Earlier in the week, my 60CSx stopped acquiring satellites, and it took a software update to correct the problem.
On Friday, Independence Day, during my family's trip to O'Brien and Interstate State Parks, I changed my batteries and suddenly my 60CSx could not find my City Navigator maps or my custom points of interest. At the same time, while I could "find" a geocache, the unit would not tell me my distance to the destination or show me a comforting red arrow. I assumed that both problems were related to the software update earlier in the week.
In a humiliating moment for the 60CSx, a moment it won't soon forget, I motioned to the bullpen and brought in the Garmin Vista, no H, no C, no S, no x, and found the Interstate History cache with that unit.
Then, on Saturday, I was free to get out with Millah for some caches, but I was in a panic. Once you have maps, you can't go back to having no maps, and my entire quality of life seems to hinge on whether my 60CSx is operating properly.
Cue the frantic, random attempts to fix things. Once, I heard Bus&Betty, or Bus&NotBetty, or NotBus&Betty, describing how sometimes their microSD card is not situated properly in the card holder of their 60CSx. I removed and replaced the card, and -- voilà! -- life is worth living again.
Which raises questions: the voices inside my head might say I deserve a Colorado, but could it be that, actually, the 60CSx deserves a better cacher? Has my relationship with my 60CSx become co-dependent? Well, not if the 60CSx doesn't need me. I can see it now... one day I wake up, press that familiar, black, nubby button on the 60CSx's forehead and say "Good morning, sunshine, how are you? Show me those multicolor satellites!" There's an uncomfortable pause, and then those words I've feared but never thought I'd see:
6 comments:
You are not alone... at least with your 60CSX problems. A little humidity, a little bouncing around in the cache bag, a weak retaining mechanism for the uSD card... all adds up to occasional loss of maps and custom POI's.
The last time this happened, I was driving and couldn't stop... too much "harassment" from the rest of the car... why didn't I call, why didn't I have google map printout, etc. etc. Hey, dead reckoning works, just a few more turns, I know it... it's gotta be right here! Fixed it right after we arrived.
Other question: do you ever have bad data loads to the uSD card with custom POI's?
Thanks for the comment, Randy. (By the way, I like the implication of your first sentence -- that, while others may have 60CSx problems, I am the only person having a romantic relationship with my 60! Or, that anyone talking about his 60 in this way must be a seriously lonely person!)
I have never had a bad data load, but, the way things are going, I should expect one any moment. I think you've mentioned that possibility to me in the past, in fact.
Your blog posts get better and better. My GPS and I are just casual dating I guess, while I am very fond of it, I'm not so fond that I can't go pickup a Colorado and switch to that...I think I switch out GPS units every 2 years or so, they never seem to last much past that...now if I were to name a more perminate relationship, it'd be between myself and Garmin...and as long as I keep buying new GPS's, I'm sure Garmin will continue to love me.
Thanks, Z.
Uh oh, have you drunk the Kolorado Kool-Aid with cstjohn and minnesotabrad?
I bet that having a Colorado on hand would make both GPSrs behave, though. Compete for your attention. While using the 60, you could casually mention, "Yeah, I heard that the Colorado does paperless caching really well." While using the Colorado, you could say, "Yeah, I used to go days and days on a set of batteries with the 60."
For the record, my relationship with my 60CSx has not turned physical. We're taking it slow.
It was interesting caching with cstjohn and minnesotabrad this weekend, in particular since I saw them change out their batteries with relatively great frequency. I was sure to mention it every time they did.
Now that my brother has his Colorado and eats batteries constantly, I love my 60 even more!
I'm waiting for the day when your 60 realizes it just doesn't need you any more and decides to just go caching on its own-- or worse, with me ;)
By the way, I took minnesotabrad's suggestion and got a set of Rayovac Hybrid rechargeable batteries, the low discharge kind. I figured he must be a trustworthy source of information on batteries! :)
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