Garmin GPS 12CX Owner's Manual
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Garmin GPS 12CX Owner's Manual

Garmin GPS 12CX Owner's Manual

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Summary of Contents for Garmin GPS 12CX

  • Page 1 GOTO PAGE MARK QUIT ENTER...
  • Page 2 GARMIN Corpora- tion. GARMIN Corporation hereby grants permission to download a single copy of this manual and of any revision to...
  • Page 3 To get the most from your new GPS, take the time to read through the owner’s manual in order to understand the operat- ing features of the GPS 12CX. This manual is organized into four sections for your convenience: Introduction—...
  • Page 4 NAVigation AID (NAVAID), any NAVAID can be misused or misinterpreted and, therefore, become unsafe. Use the GPS 12CX at your own risk. To reduce the risk of unsafe operation, carefully review and understand all aspects of this Operator’s Manual and thoroughly practice operation using the simulator mode prior to actual use.

  • Page 5: Table Of Contents

    ECTION Glossary ... iv-v Accessories ... vi ECTION Battery Installation ... 1 Keypad Usage and Data Entry ... 2 Primary Page Overview ... 3-4 Power On, Screen Contrast & Marking a Position ... 5 Position Page, Map Basics & Going to a Waypoint ... 6 Compass Page ...

  • Page 6: Glossary

    INTRODUCTION Glossary The GPS 12CX is a powerful navigation tool that can guide you any- where in the world. To better understand its operation and capabilities, it may be helpful to review the basic terms and concepts briefly explained below.
  • Page 7 Grid Coordinate system that projects the earth on a flat surface, using square zones for position measurements. UTM/UPS and Maidenhead formats are grid systems. Ground Speed The velocity you are traveling relative to a ground position. Latitude The north/south measurement of position perpendicular to the earth’s polar axis.

  • Page 8: Accessories

    Part Number—010-10117-00 Zippered case is lined and has a belt loop . GA 27 Amplified Antenna Part Number—010-10052-00 Helps the GPS 12CX acquire weak satellite signals. Great for the car! Cigarette Lighter Adapter Part Number—010-10085-00 Plugs into 12 and 24 volt systems to run the GPS 12CX on external battery power.

  • Page 9: T Quick Start

    Battery Installation The GPS 12CX operates on 4 AA batteries (in- cluded), which are installed at the base of the unit. These batteries provide up to 36 hours of use in “Power Saver” mode. To install the batteries: 1. Remove the battery cover by turning the thumb loop at the bottom of the unit 1/4 turn counter- clockwise.

  • Page 10: Keypad Usage And Data Entry

    QUICK START Keypad Usage & Data Entry PAGE GOTO MARK QUIT ENTER Press the ROCKER ROCKER ROCKER ROCKER ROCKER key up or down to select letters or num- bers in a data field. Pressing the ROCKER ROCKER key left or ROCKER ROCKER ROCKER...

  • Page 11: Primary Pages

    Primary Pages The GPS 12CX has five primary information pages, the Satellite, Position, Map, Navigation and Menu pages. Pressing the key will move the display forward PAGE through the information pages, pressing the will move the display backward through the pages.

  • Page 12: Map Page

    Navigation Page A navigation page gives you steering guidance when going to a waypoint. The GPS 12CX has two navigation page choices: the Compass Page and the Highway Page. The Compass Page is the default and will be briefly ex- plained here.

  • Page 13: Adjusting The Contrast

    Quick Start Tour The Quick Start Tour will teach you the basic op- eration of your GPS 12CX. This tour assumes that none of the factory settings (units of measure, selectable fields) have been changed. If the settings have been changed the pictures and descriptions you see in the manual may not match what you see on the screen.

