Acquiring Satellites

[Domi93CH]

To be honest, I don't know why the new devices necessarily need these PC programs or apps. The etrex20 had such a “calendar” integrated so it always knew which satellites could be found.
It's probably just a matter of extracting as much information as possible from the position data and creating user profiles in order to then sell the data to advertisers.

I notice with the 65s that after you connect it to the computer again, it finds all satellites right from the start. but you have to look for it yourself again after a few days. This was never the case with the eTrex20, which always knew which satellites were where and when (presumably this information also comes partly from the satellites themselves).

[GPSrChive]

You are partially correct.

Most modern Garmin GPSr do not need the support programs or apps to function, but they will all function must better with them.

Without having GNSS constellation data loaded/refreshed via external software/apps every few days, the device can still determine where it is after it manually loads almanac data from available satellites, which can require more than 30 minutes in some cases to complete, per constellation.

When this constellation data is maintained via external software/apps, the GPSr can usually find its current location before the boot process has completed.

By your own admission, you have experienced both of these very scenarios with your GPSMAP 65.

As for the idea that Garmin is scraping data from your occasionally used GPSr to sell to third parties, I find this to be a bit paranoid, or possibly even ludicrous, as the other mobile device you carry with you 24/7 with superior data collection capabilities and an always on internet connection serves this purpose far better.

I do love a good conspiracy theory, however, this is not the place for that.

Please visit GPSrChive > GNSS for additional information.

[RickN55]

I notice with the 65s that after you connect it to the computer again, it finds all satellites right from the start. but you have to look for it yourself again after a few days. This was never the case with the eTrex20, which always knew which satellites were where and when (presumably this information also comes partly from the satellites themselves).

Yes I found this, this is main reason I got rid of the 65s you'd be away on Holiday turn it on and it wouldn't find satellites. But when at home and it did it I'd just plug it into Garmin Express or do a long sync with Explore and it will work fine once the satellite files CPE had been updated.
Never have this issue with the old 60CSx or 67.