Thoughts about GPSMAP 67?

[Nail]

I fear that new GPSMAP67 users who do not know the excellent previous 66sr will obscure the current picture.
Their satisfaction will cause Garmin to do nothing to improve the accuracy of the track recorded.

For my bushwhacking needs such as navigating to a local trout pond or a cliff overlook, the GPSMAP 67 performs very well.

It's not that you have to complain, but you have to be aware that 67 isn't perfect even though it lives up to your expectations. The previous one was better.

[Nail]

@Admin or anybody who still has both 66sr and 67, can you test the battery life time in Demo Mode for 24h, when both units are charged at 100% with backlight screen off? Since there is a theory, that the 67 is less accurate, because they tried to prolong the battery life time, it would be interesting to see what happens in Demo Mode.

Out of curiosity, I will do this test, but until the battery is fully discharged in 66sr (screen, BT, WIFI, Compass are off).
Recording point interval 1 minute.
Such a test with only GPS turned on gave me a result of 48 hours to turn off completely.

[Gadwin]

@Admin or anybody who still has both 66sr and 67, can you test the battery life time in Demo Mode for 24h, when both units are charged at 100% with backlight screen off? Since there is a theory, that the 67 is less accurate, because they tried to prolong the battery life time, it would be interesting to see what happens in Demo Mode.

Out of curiosity, I will do this test, but until the battery is fully discharged in 66sr (screen, BT, WIFI, Compass are off).
Recording point interval 1 minute.
Such a test with only GPS turned on gave me a result of 48 hours to turn off completely.

ok, I am waiting eager for the result. Since the battery is the same and in Demo Mode the GPS chip won't do anything, it will be interesting to see if the rest of the hardware just drains more energy on the 66sr.

[Nail]

ok, I am waiting eager for the result. Since the battery is the same and in Demo Mode the GPS chip won't do anything, it will be interesting to see if the rest of the hardware just drains more energy on the 66sr.

The result is unlikely to be good. After 11.5 hours, the device lost 40% of its energy. I could see after the first hour that something was wrong. Apparently, this way of configuration does not help, and is even harmful to the battery.

Spoiler

67vs66sr25.jpg

[Nail]

ok, I am waiting eager for the result. Since the battery is the same and in Demo Mode the GPS chip won't do anything, it will be interesting to see if the rest of the hardware just drains more energy on the 66sr.

Failed, enabling demo mode did not save power. After 30 hours, 20% of the battery remained, I stopped the experience. Apparently there are some processes going on in the background that are using up the battery.
Try leaving your GPSMap 67 in this mode for 24 hours.
Recharge and another 24h with GPS on. Compare consumption.

[Gadwin]

I already did the test for 10 hours, when you did your first post and noticed, that the 67 also consumes the same amount of energy in Demo Mode like in multi-gnss/multi-band enabled. I guess, that the gps chip is not turned off in demo mode.

So we just have to wait for a correct RINEX file to judge or hope, that they really will refine somehow the 67.

[Przekątny]

I guess, that the gps chip is not turned off in demo mode.

Probably the GPS chip is powered in Demo mode,but does not do work
during this time, so this should not affect the energy consumption.

[neilwoody]

I have used my 67 for about a month now and am very happy with it. The battery life, screen sharpness and positional accuracy are all excellent. I use ExpertGPS software to plan my off-trail routes and manage waypoints and tracks. I use Garmin Express or Garmin Connect for firmware updates and EPO/CPE updates. I evaluate the positional accuracy using the hiking trails and roads of the latest USGS 7.5 maps (uploaded using the Custom Maps feature) and it is spot-on. Using the GNSS and multiband settings, I achieve a steady accuracy of 6 feet, more than enough for off-trail wilderness navigation.

[MarkHL]

...I use ExpertGPS software to plan my off-trail routes and manage waypoints and tracks.

I too use ExpertGPS for some things and have a current subscription. I suggest you take a look at the Garmin 'Explore' app. It seems simplistic and even a bit awkward at times, but it will lay a course (in many cases) with only a start and stop point defined because the course (i.e., track) will lock on to the trail structures (route). Plus, it will synch back to the device without the need for a USB connection to the PC. I was not impressed with this app when I first looked at it, but now see some advantages over ExpertGPS. At this point I believe Dan from ExpertGPS is no longer keeping up with the Garmin changes, particularly in the changes to the directory structure and terminology (e.g., courses versus tracks) and it basically doesn't work with Garmin watches or understand a FIT file structure. I'm becoming less of a fan.