Nav V / Garmin 590...Alps

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Anyone with either of these devices who plans to spend any reasonable amount of time hooning their awesome steeds around the Alps / anywhere with a less than 100% reliable satellite signal, would be well advised to:

(A) Take a decent map

(B) Take a pencil and paper

(C) Beg, steal or borrow a Nav IV / 660
 
It wasn't thar bad when I was in Alps few weeks ago...I was the only person in my group that had satnav actually working..more less..
 
Jolly good.

On todays's 250 mile jolly around 7 passes, my Nav V and my chum's 590 both failed at exactly the same points, multiple times. The only way to force the two devices to locate satellites was to stop the route, turn the devices off and restart. Both devices functioned quite normally at first. They then both started to act up in parallel, losing their satellite connections and being completely unable to display the bikes' correct positions. At one point we were most definitely hooning up the Susten Pass, with the device displaying the bike hurtling up the A2 motorway. At another point, we were hurtling down the Furka Pass, with the device displaying a bike apparently hurtling across fields or (I guess) fresh air.

The trip log, which I have kept, makes interesting viewing, stopping and starting each time the devices lost their satellite connections. The 250 mile route breaks up into no less than 45 segments, the longest of which is 28 miles, coinciding exactly with the uninterrupted travel we enjoyed when first setting off. When the devices performed properly, the track log shows the normal wiggly lines, broadly inline with the route; exactly as you would expect. When the devices were unable to locate any satellites at all, the track lines are dead straight (as you would expect) sometimes miles removed from the bike's actual position. They will then jump into the correct location, when the satellite reconnection is made. Overlaying the route ridden with the track makes amusing viewing.

Other amusing bi-products were:

The device becoming so engrossed with hunting satellites and / or displaying the position to be in a river or on the top of a mountain, that it thought it was dark, so switched to its night time screen, basically mostly blacked out. The only way to turn it back to daytime was to stop, turn off the device and reboot it.

I have my device set to 'prompted recalculate' yes or no. God knows what would have happened had it been on auto-recalculate. The device froze several times, touching 'No' having no effect.

So, to summarise: That is two broadly similar up-to-date Garmin devices, both running identical routes, both failing at the same multiple points, with the same cause and the same end effect. I have a second Nav V with me, so I'll try that one, too.

PS Both devices had performed faultlessly on the ride down from Calais to Interlaken. Mine had been as good as gold in the Ardennes, the week before. Give them uninterrupted clear satellite views and all is well. Name the satellite connection a bit hooky and the wheels start to come off....
 
Some happy snappy shots.

A bit lost, somewhere around the Furka railway. See the track line, running in straight jumps.

uhane6u6.jpg


Three minutes later...Jumping horizontally into the middle of a town, see the blue track line:

aqeqa7e2.jpg


A bit earlier, following yet another stop to reboot the device.

Ready to navigate, oh no you're not.....

God only knows where it thought we were here, but I can assure you we were most definitely on a regular road, in a town. It shows our apparent height as 7682 feet, which I take to be 2,340 meters... Oh no we weren't, not then.

Nice straight track line to the unknown point...

bajeme6a.jpg
 
I wonder if there was any Army activity at the same time involving blocking signals - same thing happened to me some years ago in Spain with my 660.

I hope it was something like that as I will be in the Alps with my new 590 in a couple of weeks!
 
I wonder if there was any Army activity at the same time involving blocking signals - same thing happened to me some years ago in Spain with my 660.

I hope it was something like that as I will be in the Alps with my new 590 in a couple of weeks!

It takes a massive amount of power to disrupt a GPS signal so I doubt it was anything other than the Satnavs losing line of sight with the satellites - try riding around London and see how long you keep your signal for - its known as "canyoning" and is particulalry bad in big cities with tall buildings or in mountainous areas. Time of day can also be a factor as the satellites can get very low on the horizon which means that it doesn't take much to block there line of sight. Anyway, on the Passes in question, there are not many choices to make re roads available so just ride the bendy one in front of you! My Nav 5 seems fine and ceratinly doesn't like it if you block the signal.
 
