Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

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Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby TheGhostWhoWalks » Tue 18 Nov, 2014 8:24 pm

I have an Oregon 550 with the Australia and NZ topo SD card, 2 years old.
I am struggling to get the device to navigate to a waypoint.
No matter what settings I have the route always captures some nearby forestry road and tells me to go via that route.
For example, i have tried to navigate on foot to my tent 300m to the south, and the GPS has said go north, hop in your car, drive in a 200km circle and bush bash the last 20km or so.
I have everything possible switched off or avoided, to no avail.
The only way i can navigate to a waypoint (short of removing the map card) is to reverse an existing track, which is no use if I have not been there yet.
Does anyone else have this issue, or know a way around it?
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby keithy » Wed 19 Nov, 2014 12:44 am

Have you checked your Routing setting is set to off road?

From recollection with the older Oregons it is Setup / Routing / Guidance Method. with that done, it shouldn't route you through any roadways at all, just straight to the waypoint.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby TheGhostWhoWalks » Wed 19 Nov, 2014 5:06 pm

Yes, I get it to avoid roads and tracks, but it does not seem to save those settings.
Route setting is on hiking.
Seems you have to re-configure settings just about every time you switch it on.
Cannot say i would recommend this model to anyone, for a Garmin it is not user friendly.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby Redtail » Wed 19 Nov, 2014 6:11 pm

You shouldn't have to reconfigure settings every time you turn it on.
And you should be able to set your routing preferences (and have them saved) as Keithy suggested.

Is the firmware up to date?

Mine - at about 6 months old - required an update to the firmware the first time I plugged it into my PC, and it works perfectly. Especially the Where To shortcut to navigate to waypoints without following a road.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby keithy » Wed 19 Nov, 2014 7:08 pm

TheGhostWhoWalks wrote:Route setting is on hiking.


Try changing it from Hiking to Direct Routing. I am not sure whether the other settings like Hiking/Mountain biking select routeable roads, but Pedestrian mode selects routeable roads. Direct Routing will definitely not select any routeable roads.

TheGhostWhoWalks wrote:Seems you have to re-configure settings just about every time you switch it on.


Like what Redtail posted, you shouldn't have to reconfigure settings. It should save it in the memory even after you change batteries. If you have to reconfigure settings something is wrong. Check your firmware, and update to the latest, which I think is v6.60 for the Oregon 550.

If it is still not saving settings, it could be a bad GPX or other bad file living in the root directory of the device. In this case, back up your files on the device (if you had any custom waypoints, routes or tracks or any other files you want to keep), then do a factory reset (also called master reset or hard reset). To do this: THIS WILL DELETE ANY user data you have so again, back it up if you haven't already.

- Power device off
- Press and hold a finger on upper-left corner of display
- Power device on while continuing to press corner of display
- Release power button once Oregon powers on
- Touch 'Yes' on Do you really want to erase all user data? message
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby TheGhostWhoWalks » Thu 20 Nov, 2014 1:02 pm

Thanks guys, I don't understand firmware, and it has never asked to update when I connect.
Just rebooted as per above so will test out shortly.
I run it with Basecamp, and every time I try to update BC a corrupt file note appears (typically does not tell which file is corrupt).
I removed the SD map card before running all this, so must be internal glitch.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby Redtail » Thu 20 Nov, 2014 7:35 pm

Firmware is the software that resides within your device, and makes it work. It manages everything from track recording, to signal locking, to battery life, and so on. Part of it is also the user interface - the icons and menus that you see on screen.

I have an Oregon 600. It came with BaseCamp, Garmin Express and WebUpdater.

WebUpdater is a wizard application that looks for your attached GPS, and determines whether it's up to date. If it's not, it will go get the software/firmware and install it on your Oregon. It's dead easy to use, and I recommend you do it to keep your 550 up to date. (Which I've just done myself, as it's been a while and sure enough it needed an update)

Garmin Express does the same thing, only differently. I don't know why. It looks a bit prettier, and it has links to the manuals, etc.

BaseCamp just manages your maps, routes, tracks and waypoints. I'm sorry I can't help with your map errors, but I'd suggest starting with the latest firmware first. You may find bugs in that possibly older version are the causing the problems. Garmin forums would be better to advise you on that.

