Garmin GPS - Vista C altimeter plot

Author

Vista C altimeter plot

Martin Walker

2006-02-07, 2:48 am

My Vista C no longer displays an elevation plot on the altimeter page. It
will display a pressure plot but not elevation over time or elevation over
distance. I have restored the default settings for the altimeter page and
have Total Ascent in the upper left data field, Max Elevation in the upper
right data field, 80 feet per division on the vertical axis, and 0.12 miles
per division on the horizontal axis. The data changes as I drive around with
this GPS but no plot appears on the screen.

The altimeter setup page shows Auto Calibration = On, Barometer Mode =
Variable Elevation, and Pressure Trend Recording = Save When Power On. I
have calibrated the altimeter using the current GPS altitude as I have no
accurate reference to the correct elevation or pressure. The firmware
version is 2.50. Is there some other setting to check? I've considered a
master reset but haven't tried it yet. Any risks involved other than losing
saved data?

Martin

Roy

2006-02-07, 5:48 pm

Martin Walker wrote:
> My Vista C no longer displays an elevation plot on the altimeter page. It
> will display a pressure plot but not elevation over time or elevation over
> distance.

This is a Vista CS, right? I don't think the non-S models have the
graph. I have found on my 76CS that the altitude graph disappears when
my active track log exceeds exactly 3000 points. After that it behaves
exactly as you described. Clearing the active log restores the graph
until it has again accumulated 3000 points. You could check for this
by clearing your active log (save it to a computer first if you can),
then see if the graph shows up. If you do, please let me know if it
makes a difference. That information would be very useful to me (see
below).

Even after my active log gets to 3000 points and the graph disappears,
the graph *will* show up with GPS off, or with track log recording off.
It seem to be the recording of a track point that causes it to
disappear.

I reported this to Garmin as a firmware issue, but the tech support guy
who answered my email said they were "not familiar with this issue". I
assume this means that no one else had reported it. My guess is that
this is just not something many people care enough about to report it.
Garmin generously offered to exchange my receiver, but I still think
it's a firmware issue and I'm trying to find out more about it in hopes
of getting them to look into it as such. If your Vista is doing the
same thing, it would help to know that. A couple of people are helping
me with some testing. Interestingly, the disappearing graph is not
universal (which makes it harder to make a case that it's a firmware
issue). But two other people have experienced *other* odd behavior
after their active logs reach 3000 points. With fewer than 3000
points, their graphs behave normally.

Martin Walker

2006-02-08, 5:49 pm

"Roy" <roybassist@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1139340553.979322.302730@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Martin Walker wrote:
>
> This is a Vista CS, right? I don't think the non-S models have the
> graph. I have found on my 76CS that the altitude graph disappears when
> my active track log exceeds exactly 3000 points. After that it behaves
> exactly as you described. Clearing the active log restores the graph
> until it has again accumulated 3000 points. You could check for this
> by clearing your active log (save it to a computer first if you can),
> then see if the graph shows up. If you do, please let me know if it
> makes a difference. That information would be very useful to me (see
> below).
>
> Even after my active log gets to 3000 points and the graph disappears,
> the graph *will* show up with GPS off, or with track log recording off.
> It seem to be the recording of a track point that causes it to
> disappear.
>
> I reported this to Garmin as a firmware issue, but the tech support guy
> who answered my email said they were "not familiar with this issue". I
> assume this means that no one else had reported it. My guess is that
> this is just not something many people care enough about to report it.
> Garmin generously offered to exchange my receiver, but I still think
> it's a firmware issue and I'm trying to find out more about it in hopes
> of getting them to look into it as such. If your Vista is doing the
> same thing, it would help to know that. A couple of people are helping
> me with some testing. Interestingly, the disappearing graph is not
> universal (which makes it harder to make a case that it's a firmware
> issue). But two other people have experienced *other* odd behavior
> after their active logs reach 3000 points. With fewer than 3000
> points, their graphs behave normally.
>
Thanks for the reply, Roy. It's a Vista C. I haven't heard of the CS model.
It's about 3 months old and the graph used to work. I don't really need the
elevation plot but still wanted to figure out why it wasn't working. I've
had track logging turned off for a while so less than 10 percent of 3000
track points were used. Clearing the track log didn't help. Turning track
logging back on didn't help. I did a master reset and now it's working! I
think all my settings are now returned to where they were before the reset
so I still wonder if it was something I did or a possible hardware/firmware
issue. I'll just keep a close eye on it for a while.

Martin

Roy

2006-02-09, 2:48 am

Martin Walker wrote:
> Thanks for the reply, Roy. It's a Vista C. I haven't heard of the CS model.

There's a good reason for that...there isn't one. I wasn't thinking
straight. Sorry!

> It's about 3 months old and the graph used to work. I don't really need the
> elevation plot but still wanted to figure out why it wasn't working. I've
> had track logging turned off for a while so less than 10 percent of 3000
> track points were used. Clearing the track log didn't help. Turning track
> logging back on didn't help. I did a master reset and now it's working!

I'm glad you got it working again. Thanks for checking out my
suggestion, even though your results don't help my cause. And thanks
for the reply.

Martin Walker

2006-02-09, 2:48 am

I think this is the answer to why my elevation plot wasn't showing up. I
turned track logging off again to minimize screen clutter and lost the
elevation plot. I'll leave it on now and see what happens at 3000 points.

http://www.garmin.com/support/faqs/faq.jsp?faq=126

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