[g-o-cashers]

Changes made from version 2.80 to 2.85:

* Added support for Custom POI database and category selection
* Added ability to force the Oregon into mass storage mode by holding the power button for 30 seconds while plugged into a USB cable
* Added NMEA 9600 baud
* Improved map zooming
* Improved raster map appearance
* Improved map draw speed
* Improved battery gage for NiMH batteries
* Improved stability when changing profiles
* Fixed roads being shown on top of Garmin GB Discoverer maps
* Fixed airport points not displaying on the map
* Fixed some scan points not working properly with Garmin GB Discoverer maps
* Fixed track logging setting being changed when changing profiles while simulating GPS

Download it here.

Post on GPSFix. I'll update here with screen shots, new issues, as I test.

[Maingray]

Cool.. I was one of the ones with the wacky profile change crashes / pebbles. Will give it a go!

[strumble]

The changes to Garmin Discoverer are noticeable and I will post later:-
http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...p;#entry3795792

I cannot see the Battery differences!

This post has been edited by strumble: 22 January 2009 - 02:03 AM

[wtex55]

I could not get all of my databases to show---only 50 of the 160 folders would display. All would load but some could only be found by doing an alphabetical search.

[Tequila]

What is the reason for "force into mass storage mode" by holding the power button?

[g-o-cashers]

I was wondering about that as well. I guessing (hoping) it might be a recovery feature. Say you download a bad map or gpx file to the unit that causes it not to boot for some reason. This would give you a way to force it into USB storage mode so that you could delete the file and recover.

On the Colorado wiki I have a region file from Garmin that essentially does the same and it saved me a few times in the early days.

I just tried it. If you plug the OR into the USB cable, power off and then hold the power button for 30 seconds you do end up in USB storage mode and bypasses the the normal boot cycle (loading maps, waypoints, etc).

Good stuff.

[Tequila]

Thx for the answer. Sounds reasonable.

So should I update?? LOL

I rushed to 2.8 and was not happy.

[g-o-cashers]

I've had it loaded for 2 hours. I haven't seen any new issues, but I haven't done any navigating yet. It does seem to fix the profile switch crash when you have an active route, custom POI databases do show appear (nice!) and map zooming and display does seem a little different (maybe slightly faster). Given most of the changes seem to be in the area of map display, I've been playing around in that area to see if there are any issues. So far, so good, but I find it takes about 3-5 days with a new release before the issues all come out.

[Tequila]

Couldn't wait. Did the upgrade.

The profile change problem is definitely fixed.

And the data base select for Custom POI's

This post has been edited by Tequila: 21 January 2009 - 05:13 PM

[fnq2]

Hey G'day,
Could someone please explain how to update to ver 2.85.
I read that it's not available from web updater, so I downloaded the 2.85 file but I'm not too sure how to install it

I'd like to be rid of the glitchs that 2.80 has.

Thanks for any advice
Roger
edit
I found how to do the update,
map redraws a lot quicker
and profile change problem is fixed for me
fingers crossed all works well

incase anyone else wants to know

Installation Instructions
Download the self-extracting archive file for your Oregon onto your hard drive.
Connect your Oregon to a USB port on your PC.
Allow your Oregon enter USB mass storage mode.
Unzip the files in the archive by running the downloaded executable file.
Follow the instructions provided by the launched update application on your computer.

This post has been edited by fnq2: 21 January 2009 - 10:07 PM

[gilius]

If you want to try this on a Macintosh, any clues ?

/gilius

[fujitsu]

Hi,

Good news, but how did you find this? I looked for this in the Garmin site but I did not find anything

AA

[fnq2]

Hi, don't know about the mac stuff sorry.
this is where I found the download and instructions.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/downloads...1&pID=14905

there is a link for the download posted above by go casher

hope this helps
Roger

[Barrikady]

gilius, on Jan 22 2009, 01:10 AM, said:

If you want to try this on a Macintosh, any clues ?

