eTrex 30 Questions

[Yogi the Barry]

Three eTrex 30 Questions:

1-Track-Up or North-Up Battery Life - Anyone know if battery life is any different between 'Track Up' and 'North Up' modes on the eT 30?
Lately, I've been using North Up and I like that it makes me think and visualize where I'm heading when following a track, more than the video game-like Track-Up mode. Other than the cursor sometimes getting stuck at the edge of the screen and needing to be re-centered, I'm liking North Up... as long as battery life isn't decreased.

2-Display Glitches - Is is common to get display glitches when following long tracks? Longest track I've followed to date with the eT 30 has been a ~60 mile segment, which was ~4500 points. Issues I've had: cursor centering, mentioned above, and losing one of the two data fields across the top of the display when in map mode. Both of these issues always corrected themselves when I back out to Map mode and then went back into Map.

3-Data Fidelity - Anyone know if the Trip Computer or the GPS track would have better fidelity for ride time, distance and climb/descent data? Reason I ask: this past weekend I did a long ride [per above] and the GPS reported 9700' of climbing per the GPX log and over 11K' of climbing per the Trip Computer. A variance of over 1300' during a 58-mile ride. Moving vs. not moving times also varied a slight bit. I know fidelity would be lost [elevation gain would reduce] if the number of points in the GPX file is reduced, but I'm surprised by the difference in the original log and trip computer.

BTW, I think my eT 30 has had it's firmware updated two times since I purchased it about 6-months ago.

-B

[adamv]

With regards to the elevation gain difference, I have been seeing the same thing for the last several months. I finally emailed Garmin's support the other day and they said a firmware update had just been released to address it. Sure enough, the change log on version 2.8 specifically mentions fixing the elevation gain issue on the etrex 30.

[Yogi the Barry]

ADAMV, thx for comment...
I updated my firmware this morning from 2.6 to 2.8. Will see how that impacts performance. From what I've been reading on other GPS forums, it take a couple of firmware generations for the GPS software to mature. Most burning question on my mind: is there a risk [possible file corruption, slow/erratic operation] in using one big monster track [for CTR in this case] or safer to use multiple smaller tracks, even though eT 30 should be able to handle one single large track? Time for more usage and experimentation...

With regards to the elevation gain difference, I have been seeing the same thing for the last several months. I finally emailed Garmin's support the other day and they said a firmware update had just been released to address it. Sure enough, the change log on version 2.8 specifically mentions fixing the elevation gain issue on the etrex 30.

[Yogi the Barry]

If anybody cares, I had to reinstall 2.8 a second time. After first update, things got weird... couldn't 'view on map' any newly uploaded tracks, couldn't change the color of an existing track, etc. Re-updated a second time to 2.8 and all seems well...

ADAMV, thx for comment...
I updated my firmware this morning from 2.6 to 2.8. Will see how that impacts performance. ...snip...

[redtabby]

I'm sure this is a FAQ, but since we have a newly minted eTrex thread going, I'll
just ask here.  For older Garmin units I see some comments that enabling WAAS
might shorten battery runtime?

Apart from that, do people find that the additional precision makes much difference
when recording tracks or looking for waypoints? 

On my Vista C I just turned it on (and left it on).  Performance was reasonable and
positioning was always quite good.  I haven't had the eTrex 30 out in the field yet
to see if this holds true for the new device.  Anyone?

[Yogi the Barry]

Update on my eTrex 30...
This past weekend I had my proverbial last straw with this GPS that I purchased back in Jan. In the middle of the Santa Fe Big Friggin Loop [75mile/12K climbing], I had the map disappear [and never return] while zooming in to better find the route at an intersection. Thankfully I still had a track to follow, but that was it. I won't go into other issues I've had with this unit, but I finally took it back to REI and got a newer unit. Since I bought the first 30 back in Jan, I've updated the firmware probably 3 times, which fixed certain problems but created new ones. Perhaps I just had a lemon... Last night loaded map and tracks onto new unit and all seems well. Boot, redraws, etc. seems to work faster with the replacement. We'll see how long the honeymoon lasts...

7-19-12 Update Edit - All seems well with replacement unit. Knock on wood...

[Payton MacDonald]

Another q for you guys and gals:  is there a way to convert ACA's waypoint files into a gpx file?  I downlqoded their GPS files for the Adirondak loop and got them over to my Etrex 30, but what I really want is the gpx track so I can just follow along that when out riding it.

[Yogi the Barry]

Re: WAAS On or Off?
With WAAS turned off, my eT 30 [at least the first one I had, which I returned for a 2nd] had a bad habit of the cursor flip-flopping 180-degrees when you stop. I found this out on the top of a peak this past winter, in the middle of a blizzard. Turning WAAS on seems to steady the cursor/display, BYMMV.

...  For older Garmin units I see some comments that enabling WAAS might shorten battery runtime? Apart from that, do people find that the additional precision makes much difference when recording tracks or looking for waypoints? ...  Anyone?