eTrex Vista Hcx queries...

[frankly frankie]

When I create a track in bikehike it doesn't seem to have any elevation data.  Is this right?

Load any track gpx into BikeRouteToaster with 'add height data' ticked - then just download it again.  (This also fixes a small bug that bikehike puts into the file header, that can sometimes cause difficulties.)

[andyoxon]

Thanks that does the trick.  BRT doesn't seem to have the waypoint reduction so I guess one needs both...

[Viking]

there is a lot of info on the AUK website about using a GPS.  Check it out here

http://www.aukadia.net/gps/

[andyoxon]

there is a lot of info on the AUK website about using a GPS.  Check it out here

http://www.aukadia.net/gps/

Great, thanks.

[andyoxon]

Ok, I've been out for a mini road test (freezing my fingers off with only mitts on).

I  followed a 5 point route and now see how even sparse waypoints works for navigating...  Worked fine.

But with tracks...

I coloured the track, and tried to follow it, but the map didn't move with the GPS arrow, so the arrow went off map as i cycled.    What am I doing wrong?

I tried tracback but that only see to what do go the shortest route back to the point you choose and not along the traack.

[Wowbagger]

You have to press the small button on the right to make the map move with your cycling.

You don't want an arrow-shape, just a triangle.

[Kim]

You have to press the small button on the right to make the map move with your cycling.

You don't want an arrow-shape, just a triangle.

Indeed.  Moving the joystick on the map screen puts it into scroll-around-the-map-and-select-things mode (so you can click on map features to navigate to).  You'll get a mouse pointer and a display giving the pointer's coordinates and distance from your current position.  To exit this mode, press the 'back' button.  The mouse pointer and associated display will disappear, and the map will scroll automatically to keep your current position triangle on the screen.

Trackback on the HCx is a pain in the arse.  On the older models, you'd select trackback for a track, and it would give you options of "to begin" and "to end", for navigating the track in either direction.  On the HCx, you select trackback, then it expects you to click on a point on the track to navigate to, which is frustratingly difficult.  On the gripping hand, navigating along the track only actually gains you a blue line and useful "distance to destination" type data.  It doesn't cause pop-up turn instructions (only routes give you that).  For most purposes, you might as well just display the track in a sensible colour, and forget about navigating it.

[andyoxon]

You have to press the small button on the right to make the map move with your cycling.

You don't want an arrow-shape, just a triangle.

Sorry, yes I mean triangular shaped directional indicator...  TSDI?   

Been out again, whoa it's getting cold (and windy) now.  Anyway, I think I know what you mean about the button on the right.  Having selected the track and then "map" on the track page, it goes to another page to draw the track in, and then if one clicks around to the main map, one gets the map following the triangle, and also which road is coming up... As one goes around the track, the track log colours the progress green on top of the track colour.

Also had a comedy clipless moment when stopped at the verge, forgot I was attached, and toppled onto the grass, then looked around to see who had collapsed with laughter...   

[andyoxon]

You have to press the small button on the right to make the map move with your cycling.

You don't want an arrow-shape, just a triangle.

Indeed.  Moving the joystick on the map screen puts it into scroll-around-the-map-and-select-things mode (so you can click on map features to navigate to).  You'll get a mouse pointer and a display giving the pointer's coordinates and distance from your current position.  To exit this mode, press the 'back' button.  The mouse pointer and associated display will disappear, and the map will scroll automatically to keep your current position triangle on the screen.

Trackback on the HCx is a pain in the arse.  On the older models, you'd select trackback for a track, and it would give you options of "to begin" and "to end", for navigating the track in either direction.  On the HCx, you select trackback, then it expects you to click on a point on the track to navigate to, which is frustratingly difficult.  On the gripping hand, navigating along the track only actually gains you a blue line and useful "distance to destination" type data.  It doesn't cause pop-up turn instructions (only routes give you that).  For most purposes, you might as well just display the track in a sensible colour, and forget about navigating it.

Thanks, yes I'd noticed that about the tracback.  Is tracback very useful anyway?  I haven't seen "distance to destn" data, is that an option instead of which road coming up?

How much time do people spend labelling waypoints for tracks/routes?

[frankly frankie]

Having selected the track and then "map" on the track page, it goes to another page to draw the track in, and then if one clicks around to the main map, one gets the map following the triangle, and also which road is coming up... As one goes around the track, the track log colours the progress green on top of the track colour.

