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RANT: Foretrex Won't Follow Routes!

John Navas
over 4 years ago

UPDATE: With additional troubleshooting, I've pinned down the problem, and found a workaround. See my new Reply.

I have both the Foretrex 401 and the Foretrex 601, and use them for both hiking and sailing.
They are great units in many ways, except for one huge flaw: They don't follow Routes!

For example, consider this course for sailboat racing:

The Start is at 3, and the course is 3-1-2-3.

In other words, it's a closed course with both start and finish at 3.

If you set 1-2-3 as a Route, and attempt to Follow it,
the Foretrex will set 2 as the first mark,
because it's closer than 1 to 3.
If you go to 1 regardless, the Foretrex will then set 3 as the next mark,
because it's closer than 2.

It does not matter whether the Setting for Routes is Auto or Distance.

This behavior is nuts, making Routes useless for navigation.
You have to do each leg manually.

And it's not just a problem for racing, as in this second example:

White is water, lower grey is land, the gray finger is a breakwater,
and it's a pitch black night.

Home is 3, and you're starting at 1, so you need a Route of 1-2-3 
to avoid crashing into the breakwater.
But the Foretrex will send you from 1 to 3, because it's closer than 2,
and the result would be a disaster.

It's insane to go to closest Waypoint in the Route instead of following Waypoints in Route order!

It was bad enough that the 401 always had this problem, but the 601 has the same problem.

What were they thinking?!

  • +1 over 4 years ago

    I am sorry you are experiencing routing issues with our Foretrex series devices. Since we do not have a forum for the Foretrex series handheld products, please reach out to our Outdoor Handhelds Product Support team. We will be happy to work with you further.

  • +1 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin - Chris

    Hi Chris, 

    1. So why not create a Forum for Fortrex products (which are wearable, not handheld)? Seriously.

    2. I've contacted Support before without success. It's a serious design error for which there is no apparent solution. Fortrex products do not Follow Routes. Instead they go to the closest Waypoint in a Route, sequence be damned.

    John

  • +1 over 4 years ago in reply to John Navas

    1) Foretrex interactions are actually pretty rare. Foretrex devices are considered handheld devices with a forearm strap added to them. Which is why they are supported by our Outdoor handheld team segment. Their software looks nothing like any of our Outdoor watch products. It looks almost exactly like an eTrex series handheld device.

    2) If it is by design of our engineers, I am sorry that is the case. It would be a design decision by our Foretrex engineers if Outdoor Product Support has already confirmed that for you. My sincere apologies.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin - Chris

    1.a Perhaps Foretrex interactions are rare because there's no Forum for them? 
    1.b Handheld, not wearable? Golf or inReach? Do you realize has silly that sounds?
    1.c So eTrex won't Follow Routes either?
    1.d Will your Outdoor Watch products Follow Routes?

    2. That Foretrex will not Follow a Route is patently a serious design error. 

  • +1 over 4 years ago in reply to John Navas

    All of your questions being asked are valid questions but this is the wrong location. Please reach out to our Outdoor Handheld support team. You can choose between sending an email, using chat support, or calling in.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin - Chris

    I've done additional troubleshooting. It turns out that the Foretrex is simply skipping the 1st waypoint, will do that even when the 1st waypoint is closer than the 2nd waypoint. The work-around is to have a dummy start waypoint at the top of the route. That works most of the time, but fails some of the time, especially when not close to the dummy start waypoint when activating the route. I'm making a video to document my findings. I'll post a link when it's available online, probably tomorrow.

  • +1 over 4 years ago in reply to John Navas

    @John 

    Please make sure you provide the information to the Garmin Outdoor Handheld agent you have already spoken with. Since a case was created to report your concern, he will need you to follow-up with him. Thank you.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin - Chris

    Of course. I've already sent this additional information by email, and will continue to do so.

  • +1 over 4 years ago in reply to John Navas

    I've made a video to summarize my troubleshooting: https://youtu.be/LWOoYVInAn4
    My findings:

    1. Foretrex skips the 1st Waypoint when you Follow a Route, so the Route needs a dummy starting Waypoint (which will be skipped) as a work-around. Otherwise the Foretrex will skip the 1st navigation Waypoint, and initially send you to the 2nd navigation waypoint. This is a serious issue that needs to be fixed or at least documented by Garmin.
    2. This Garmin documentation is erroneous: "6. Select a starting point for navigation." [emphasis added]
      Instead, select the Final Waypoint to Follow the Route (the lower of the 2 Follow choices).
      If you select the Start Waypoint (upper choice), Foretrex will reverse the order of Waypoints in the Route, and then follow the Route in reverse order. 
      This is a serious documentation error that needs to be corrected.
    3. Navigation errors I encountered in troubleshooting appear to be due to processing lag in the Foretrex. When you make a change to a Route, give the Foretrex at least several seconds to process the change before Follow. Otherwise the navigation can be incorrect. 
  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to John Navas
    I posted too soon. When I tried a non-trivial real-world case, it failed, spectacularly.
    I was first way off the Basecamp map below to the top left (in the direction of the blue triangle marker).
    When I Followed this Route (to M 20), the immediate Next Dest is M 4,
    2/3 of the way through the Route, and not the closest Waypoint to me.
    (The nearest Route Waypoint to me is SYC E.)  
    Next I moved near the start/finish of that Route, and experienced different symptoms.
    Video: https://youtu.be/j9JNmVonE4Q
    You've heard the expression, "That dog don't hunt?" That Foretrex don't Follow!
    b