When I try to set a proximity distance for a waypoint, BC decides on its own if it should be meters or kilometers. Sometimes it does not accept the value at all, claiming that I have not entered a number. Also, it does not accept a European decimal sign (only a period, not a comma). Not beeing able to set the proximity distance to any value I choose makes it troublesome to use. Is there any plans for correcting this strange behaviour?
BC does, of course, know wether it is set to metric og statute. That is not the problem! The problem is that I have no way of knowing wether it takes my input as meters or kilometers until after I have entered the number. If I enter the number "2", it changes that to "2.0 km". If I enter "20", it changes it to "20.0 km". If I delete the "k" in "km", it changes to "20 m". Maybe the SW-guy found this to be of help to the users, but in my brain it is awkward. Also, if BC should make the decision for me, it should be logical. I can't think of anybody that sets the Proximity distance to i.e. 200 km, so if I input the number "200" BC eventually should assume that I intend to input 200 meters, not 200 km. When I dig into this, I find that if I enter ".2" BC interprets that as 200 meters (and actually changes my ".2" to "200 m"). If I input "0.2" really fast, it also interprets it as "200 m", but if I am a little bit slower, it changes the "0" to "0 m", which makes it difficult to enter i.e. "0.2" to get "200 m". Entering a "0" in front of the decimal point is the common way of entering such numbers here in Norway (and we use comma as a decimal point). After having played With this for some time, I am able to get my proximity distances right, but I really do have a hard time teaching others about it. So, I still think Garmin has a job to do on this.
Well I think you're the first one to complain about this, although I agree it's not exactly helpful the way it works now. The Basecamp developers monitor this forum, so you may see a change in the distant future.
In the windows version, if you place the I-beam inside an entry box a pop-up with the allowed units will appear. The Proximity units are m/km for metric and ft/mi for statute.
I wrote to enter “10m” not “10 m”. However, both methods seem to work for me. As mentioned, the auto-fill for the units kicks in pretty fast, so you can’t be leisurely about entering the m (or ft for statute).
Those typing by hunt and peck are at a distinct disadvantage and Garmin should improve this aspect.
I agree With you, BTLAAKE. One way of getting it right at once is to precede the number With a period (".") when you intend to enter meters. Also, starting With a zero does the same thing if you are slow, but not if you are fast:(. Anyway, it is not very intuitive nor is it described anywhere (as far as I can see).
There is no doubt that changes to the application far outpace those to the online manual. It certainly creates a lot of frustrations for new users, but it is also not strictly a Garmin problem. I am amazed at how applications, in general, increase in complexity, yet the manuals continually shrink in size. It seems programmers often assume that users are aware of all non-standard undocumented practices. For myself, I do not use this feature, but when I read your post, “10m” seemed like a reasonable thing to try. I omitted the space simply because I expected that error checking would catch and fix it. I certainly would not expect this to be intuitive and neither should Garmin.
I assume typing “10m” quickly without the space works for you? It wouldn’t be the first time where different language installations behave differently (I assume yours is not English).
I recommend that you send a suggestion to Garmin USA to slow down the speed of the unit auto-fill for entering waypoint proximity values. While some of the programmers check the forum from time to time, they do not read all of every post.