No that mode is purely for previewing the Track.  Selecting 'Map' is not the same as setting 'show on map'.  It's the latter you need to do - then, regardless of what mode you're in, wherever you are, any nearby track will display.

[Kim]

Thanks, yes I'd noticed that about the tracback.  Is tracback very useful anyway?  I haven't seen "distance to destn" data, is that an option instead of which road coming up?

It's a data field.  You may or may not have data fields displayed on the map screen, but the trip computer is full of them.  They're all user-configurable from dozens of options, and "dist to dest" (and its relatives "dist to next", "eta at next" and so on) are among the options.

This is all in the manual.  You do have the manual?  If not, the Garmin website should have it...

http://www.garmin.com/manuals/eTrexLegendHCx_OwnersManual.pdf

How much time do people spend labelling waypoints for tracks/routes?

Very little.  I create waypoints for places I might need to impromptu navigate to, and things like audax controls.  Everything else I use points on the map for.  But then my preferred navigation method (for being able to see big arrows on a screen with incomprehensible colours reasons) is hand-crafted routes for automatic routing navigation, rather than tracks.

[Wowbagger]

Whereas my option is to make everything tracks. I don't want the Garmin to help me with navigation unless I'm properly lost, and I'm just not. That's not to say that I know every single road from memory: I don't necessarily associate what I see on the map with what I see when cycling along the road, and when I've plotted a route at home, quite often I think "Oh, we're here, are we?" when I'm out on the road.

The Garmin showing a track is just a lot easier than stopping to read a map or a route sheet.

[andyoxon]

kim

Having selected the track and then "map" on the track page, it goes to another page to draw the track in, and then if one clicks around to the main map, one gets the map following the triangle, and also which road is coming up... As one goes around the track, the track log colours the progress green on top of the track colour.

No that mode is purely for previewing the Track.  Selecting 'Map' is not the same as setting 'show on map'.  It's the latter you need to do - then, regardless of what mode you're in, wherever you are, any nearby track will display.

OK, thanks that's made it clearer.

[andyoxon]

Thanks, yes I'd noticed that about the tracback.  Is tracback very useful anyway?  I haven't seen "distance to destn" data, is that an option instead of which road coming up?

It's a data field.  You may or may not have data fields displayed on the map screen, but the trip computer is full of them.  They're all user-configurable from dozens of options, and "dist to dest" (and its relatives "dist to next", "eta at next" and so on) are among the options.

This is all in the manual.  You do have the manual?  If not, the Garmin website should have it...

http://www.garmin.com/manuals/eTrexLegendHCx_OwnersManual.pdf

How much time do people spend labelling waypoints for tracks/routes?

Very little.  I create waypoints for places I might need to impromptu navigate to, and things like audax controls.  Everything else I use points on the map for.  But then my preferred navigation method (for being able to see big arrows on a screen with incomprehensible colours reasons) is hand-crafted routes for automatic routing navigation, rather than tracks.

Cheers.  Yes I have a manual     and it's meaning more to me now thankfully.

Re Routes, I tried a 'commute' map (made in bikehike) set to 10 waypoints, as an exercise, transferred to mapsource, but can't see how to add in additional waypoints, and then recalculate the route?

Wowb, yes tracks seem good to me.

[frankly frankie]

In Mapsource, with the standard 'pick' tool, right-click on any part of the Route and 'Insert route section'.

[andyoxon]

OK, this is new one.  If I turn the unit on then attach the USB lead which is plugged into PC the unit turns off! Any ideas?   

So...

GPS on, USB in unit, plug other end into PC (OFF), then GPS turns off...

GPS on, USB in unit, plug other end into PC (ON), then GPS turns off...

GPS off, USB out of unit, GPS turns on...

Upate.  managed to get the unit not to power off by connected with PC in sleep.  But the unit is not recognised by mapsource and the external power indicator is not off.  Then unit randomly turned off.

Repeated this last method, when PC booted up again, unit turned off.   

I suppose I could ignore the USB connection...and use the microSD for transfers.   

[Wowbagger]

I had a comparable problem with a second-hand Oregon I bought on Ebay, and got a refund for. With the Oregon, the act of plugging in the USB cable puts you into USB mode, or should. It randomly failed to work with the one I bought.

Can you add tracks vis the SD card?

[fuaran]

Have you tried plugging in the USB cable first, then switching the Etrex on? That's what I always do, it works fine.