As for routing, mine too is set for Direct Routing - it ignores roads.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby TheGhostWhoWalks » Thu 20 Nov, 2014 9:11 pm

Thanks for all your help.
I will look at the updater and express.
Happy hiking.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby TheGhostWhoWalks » Fri 21 Nov, 2014 11:27 am

Well after spending forever downloading Garmin Express, it tells me it does not support the Oregon 550, and I have to use GARMIN MAP UPDATER.
But then the Web updater mysteriously appeared on my computer.
Garmin must be going for some sort of record for having different websites and tools for each individual device.
Very frustrating for non tek savvy users.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby Redtail » Fri 21 Nov, 2014 11:35 am

Fear not, it's just as frustrating for us tech savvy. I think their problem is they get marketing [shudder] people involved.

I'd speculate the Map Updater only manages maps. The Web Updater might be the tool you need for firmware.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby keithy » Fri 21 Nov, 2014 4:46 pm

TheGhostWhoWalks wrote:Well after spending forever downloading Garmin Express, it tells me it does not support the Oregon 550, and I have to use GARMIN MAP UPDATER.


Garmin software can be a pain in the bum sometimes. What you said about it telling you the Oregon 550 is not supported is confusing given that even their webpage says to use Garmin Express http://www8.garmin.com/support/download ... sp?id=4524 and http://www8.garmin.com/support/collecti ... 0-00697-10

For what it's worth, Garmin seem to be phasing out the previous simple tools (webupdater and mapupdater), in favour of the clunky and sometimes buggy Garmin Express software. Garmin Express makes it nicer to look at, but can be fussy with different computers (I have had problems with specific PCs not liking Garmin Express).

You should check your software version on your GPS before going further though. Go to Setup/Scroll down to the bottom (use the down arrow)/Touch "About...". This will show you your firmware version ("Software Version"), your unit ID on the second line.

Depending on what firmware you are currently using, there have been several bugs that have been fixed by more recent firmwares.

If you still can't get Garmin Express to recognise your device is compatible, first try contacting Garmin http://www.garmin.com/au/support/contact-support.

If you want to try a manual way to update the firmware - I do this for my Etrex and Oregon GPS devices if I don't have access to my own PC with the webupdater software or Garmin Express installed. But you will need some tech savviness.

1. You can download the firmware file for your Oregon 550 from garmin's website directly here -
http://www.garmin.com/software/Oregonx5 ... r__660.gcd
2. Save the file to your computer.
3. After saving that file to your PC, rename it to GUPDATE.gcd
4. Connect your Oregon 550 to the PC and copy the file to the \Garmin directory of your Oregon 550 (not to the SD card).
5. Disconnect the Oregon 550 from PC and reboot. On reboot it should detect the update file and ask for verification before updating firmware.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby keithy » Fri 21 Nov, 2014 4:51 pm

TheGhostWhoWalks wrote:Thanks guys, I don't understand firmware, and it has never asked to update when I connect.
Just rebooted as per above so will test out shortly.
I run it with Basecamp, and every time I try to update BC a corrupt file note appears (typically does not tell which file is corrupt).
I removed the SD map card before running all this, so must be internal glitch.


How did it go after reboot? Did it save your settings properly?

I have had some issues with badly compiled GPX trail/route files that screwed around with my Oregon doing random shutdowns. I had a few GPX files on the GPS, so had to work out which file it was manually and delete it, and then the problems went away.

But If you did the factory reset, it will clear any non-standard files from the root directory of the GPS, so corrupt files will be deleted as well.
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Re: Garmin Oregon 550 Whereto issues

Postby TheGhostWhoWalks » Sat 22 Nov, 2014 1:32 pm

Thanks for all your input Keith and redtail.
I have rebooted, upgraded and deleted a few "suspect" track files (which I made on Base Camp).
I think when I use "where to" I will use direct routing and the compass and my noggin, and make sure I have a topo map and compass :-).

And it's not just Garmin.
I have lots of incompatibility issues with my Samsung/Android tablet, Google Chrome and Gmail, which are all Google products.
But that's another story.
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