My GT-31 started working intermittently so I bought a brand new GW-52 in late 2015 not knowing that GW-60s were just around the corner. $290 later I was never able to get it to work and finally figured out that it wasn't the standard un-userfriendliness of Locosys products or my own stupidity - the start button simply did not work. I contacted Locosys for advice or assistance and they did not even have the courtesy to reply. The device has never been used or taken out of the house.

Some time later, I nearly accepted that I've been screwed and went to throw it out. However if I'm going to do that, I might as well crack it open and see if it is something as simple as a loose connection.

I've loosened all the screws in the back, however the system still seems tightly shut with no movement in the join at all.

Is there any way to get a GW-52 open? Any advice greatly appreciated.

I mostly sailed without a GPS after 2015 until I started using a Garmin Fenix 5x this year. Absolutely loving it for all the different sports I do and the health data. So user friendly. No more Locosys for me - even if it means I am lost to GPSTC.

the canmore is a cheap alternative if you want to post to gpstc

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powersloshin said..
the canmore is a cheap alternative if you want to post to gpstc

I wouldn't advice buying a canmore, there's talk about phasing them out.

I've pulled a gw 52 apart a while ago, and I'm fairly sure it was only the 6 screws holding the back on. However there is a ribbon cable connecting the display to the board. This is just a push, the cable in to a slot arrangement, and could be the cause of your problem.
Just be careful pulling it apart that you don't strain the cable



That beige coloured socket is where the touch pad ribbon cable joins, That's the most likely cause.






There may be a sealing agent around the usb port. You can see the silicon around this one. I'd try gently levering it with something sharp.

And of course the other likely possibility is the touch pad itself. A lot of them are insensitive, it can take several tries to get a response. The Start + Mode to unlock, is particularly frustrating with some units. The best way seems to be, to rest the watch on a sold surface while touching the pad.

That is such awesome advice decrepit. Thank you so much

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needsalt said..
That is such awesome advice decrepit. Thank you so much

I hope it generates a good result!
Get back with how you fared.

Mike can you elaborate on the talk of phasing out the Canmores. Reasons. Theres not a lot of options out there for GPS sailors that are within reasonable budgets with reliability added.

Dave, there is only talk about it at the moment. It certainly won't happen until there are other alternatives.
But the "motion" is looking good, although it won't be cheap.

There are still a few 2nd hand GT31's around, as long as they still work, they'll probably always be allowed.

Inadvertently Cocky 2 made a the case for phasing it out. It doesn't record error data and it's very prone to missing points.
The "legacy garmins" with only 0.5hz trackpoint data are well overdue for phasing out.
Even though these devices aren't meant for team scores, that's hard to organise. It would be nice if we are all posting with verifiable accurate data.

Just a side note, at the moment there is no stock of gw60 in the country that I can find (I could be mistaken). Does not seem to me like a good idea to have all our eggs in the one basket so to speak until there is more than one commercial available option for sailors..

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bc said..
Just a side note, at the moment there is no stock of gw60 in the country that I can find (I could be mistaken). Does not seem to me like a good idea to have all our eggs in the one basket so to speak until there is more than one commercial available option for sailors..

Its ok some people have stockpiles of old gps for this and this will help keep new people out.

I have been used several Canmore Gp102's over the last 3-4 years I have been sailing have used my last working Gt31every so often and compared the data to make sure they are still working alright. they seem to work fine for about 100 sessions and then slowly over time they start not recording every sec which means you can get small variance in some readings, occasionally 2sec will read 1-2% higher, alpha drops right down sometimes to zero, the rest don't tend to vary to much but if they do its usually towards the lower side. When I am on a slalom board I always run 2 to check against each other, their so small and light you don't notice them in aquapack. when i'm out cruising on my winsup I just run and old one just to record kms, I only do 10-15 kts max so the rest of my numbers are irrevelant to rankings, I could put Zero in other boxes if it's a problem. I do not want to buy a GW60, to many people are having to many problems for the price that it is. In the car industry it would be called a LEMON.
Surely it is not that critical to what is a " SOCIAL" competition for accuracy to the 1/1,000 of a second and if you're doing 15 kts max.
Looking at the rankings for this year only 423 posted in aus this year, this weekend the noosa triathlon is on with 10,000 plus entrants!!!!
Out of that 423 this year only 310 have got over a 30 kt 2 sec
245 " " " a 30 kt 5x10
178 " " " a 35 kt 2 sec
114 " " " a 35 kt 5x10
61 " " " a 40 kt 2 sec
13 " " " a 40 kt 5x10
The Canmore is easy to use, cheap at 80-85 $, reliable in that it has never failed to record a session, 14 Hr battery life, 3Mb memory. I think it would be foolish to not allow it to be used at all if there are no other cheap, reliable, reasonably accurate with a decent memory and battery life to replace it. Your current rule of it being allowable is QUOTE [If you are posting results that are counted in the Team challenge in a competitive team you should inspect the results closely in a stand alone analysis program for unusual results and errors.] Captains job?
That file of Callans was obviously bad, several people checked it and agreed as such. the team captain should have explained this to him and told him why he could not post it. I understand it was an old canmore given to him, not his fault as a beginner that he didn't know that it was inaccurate plus being in the water for a while results in losing satellite fixes sometimes.
The core of the problem with this accuracy debate is the 2sec category, should never have been there, has caused so many problems and arguments. 5x10 is a much more accurate representation of a sailors speed in a session, 10 data points over a decent distance less prone to accuracy problems.
I know in my team a few sailors have said that once their GT31s die they were going to get canmores, didn't want a GW60. Even the captain prefers the garmin watch although she posts off a GT31.

Such a relief to hear others wanting to hold on to non-Locosys options - thanks so much. No luck cracking open my dud GW-52 yet - very tightly sealed. Will get more violent with it when I get a chance.

I'm not tech savvy and I know there's lots of threads about data processing options on here, but I would be the happiest windsurfer in the world if Garmin Fenix 5x data could be easily extracted and was acceptable for GPSTC one day...