For adding tracks/waypoints/routes onto the Etrex, they need to be loaded to the internal memory. Copying them to the MicroSD card won't work.

[andyoxon]

Thanks wowb/fuaran

Have you tried plugging in the USB cable first, then switching the Etrex on? That's what I always do, it works fine.

For adding tracks/waypoints/routes onto the Etrex, they need to be loaded to the internal memory. Copying them to the MicroSD card won't work.

With PC on and USB cable attached, if I plug cable into etrex, and press to turn it on - dead.

You're right about SD transfer - doesn't work.  Files end up in the same place as the track log files, but not on the main track page list.

So that's it - I cannot use the unit.  I guess I have no option but to email the seller.  He hardly used it, I had it working fine for 4days, and now this...strange.

[andyoxon]

I still find it vey odd that with the GPS unit on, if one connects it to the powered off PC the eTrex turns off; but I suppose that's electronics for you.   I tried a different USB lead, but the result was the same.

[Somnolent]

Try this for the power issue
Setup-System-External Power Lost- Stay on

For the USB data....
When I had an issue with USB connection, Garmin suggested re-loading the firmware from their support website -  there are instructions on there AFAIR.

 

[martint235]

Just something I learned the other day, should you decide to label your own points on a route (using routeconverter or other) as I do so that they are meaningful to me eg RAB 2E or Bear Left etc, if you then decide to reverse your route the unit won't rename the points!! I noticed this coming up to a busy roundabout where the unit was telling me to turn left. It took me a while (in my befuddled head) to work out that on the way up that route I would indeed have turned left, now I needed to turn right!!

[frankly frankie]

Try this for the power issue
Setup-System-External Power Lost- Stay on

^^^ +1   I would also try a different USB data cable (eg from a camera).

I always connect with both GPS and PC already switched on.  But it does sound as if your GPS is dicky - old middle-aged - I think it's a case flex thing, fiddling with the unit causes some flexing and this causes a momentary disconnection inside, because the power only reaches the PCB via a bit of sprung metal.  I'm so used to it I don't notice it anymore - I've learned over time to instinctively handle the Etrex in ways that don't aggravate the problem.

[andyoxon]

Thanks - yes tried the 'power off - leave on', battery setting to NiMH (as I swapped from alkaline), and also an Olympus camera USB cable.  But...no cigar.   

It's a shame because I could use the thing, if only I could download tracks via the microSD card.  Ho hum

[antnee]

I have after two days at the p.c managed to upload the OSM file of the UK and Ireland to my Garmin Etrex Vista HCx by first downloading the file zip and opening it to a new folder in the P.C, then renaming it to the one that is specified something like gmapsupp.img  obtained from the talking toaster website

Then making a new folder in the Garmin GPS (which registered on the P.C as drive F) and transferring all the files across from one to the other, which took about 27 minuets in all. After that I disconnected the GPS unit from the P.C and switched off the GPS then switch on the GPS unit again just to see if the maps had gone on there by going to menu map set-up information (the fifth icon along on the map set-up page) I think I read that if you have done it right and then the file you have just sent across will show up here on this page?
 Also on first start up the copyright symbol will appear by the wording of of the map something like this  © AND IRELAND
© OPENSTREETMAP.ORG CONTRIBUTORS

  Here I must state that when I got the Garmin Vista HCx all I had was the unit, with a integral yellow base map, a quick start manual, 64mb micro s d Card and a USB to GPS connecting cable.
 I got a 4 GB Micro SD card as I saw on the web that you need a larger card to house the UK and Ireland OSM mapping.
 
 Then I thought that just to make sure that the maps had really gone to the SD card in the Vista HCx GPS I could connect it up again to the P.C via the USB and look at the contents of the file just to make sure they were indeed there, But they were there, but just showing up as an icon (like a page from a book) with the title GMAPSUPP.IMG it wasn’t until I down loaded a trial version of mapedit.exe that some of the tiles that I ticked deemed to open (and then it was just like google earth satellite view but with some contours!)

First I left all of the tiles ticked and the programme refused to open any saying not enough space in the mapedit.exe programme It painfully blatant that I’m missing something here as after doing all that is asked of me I still can’t get this map to show up All I have is the basic Garmin base map which is worst than useless as I know my way around most of the uk’s Main roads as we all do, I just want it the thing to show me the B roads and minor roads so I can avoid the traffic here in the west country. When I’m out on my cycling trips
 I am sure that some one has had the same problem as this as I know I am far from unique