  • Page 14: Going To A Waypoint

    QUICK START Position/Map Pages & Going To a Waypoint Selecting Map Zoom Level Selecting Map Zoom Level Selecting Map Zoom Level Selecting Map Zoom Level Selecting Map Zoom Level Map Page Map Page Map Page Map Page Map Page (making a left turn) (making a left turn) (making a left turn) (making a left turn)

  • Page 15: Compass Page

    As you get closer to ‘HOME’, you will be alerted to press PAGE . The GPS 12CX will give you the message “Approaching HOME”. Once you have arrived the dis- tance field will read 0.00.

  • Page 16: Cancelling A Goto

    3. Highlight ‘CANCEL GOTO’ and press ENTER . Clearing a Cluttered Map Display After you have used the GPS 12CX a few times, you may find that the display has become cluttered with old track log information. The track log is the bread crumb trail that you left on the screen.

  • Page 17: Sky View And Signal Strength Bars

    The GPS 12CX’s Satellite Page displays the status of various receiver functions. The status information will help you understand what the GPS 12CX is doing at any given time, and will tell you whether or not the receiver has calculated a position fix.

  • Page 18: Satellite Status Page

    The status will be shown as one of the follow- ing conditions: Searching Searching Searching Searching – the GPS 12CX is looking for any Searching available satellites in view. AutoLocate AutoLocate AutoLocate AutoLocate –...

  • Page 19: Battery Level Indicator

    Backlight Bulb Icon The GPS 12CX features three level (off, low, high) full-screen backlighting. Anytime the backlight is on, a bulb icon will be displayed on the satellite page. Emergency Erase Function You may erase the GPS 12CX’s memory in four...

  • Page 20: Position Page

    The position field indicates your current latitude and longitude in degrees and min- utes. The GPS 12CX uses this basic information to mark exact positions as waypoints, which help guide you from one place to another. The bottom of the page contains a 12- or 24-hour clock.

  • Page 21: Altitude Field

    1. Highlight the ‘MXSPD’ field, and press ENTER . 2. Press ENTER to confirm the ‘RESET?’ prompt. Altitude Field When the GPS 12CX is acquiring satellites or navi- gating in the 2D mode, the last known altitude is used to compute your position. You may also manually en- ter your altitude for greater accuracy.
  • Page 22 REFERENCE Map Page Map Scale 5.0 miles Map Scale 3.0 miles Map Scale 2.0 miles Increasing or decreasing the map scale varies the level of detail available on the map. A small map scale increases the “up- close” detail on the map, while a large map scale increases the “overall”...
  • Page 23 From the waypoint definition page, you can also define how each individual waypoint is displayed on the map. The GPS 12CX displays waypoints as a name with a corresponding symbol (e.g., “camp” and the camp site symbol), or a 16-character comment and cor- responding symbol, (e.g., “great boat ramp”...
  • Page 24 REFERENCE Using the Cursor & Map Setup Marking Target Crosshair Marking Target Crosshair Marking Target Crosshair Marking Target Crosshair Marking Target Crosshair Going to the Target Crosshair Going to the Target Crosshair Going to the Target Crosshair Going to the Target Crosshair Going to the Target Crosshair Map Option Window Map Option Window...

  • Page 25: Map

    Map Setup Page and Orientation (cont.) The rest of the map setup page lets you specify what items are displayed on the map and their color. • ’Rings’– displays three range rings on the map at incre ments of 1/5th the selected map scale. •...

  • Page 26: Track Method

    REFERENCE Track Method & Clearing the Track Log Changing the Track Method Changing the Track Method Changing the Track Method Changing the Track Method Changing the Track Method Clearing the Track Log Clearing the Track Log Clearing the Track Log Clearing the Track Log Clearing the Track Log Track Method...

