Several 66st Bugs
Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 5:09 am
Overall I am very happy with the form and function of this unit. It is so much more capable and faster than my old 60CSx.
But I have had the unit shut down several times in the few days I have had it. Today I purposely got it to happen several times by doing the following:
Went to the map screen page and then >Find>Waypoint> then scrolled down to 2nd waypoint in the list, "Test2". Then >Menu>Select Symbol which goes to the screen with all available waypoint symbols to select. I did not select one, but just tried to use the quit button 3 times to go back to the map screen. About 3/4 of the time it exits back to the map screen as expected. But the other times, after the first quit, the 2nd or 3rd quit does not do anything. When I try that 3rd or 4th quit, the unit immediately powers off. It can be started right back up with the power button like nothing happened. But it would be annoying if I was out in the woods creating a track or whatever and this happened.
I have also had the unit not communicate with the computer several times when plugged in. Usually just need to disconnect and reconnect to get it to go. But a few times, it was frozen with a faded out "GARMIN" on the screen. Needed to remove and reinsert the batteries to get it to come back to life.
This next issue hopefully will go away once I start using rechargeable batteries, but the manual DOES say alkaline can be used. What happens is that after probably 2 or 3 hours on alkaline battery use, with the battery level indicator down one bar from full, a persistent message keeps popping up on the screen saying that the battery level is too low to properly run the backlight. The unit continues to work as it should, including the backlight, but the message keeps repeatedly popping up.
Finally, yesterday when the batteries did get very low, instead of just shutting off like my 11 year old 60CSx does, the 66 froze with that faded "GARMIN" on the display. Inserting fresh batteries allowed it to be powered back up. Interestingly with the batteries removed from the unit, the screen continued to display the faded "GARMIN".
But I have had the unit shut down several times in the few days I have had it. Today I purposely got it to happen several times by doing the following:
Went to the map screen page and then >Find>Waypoint> then scrolled down to 2nd waypoint in the list, "Test2". Then >Menu>Select Symbol which goes to the screen with all available waypoint symbols to select. I did not select one, but just tried to use the quit button 3 times to go back to the map screen. About 3/4 of the time it exits back to the map screen as expected. But the other times, after the first quit, the 2nd or 3rd quit does not do anything. When I try that 3rd or 4th quit, the unit immediately powers off. It can be started right back up with the power button like nothing happened. But it would be annoying if I was out in the woods creating a track or whatever and this happened.
I have also had the unit not communicate with the computer several times when plugged in. Usually just need to disconnect and reconnect to get it to go. But a few times, it was frozen with a faded out "GARMIN" on the screen. Needed to remove and reinsert the batteries to get it to come back to life.
This next issue hopefully will go away once I start using rechargeable batteries, but the manual DOES say alkaline can be used. What happens is that after probably 2 or 3 hours on alkaline battery use, with the battery level indicator down one bar from full, a persistent message keeps popping up on the screen saying that the battery level is too low to properly run the backlight. The unit continues to work as it should, including the backlight, but the message keeps repeatedly popping up.
Finally, yesterday when the batteries did get very low, instead of just shutting off like my 11 year old 60CSx does, the 66 froze with that faded "GARMIN" on the display. Inserting fresh batteries allowed it to be powered back up. Interestingly with the batteries removed from the unit, the screen continued to display the faded "GARMIN".