.....Time of day can also be a factor as the satellites can get very low on the horizon which means that it doesn't take much to block there line of sight. Anyway, on the Passes in question, there are not many choices to make re roads available so just ride the bendy one in front of you! My Nav 5 seems fine and ceratinly doesn't like it if you block the signal.

I know exactly what it is, I've spent long enough riding about the Alps to know... And how to deal with it. It's the loss of satellite signals and / or the inability of Garmin's latest wonder device to process looking for satellites at the same time as trying to display a high resolution screen and all the other bells and whistles.

My old 660 / 550 / whatever, just did the basic 'Lost satellites - Found satellites' routine. The twenty first century has presented us with a device that is really good at lots of things but slips up when it trys to do too much all at once. Put bluntly, it gets stuck. I saw it do the same thing in the Morvan, on a cloudy day in heavily wooded valleys. I'm OK as I have a map and don't panic.... Others might not be so patient.
 
I experienced similar issues with my Nav V when we went to the Dolomites in May. The map would jump around on some of the passes, and as you know, there were issues with daytime/ nighttime and shadowing on the screen. I never did get to the bottom of that.:blast As you say, take a map as a back up, and keep calm.:thumb
 
Anyone with either of these devices who plans to spend any reasonable amount of time hooning their awesome steeds around the Alps / anywhere with a less than 100% reliable satellite signal, would be well advised to:

(A) Take a decent map

(B) Take a pencil and paper

(C) Beg, steal or borrow a Nav IV / 660

Just use the biker's favourite - the Garmin 2610

Forget this new shite at £500 +

:)
 
I prefer the purist's paper, pencil, map and the shadows cast by the sun.

All joking apart, these two new devices are meant to have improved satellite acquisition and faster processing speeds. Some loss of satellite signal is inevitable in the Alps, whether in valleys or through some long tunnels; that's just what happens. What should NOT be happening thereafter is the device's inability to reasonably quickly re-plot its position once an accurate satellite signal is acquired, nor should it freeze or suddenly think it's the middle of the night at noon, blacking the screen out. It should definitely NOT require the re-booting of the device to force a re-acquisition, an undertaking that cannot be undertaken on the move.... At least not safely.... I did it just for fun!

The high resolution screen is great, until that is Garmin go overboard with their display pallet of colours. I have a simple biker's message to them..... "Oy, mate.... magenta does't display against a dark black background, feckin sort it or I'll burn your house down!"
 
Your problem is simple. There is too much hooning and hurtling going on :thumb2
 
After four full days hooning about the Swiss Alps, I discovered that if you go slooooowly, the device gets a bit of breather to catch up with its satellites. It still got an almighty sulk on on the flat wide valley floor approaching Interlaken each time, insisting we were riding along a railway track, on the other side of the river.

Both Nav V's behaved identically, as did the 590.

As good as gold on the last two days' run up through France.
 
After four full days hooning about the Swiss Alps, I discovered that if you go slooooowly, the device gets a bit of breather to catch up with its satellites. It still got an almighty sulk on on the flat wide valley floor approaching Interlaken each time, insisting we were riding along a railway track, on the other side of the river.

Both Nav V's behaved identically, as did the 590.

As good as gold on the last two days' run up through France.

Richard, have you reported the fault to Garmin so hopefully they will deal with it?
 
I will do when I'm home. I want to attach the routes, tracks and screen print pictures.

I also want to explain to them the problem with allowing the screen to fade to absolute black when switching to night mode.
 
It takes a massive amount of power to disrupt a GPS signal..".......

I disagree.
Satellite signal strength is tiny, and very, very easily disrupted.
The military often switch down satellite transmissions over particular areas however, in the UK, they do have the courtesy of making a prior broadcast of which locality is to be affected. Can't speak for the Swiss Gourds though :surrender
 
I had exactly the same problems with my Nav V in the Pyrenees last month (companions with a 660 and a Tomtom had no problems). I also had to turn off the 3D display so that I could see the road without the fancy colours. :(

It seems unlikely that Garmin would downgrade the GPS chipset, so I guess there might be a firmware fix in due course.

I'm glad I kept my 550. :)
 
I've also traded up to a 590, or is it down ? from a 660.
Mine kept freezing, and needing a reboot around the Pyrenees in June.

Newer is definitely not better.......... IMHO.

Hopefully a update is pending.
 


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