Expedition mode 9.0

exact my observation too.

At some point the green LED stops flashing, this means the expedition mode is somehow crash.

Either it is then going to Resuming for ever or 66i does switch off completely.

Piity, the power consumption of the expedition mode is nice, provided it works...

I did another stationary expedition test.  15.5 hours.  Worked perfectly. Resume worked quickly. 0.45 % battery used per hour. 
Here are my settings that differ from default. 

1. expedition prompted (in the expedition settings)

2. auto track enabled (in the tracking settings)

3. Link track with record enabled (in the tracking settings)

4. Output format as fit and gpx (in the record settings)

5. All radios disabled (Wi-Fi,bt,ant+)

6. garmin oem hunt view map installed in micro sd card slot

I’ll do one final test for 24 hours stationary expedition prompted, undisturbed, without any test messages or location requests

My test runs now some 60hrs, still enough power.

However during this time 3 times the 66i simply switched off itself and two times ended up in endless Resuming.

After both kinds of crash, I noted that the internal clock was stopped, crash made also any background GPS functions to stop.

Just few minutes ago, I found 66i in the Resuming, but was able to switch it off by long pressing power button. Then I noticed that the time displayed  was abt 4h ago. GPS took long time to find itself again, with time completely wrong it has to start from zero.

Otherwise my settings are similar, but I use automatic expedition mode.

When does the crash occur is not exactly clear, could not find any special time or task giving a reason for crash.

So far I was not able to have 24h continuous running time test.

As a safety device, to be used for tracking and emergency calls, completely useless

the problem of using expedition mode prompted is that the 66i can not be operated unattended somewhere outside.

So this can not be tested, unless walking with it and confirminng it should go to expedition mode again by hand.

Abt 10hrs ago, I restarted the 66i because it was crashed, now I found it again crashed during my sleep. I am not able to hold in my hand 24h.

When in the expedition mode, 66i wakes up periodically, it switches even on the display and backlight and performs what it needs. If exped mode set to auto, it will after few minutes plus 30sec time out switch again to exped mode automatically.

And sure, all other settings are same.

I just tested expedition prompted (stationary-undisturbed) with aforementioned settings for 24 hours and 5 minutes.  It worked perfectly.  Also had 0.38% battery consumption per hour...which is fantastic.  It reported my location every 4 hours.  It resumed perfectly too.

For the final transmit at 24 hours, I went outside to observe the device, and the device automatically performed what it needed to do, but my backlight doesn't come on.  It did everything stealth (to save battery probably). I knew it was going to transmit my location at 24 hours because 24 is a multiple of 4.  ;)

So when you say your backlight comes on, I'm starting to wonder if you've altered your altimeter settings and you're confusing an automatic altimeter calibration with an expedition routine operation.

I haven't tinkered with my altimeter settings...they are default.  I haven't tried Expedition auto, so I don't know what's happening there with your device.

I think you should disclose all of your settings that are different from default and I will try them.  Also, let me know if you have a micro sd card installed.

I think you should try all of my settings including Expedition prompted.  Expedition prompted works differently than you described it...at least with the settings that I have on my device.

I'll test your settings next week (after this winter storm thaws out).

Again: setting are same

except for prompted expedition mode, as this can not be tested over 24h as I would need to not to sleep and switch the 66i to expedition mode each time it wakes up. If it is set to prompted, it has to be set to expedition mode each time prompted. If not, the unit will stay on in normal mode and go to expedition mode by itself.

From expedition mode, unit has to wake up sometimes, to make a fix, see if it is moving and possibly sending a track point. This needs 66i to be alive and not in deep sleep. This will wake the display, also switch on the backlight for a moment, performing the required tasks which takes few minutes and then the page will appear where it is possible manually to set it again to exp mode, or set it to normal mode, or if neither is selected, the unit goes into exp mode after count down of 30sec.

This is normal, and this has always been this way with previous FW. Therefore I am surprised that you can not see this happening.

No, there is no altimeter setting involved, as this is set to default when unit was factory reset.

Yes I have micro card inserted, as I have maps on it. I am not using any of the internal maps, as I never did, as previous FW did wor with all those OSM without any problem at all.

I will test the manual (prompted) exp mode probably from tomorrow evening. But what I have tested at beginning, this is useful only when I hold the unit in hand and travel with it, but of no use when I place the unit unattended outside.

I am not able to test prompted mode for 24h, as this would mean to watch the display and after each wake up set it manually to exp mode by hand.

However the major problem is, that I never could run 66i for more then abt 8h estimated before it did crash. The crash has different forms, either it ends up in Resuming for ever, which is confirmed as bug by  Garmin having many tickets describing exactly same issue, or it simply crashes completely, leaving the 66i in off state. Simply switches off at random times.

I had no such crashes in 7.x 8.50 8.80, it just started by installing 9.0

Crash can be noted from outside, no touch of unit needed. If the green led flashes, 66i is alive and exp mode running.

If I come to the unit, green led is not flashing, it is certain that 66i did crash and needs to be restarted somehow.

And yes, I have secondary 'radios' off, however do not understand why this has to be off in expedition mode in which all those secondary radios are off anyway when unit goes to exp mode.

When you say backlight did not come on, was the display on during the time when it did perform some task, let say sending a pint after 4h or so?

abt 1h ago, the unit did wake up, I was incidently near it. I could note that it went back to exp mode.

Now, I noticed that it does not flash green led.

Pressing power button brings Resuming to the screen, but that is all, it is crashed and has no fucntion any more.

This is the reason I can not make any 24h test at all, as I will never get more then few hrs of actual operation.

I have 2 66i, the problems are reproducible

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In fact, next step:

Downgraded the 66i so far tested to 8.50 FW and will start some test with it tomorrow

upgraded an other 66i to 9.0 and started it in same configuration, just with prompted switch to exp mode.

(just to eliminate some device specific issues)

On my 66i, if I put in to expedition mode prompted, and then resume it,  it will automatically return to expedition mode if I don’t press any buttons. I think that’s a nice feature. It gives you the ability to resume it and then look at your map for a minute or so to see how lost you are and it automatically goes back to expedition mode in a couple minutes (assuming you don’t press any buttons).  If you resume and then press buttons, then yes, you’ll have to manually put it back in to expedition. 

In this other thread below, they speculated the feature was there in case someone accidentally “resumed it” by accidentally tapping the power button.  But either way, it’s a well thought out feature. 

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/inreach/f/gpsmap-66i/258599/expedition-mode-starts-recording-an-activity-also-re-enters-expedition-mode-if-accidentally-woken-up

There’s always a very slight chance that your micro sd card is causing strange behavior.  But again, I haven’t tried expedition auto yet so I don’t know how my device works in expedition auto.  Maybe it will behave like yours.  I don’t know. I don’t know why your 66i’s screen turns on just to get a gps fix and communicate with satellite in the background and mine doesn’t turn on.   Doesn’t make sense, but I’ve only had this device for 2 weeks so still learning all the features. But there’s no real need for the device’s screen to automatically turn on in expedition mode for background processing. It can do everything it needs to do with the screen off in expedition mode  

I’ll check back on this thread next week. 

Ok, so I tried expedition auto for about 5 minutes. On my first resume, it rebooted instead of resuming.  So I stopped there.  Don’t worry Garmin will fix it. They’re pretty good about fixing bugs.