Vista, compass - erroneous reading?

The Vista defaults to using the magnetic compass below 10 mph and gets your
bearing from successive positions above 10mph. When you stop, the magnetic
compass doesn't turn on for 90 seconds (default setting again). You can
tell if the magnetic compass is "engaged" by the icon in the upper part of
the window.

If the steel in your bike is affecting the magnetic compass, it won't have
any effect above 10 mph and won't begin to have any effect after you stop
unless you stay still for 90 seconds.

You should be able to watch the compass icon and see if the bike is
affecting your compass directly.

Another possibility is that the Vista lost reception (I don't believe it
reports lost reception for quite a while, maybe a minute, to deal with small
interruptions caused by buildings etc) and was using dead reckoning until it
got satellites again. I have seen that behavior on an SPIII and a Summit,
not on the Vista so far, but I haven't had mine long.

Jon


"OliverS" <OES_removespam_test@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:ANlNa.5272$Vx2.2551044@newssvr28.news.prodigy .com...
> My compass on an eTrex Vista seems to be off, as does the direction
> cursor, from time to time. It seems to me that it is while I am
> standing still. When I get moving, it eventually corrects itself. I
> have attributed the problem to the steel bike interfering with the
compass.
>
> DH wrote:
> > Hi, I was biking and knew, by sight, where I had to go. I also used
> > the Go To function to get my way back to the waypoint. I was biking
> > on a relatively bumpy dirt road with an open clear sky above me.
> >
> > For about 100 meters, the compass pointed 180 degrees in the wrong
> > direction and stayed that way during those 100 meters. The Vista
> > never mentioned whether or not it had lost reception _and_ the
> > distance to the waypoint decreased, as it should, since I was going in
> > the correct direction.
> >
> > I thought that perhaps a lost battery connection for a split second
> > might have caused that, but why just the compass and nothing else? I
> > thought also. maybe there was _great_ deal of metal under the ground
> > causing the incorrect compass reading. Any thoughts here? Thanks,
> > Dave
> >
> >
>
> --
> Cheers! OliverS
> When replying personally, remove "_removespam_"
>
> "When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of
> the human race." HG Wells
>