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alert beeps at waypoints eTrex 20

Former Member over 10 years ago

How can I force alerts on reaching waypoints on my eTrex20? I own a Garmin GPS60, an incredibly basic machine which has no map capability but has proved extremely useful because, every time I reached a waypoint it gave a reassuring beep. This meant not having to get out the map and look which way to turn.

I recently bought the eTrex20 and was disappointed to discover that this facility is at best hit and miss (therefore I can't rely on the beep). I plot my routes on MemoryMap Ordnance Survey software which is the best thing for footpaths in the UK. The supplied Topo map for eTrex is good and shows lots of useful stuff, but does not really cut it for minor rights of way planning. I also use Basecamp and after experiment found that alerts for waypoints can indeed be turned on or off when a selected route is `opened`.

The gist of my question is: however I derive the route, whether in Basecamp, or by importing gpx files from another source (I use everything, Google Earth, Bing maps, Topo and Talkytoaster os maps to plan a complex route), can I set the waypoint alert as a default, either within the GPS unit,or, in Basecamp?

0 stuartmw over 10 years ago

Different models work differently. On some you have to explicitly enable alerts while on others they occur by default. Also the distance at which you've considered reaching a point is different between models (and not user changeable). That may explain what your experiencing.

Some models (not sure about the eTrex 20) have user settable "proximity alerts". If so that might be a solution for you.

0 SUSSAMB over 10 years ago

Provided there are waypoints in the route your Etrex will alert, I have the Etrex 20 as well. I've never known it to be 'hit and miss' provided it's set to do so in Setup, Tones, Turn warnings.

I don't use Memory Map so it's possible that it doesn't mark every point as a waypoint, and if not you probably wouldn't get the warning. If you use Basecamp (as I do) it shouldn't be a problem.

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Are you sure that's what Setup, Tones, Turn Warnings, Settings does? I read it that, that is just where you choose the type of tone used for the warning, not whether it does one...

0 SUSSAMB over 10 years ago

Yes. There is an off setting on each of the tones as well as the global setting there.

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

I am not sure I have got the answer I want yet.
I did some tests: There appears to be no problem with using GPX route files generated by non Garmin software. they all work and are editable in Basecamp (including alert switching).
I set up a walk route and tried it out and sadly not all the alerts went off when expected from the settings I made in Basecamp. When beeps are set to auto they only seem to go off if you walk exactly over the waypoint. From a walking point of view this is not all that useful because you need to make decisions before you turn. I set the alerts to go off at 50ft. The alerts went off consistently about 300paces before arrival. (?) No use at all. So I tried to set them to 20ft. Nothing happened at all.
DISCOVERY: The new setting only activated after I switched off, then on again. Is this a known pre-condition? Can't see it in the manual
The manual tells you what the buttons do but not necessarily how they need to be set up to achieve a particular aim.

0 SUSSAMB over 10 years ago

And I'm now not sure what answer you want :)

I have my Etrex 20 (and my Montana) set up in Routing to Auto in Off Road Transitions, is this what you're now talking about? For the reasons you mention Manual and Distance don't work particularly well if you're hiking.

As for Tones, they are either on or off, there isn't a way (that I know of) to set them to go off at specific distances (although there is for Proximity alarms).

I've never noticed tones not going off when I reach a waypoint, either on my Etrex or my Montana.

Note that there are 2 tones you can set, one on arrival (final turn warning) and one before the waypoint (early turn warning), hopefully you're not getting confused between the two?

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Thanks for sticking with me. I now see that my confusion stems from my old GPS60 in which, it is possible to set up the alert distance for waypoint arrivals. To go back to my first original question... Is there a recipe that should work?

The `Routing` screen now reads:
Guidance Method, Off Road
Calculate routes for, Pedestrian
Lock on road, No
(I have now set) `Off Road Transitions` to Auto where before I had it set to Distance.
Avoidance setup (I have ignored because it seems irrelevant to this case)
`Tones` screen reads:
Tones, On
Message beep, Tone 7
Key beep, Tone 3
Turn warnings, Early turn warning,Tone 9. Final turn warning, Tone10
Proximity Tones, On etc. (I don't think I am confused about the difference between this and the Alert beeps)

Is there anything wrong with these settings from the Alert beep point of view?

0 SUSSAMB over 10 years ago

That's pretty much what I have set so should work for you.

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Magic!
Consistent beeps at last. In hiking mode the beep occurs 10paces before arrival on waypoint (30ft).
Note: in doing my tests I fell foul of the `circular route` problem which didn't help my understanding of what was going on. The following link explains the problem and gives solutions http://www.aukadia.net/gps/lwg_13.htm

0 SUSSAMB over 10 years ago

Great, glad it's sorted, I'll close this thread.