Making the most of your Garmin 76

Resources > Flying Tips

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Rhun Llwyd:
This is one hell of a good guide. Thanks for gathering the information and putting it together Steve! I'm happy with the way the unit is now set up and it's also a good tour to the functions.

Diolch!

Rhun

Steve Watkins:

--- Quote from: Paul Hyde on April 27, 2011, 10:03:31 AM ---Hi Steve, I'm thinking about buying a used one, what's the easiest way to check which basemap is loaded and where is the card slot located?

--- End quote ---

Hi Paul,

The card slot is at the back where the batteries are located. It is covered over and protected by a rubber cover (I'm sure the Garmin floats and is waterproof)
When you switch the garmin on the second screen shows the basemap information, just check with the seller
hope this helps - Steve

Paul Hyde:
Hi Steve, I'm thinking about buying a used one, what's the easiest way to check which basemap is loaded and where is the card slot located?

Steve Watkins:
Introduction

I'm writing this guide to using the Garmin 76 as during my trip to Italy, I was taught by Brett Janaway how to maximise it's use and ability to fly better XC's, if that is what you wish to do. It is also a very good aid to thermalling and even if you do not decide to go XC, it can be handy to analyse your track logs and learn from it.

The Garmin 76 comes in many flavours, I use the 76csx which has the memory card option but the most important thing if you do buy a Garmin 76 is to get one with the European base map as opposed to the USA basemap.

The unit takes 2 x AA batteries, I use rechargeable ones 2450mAh and they work great! The back cover comes off easy and access to the MINI usb plug is also on the back of the unit. If you get the memory card option, a micro SD card can be put in the back to store extra tracks and maps if you wish. I use my card to store contour relief maps but this is not necessary for day to day flying.

Setting up your Garmin screens

To setup your order of screens, keep pressing PAGE until you reach the Main Menu screen, then select SETUP, then select PAGE SEQ and press ENTER.

Suggested pages are:

Map
Satellite
Main Menu
Active Route
Compass
Trip Computer

These pages can then be navigates easily using the QUIT and PAGE buttons. If you press the power button a few times the screen brightness alters to suit your requirements.

The following pages can be configured, suggested information is given:

Compass - When on compass screen, press menu, then data fields, and select show 4 fields - suggested values are:

Top left : Speed (Ground speed)
Top right : Dist to next (Distance to next waypoint)
Bottom left : Time of day
Bottom right : GR to Dest (Glide ratio to next waypoint)

Trip Computer - When on screen, press menu, then change data fields - suggested values are:

Top row left : Speed (Ground speed)
Top row right : Glide Ratio
Second row left : Dist to next (Distance to next waypoint)
Second row right: GR to Dest (Glide ratio to next waypoint
Third row left : Dist to dest
Third row right : Time of day
Fourth row : Elevation
Last row : Location

Map - When on map screen, press DATA FIELDS and select show 2. Then CHANGE DATA FIELDS and choose:

Left : Speed
Right : Time Of Day

Then, press MENU, then SETUP MAP and you should see 6 small icons on the top, some text underneath and a minature map at the bottom. At this point you can use the LEFT & RIGHT keys to navigate the icons and UP & DOWN to move up and down the options. Suggested values are:

Map Setup - General

Orientation - North Up
Auto Zoom - Off
Detail - Most
Lock on road - Off

Map Setup - Tracks

Saved tracks - AUTO
Track log - AUTO
Track points - 3000
Go to line - Bearin

Map Setup - Points

Map Points - AUTO
User waypoints - 300m
Street Label - AUTO
Land cover - AUTO

Map setup - Text

Map Points - Medium
User Waypoints - Medium
Street Label - Medium
Land cover - Medium

Map Setup - Marine (Ignore this section)

Then press QUIT to return to the MAP screen.

Ok just a few setup options, press PAGE until you get to the MAIN MENU and then

1) In the TRACKS option, leave this ON all the time, go to SETUP and make sure the tick is in the Wrap when Full section, Record Method is set to AUTO, Interval is MORE OFTEN and select which colour takes your fancy for the track colour. A darker colour works good against the light screen.

