GPS Waypoints all erased!

[ShadMan]

Finally got to removing my GPS from the Dash of the snowmobile and back in the boat today. When I turned it on a message came on the screen that I have never seen before. It said that all waypoints and routes have been Erased. I never saw this message before! 3 years now and the unit sat at times 2 months with out being turned on and always had the waypoints in memory. Some I never wrote down and now have to search the water again to find some good shallow reefs on Winnebago. Anyone have an answear?
Thanks ShadMan

[captron]

Not shure but it sounds like the internal batt must be going bad.It could be that if it was left pluged in that it drained the batt.This batt should be good for 10 years but has been known to go bad.The best bet is always write your cords down.Good luck.

[Time to Move]

Funny, same thing happened to me when my wife was handing me my Garmin 75. She thiught she did it and feels real bad. 200 waypoints gone. Serves me right for not backing them up.

[Mike]

The lithium battery in the unit is kaput, especially if you're using it in the winter. The cold will zap the life out of any battery. The fix is to replace it, note your waypoints and wait for the inevitable to happen again.

[bob oh]

Al,

You need to get a computer program to hold your waypoints so you can reload them into your GPS anything you have problems.

Bob

[schwartzy]

Backup and write it down. No matter how comfortable you feel with leaving it up to the Gods. Dreaded feeling when it all crashes. Write down coordinates in a log and backup to your pc

[joeyo]

I had the same thing with my eagle-vu.It dumped
everything but has kept everything I have stored since. what brand is yours?

[PaulV]

Does your unit still mark new waypoints? My Garmin GPS12 dumped all of my waypoints last year and wouldn't hold any new ones. I was told that they had a run of units that got bad memory chips or some such thing. Garmin sent me a new unit for no charge, even though it was out of the warranty period. Unfortunately, I still had to go back to square one and relocate all of my waypoints as I did not have the foresight to keep a log. At least you know you're not alone.

[Tyler Campbell]

I use the LMS-160 and back them up to the computer. I then back that up. It's much better than writing them down if you have a unit that you can download from. Unfortunately there aren't alot of units that you can do this with now, but there will be more in the future I'm sure.

Check the battery though.

Good fishin'

[ShadMan]

I have a Eagle View GPS. I thought maybe the GPS cords were erased with the SA being lifted this week? Maybe my battery is shot? I should store one I guess and then unplug the unit for 2 days and then see if I still have them after 2 days. Thanks for the help!
ShadMan

[ShadMan]

Bob I do not have that ability to do that with my GPS but it is a good idea to write them down for now on thanks for the answear thought maybe it had something to do with the SA being turned off?
ShadMan

[Murph]

I never had my waypoints erased, but did get tired of losing backup paper copies, getting em wet, etc. Hot Spots has a "GPS Coordinate Logbook" which holds 500 waypoints and is made of the same waterproof, tearproof paper they use for their maps.........Murph.

[REW]

1. I expect that the internal battery in your unit has gone bad. Get a new battery and you will be back in business.
2. Suprisingly enough -- almost all of the units out there have the capability to upload and download waypoints, icons and routes. Do a bit of investigation, and locate the program, upload / download cable, and a spare power plug.

That way, when ever you return from a new fishing trip -- simply connect to the computer, download and save for that days date or some other file name.

If you like, you can then either use their program, or if not print capable, use a text editor to copy and paste into the editor, and then print out the waypoints and icons. This will give you a backup hard copy without writing them all down.

I was out for our first week long fishing trip. Just before leaving I had backed up all my current waypoints. On the 2nd day of the trip, I had the misfortune of getting caught in a hail storm, that effectively hammered my display on my GPS. I was able to pick up a used unit - that was identical to my old unit when I got home. I plugged in the unit, and downloaded all my previously saved waypoints, icons and routes.

Excellent time saver and the programs work well.

Check them out.

Take care

REW -
p.s
If you need any help in doing this, send me an E-mail.

[Matt]

Sorry to hear that. Me too. I have an Eagle AccuMap Sport. Out on the water it locked up and when I rebooted it reset and everything was gone. Also I had to send mine in for service once because I had fried the antenna. And after I had sent it in I wondered what would happen to all my waypooints. Eagle told me I should have a backup. I asked if the could print off a hard copy for me. When I got my unit back it was like new! New antenna, keypad, cartrige cover, updated software and a hard copy of all 175 waypoints, HAND WRITTEN. Those two times I've had to manually enter all my wayppoints. Since then I've gotten Eagles softare for managing waypoints, icons, routes. Only 20 bucks! If I loose my waypoints again it will have paid for itself 10-fold. I now regularly back-up my GPS.