/gilius

You will not be able to load this version via a Macintosh.

This is a beta release, and Garmin does not provide Macintosh interconnectivity for their beta software.

You will have to wait for the software to exit the beta stage. At that time you will be able to load the software on to an Oregon by means of the Garmin Macintosh WebUpdater.


.

[g-o-cashers]

Actually you can load this on a Mac. Go to http://garminoregon....es.com/Versions and follow the instructions under "GCD based upgrade". The GCD file is provided there as well.

[splashy]

Oregon 200: http://www8.garmin.c...ils.jsp?id=4395
Oregon 300: http://www8.garmin.c...ils.jsp?id=4393
Oregon 400t: http://www8.garmin.c...ils.jsp?id=4397
Oregon 400c: http://www8.garmin.c...ils.jsp?id=4399
Oregon 400i: http://www8.garmin.c...ils.jsp?id=4401

[Maingray]

Seems good so far. No whacky profile behaviour yet. I like the custom POI chnages as well, I much prefer having them in separate databases.

[JetSkier]

Ok ... everybody seems to like the Custom POI changes. My Custom POIs are now broken! I created a mapsource file called "Address Book". I exported it to gpx format. It has 5 addresses in it. I used the POI Loader to upload the gpx file. Now when I go into "Where To", all I see is "Address Book". If I select it, it shows it to be 6000 miles away in the middle of the ocean. If I use the "abc" button and start to spell one of my address entries, it shows up and I can navigate to it.

That's not a feature that I like! Is it supposed to be doing something different? I had this same POI loaded before the update and it was working fine.

JetSkier

[yogazoo]

Map redraws are MUCH improved IMO. I like being able to see the image of the previous screen while I zoom in or out. I personally would recommend the upgrade.

[freeday]

did anyone chek it out, if subfolders are also supported
e.g.

Food
->italien
->american
Stores
-->clothes
-->electric

[g-o-cashers]

yogazoo, do you think redraws are faster or do you just like the way they are presented? They don't seem faster to me, but the way they are displayed is similar to how the iPhone works I think. It looks like a two step process now:

1) As soon as the zoom level is changed the current layer is extrapolated to the new zoom level which happens very quickly but can look fuzzy (zoom in) or compressed (zoom out)
2) A few hundred milliseconds later the new layer is presented.

I would agree it is an improvement, but wasn't sure it was faster as Garmin claimed.

[Maingray]

freeday, on Jan 22 2009, 12:34 PM, said:

did anyone chek it out, if subfolders are also supported
e.g.

Food
->italien
->american
Stores
-->clothes
-->electric

You mean on the POI loaded through City navigator etc? nope, they all remained the same.

[g-o-cashers]

Supposedly you can create two levels of hierarchy with custom POIs but I haven't tried it yet. As maingray said the map built in POIs are the same, no categories.

[yogazoo]

g-o-cashers, on Jan 22 2009, 10:36 AM, said:

yogazoo, do you think redraws are faster or do you just like the way they are presented? They don't seem faster to me, but the way they are displayed is similar to how the iPhone works I think. It looks like a two step process now:

1) As soon as the zoom level is changed the current layer is extrapolated to the new zoom level which happens very quickly but can look fuzzy (zoom in) or compressed (zoom out)
2) A few hundred milliseconds later the new layer is presented.

I would agree it is an improvement, but wasn't sure it was faster as Garmin claimed.

Well, my unit seems to draw faster at the 30-50mi zoom levels which pretty much took forever previously. I would agree with closer zoom levels in that it just draws them differently with speeds that seem on par with previous versions. It is nice to have some sort of visual reference now instead of a blank screen until the data loads.

[Barrikady]

g-o-cashers, on Jan 22 2009, 03:28 AM, said:

Actually you can load this on a Mac. Go to http://garminoregon....es.com/Versions and follow the instructions under "GCD based upgrade". The GCD file is provided there as well.

g-o-cashers,

Thanks for the suggestion. I grabbed Oregon_WebUpdater__285.gcd from your wiki and followed the instructions , but it was a no-go.