2) In the SETUP option, go to SYSTEM and make sure the battery type is correct, rechargable are NiMH, proximity alarms should be ON

3) IN the DISPLAY options, select AUTO display mode, backlight timeout 30 seconds, level 100% (These can be tweaked to save more battery)

4) In TONES - do not mute

5) In TIME, make sure the correct time zone is set etc

6) UNITS - Important this one!!:

Position Format : hddd mm.mmm (This gives a more accurate location bearing for retrieves etc)
Map Datum : WGS 84
Distance Speed : Metric
Elevation : Meters (m/min)

7) Go to WELCOME MESSAGE and put your telephone, email and address in here in case you lose your GPS!!!!

Ok, now that the setup is complete, I can now explain about waypoints.

Waypoints

Basicaly waypoints are a reference to a location and altitude. Waypoints can be anything, think of them as markers, pins, sticky notes - they can be set to give future reference for flights etc.

To set a waypoint at any time, for example, you are standing in a landing field 4km away from launch, simply hold the ENTER (mark) button and a new screen appears. As long as your GPS has found satellites, you should have date, time, location, elevation etc. At this point you can edit the waypoint name by scrolling up and down and pressing ENTER and changing the data.

What this does is stores a waypoint for future use. You can also manually enter waypoints - for example you know the details of a waypoint but you are not there, just repeat the process and input the co-ordinates and altitude data - very handy one this which I will explain.

Once you have a collection of waypoints, I will give an example of how you can use this to maximise your XC or flying skills:

1) At arrival on site, turn your GPS on and wait until it has 3D location (1-2 mins)
2) Then, press PAGE until the MAIN MENU and then select ROUTES
3) Then select NEW
4) Press ENTER again in the <Select Next Point> and a new screen appears, select WAYPOINT
5) Scroll and select the Waypoint you wish to use, and repeat this to build up a list:

For Example - I am on Heol Senni, I wish to fly over the hill in front, 5km South towards Pen Y Fan and then return to launch - this would require 4 waypoints:

Waypoint 1 - Heol Senni Launch (You can mark this when on launch using method above)
Waypoint 2 - Hill in front - Find the co-ordinates on google map and enter this manually
Waypoint 3 - Pen Y Fan 5km - Find the co-ordinates on google map and enter this manually
Waypoint 4 - Heol Senni Launch

This builds up a ROUTE for you to fly - then select navigate on the bottom

Once you select USE, the map screen reappears and it will probably say something like SW to Heol Senni and display a line showing the direction. This is your target, your goal to the next waypoint.

If you then select QUIT and navigate to the TRIP COMPUTER, some data will appear like dist to next waypoint, Glide Ratio to Destination and if flying your current glide ration etc.

Thermals - A very good tip is to look at other pilots tracklogs and see where the thermals are and mark them as waypoints. A good example is Nick Roberts easter XC challengde flight, mark the thermals on your GPS and then set them up as part of the flight plan. Sometime it will not work with thermals but this can ve very valuable information if struggling to find the next thermal over the back.

Glide Ratio - Glide Ration to Destination

Glide ratio to destination will automatically calculate during flight, for example, it may say 89:1 ratio, which means to your next waypoint that is the glide ratio. As most wings are 10:1 or under unless comp wings, the glide ratio information will show your actual ratio and you can use this to your advantage, when for example using speedbar in sink. Look at your glide ration and play with the bar to get the best glide ratio.

I found in Italy that 1/2 bar - 3/4 bar was better than full speed bar most of the time, and the Glide Ratio information supported this.

Once you have reached your waypoint, (the Dist to Next will decrease), then it will select the next waypoint - Waypoints are generally 400m cylinders but this can be changed with proximity alarms etc but that is for another guide!!

MAP SCREEN - When viewing the map screen, press IN button until 200m - that way you can follow your thermal track :)

I hope you find this of use, as I certainly did in Italy

Any questions for comments or other tips please feel free to ask.

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