Are the Thermometer and Compass actually suppose to work on this device? The thermometer always says around 83-86 degrees even when standing out in the 40 degree weather and the compass always shows me pointing E or NE no matter which direction I face. Are all the devices like this??
What firmware are you on? Have you calibrated the compass (it's under sensors)? Which side do you have the button on (with 2.40, the on the left side it was180 degrees off and I've not checked with 2.50 - for now you may want to have the button on the right).
With the temperature, remember it's the internal temperature of the watch, and not the ambient air temperature. It's impacted by skin temperature too.
What are you using to see the data? I have an ABC widget, and one for the Temps
Jim_m_58 I only run items built by you actually. I can't stand how nobody has watch faces that update the heart rate in real time except for you so I stick with your faces and apps. I run simple heart or activity simple for faces and I use the abc and temp widgets by you as well.
I run the new 2.50 and have the watch on my left arm with button facing my fingers so I should be ok with that orientation. I tried calibrating the compass but it failed about 30 times before one time it said it took but it took it so fast I don't see how it could have gotten calibrated properly that time.
As for the temperature, I thought it was a sensor for ambient temperature outdoors. Didn't realize it was an internal device only temp. That would explain why your widget says internal on it.
That's why the widget also works with a Tempe - to get ambient :) But it doesn't seem the FW is letting the widget connect to it right now. (it didn't in 2.40 either and I reported it to Garmin)
When calibrating the compass, it's a bit tricky the first few times. When you see the picture, you start with the watch face up, and in the right part of the "8", rotate is 360 degrees on the horizontal (it's easier if you aren't wearing the watch). Then for the left part of the 8, turn it face down and do the same thing
You da man! I was able to get the compass to work now!! Sooo, quick question. Do you know if it is better to hold the watch with the screen facing up or holding my arm up with the screen facing me when trying to use the compass? It seems to give a slightly different reading for each of those instances but atleast it now registers each direction.
I didn't realize about the Tempe either. You are teaching me lots.
This is my first garmin device, is there any way to keep a widget on the screen without having it go back to my home screen after a certain amount of seconds?
Widgets by design are "quick view" things, and always revert back to the watchface. Based on the specific device, it can be short or up to 2 minutes.
A CIQ watchapp however, will run until stopped. In hike2 you can record a walk or a hike, and one of the screens is a compass, and another, a graph of the internal temperature history (and there are a bunch of other screens! :) )
Getting ready to check out the hike app. Some questions since I am on a search and rescue team / and this would be so quick and easy for spot checks. I will still carry a fully functional sighting compass and handheld GPS but for on the fly...[for example when command does a radio check and asks for our location coordinates] Still not sure how well it does under heavy cover though with GPS/GLONASS but I will be testing. I recall the days when patch antennas were way off compared to the quad-helix.
Do you have USNG (MGRS) coordinates? Many SAR teams have shifted over from UTM. Can I use any other data fields (I would like to use the Dog finder as I have an Astro and that data field works and I have put into another activity) Can you set alerts [like I would like an HR alert for when it is time to slow down]
How much battery time is realistic [with backlight off / bluetooth off ] on the VA3 with this app?
With my hike2, there is a setting for location in mgrs (you can access the setting from your phone or Garmin Express). It's a watch-app, so it doesn't use outside data fields, and you can't run other apps while it's running. It doesn't have alerts for things like HR. Battery wise, I'm not really done any long tests on the va3, but you can charge the watch while recording (I use a battery based cell phone charger). On a va, I ran for 20hr with an occasional topping off of the battery (and could have gone longer, but stopped the test)
I actually carry a portable battery supply with me I use to charge my cell phone because in the mountains it sucks as it is looking for a signal and drains. But we keep the cell phones because sometimes text will get through when a radio signal won't. And we can take pictures of clues etc. Will have to check out the app.