I was not able to find \gupdate.gcd in the Garmin folder. So I'm not exactly sure where to place Oregon_WebUpdater__285.gcd.

Would you kindly elaborate?

Barrikady

This post has been edited by Barrikady: 22 January 2009 - 11:30 AM

[JetSkier]

JetSkier, on Jan 22 2009, 08:53 AM, said:

Ok ... everybody seems to like the Custom POI changes. My Custom POIs are now broken! I created a mapsource file called "Address Book". I exported it to gpx format. It has 5 addresses in it. I used the POI Loader to upload the gpx file. Now when I go into "Where To", all I see is "Address Book". If I select it, it shows it to be 6000 miles away in the middle of the ocean. If I use the "abc" button and start to spell one of my address entries, it shows up and I can navigate to it.

That's not a feature that I like! Is it supposed to be doing something different? I had this same POI loaded before the update and it was working fine.

JetSkier

Anyone?

JetSkier

[strumble]

Have you looked for them in Custom POI?

[JetSkier]

strumble, on Jan 22 2009, 02:51 PM, said:

Have you looked for them in Custom POI?

Oh ... sorry, my original post should have said "Now when I go into "Where To" -> "Custom POI", all I see is "Address Book". " Sorry for the confusion...

JetSkier

[BlueDamsel]

Barrikady, on Jan 22 2009, 12:30 PM, said:

g-o-cashers, on Jan 22 2009, 03:28 AM, said:

Actually you can load this on a Mac. Go to http://garminoregon....es.com/Versions and follow the instructions under "GCD based upgrade". The GCD file is provided there as well.

g-o-cashers,

Thanks for the suggestion. I grabbed Oregon_WebUpdater__285.gcd from your wiki and followed the instructions , but it was a no-go.

I was not able to find \gupdate.gcd in the Garmin folder. So I'm not exactly sure where to place Oregon_WebUpdater__285.gcd.

Would you kindly elaborate?

Barrikady

Here's how to do it for your Mac:

On Garmin's website, you find the software download page for your unit. Make sure you have the proper version for your unit. This can be found by going to Mapping Handhelds, then selecting your unit, then selecting Software from that unit's page:

This link is for the 300:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/downloads...5&pID=14903

This link is for the 400t:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/downloads...5&pID=14904

Go to the above approrpiate link. Download the software but don't open it, save it to your desktop. It will be an .exe file for Windows, but if you have Stuffit, you can unstuff the .exe file. Once you've unstuffed, and have your Oregon connected to your computer as you normally would, take the "gupdate.GCD" file which is within the unstuffed file folder, and copy it over into the Garmin folder on the Oregon's hard drive.

Disconnect the Oregon from the computer as normal ("eject").

Then, restart the Oregon. You'll get some black screens with the blue dot progress bar as the Oregon processes the update. Once it's done (this takes a minute) the unit will start as normal and if you check your info screen, you'll see it says the software is Beta Software 2.85.

Easily done! Mac friendly! Life is good!

[g-o-cashers]

@Barrikady: Once you have downloaded the file Oregon_WebUpdater__285.gcd to your Mac, rename it gupdate.gcd and then copy it to your Oregon under the \Garmin directory. Power down the Oregon and restart, it should begin the update at that point.

@JetSkier: I just tried a simple custom POI test. I created a directory/file structure on my computer like this:

\Custom POIs\Near Home\Home Waypoints.gpx
\Custom POIs\Core Waypoints.gpx

Both gpx file contain a small number of waypoints.

In the POI loader (I'm using 2.5.3 on a PC) I selected the following:
Next
Garmin Device>Next
It finds my Oregon, select Next
Install new custom POIs>Next
Browse to the \Custom POIs directory above
Next>Next

On my Oregon under WhereTo?>Custom POIs I see:
Core Waypoints
Near Home

Selecting Core Waypoints displays a distance ordered list of POIs that were in Core Waypoints.gpx file
Selecting Near Home displays:

All Categories
Home Waypoints

Selecting either of these displays a distance ordered list of waypoints in Home Waypoints.gpx.

