User Manual

North Reference

‘Reference’ refers to the orientation of a map’s grid.

Map makers try to align the vertical lines on a map with

‘True North’. True North is the direction from any

location on the earth’s surface to the “north pole”. Maps

are typically referenced to true north. Because a compass

points to magnetic north, not true north, maps indicate

the difference between true and magnetic north with

something called ‘declination’. The amount of declination

changes as you move around the earth. Magnetic North

is the direction in which a compass needle points. The

eTrex bearings will correspond to a compass if the eTrex

is set to magnetic north. Due to errors introduced when

map makers ﬂ atten the earth’s sphere onto paper, not all

of the grid lines drawn on the map point exactly to the

north pole, so the north indicated by the grid lines is

called ‘Grid North’. But, the difference is usually small

enough that ‘Grid’ north can be considered the same as

True North for travelling on land. If necessary, you can

correct for the difference between Grid North and True

North manually.

To change the North Reference:

1. Press the PAGE Button and switch to the ‘MENU’

Page. Use the UP and DOWN Button and highlight

the ‘SETUP’ ﬁ eld. Press ENTER. The ‘SETUP’ Page

appears.

2. Press the UP or DOWN Button to select ‘UNITS’.

Press ENTER. The ‘UNITS’ Page appears.

3. Press the UP or DOWN Button and select the

‘NORTH REF’ ﬁ eld. Press ENTER.

4. Press the UP or DOWN Button to select the desired

reference. Press ENTER. Press PAGE to return to the

page of your choice.

When you select the ‘DEFAULTS’ ﬁ eld and press

ENTER, the ‘UNITS’ page returns to the factory settings.

‘MAGNETIC’ north is

the default north

reference setting.

Reference

Units of

Measure