276c firmware 3.93 beta available

[shedracer]

Just downloaded the new 3.93 beta firmware onto my 276c. Urban areas have changed from light tan to an orangy colour, looks OK, stands out more. Contours on Topo are much easier to see and they have added a lot more footpaths which were not viewable on 3.70 with UK Topo. Tree shading is also brighter and easier to see. Also a few menus have changed. The find menu has changed icons and there are more options. In the system menu, we now have "EGNOS" instead of WAAS and in the Road routing/custom road prefs, auto set has disappeared! Haven't had a chance to test routing out on the road as yet. So far I like what I see.

Does anybody know whether its worth Enabling EGNOS?

Will keep you posted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heres a list of changes.


Changes made from version 3.92 to 3.93:

Corrected display of cardinal direction on map page when measuring distance.
Corrected duplicate waypoint creation with GPWPL NMEA sentence input.
Corrected hilight movement problem on proximity waypoint page.
Corrected invalid display of Next Turn data field.
Corrected problems in previous beta software.

Changes made from version 3.91 to 3.92:

Improved appearance of automotive mode maps.
Improved display of latitude/longitude grid lines on map.
Improved road routing when 'Avoid Highways' is selected.
Improved 'By Name' city search when using multiple maps.
Corrected display of 'L' symbol in Turn data field.
Corrected display of 'Route Truncated' and similar messages when using USB.
Reduced map clutter caused by streams on Topo maps.
Updated text translations.

Changes made from version 3.70 to 3.91:

Added support for latest Garmin map technology.
Added Iceland time zone.
Improved appearance of automotive mode maps.
Improved appearance of topo map elevation contour lines and spot elevations.
Improved voice guidance for road routes.
Corrected issue that could prevent some message log filter settings from being saved.
Corrected issue that could cause unit to shut down when using the Highway page.
__________________

 

[ebbo]

I’ve no grumbles about the new colours, looks ok to me, As for Egnos, in practical terms it doesn’t seem to make the GPS any more capable in what it does ie shows me where I am, or navigate me to where I want to be. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem to impact on battery life and seeing accuracy display often less than 7ft does look cool

 

[shedracer]

I’ve no grumbles about the new colours, looks ok to me, As for Egnos, in practical terms it doesn’t seem to make the GPS any more capable in what it does ie shows me where I am, or navigate me to where I want to be. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem to impact on battery life and seeing accuracy display often less than 7ft does look cool

Ebbo, you seem to be able to get EGNOS, as seen from your screen shot. I have enabled it but it doesn`t find it. Your accuracy seems quite impressive (7 ft), best I can get is 16 ft, although this is still pretty good.

 

[SilverFish]

...Contours on Topo are much easier to see and they have added a lot more footpaths which were not viewable on 3.70 with UK Topo. Tree shading is also brighter and easier to see...

How do the Topo maps compare to OS 50k and 25k maps? The screen shot Ive seen of what I think is a Topo map just shows some contour lines running around a standard City Navigator map.

Im thinking of getting a GPS which is just as useful on foot as it is on the bike/car.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[shedracer]

How do the Topo maps compare to OS 50k and 25k maps? The screen shot Ive seen of what I think is a Topo map just shows some contour lines running around a standard City Navigator map.

Im thinking of getting a GPS which is just as useful on foot as it is on the bike/car.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike, Topo UK is good for displaying reference points on the map such as contour lines, lakes, forest etc. But there aren`t many foot paths displayed, although since I updated my firmware for my 276c, more paths and tracks have appeared, so future firmware updates could produce more! The firmware also changed the colours of various things in Topo making them easier to view.

Is it just a standard City Navigator map with a few lines? No, its more than that.

Would I buy it if I was looking again? Yes, although don`t pay the full cost if you do. There are deals on the web. I paid £124 + p & p instead of the RRP of £150.

If your not worried about voice prompts and you only need the UK, you could go for a GPSmap 60 CSX (with expandable memory) which is ideal for walking/car and bike. Buy Topo UK which does support routing, buy a big memory card and you could have it up and running for about £500 to £550. Or you can go down the 276c route which does give voice prompts. Do a search and you find no end of discussions about this.

Hope this helps.

 

[HMR]

Shedracer,
I tested 3.91 but had to go back to 3.70 since the 276C took extremely long time to start up (find satellites) with 3.91.

What about 3.93? Will it start up faster?

I don't want to test since installing 3.93 means loosing all customizing of the 276C. Takes over one hour just to set it up again.

 

[shedracer]

HMR, I havent had any problems so far with 3.93. But as its a Beta version, who nows.

But No problems for me yet! I`m quite lucky as I can compare mine with my brothers. He is still running 3.70 for the time being. As for your custom settings, I`m in the same boat, as I have many personel features and settings, but I have saved all my routes and waypoints to mapsource and saved my custom icons.