I can't see anything that is broken as you describe but it seems you can have 2 levels of hierarchy, the first is based on subdirectory beneath the root directory and the second is "category" based on the file under each subdirectory. I think this is consistent with other Garmin devices including the Colorado but others who are more familiar can chime in.

Are you running the latest POILoader on a PC?

[Barrikady]

Many thanks to BlueDamsel and to g-o-cashers.

I tried BlueDamsel's suggestion and I was successful in installing 2.85 on my Oregon. There was a small glitch. I was not able to get Stuffit to open the .exe file, but ZipIt did the trick.

Thanks g-o-casher, now I see that I should have renamed Oregon_WebUpdater__285.gcd.

"Easily done! Mac friendly! Life is good!"

[BlueDamsel]

Barrikady, on Jan 22 2009, 01:30 PM, said:

Many thanks to BlueDamsel and to g-o-cashers.

I tried BlueDamsel's suggestion and I was successful in installing 2.85 on my Oregon. There was a small glitch. I was not able to get Stuffit to open the .exe file, but ZipIt did the trick.

Thanks g-o-casher, now I see that I should have renamed Oregon_WebUpdater__285.gcd.

"Easily done! Mac friendly! Life is good!"

Groovy!

I have noticed the profile switch problem is cured... I hope the rest of the beta software works properly. Time will tell!

[JetSkier]

@g-o-cachers: I'm not sure which version of POI loader I'm running but I just downloaded it within the last couple of weeks. I've got the following folder on my computer:

c:\pq\address book\address book.gpx

This gpx only has 5 entries in it. In the POI Loader, I selected the following:

Next
Garmin Device>Next
It finds my Oregon, select Next
Install new custom POIs>Next
Browse to the c:\pq\address book
Next>Next

On my Oregon under WhereTo?>Custom POIs I see:
Address Book

When I select it, it acts as if it's a POI by itself and shows me on the map in the middle of the ocean 6000 miles east of Orlando, FL.

Then, as I originally said, if I go back and use the "abc" button, I can find each of my 5 entries by typing them in.

I'll have to do some more testing with different levels of folders to see if it acts differently.

Thanks for your reply!

JetSkier

[Tequila]

JetSkier, on Jan 22 2009, 12:42 PM, said:

@g-o-cachers: I'm not sure which version of POI loader I'm running but I just downloaded it within the last couple of weeks. I've got the following folder on my computer:

c:\pq\address book\address book.gpx

This gpx only has 5 entries in it. In the POI Loader, I selected the following:

Next
Garmin Device>Next
It finds my Oregon, select Next
Install new custom POIs>Next
Browse to the c:\pq\address book
Next>Next

On my Oregon under WhereTo?>Custom POIs I see:
Address Book

When I select it, it acts as if it's a POI by itself and shows me on the map in the middle of the ocean 6000 miles east of Orlando, FL.

Then, as I originally said, if I go back and use the "abc" button, I can find each of my 5 entries by typing them in.

I'll have to do some more testing with different levels of folders to see if it acts differently.

Thanks for your reply!

JetSkier

This is a long shot but is there any chance the 'address book' is some sort of special name to Garmin. Have you tried using a more obscure name??

[JetSkier]

Ok ... I did some testing and here's the bug. Use the POI Loader on only one gpx file. Then you will see the bug. If it processes more than one gpx file, then everything is fine. Doesn't matter if they are at the same folder level or some are in sub-folders. As long as it processes more than one gpx, it's fine.

JetSkier

[coggins]

Wondering if their fix for the OS maps will still allow transparent map overlays to display such as NW Trails...

[yogazoo]

Coggins,

Affirmative on the transparent maps. They display as they always have.

[Red90]

yogazoo, on Jan 22 2009, 02:52 PM, said:

Coggins,

Affirmative on the transparent maps. They display as they always have.

