Interfacing the gps with an autopilot
 

About two month ago, I reported here (and to Garmin) a problem with
the NMEA interface with my new GpsMap 276C and my autopilot AH/ST4000
and until today, this problem was not fixed by Garmin. I do not
believe that I am the sole user in the world witch have interfaced my
gps with my autopilot, but nobody else reported here this problem:
why?

The fact is that, here I have many friends, witch have theirs Garmin
gps interfaced with theirs autopilots, and many of them have the
problem, and a few others have not, as I showed in my report; In
general, old Autohelm autopilots like AH/ST 2000/4000/6000/7000, have
this problem with Gamins gps models: 130/12XL/45 with NMEA 2.0, III
Plus, III, V, 60C, 76C, and 276C. The problem does not exist with gps
models: 176, 176C, Map76, 130/12XL/45 with NMEA 1.5.

As I had explained in my report, I discovered, after several tests
that the problem is caused by the RMB message, and all gps witch sends
BWC, XTE and VTG does not have the problem, but all Garmin gps witch
does not send this messages causes the problem with that old
autopilots.

As the manual of GpsMap 276C states in page 90, "Advanced NMEA Setup",
that the unit ALWAYS sends the BWC, XTE and VTG, I have the right to
expect that Garmin will fix this fault ASAP, witch does not happened
until now (more than 60 days).

As several users of this gps forum had talked, maybe someone who read
this message could be a Garmin dealer or Garmin employed and perhaps
he/she can give me a help in convincing Garmin to solve this problem,
so that I could use my new and expensive Gps with my Autopilot, as
now I am forced to use again my old Map130 and Map76 for the
interface and keep my new Map276C in the box (since september/2004).

I am a Garmin customer since 1992, but now I am very angry with Garmin
because of this problem, I am thinking that maybe I should instead,
try sell this 276 and buy a plotter from NAVMAN or other brand: any
suggestions?



Regards

Pascal Goncalves
S 13 00/W 038 27

I'm not affiliated with Garmin, so I can't fix your problem. But I am
familiar with how protocol revisions and hardware vendors operate, so
perhaps I can shed some light on why what you're asking is hard to do
and might take some time. Maybe this is already obvious to you.

The fact that two devices which speak different versions of the same
protocol cannot reliably communicate is not surprising. I'm not saying
it's ok, since 2.0 and 1.5 should be compatible, but it's not uncommon
for problems like this to show up.

Now in order for Garmin to fix this, they'll have to write new
firmware. This takes time. They will also need to get the firmware out
there into the world, and they're not going to do this by personally
responding to everyone who complained about the problem. Your best bets
for being informed fast of any fixes are a) to register your products,
and b) to watch their website/newsletter and so on to catch upgraded
firmware.

And finally, you must understand that speed with which the problem will
be addressed will be proportional to (Garmin's notion of) how many
people have a pair of devices which can't speak to eachother. Sure,
you're not the only one, but there may only be 10 of you. Most product
registration cards have little checklists of hardware you intend to use
your new product with, and that's another way to make sure you get in
your vote and let them know which compatibilities you most care about.

Anyway, this is not terribly useful, but what I'm trying to say is:
think of Garmin as a much nicer version of Microsoft. Your problem will
be addressed according to how many other people have it, it will take
time, and you won't get personal notification that it was resolved, so
you'll have to be proactive and check. Being very angry with Garmin is
a waste of your time and energy :-)

Cheers,
Teri