"Glenn Westfall" wrote in message
...
I have a Garmin 196 and just in the past week or so it is acting
strange. I get a signal just fine, but when I am standing still it
constanly changes headings.

I don't have that GPS, but that sounds normal to me. Probably if you zoom
in far enough, you'll see that it IS showing a change in your position.
Even a tiny position change can be converted to a heading change. The
position change is simply a result of variations in the error, when you are
stationary.

I suppose the software ought to dampen this effect by updating heading only
when a large enough position change occurs, but my low-end handheld Garmin
doesn't do any such dampening.

Why you've only noticed this in the past week, I can't say. Maybe it isn't
supposed to do it, and this is some sort of glitch. I wouldn't guess that's
the case, but obviously I can't say for sure.

Pete