  • Page 27: Navigation

    Selecting a Navigation Page Once you’ve selected a GOTO destination or acti- vated a TracBack, MOB, or route; the GPS 12CX will provide graphic steering guidance to the destination with one of two navigation pages: Compass Page Compass Page Compass Page...
  • Page 28 REFERENCE User-Selectable Field Compass Page User-selectable Compass Page User-selectable Compass Page User-selectable Compass Page User-selectable Compass Page User-selectable Options Options Options Options Options Highway Page User-selectable Highway Page User-selectable Highway Page User-selectable Highway Page User-selectable Highway Page User-selectable Options Options Options Options Options...
  • Page 29 (SPD), and a user-selectable field for ETE, ETA, CTS, XTK, VMG, or TRN. When you are one minute away from your destina- tion (based on your current speed and track over ground), the GPS 12CX will alert you with a flashing on-screen message box. Destination Waypoint...
  • Page 30 Destination Waypoint Graphic Highway The GPS 12CX’s Highway Page provides graphic steering guidance to a destination waypoint, with a greater emphasis on the straight-line desired course and the dis- tance and direction you are off course. The bearing and distance to a waypoint—along with your current track and speed—are displayed at the top of the screen.

  • Page 31: Creating Waypoints

    Creating Waypoints The GPS 12CX allows you to store up to 1000 posi- tions as waypoints. A waypoint can be entered by taking an instant electronic fix, by manually entering coordi- nates, by using the bearing and distance to a known position or by marking a position on the map page.

  • Page 32: Waypoint Comments

    Adding Waypoint to Route Position Averaging Saving the Waypoint Waypoint Comments Each waypoint stored in the GPS 12CX has a user defined 16-character comment field. The default com- ment is the UTC (or Greenwich Mean Time) date and time of the waypoint’s creation.

  • Page 33: Waypoint Definition Page

    Coordinates Definition Page Distance from Reference Waypoint The GPS 12CX’s advanced way- point planning features allow you to create new waypoints and prac- tice navigation without ever setting foot outside. If you create a new waypoint be entering coordinates from a map, you may want to re-mark the waypoint’s exact position once you...

  • Page 34: Reference Waypoints

    2. Press the left side of the ROCKER to clear the name field 3. Scroll through the waypoints. Note: The GPS 12CX’s waypoint scanning feature will offer the first waypoint that matches the character or char- acters you have entered up to that point. If you have more than one waypoint that begins with the same letter or number, move to the next character position as needed.

  • Page 35: Waypoint List Page

    Waypoint List Page The waypoint list page provides a complete list of all waypoints stored in the GPS 12CX. The waypoints are conveniently located on alphabetical tabs that allow quick access to any of the 1000 available waypoints. From the...

  • Page 36: Nearest Waypoints Page

    1. Highlight the desired waypoint, and press GOTO . 2. Press ENTER. Proximity Waypoint Page The GPS 12CX’s proximity waypoint function warns you when you are getting too close to hazardous way- points. This function allows you to create up to nine proximity waypoints and designate an alarm circle for each waypoint.

  • Page 37: Selecting A Goto Destination

    ‘MOB’ selected. 2. Press ENTER to begin MOB navigation. The GPS 12CX will now guide you to the MOB way- point until the MOB GOTO is cancelled. If you want to save the MOB waypoint, be sure to rename it because it will be overwritten the next time a MOB is activated.

  • Page 38: Tracback Navigation

    3. Highlight ‘TRACBACK’ and press ENTER. Once the TracBack function has been activated, the GPS 12CX will take the track log currently stored in memory and divide it into segments called legs. Up to 30 temporary waypoints will be created to mark the most significant features of the track log in order to duplicate your exact path as closely as possible.
  • Page 39 Tips On the TracBack Feature • Always clear your track log at the exact point that you want to go back to (trail head, truck, etc.). • The ‘RECORD’ option on the track log setup page must be set to ‘WRAP’ or ‘FILL’. •...

  • Page 40: Route Navigation

    Route Navigation The last form of navigating to a destination with the GPS 12CX is by creating a user-defined route. The route navigation feature lets you plan and navigate a course from one place to another using a set of pre-defined way- points.

  • Page 41: Route Definition Page

    Field Function Prompts The last form of navigating to a destination with the GPS 12CX is by creating a user-defined route. The GPS 12CX lets you create and store up to 20 routes of 30 waypoints each. Routes can be copied, cleared, inverted, and acti- vated through the route definition page.

