Trip odometer Dakota 20

[mabinogion77]

Hello

I am new to this forum so hope this is not in the wrong section.

I have a Dakota 20 and it's started adding on miles to the trip odometer during my walk. It starts off ok then after about a mile 1.0 Mile next time I look it's gone up to 3.50 or more in minutes and when I look on the map where I have already set it to 'record and show on map' the line has zig zagged over to the other side of the mountain and back and this happens all through the walk so by the time I have finished the walk sometimes it's added on miles and miles.

When I put it on Basecamp when I get home I can erase the straight lines to get a more realistic idea of the distance but that's not the point as I don't know how far I have walked while out so it's unreliable all of a sudden so what is going on as it has never happened before?

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks for a great site.

[mabinogion77]

Hello

Thanks for your reply, I have always done the same thing and it's always been ok before but for some reason it has just started jumping and adding on more miles and the map shows long straight lines from one side of the map to the other.

I have only ever done two updates so the software is an old version. I am a little bit afraid to do the updates to be honest as I have read some horror stories of not being able to start up or freezing and don't really know enough about doing the re-set thing.

I sent an email to Garmin help centre and they are supposed to be contacting me within a few days so see what they come up with but I am sure they will tell me to do the same thing and re-set and update.

I thought it seemed to be that the signal was hopping from my GPS to someone else's but that's not possible though is it?

Still learning after all this time

Thanks again.

[+ecanderson]

The problem restated isn't one of miles, but the zig-zag that you are reporting. What's happening is that your 20 isn't correctly determining your location much of the time -- large errors in position are occurring. This can happen anywhere, but from what you're describing, one source may be a heavy overhead tree canopy that is degrading the signal strength making it to your 20. The more clear sky you have the better. Another thing that can whack the location is a bad constellation day. I just experienced one of those last Monday when out of 12 possible birds, 9 of them were north of me and only 3 south, and I did not have any view at all to the north. There are other possible reasons for inaccuracy, and I'd recommend that you give it another try to see if the problem persists before trying to get Garmin too involved. If your hikes are taking you into the woods, you'll always get more inaccuracy than if you are out on more open trails. Had you hiked this same area before with better success, or was this new territory for you?

[+gpsblake]

Never had this problem with my Dakota 10 but do have it with my Garmin 62s.

[mabinogion77]

Hello again and thanks

Well we couldn't have been more exposed where we were as the particular walk we were on was on top of the Brecon Beacons starting from the Blaen y Glyn car park going up the Beacons Way path to the top of Craig y Fan Ddu to Craig y Fan Las then onto Waun Rydd to the crashed bomber Memorial so out in the very open.

This walk we have done before and is only 5.5 miles there and back but very steep going up and then flat on top but the first half the trip odometer went from 1.5 to 4.00 then kept leaping up to 14.70 by the time we got to the memorial so I reset it to 0 then went back the same way and it started again knocking the distance up to a ridiculous 17 miles.

So looked at my old route which was the same and as I said was just 5.50 miles.

The other walks where it started happening have all been out in the open with nothing in our way so don't know what's going on.

Thanks again.

[mabinogion77]

I am not very familiar with the technology of doing the 'hard reset' but have read about it and it seems that a lot of people have done this and had problems afterwards. So what does it entail altogether and I did mention that I have not done any of the updates for ages to the device or the Basecamp programme so have left well alone.

Thanks

[mabinogion77]

Hello again

Thanks for your help.

All I know is that on the section on the Dakota where you have the 'set up tab' it has in the list

 

Reset Trip Data Timers etc (which is the one I use to set the timer back)

Delete All Waypoints

Clear Current Track

Restore Defaults To Factory Settings

 

So I is the last one the one you are talking about? only I have read somewhere that you have to press and hold the screen while starting up or something like that so not sure what that is all about.

 

Thanks

[+Bear and Ragged]

Hello again

Thanks for your help.

All I know is that on the section on the Dakota where you have the 'set up tab' it has in the list

 

Reset Trip Data Timers etc (which is the one I use to set the timer back)

Delete All Waypoints

Clear Current Track

Restore Defaults To Factory Settings

 

So I is the last one the one you are talking about? only I have read somewhere that you have to press and hold the screen while starting up or something like that so not sure what that is all about.

 

Thanks

 

A Master Reset is 'over and above' a 'Restore Defaults' setting.

 

Link on 'How to...' > https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId={6c1afe20-b718-11de-6a18-000000000000}

 

With a YouTube >

 

Take heed of the warning "All settings, user data*, and satellite data may be erased when resetting the GPS."

Edited September 13, 2014 by Bear and Ragged