypoint. It should be zero, or not more than a couple of feet. But sometimes it would show that I was 50 feet or more from the car I'm standing next to.

That's alot of buttons to push; my Garmin models only require pressing one button to mark the current location. "member KISS principle?

[+EraSeek]

You can also do a MOB (man overboard) to mark the start of your hunt.

[+Prime Suspect]

I keep a "car" waypoint saved, then just use the Reposition Here option to reset it to wherever I've parked my car, so I can always find my way back. When you use this option, it resets the waypoint's coordinates to your current location, and show you how far you are from the waypoint. It should be zero, or not more than a couple of feet. But sometimes it would show that I was 50 feet or more from the car I'm standing next to.

That's alot of buttons to push; my Garmin models only require pressing one button to mark the current location. "member KISS principle?

I don't want my car waypoint to get confused with other waypoints I may set along the way, so it makes sense to use a pre-created waypoint that already has the icon and text I want. It's much easier to double-click Find, select the Car waypoint, and reposition it, rather than creating it from scratch each time. That's KISS, in my book.