More Lithium Battery Info

The original Thread is getting a little hard to follow.

I contacted Garmin about using Lithium batteries with the Vista Cx. The
bottom line is they will not hurt the unit and you should use the Alkaline
battery setting. There is, however, a caveat concerning battery charge
indication. I'm reposting my sanitized exchanges with Garmin as a general
service.

One final word: YMMV if you are using something other than a Vista Cx. I do
not have the experience to know if the following applies across the board or
only to the Vista Cx.
____________________________________
Original Question to Garmin:

In the Setup, there is a setting for Alkaline or NiMH batteries.

1) As far as the GPS is concerned, why does the battery type need to be
specified?

2) I would like to use Lithium batteries for even longer operating life.
Should I regard these as Alkaline since they are not rechargeable?

Original Reply:
From: TechSupp
Sent: Mar 20, 2006 10:10 AM
To: XXXXXXXXX
Subject: RE: Tech support request for eTrex Vista Cx

Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

The reason there are different battery type settings is so that the unit can
report the correct battery usage.

Yes you can use Lithium batteries in place of Alkaline. Although the unit
will not report the battery use correctly.

If you have any additional questions, please let me know or call our
800-800-1020 line during our regular business hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Central Time, Monday through Friday.

Best Regards,

XXXXXXXXX
Product Support Specialist
Garmin International
1200 E. 151st Street
Olathe, KS 66062
Tech Support
____________________________________

My Follow-up:
Interesting about Lithium batteries not showing correct battery usage. Will
the display showing power remaining be effected?

If so, which way will it be off?

Is there a forthcoming firmware update that will correct the reporting
problem? With the increased popularity of Lithium batteries because of their
longevity, I hope this will be looked into.


Follow-up Reply
Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

The meter will show it charged a little fuller than it really is, but not
very much. When it gets below 1/4, the reading would be accurate.

If you have any additional questions, please let me know or call our
800-800-1020 line during our regular business hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Central Time, Monday through Friday.

Best Regards,

XXXXXXXXX
Product Support Specialist
Garmin International
1200 E. 151st Street
Olathe, KS 66062
Tech Support
____________________________________

Apparently the difference is not worthy of any correction to the firmware.

But there appear to be functionality issues using Li cells in the 60Cx,
et al .. or so I have read. Perhaps due to SiRF electronics?

Phil

emanon wrote:

Phil Wheeler wrote:

I called Garmin tech support this morning, after trying Li cells in my
60Cx and getting the abnormal results reported by others (even though
the manual recommends Li cells during cold weather).

The guy I talked to confirmed that there is an issue related to the
Lithiums having a higher initial voltage than other types. His
recommendation was to use the cells in some other device first to reduce
their voltage .. not the happiest idea I've ever heard ;)

My *guess* is that this will not be resolved in firmware and that it
relates to the SiRF electronics .. since the 60C works fine on Li cells.
I hope I'm wrong.

In any event, I've pretty much converted to using NiMH cells .. since I
have a bunch and few other devices to use them in these days.

Phil