Freakin' Garmin software!

[ocm_ott]

The Colorado does this to me almost every time I put a GPX on it. I find keeping the number of caches below 900 or so helps, though it doesn't seem to stop the Colorado from hanging every time I put a new GPX on it. It doesn't seem to be the cache software itself (happened with GSAK, happens with my own OCM for Linux). My loading process these days is send caches to the GPS, start up and wait for it to hang, restart it, check to see if caches actually show up, and repeat if necessary.

This is one of those things that are making me consider a non-Garmin GPS as my next one....

[portera]

Yes. Every time I load a new GPX file onto the device, it gets stuck at the "Loading Maps" screen. I can press buttons, and it makes sounds, but I can;t see anything but the loading maps screen. I power down, and then power up, and things seem to work fine (usually)

[kirok]

I have not experienced this with the 62.  It may be due to the forced power cycle it does on its own when you disconnect the USB cable.  On my old 60, there was a setting for "External power loss" to leave the GPS on or off when that happens.  On the 62, this option seems to be missing, so no matter what I do, when I disconnect the cable from the unit, it powers off.  After power on, everything works fine as usual.  

I do find the latest firmware release to be slower than the previous, making an already slow unit that much more painful to use.  I hope that the issues with car units will not slow Garmin's progress down in fixing all the bugs in the 62, or I'll end up selling it off due to impatience.  

[ocm_ott]

The Colorado does the power cycle too, doesn't help. Maybe Garmin actually fixed something (hardware wise) in the 62 and Oregon 550 since they seem immune to this.

[Pokaroo]

This might be opening another can of worms... but how do you change the zoom level that added POIs display at? Everything I add doesn't display until the 80m scale zoom level on my Oregon...

Easy Peasy... Setup...Map...Advanced Map Setup Text Size, Zoom Level...Zoom Levels Points, Streets, etc....User Waypoints...

Currently you have it set to "Auto" so set it to something higher like 5km...

Enjoy

[ottawabirdbrain]

I have had the Oregon 300 for some time now ... Yes it can hang up on occassion.
I keep the GPX files on the 4 GB microSD card. By creating folders on the card that match those on the Oregon 300 internal memory ie. a "Garmin" and "Wherigo" folder with sub folders, you then send your GPX files to the card either through the unit or a card carrier.
I also "reset" or delete all waypoints on the Oregon 300 so I don't get Memory full.
Using this method, if the Oregon gets stuck or hangs up, remove the microSD card (safe with your GPX file) start the oregon, reset all waypoints, put card back in unit and restart.
This has restored my GPX file each time without fail.
I also keep all maps loaded on the microSD card.

I used this today.  Thank you for the advice.  It is not something I would ever have found on my own.

[portera]

My rule is that if anyone asks me what I am doing, I tell them. I am a terrible liar, and my trying would only make things go badly.

[Starkiller]

This works very well, and solves some other very minor issues I had as well. This makes it much more tempting to load my own custom POIs!!!

This might be opening another can of worms... but how do you change the zoom level that added POIs display at? Everything I add doesn't display until the 80m scale zoom level on my Oregon...

Easy Peasy... Setup...Map...Advanced Map Setup Text Size, Zoom Level...Zoom Levels Points, Streets, etc....User Waypoints...

Currently you have it set to "Auto" so set it to something higher like 5km...

Enjoy

[Starkiller]

This seemed like an appropriate thread to post in...

So I updated my Oregon 300 to the latest software level yesterday to try out the new chirp caches... It rebooted a few times, was working fine when I tested it at home, but when I tried today (GAG15), my GPS wasn't turning on at all! No loading screen or anything. First thing I did was change the batteries... Then when I got home tried connecting to the computer... but no signs of life at all.

The basic recovery options on the wiki won't work either since they need to be able to get a connection from the computer to the unit.

I bought my Oregon 300 in August 09. It died in June 2010 towards the end of SF6. The replacement I received from Raytech often had odd issues getting into PC mode, but I could get it to work with some fiddling. This has lasted me about 4.5 months since I received it before dying, but since it's more than a year since I  bought my first oregon, I wonder what the raytech billing options will be like when I will probably have to call them up...

Any recommendations anyone? (other than staying away from big events that seem to kill my GPS?)

[graciious]

I thought the reset was the option of pressing the top left corner of the screen and turning it on... I didn't think you had to connect it to the PC for that to happen.

[inkyfiller]

My problems with my 440T siince "Chirp" , are having to reboot the GPSr when I get near to GZ from Recalc on road. Even if I change to a recalc off route it seems to "hang" A quick ( and it is an "off" and "on" ) cures the problem. Quite frustrating altho the problem occurred on an earlier "upgrade". 2 steps forward - 1 step back (again). Inky

[missbug]

^ also be sure that your unit is set to

Setup>Routing>Lock on Road>No

after the chirp upgrade on my 550, it reset the default to Yes, apparently!

[junglehair]

^ also be sure that your unit is set to

Setup>Routing>Lock on Road>No

after the chirp upgrade on my 550, it reset the default to Yes, apparently!

I upgraded the firmware on my Oregon 550 just before the GAG event.  I just checked it and Lock on Road was still set to No for me.

Tromelin and I had an issue about a week ago when I tried to beam a geocache to him and our units both froze.  After popping the batteries out, we both lost all the waypoints.  Well, not quite all - just all the geocaches.  We did still have a few parking coordinates and the waypoints that we had created.  Not very useful when you've just driven an hour away from home to start caching for the day and you have no caches loaded.  I have the 550 and Tromelin has the 450 and we've both had this issue when loading caches.  We always turn the units on and test them before leaving home.  This was the first time I lost the waypoints in the field though.  Really annoying.

[portera]

...After popping the batteries out, we both lost all the waypoints.  Well, not quite all - just all the geocaches.  We did still have a few parking coordinates and the waypoints that we had created.  Not very useful when you've just driven an hour away from home to start caching for the day and you have no caches loaded.  I have the 550 and Tromelin has the 450 and we've both had this issue when loading caches.  We always turn the units on and test them before leaving home.  This was the first time I lost the waypoints in the field though.  Really annoying.

I have had this happen on my Colorado 400c as well. This is the main reason that I have purchased GSAK, and use it to load all the local caches as POI's. At least if this happens, I still have the caches on my system, though they're not quite as convenient.

The last time I spoke to Garmin, I asked them to add a menu choice to force a re-load of the GPX files, as they don't seem to be able to figure out the root cause of this problem. The agent thought it was a good idea. I doubt it will ever happen.

[TigrePlus]

The same thing happened to me two weeks ago. Thank to the Oregon I carried with me. I’s only hours later that was able to restart the unit. I lost all my waypoints and caches. The Oregon 550 still froze randomly. This is very frustrating in the field.