You have raster mapping on your unit to check??

[coggins]

Red90, on Jan 22 2009, 01:53 PM, said:

yogazoo, on Jan 22 2009, 02:52 PM, said:

Coggins,

Affirmative on the transparent maps. They display as they always have.

You have raster mapping on your unit to check??

Good point...

This post has been edited by coggins: 22 January 2009 - 07:17 PM

[CDS231]

Just FWIW. With the 2.85 beta the battery meter seemed better at showing the proper discharge during a 10 hour cache trip today. I encountered no problems with profile changes and it is taking some getting use to on the custom POI directory change. I do like that if you know the type of cache you are going to next (trad, multi etc) you just have to look there for the poi for parking, trail heads etc.

FYI, I have GSAK 7.5 and have been using the gps download that came with it.

No complaints so far.

This post has been edited by cds231: 22 January 2009 - 07:12 PM

[freeday]

g-o-cashers, on Jan 22 2009, 12:24 PM, said:

\Custom POIs\Near Home\Home Waypoints.gpx
\Custom POIs\Core Waypoints.gpx

Both gpx file contain a small number of waypoints.

In the POI loader (I'm using 2.5.3 on a PC) I selected the following:
Next
Garmin Device>Next
It finds my Oregon, select Next
Install new custom POIs>Next
Browse to the \Custom PO's exactly what i wantetIs directory above
Next>Next

On my Oregon under WhereTo?>Custom POIs I see:
Core Waypoints
Near Home

Selecting Core Waypoints displays a distance ordered list of POIs that were in Core Waypoints.gpx file
Selecting Near Home displays:

All Categories
Home Waypoints

Selecting either of these displays a distance ordered list of waypoints in Home Waypoints.gpx.

I can't see anything that is broken as you describe but it seems you can have 2 levels of hierarchy, the first is based on subdirectory beneath the root directory and the second is "category" based on the file under each subdirectory. I think this is consistent with other Garmin devices including the Colorado but others who are more familiar can chime in.

Thank's g-o-cashers for testing - that's exactly what i wanted to know.
Lets hope Garmin will also implement this feature also for the Garmin-POIs in 2010.

[yogazoo]

Red90, on Jan 22 2009, 02:53 PM, said:

yogazoo, on Jan 22 2009, 02:52 PM, said:

Coggins,

Affirmative on the transparent maps. They display as they always have.

You have raster mapping on your unit to check??

Affirmative. MapWell allows me to turn scanned 24K USGS quad maps into raster maps for my Oregon and I can still see the transparent road layer I've made for Montana ON TOP OF these raster maps. My guess is that Garmin may have given the GB maps a higher draw priority than the road layer folks have been complaining about. I may be comparing apples to oranges here since MapWell rasters and my transparent maps aren't Garmin products as GB Discoverer is, hence may not have their draw priority affected by specific language in the firmware. BUT if you're wondering about NW Trails ( i.e. North America), you're probably not concerned of it's interactions with GB Discoverer.

This post has been edited by yogazoo: 23 January 2009 - 01:41 AM

[SiliconFiend]

yogazoo, on Jan 23 2009, 02:36 AM, said:

Red90, on Jan 22 2009, 02:53 PM, said:

yogazoo, on Jan 22 2009, 02:52 PM, said:

Coggins,

Affirmative on the transparent maps. They display as they always have.

You have raster mapping on your unit to check??

Affirmative. MapWell allows me to turn scanned 24K USGS quad maps into raster maps for my Oregon and I can still see the transparent road layer I've made for Montana ON TOP OF these raster maps. My guess is that Garmin may have given the GB maps a higher draw priority than the road layer folks have been complaining about. I may be comparing apples to oranges here since MapWell rasters and my transparent maps aren't Garmin products as GB Discoverer is, hence may not have their draw priority affected by specific language in the firmware. BUT if you're wondering about NW Trails ( i.e. North America), you're probably not concerned of it's interactions with GB Discoverer.