  • Page 42: Creating And Navigating Routes

    REFERENCE Creating & Navigating Routes Creating a Route Activating a Route Inverting a Route Creating and Navigating Routes To create a route from the route definition page: 1. Highlight the route number field, and press ENTER . 2. Enter a route number, and press ENTER . (Select an empty route—without any waypoints listed—when cre- ating a new route.) 3.

  • Page 43: Active Route Page

    Active Route Page Once a route has been activated, the active route page will display the waypoint sequence of your route with the estimated time enroute (ETE) at your present speed and the distance to each waypoint. As long as you are navigating an active route, the active route page will become part of the main page sequence of the unit.

  • Page 44: Editing Routes

    On-Route GOTOs At the beginning of this section, we mentioned that the GPS 12CX will automatically select the route leg closest to your position as the active leg. This will give you steering guidance to the desired track (desired course) of the active leg.

  • Page 45: System Setup

    System Setup The system setup page is used to select the operating mode, time offset, and screen preferences. The GPS 12CX has three operation modes: • Normal Mode—operates the unit at maximum perfomance, and provides battery life of up to 24 hours on alkaline batteries.

  • Page 46: Time Format

    REFERENCE Main Menu— System Setup Submenu Entering a Time Offset Selecting a Time Format Backlight Timer Settings Tone Settings Date and Time Setup (cont) To enter the time offset: 1. Highlight the ‘OFFSET’ field and press ENTER . 2. Enter the time offset, and press ENTER. Time Format The time display shown on the system setup and Po- sition Pages may be set to display the time in a 12 or 24-...

  • Page 47: Navigation Setup

    Navigation Setup The navigation setup submenu page is used to select the Position Format, Map Datum, CDI Scale, Units of Measurement, and Heading information. Position Formats The default position format for the GPS 12 CX is latitude and longitude in degrees and minutes (hdddº mm.mmm’).

  • Page 48: Cdi Scale

    2. Select the desired units of measure, and press ENTER . Heading Reference The GPS 12CX’s heading information can be displayed referencing magnetic north (automatic or user-defined), true north, or calculated grid headings. The default set- ting is automatically-calculated magnetic north, which is suitable for most applications.

  • Page 49: Alarms Setup

    Angular Heading Selection The GPS 12CX gives you the ability to change your angular display. Choose this field to toggle between de- grees and MILS. To change between degrees and MILS: 1. Highlight the angle heading field and press ENTER 2.

  • Page 50: Interface Setup

    GARMIN GPS units or the GPS 12CX and a PC. The transfer mode field is directly below ‘GRMN/GRMN’, and allows you to specify what information to request or send to a second GPS unit.
  • Page 51 DGPS operation. You may also monitor the DGPS status from the status field on the interface page. The GPS 12CX will display one of three alert messages concerning DGPS operation: No DGPS Position— there is not enough correction data available to compute a DGPS position.

  • Page 52: Language Setup

    2. Highlight the desired language and press ENTER . Find City The GPS 12CX has a built in database of over 30,000 city locations worldwide. The ‘Find City’ function makes locat- ing, viewing and going to any city in the database easy.

  • Page 53: Navigation Simulator

    Navigation Simulator The GPS 12CX’s simulator mode lets you practice all aspects of its operation without active satellite ac- quisition. You can plan and practice trips, enter new waypoints and routes, and save them for use during normal operation. To activate the simulator: 1.
  • Page 54 GPS 12 CX’s internal database. This typically provides a position fix in under three minutes. • AutolocateTM – allows the GPS 12CX to initialize itself and calculate a position fix without knowing your present position. This usually provides a fix in 3-5 minutes.

