Garmin Foretrex 601 – Settings & How-To Guide

Garmin Foretrex 601 / 701 – Settings & How-to guide: Recommendations, tips and informations for beginners and advanced users – your guide for a perfect Garmin Foretrex setup!

• Time Format: Your choice, e.g. 24-Hour
• Time Zone: Automatic is recommended

• Show Timer Page: Activate this page only if needed
• Count Down From: Choice between 10:00 / 6:00 / 5.00 / 4:00 / Count Up / Custom (e.g. 3 minutes)
• When Expired: Choice between Stop / Count Up / Repeat
• Expired Tone: Your choice
• Interval Tone: Your choice

• Light Timeout: Choice between Stays On (= always active) or a specific time; setting depends on your activity (e.g. cycling stays on, hiking 30 seconds)
• NVG Mode (night vision goggles, Mode): On / Off; deactivates the backlight independent from you settings in Light Timeout; our preference is off; probably better to activate the NVG mode by pressing the power button (function Enable NVG Mode)
• Contrast: Use the standard setting
• Backlight: Choice between Low / High; low is sufficient for most activities

• Position Format: Format for coordinates; for geocaching and marine use H D’M.M', otherwise UTM/UPS is the standard
• Position Format 2: Your choice; 2nd position format is available e.g. on the trip computer page (Location2 field)
• Map Datum: Use WGS 84, except in combination with paper maps (choose the same format as the paper map)
• Distance / Speed: Your choice
• Elevation: Your choice
• Temperature: Your choice
• Vertical Speed: e.g. M/MIN (Meter per Minute)
• Pressure: Your choice, depending on you region, activity, … (hpascals = hectopascals: international unit)

• Display: Degrees / Mils; use degrees (MIL for miltary use)
• North Reference: True / Mag / Grid / User; only relevant when navigating with compass and paper map (use the standard True)
• Compass: Auto / Off; we recommend auto
• Calibrate Compass: Calibrate the compass at the starting point or if necessary (e.g. after changing the batteries)

• GPS Mode: GPS / GPS + GLONASS / GPS + GALILEO / Ultratrac / Demo; use GPS (or for special use case like trail running Ultratrac) for a better battery life; GPS + GLONASS (or in future GPS + GALILEO) for a better accuracy (e.g. alpine environments, urban canyons)
• WAAS/EGNOS: On / Off; for outdoor activities you usually do not need WAAS/EGNOS signal corrections (WAAS is only available in North America, EGNOS in Europe). WAAS/EGNOS can provide a better accuracy in certain situations and is especially recommended for pilots and mariners
  

  BUT: Activate it, if your preference is Enable all and hope the best! (= GPS / GLONASS / WAAS / EGNOS).

• Beeper: Key and Message / Message Only / Off; message only is our preference (especially for system messages like low battery or lost satellite reception)
• Battery: Alkaline / NiMH / Lithium; depends on your preferred battery type
  

  Recommendation: NiMH for daily use, Lithium for long distance trips in cold environments or if the best battery life is required.

• Language: Your choice
• Spanner: Yes / No;
• Yes is our recommendation:
• The Foretrex is supplied with energy when connecting to an external power source (e.g. AC charger)
• Connecting the Foretrex to a Desktop-PC / Laptop you get the screen USB Cable Detected. Would you like to go to Mass Storage?:
  • Yes: Activiting the mass storage, you have access to the file system and can copy data (e.g. with Garmin BaseCamp)
  • No: Foretrex is powered by the external source, you can play with the device
• No: Device is powered by the external source
• Owner Info: Add your personal data, when you choose at power up: show you data is shown when the device is powered up

• Recording: On / Off; standard should be off, activate the recording only if needed
• Recording Interval: Distance / Time /Auto; our recommendation is Auto (good choice for most outdoor activities); Distance is especially recommended for hiking
• Resolution: Number of points in a track; depends on the recording interval; the Foretrex lacks an automatic track archiving feature, so be careful (track log can be overwritten); in the menu tracks you get the information track memory used (upper corner of the display)
  • Auto: highest is the best resolution (most track points) and is recommended for short trips (active track log < 10.000 points)
  • Distance: For hiking e.g. Distance / 00010.0 m
• Wrap When Full: Yes / No; when you choose Yes the active track log is overwritten when the limit (10.000 points) is reached; recommendation is No in combination with a lower resolution

• Route Leg Transition: Auto / Distance; Auto should be your standard setting

• Map Orientation: North Up / Track Up
  • North Up: North is always at the top of the display / page, independent of the device orientation
  • Track Up: Direction of travel is always at the top of the page (recommended for active navigation)
• Auto Zoom: On / Off; Off is probably the best setting
• Go To Line: Bearing / Course; Bearing is recommended for most activities; Course is suitable for activities like sea kayaking

• Auto Calibration: On / Off; Recommended altimeter calibration methods for outdoor activities:
  • 1st choice: Manually by entering the elevation at your starting point and recalibration on tour (e.g. elevations from mountain tops)(auto calibration Off)
  • 2nd choice: Manually by entering the elevation at your starting point, on tour auto calibration On
  • 3rd choice: Use only auto calibration On
• Calibrate Altimeter: Elevation / Barometric Pressure / GPS Altitude (best: elevation or barometric pressure)

• Reset Trip Data: Deleting all data from the current trip, e.g. fields like trip odometer, total ascent (but not the odometer = all recorded distance by the device). Should be done before starting a new trip
• Delete All Waypoints: Deletes all waypoints on the device
• Restore Default: Restores the Foretrex to factory default settings

• About Foretrex: e.g. software versions

• Foretrex stops responding: Hold POWER button for 10 seconds
• Master Reset: User data will be erased!
  1. Turn off Foretrex
  2. Press and hold the PAGE, ENTER and POWER buttons simultaneously
  3. Once the device is powering on release POWER, on 1st beep release PAGE, and on 2nd beep release ENTER

• 500 waypoints (names max. 8 characters)
• 20 routes (max. 125 waypoints each)
• 100 saved tracks (GPX: 500 points; FIT: 10.000 points; tracks are saved simultaneously as GPX- and FIT-files)
• Active track log max. 10.000 points

• Heading: Compass off
• Light Timeout: Select a short time
• Backlight: Low
• Use the NVG mode
• GPS Mode: GPS or Ultratrac (special purpose, e.g. ultra trail running)
• Beeper: Message only
• Map Orientation: North Up; Auto Zoom: off