Yep, it's apples and oranges. Mapwel vectorizes (is that even a word?) a raster image so that the format is equivalent to typical Garmin vector maps. Even older non-raster-capable units can display them (albeit slowly). It will probably require someone with one of these GB Discoverer maps (with what appears to be true rasters) to test a transparent vector map overlay to see if it works.

[g-o-cashers]

Someone with a 400i or 400c could as well since they have raster aerial images.

[yogazoo]

I'm no Garmin engineer, and I would guess that no one else that posts on these forums is either but I've seen the images on the 400i and have also loaded my own "raster" aerial photo's and USGS topo's with MapWel and it is my belief that all, so called, raster images are vectorized much in the same way MapWel and MOAGU does it.

What am I saying? I'm saying I believe that there is no true raster image being displayed on-screen on Garmin handhelds, even the newer ones. IMO They're all converted in a similar way as is done by the third party software. Now I could be wrong, but MOAGU, MapWel, and images in GB Discoverer and the 400i/c series all behave and appear in a similar fashion. I could be and will probably be proven wrong but for now, and what I can tell with the naked eye without being a Garmin engineer, all supposed rasters are vectorized both to save space, maximize draw time and to save processor resources-i.e. power.

As those in the GIS world can attest to, going from a Vector to Raster format is often a disaster and undesireable. However, going from a raster to vector not only produces very good results, it can save alot of space and processor time.

This post has been edited by yogazoo: 23 January 2009 - 02:40 PM

[Maingray]

yogazoo, on Jan 23 2009, 05:35 PM, said:

I'm no Garmin engineer, and I would guess that no one else that posts on these forums is either but I've seen the images on the 400i and have also loaded my own "raster" aerial photo's and USGS topo's with MapWel and it is my belief that all, so called, raster images are vectorized much in the same way MapWel and MOAGU does it.

What am I saying? I'm saying I believe that there is no true raster image being displayed on Garmin handhelds. IMO They're all converted in a similar way as is done by the third party software. Now I could be wrong, but MOAGU, MapWel, and images in GB Discoverer and the 400i/c series all behave and appear in a similar fashion. I could be and will probably be proven wrong but for now, and what I can tell with the naked eye without being a Garmin engineer, all supposed rasters are vectorized both to save space, maximize draw time and to save processor resources-i.e. power.

Rather that than have a need for ridiculous amounts of SDHC space and need for a dual processor, with all the required power consumption.

[g-o-cashers]

Maybe, but this seems like a strange statement to put in the release notes if the maps truly aren't raster maps.

Quote

* Improved raster map appearance

I also have played with the 400i maps and Moagu, the performance of the 400i aerial images is much faster than the vectorized Moagu maps. Still not proof that Garmin isn't doing something similar I guess, but somehow it doesn't feel that way to me.

[SiliconFiend]

g-o-cashers, on Jan 23 2009, 04:39 PM, said:

Maybe, but this seems like a strange statement to put in the release notes if the maps truly aren't raster maps.

Quote

* Improved raster map appearance

I also have played with the 400i maps and Moagu, the performance of the 400i aerial images is much faster than the vectorized Moagu maps. Still not proof that Garmin isn't doing something similar I guess, but somehow it doesn't feel that way to me.

Someone who has the GB Discoverer maps could test it by installing on an older unit and see if it displays. Not a conclusive test by any means (because a failure to load doesn't really confirm that it's a true raster), but it would be interesting to see.

[snake428]

So garmin says use this at your own risk. I am not sure if I should could someone give me some acctual advice on how risky this is and what I have to lose. I would like to get some of the stated problems fixed but don't want to mess anything up. And how long does it take garmin to say this is not a use at your own risk update.

[yogazoo]

Hey snake,
I've been using my unit alot with the software updated to 2.85 and from what I'm seeing, you should feel pretty confident about upgrading. They (Garmin) is just covering their arse with the "use at your own risk" language.