  • Page 55: Appendix A-Initialization

    500 miles of your present position. 5. Press ENTER to finish. The GPS 12CX will now begin searching for the ap- propriate satellites for your location and should acquire a position in under three minutes. You can verify that...
  • Page 56 Internal Backup: NOTE: Alkaline batteries lose a significant amount of their capacity as tem- perature decreases. If you’re using the GPS 12CX in below freezing tem- peratures, use lithium batteries for longer battery life. Extensive use of screen backlighting will significantly reduce battery life.
  • Page 57 Three optional cables are available to connect the GPS 12CX to an external power source or interface with another unit or PC: • Cigarette Lighter Adapter— Allows connection to a 12-volt DC cigarette lighter plug. Part No. 010-10085-00. • Data Transfer Cable— Allows data transfer between GARMIN GPS units. The GPS 12CX is compatible with the following units: GPS 38/40/45/45XL, GPS II/II plus, GPS 12, and GPS 12XL.

  • Page 58: Appendix C-Messages

    Try another location with a clearer view of the sky. Power Down and Re-init – The GPS 12CX is not able to calculate a position due to abnormal satellite conditions. Turn the unit off and verify the last position shown by other means.
  • Page 59 RTCM Input has Failed – DGPS data being received has been lost. You are no longer receiving the beacon signal. Searching the Sky – The GPS 12CX is in searching the sky for almanac data or the unit is in AutoLocate™ mode.
  • Page 60 APPENDIX D Time Offset Time Offset Chart The table below gives approximate UTC time offset for various longitudinal zones. If you are in daylight savings time, add one hour to the offset. º 0 º 5 º 5 º 5 º...
  • Page 61 Adindan Adindan- Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal, Sudan Afgooye Afgooye- Somalia AIN EL ABD ‘70 AIN EL ANBD 1970-Bahrain Island, Saudi Arabia Anna 1 Ast ‘65 Anna 1 Astro ‘65- Cocos Isl. ARC 1950 ARC 1950- Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe ARC 1960 ARC 1960- Kenya, Tanzania Ascnsn Isld ‘58...
  • Page 62 APPENDIX E Map Datums NAD27 Bahamas North American 1927- Bahamas (excluding San Salvador Island) NAD27 Canada North American 1927- Canada and Newfoundland NAD27 Canal Zone North Am. 1927- Canal NAD27 Caribbn North American 1927- Car ibbean (Barbados, Caicos Islands, Cuba, Dom. Rep., Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Leeward and Turks Islands) NAD27 Central...
  • Page 63 Activating Route ... 34 Active Route Page ... 35 Adding Waypoint to Route ... 24 Alarms Setup ... 41 Altitude ... 12 Altitude Field ... 13 Angular Heading ... 41 Average Speed ... 12 Backlight Timer ... 38 Backlighting ... 8 Battery Installation ...
  • Page 64 APPENDIX F Index Map Datums ... 39, 53 Map Page ... 14 Map Setup ... 16 Marking a Position ... 5, 23 Maximum Speed ... 12, 13 Maximum Speed Reset ... 13 Memory Battery ... 11 Messages ... 50, 51 MOB ...
  • Page 65 Time Format ... 38 Time Offset ... 52 Tone Setting ... 38 TracBack ... 30 TracBack Tips ... 31 Track ... 12 Trip Odometer ... 12 Trip Timer ... 12 Units of Measure ... 40 User Grid ... 39 Using the Compass Page ... 21 Using the Keypad ...
  • Page 66 GARMIN warranty service station. A copy of the original sales receipt is required as the proof of purchase for warranty repairs. GARMIN retains the exclusive right to repair or replace the unit or soft- ware or offer a full refund of the purchase price at its sole discretion.
  • Page 67 Garmin International, Inc. 1200 E. 151st Street, Olathe, KS USA 66062 GARMIN (Europe) Ltd., Unit 5, The Quadrangle, Abbey Park Industrial Estate, Romsey SO51 9AQ UK GARMIN (Asia) Corp., 3F, No. 1, Lane 45, Pao Hsing Road, Hsin Tien, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.

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