Garmin Oregon 450 - Compass OFF or AUTO for calibration

[+4evrCking]

Hi,

 

I have a Garmin 450 Oregon and I am having problems understanding the compass regarding calibration, set up and when to use COMPASS OFF or AUTO during calibration.

 

First I'll try and explain the steps leading up to my confusion.

 

1. I do understand the calibration procedure and how to do it.

2. According to the manual pg. 31, it states:

"COMPASS - select AUTO to switch from an electronic compass to a GPS compass when you are travelling at a higher rate of speed. Select Off to turn the electronic compass off and use the GPS compass."

3. The above statement seems confusing to me and seems to put the compass mode to a GPS compass no matter what you select.

4. My understanding from the above, and trying to read between the lines, under SETUP>HEADING> I should select AUTO when travelling at a high rate of speed to switch from an electronic compass. (For a simple reference, I transalate AUTO as being in an Automobile). It also states I should select OFF to turn the electronic compass off and use the GPS compass and I assume that OFF should be used for a lower rate of speed (walking, hiking etc.).

 

The specific questions I would like answered are:

1. Which is the more accurate mode for Geocaching - COMPASS AUTO or COMPASS OFF?

2. When calibrating the compass should I have the compass mode in COMPASS OFF or COMPASS AUTO, or should I calibrate in both modes?

3. When calibrating the compass, does it calibrate both the electronic and gps compass at the same time?

4. Does AUTO actually mean AUTOMATIC, that is, automatically switches between Electronic or GPS compass as needed?

5. When geocaching should the compass heading be set to TRUE NORTH or MAGNETIC NORTH?

 

Can you help me with the above questions?

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Best regards,

 

4evrCking

(Forever Seeking)

Edited May 8, 2013 by 4evrCking

[+BAMBOOZLE]

I would set it to true north and I always leave my compass on. With the compass off and using the gps compass no calibration is used as the unit is using your movement and the satellites for plotting direction.

[+4evrCking]

Hi,

 

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

I have contacted Garmin Support and looked at as many web sites as I could. After all the input the following is all the suggestions made. I thought I'd pass along these since the GPS seems to be working much better and may help someone else.

 

If you are having a problem with your GPS giving variable readings of distance and direction (called bounce), or locking up when you get close to a cache, try changing the following settings as follows:

 

SETUP>SYSTEM>GPS NORMAL

(can use WAAS/EGNOS for better accuracy but higher battery drain). See reference: https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7Bdd8712f0-bf0a-11e0-cf56-000000000000%7D

 

SETUP>BATTERY TYPE>

(your battery type)

 

SETUP>DISPLAY>BATTERY SAVE OFF

(I understand battery save setting will cause longer time between satelite sampling)

 

SETUP>HEADING>NORTH REFERENCE>TRUE NORTH

 

SETUP>HEADING>COMPASS AUTO

 

After this, calibrate the compass, it is also recommended to calibrate your compass before starting your cache hunt.

 

Make sure your batteries are good, or freshly charged. That is, make sure all bars on the battery icon are green. When you start losing a bar, it is time to replace the batteries.

 

If you have rechargeable batteries, and the compass needs to be calibrated often, you may have a battery problem try new rechargeable batteries or standard batteries to see if this makes a difference.

 

If you find your problem is fixed when doing all of the above, you may want to change your settings back to the original, one at a time, to find out which setting caused your problem.

 

Hope the above helps someone else.

 

Best regards,

 

4evrCking

(Forever Seeking)

Edited May 9, 2013 by 4evrCking

[+dukeofurl01]

I had the same problem, and of those settings listed, only WAAS turned on was set anyhow, but disabling that has fixed it. Confirming what I thought, that this is a software bug.

Thanks