GPS FORMATS

[Stumpknocker]

My buddy bought a Garmin model 76 GPS unit for his boat. When he picks a fishing site from the offshore chart, the format does not match his. Example, off Daytona Beach is a wreck listed at 29'12" 00sec. 80' 45" 11 sec. <br /><br />That said, his unit requires you to put in 29' 12" and "three" digits for the seconds. Not two as listed on most charts. So, do you put in 000 for the Latitude and 011 for longtitude? Or 110 for the longtitude? Of course you probably can't go wrong with the longtitude being 0. There is no way to change the mode of the Garmin to the two digits as used by most charts. My Lowrance unit is set for the 2 digit mode or actually two digits with a decimal place. 80' 45" 11.0 sec. The Lowrance can be changed from one format to the other. The Garmin can't. He seems to be stuck with this 3 digit format. Since all of the charts we use list the other format, how should he enter it? Frustrated he is. The Garmin rep says there is no way to change the mode, and you should enter 11 seconds as 011. There are other examples elsewhere that contradict this statement. Anybody know for sure?

 

[JB]

Re: GPS FORMATS

The correct format for the Garmin is: 29'12"000, 80'45"110.<br /><br />The increased number of significant digits allows greater accuracy.<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[Stumpknocker]

Re: GPS FORMATS

That was fast and painless. Thanks! I'm calling Roger now. Makes sense to me and we discussed the possibility of it being nothing more than greater accuracy for seconds. The salesman told him to enter the 0 then the seconds. 011. Thats what threw us. Makes much more sense this way.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Gill009. Your Garmin is stuck in the degrees, minutes and tenths of minutes mode. The chart you have is giving you degrees, minutes, and seconds. You cannot simply convert the seconds to tenths of minutes. For example if you have a Latitude of 34 degrees 16 min. 30 sec. That is the same as 34 degrees 16.500 min. 30 seconds is half a minute right, so half of a hundred is 50 or 500. To correctly convert from the map to your Garmin, divide the number of "seconds" on your map by 60 and enter that number as the last number in both lat and long. For example<br /><br />34D16'45"<br /><br />Divide 45 by 60 =.75<br /><br />Enter 34D16.750 into your Garmin.<br /><br />Here is your example.<br /><br />80' 45" 11.0 sec<br />divide 11 by 60=.183<br /><br />The conversion is 80D45.183<br /><br />This is an exact conversion. I'm surprised the guy at Garmin told you wrong. You'd think he would know.<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[Stumpknocker]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Actually, the salesman advised us that the Garmin rep said it. So, what we had there is a failure to communicate, or the salesman was confused. Either way, now I'm confused. I thought according to JB that 11 seconds would be 011, but you advise to divide 11 by 60 to obtain .183 as the correct conversion? <br /><br />By the way, I'm from Prescott Valley. Miss AZ bigtime.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: GPS FORMATS

That's right. 11 seconds is .183 of a minute. Whenever you see 3 digits following the minutes on the GPS, it means it's reading in tenths of minutes and not seconds. You must convert to get an acurate reading.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: GPS FORMATS

I was just in Prescott today on business. I live in Phoenix.

 

[Stumpknocker]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Ok, will update Roger. Thanks, this has been bugging him for weeks. Sent an email to Garmin, but so far no reply. I suppose they figure everybody would know these things, but we all have to start sometime.

 

[Stumpknocker]

Re: GPS FORMATS

My son is still there in Prescott Valley, and my daughters live in Phoenix. I'm sure we will be moving back one day. My wife and I both really miss the area. However, its quite a haul to salt water from there. Thanks again!

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: GPS FORMATS

No problem. I've been here for 4 years and love it. So much to see and do. Not enough weekends!

 

[Boatist]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Gill<br />I agree with rat default is degree minutes.1/1000 of minutes.<br /><br />Chart degrees is indicated by litte o at the top of the last number. Minutes by ' and seconds by ".<br />degrees = (o)<br />minutes = (')<br />Seconds = (")<br /><br />Garmin default is dergees minutes and 1/1000 of minutes.<br /><br />IN your example you had<br />29 12' 00" N by 89 45' 11' W<br />garmin default would be<br />29 12.000 N by 89 45.183' W<br /><br />Note the garmin is in degrees minutes. 1/1000 minutes.<br /><br />However my Garmin GPSMAP 76 can also be set to display,<br />degrees minutes seconds<br />format is hddd,mm'ss.s"<br /><br />to get there from the map page<br />hit the nenu key twice<br />scroll down to setup and hit enter<br />scroll right to location and hit enter<br />scroll down to location format and hit enter<br />scroll to hddd mm'ss.s" and hit enter<br /><br />it will now read in degrees minutes' and seconds"<br /><br />I do not know but think the gps 76 would be simular.<br /><br />Good Luck

 

[Stumpknocker]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Thanks, Boatist! This would be the best scenario if possible. I don't actually have the unit here because it belongs to a fishing buddy. I'll email him your procedure and let him try to change it. I can't imagine not having some choices of formats. Its probably more misinformation from the salesman. I think he was new or didn't really understand what we were asking him.

 

[jyasaki]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Originally posted by Drowned Rat:<br /> That's right. 11 seconds is .183 of a minute. Whenever you see 3 digits following the minutes on the GPS, it means it's reading in tenths of minutes and not seconds. You must convert to get an acurate reading.

I think you guys are making this way too complicated.<br /><br />Set the GPS readout to match the units you will be entering (i.e. Deg Min Sec) then change the readout back to whatever you prefer to use (i.e. Deg Min.FractionalMin) and it'll do the conversion for you.<br /><br />jky

 

[Stumpknocker]

Re: GPS FORMATS

According to Bass Pro World this unit will not allow you to change formats. This is why the thread started.

 

[Keithw]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Hi Guys.<br />What is the difference in feet between the 2 postions using the example 80.45'11" and 80.45'183"

 

[Stumpknocker]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Thats a good question. I would think theoretically 0 if both units were recieving the same number of satelites and all things being equal. The 2 digit format actually uses three numbers...example 80.45.11.5 in my Lowrance unit when there is actually a number slightly larger than a whole second. I have been trying to look up exactly how many feet a second represents. Then it would be somewhat to scale when viewed one against the other. The 183 is converted from the 11 seconds so they should be equal in my mind.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: GPS FORMATS

If you did not do the conversion and just entered the 11 seconds where you should be entering .183 of a minute, you would be just 396 feet off exactly. That's a pretty big error.

 

[Stumpknocker]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Boatist, your procedure was bang on the money for Roger. He also got an email from Garmin expressing virtually the identical instructions. He is really a happy camper now. Thanks for the input. Some of us just don't do well with manuals.

 

[Boatist]

Re: GPS FORMATS

Gil009<br />Glad it worked for you and Roger.<br /><br />If it is a new unit before loading all the waypoints you may want to upgrade to the latest software. Upgrades are free and depending what level you are at currently the upgrade can make a lot of improvments. For my unit improve almost 200 things. Some I did not care about but some make big difference, Like changed from 500 to 1000 waypoints, finds WAAS bird faster. Follow the link below and click on your unit then see what improvements have been made in later versions. If you find thing you think you will need then upgrade now as when upgrade it wipes out all your waypoints and then you will need to reenter. On my unit to find current software level go to map page hit menu twice then scroll down to system info and hit enter. It will tell you current software level. Then with the link you can go looks what inprovements were made and decide if you want to do or not.<br />Enjoy.<br /><br /> http://www.garmin.com/support/download.jsp