hdarpini

Technically, the accuracy hasn't changed at all. Because you were using the wrong datum previously, the GPS was reporting exactly what it knew to report. If I tell you to come to 123 Main Street and you write it down as 123 Maine Street, when you show up at 123 Maine Street you're in the right place based on the information you wrote down. You're a few blocks from where you expected to be from our conversation, but you wrote down the wrong street name. What kind of accuracy are you expecting? You are aware that consumer-grade GPSrs are at best accurate to about 3 meters, and Google Earth imagery is often not 100% correct, yes? If you really want to test accuracy, find a known reference point (benchmark) and compare it against that. Then do the same comparison at different times of the day, for several days over the course of a week. Accuracy is nothing without repeatability. I'm sure that the "accuracy" is back to normal, in terms of the device and map now in sync once again, but as I said, I just need to get outside more to see if I can get even better accuracy. With my eTrex Legend, I was getting WAAS accuracy often (sometimes <3 meters), and once in a great while I would get WAAS accuracy with my current unit (despite what I may have said in an earlier post). But that was in the U.S., in the suburbs, where there is generally more open space and wider streets than here in Strasbourg, so I don't think I'll be getting quite the same accuracy as often. As you say, I just need to get around more to see what kind of results I can get. Thanks for the info.

Actually, I've found the coordinates from Google Earth to be quite useful for geocaching. I've used it for both placing and finding geocaches and have had success with each.

Yes, someone in another forum suggested that I make sure the datum was set to WGS84. I thought it was already, but when I checked, it was set to NAD83 for some reason. When I reset it to WGS84, accuracy increased dramatically to around 10 meters (at least testing from within my home, where my home is a waypoint that I set using coordinates from Google Earth). Still not where I want to be, but a heck of an imporovement. Maybe in different areas outside, accuracy will improve even more.

Egnos was the name of the system I was trying to remember. Unfortunately, turning off WAAS on my Triton doesn't appear to be an option (another reason why I regret giving up my lowly Garmin Etrex Legend for this more expensive and less useful model). In any event, i think it's moot, since I never saw a "W" (the Magellan equivalent to "D") on the satellite signal bars all the time I had it in the U.S., which makes me think WAAS was never working.

I bought my Triton 2000 in May while still in the U.S. and got so-so results when geocaching I moved to France in July and last week started geocaching again here. On the first couple of geocaches, I became suspicious that my GPS was way off, so I used Google Earth to confirm this. I entered the coordinates that my GPS had reported for my home, and Google Earth took me to a spot a few hundred meters away from where I actually live. I did the same thing for a cache, and Google Earth took me to a spot a similar distance away from where my GPS had led me. Has anyone seen this issue? Any idea of the cause? I thought any GPS with WAAS capability would be able to work with the satellites that service Europe. To be honest, though, I never thought WAAS reception was working correctly on my unit when I was in the U.S. because I never got the accuracy you're supposed to get with WAAS. Any and all thoughts would be appreciated. I hope I didn't invest in a funny-looking paperweight.

I wish someone would tell my Triiton 2000 that. I've had it for three weeks now and have as yet to pick up a WAAS satellite. Or a twelfth GPS satellite.

The "dumb" chargers aren't totally useless if you own a BC-700 or similar charger that won't recognize a battery if its charge falls too low. When that happens, I jump-start the battery in the "dumb" charger just enough so the BC-700 will recognize it and charge it.

I can't answer your question but wanted to give you a bit of advice: Make your title of your post more specific so that it draws attention. I'm the first to view your post, which is surrounded by other posts that have already been viewed several times. "Another Question" is too vague. Make it something like "Duplicate Caches on the 450t" and I guarantee you'll get some replies.

Ditto on the La Crosse BC-700. It'll help you to maximize battery capacity and life. It may seem confusing to operate at first, but if you go through the instructions carefully, you'll get the hang of it in no time.

My recommendation would be to buy a separate GPS for your car. For the extra money you'll have to sepnd to buy a dashboard mount and the turn-by-turn software for your handheld, you can pick up a pretty decent auto GPS, given that their prices have really come down lately. You can research the prices and see for yourself. Even if I hadn't been given my TomTom 330 XL as a gift, I'd still consider buying one to go along with my Magellan Triton. I let my TomTom get me as close as possible to a cache on the roads and then let my handheld take over to get me to GZ on foot. The most obvious advantage of a separate in-car GPS is the much larger screen with the first-person view of the route, which is much easier to see when you need to be concentrating on the road at the same time. To be honest, I've never seen or used turn-by-turn software on a handheld and don't know whether its graphics are as driver-centric as those of an in-car GPS, but I'll go out on a limb and say they're not. Another advantage is that because it's not pulling double duty, the controls and menus on a GPS are geared to on-road navigation and not mixed in with screens, etc., that are only useful when you're on foot. This makes the device much quicker to navigate for all my other car trips not related to geocaching. The one disadvantage is that I have to enter the coordinates separately into my TomTom, whereas with a handheld with turn-by-turn software, I imagine you only have to do it once and it'll get you there, first by road and then by foot. Entering coordinates only takes seconds on a TomTom, so it's only a minor annoyance. That's my thoughts on the subject, but I'd be interested to hear from other people who do use a single device for in-car and on-foot navigation.

Yup. Untill some Asian country anti-es us the cash, there will not be any better accuracy. Sorry. Or until the Chinese steal the technology from us.

Thanks, Skelly, it worked like a charm. Who would have thunk that I could do that under "My Journal?" Then again, VantagePoint (like my Triton) sometimes isn't the most intuitive, and help is non-existent. Now, if only I could figure out why my post sbows 0 replies, and why my original post is no longer here, as if yours replaced mine as the original. I only stumbled onto your post because I came here to copy my original post into a post on tritonforum.com when I saw I had no replies...

I agree, don't give up on the Triton. I've had my Triton 2000 for a week now and I'm glad I didn't listen to some of the gripes I've read about the Triton line. As someone mentioned earlier, just because it doesn't do something like this model or that model doesn't make it any worse, just different. And as they also (diplomatically) implied, RTFM. And tinker with it while you do, get to know it and what it can do. Go through the steps everyone has given you here. Getting there is half the fun. And get back out there and try to find those same geocaches you couldn't find earlier. Of course I've had a few issues with mine starting out but nothing that I couldn't resolve (and what GPS doesn't have issues from time to time?). And maybe I would have liked a Garmin Oregon 450 better (the other model I was considering). I hope one day to try one out; the comparison would be interesting. But for now, I'm happy with the Triton.

That was my first GPS as well. I bought it on craigslist last summer for $60, which included the serial cable. In fact, I just sold it here last week when I upgraded to a Magellan Triton 2000. It's funny, but I'm starting to miss that little blue guy. It fit well in my hand and was easy to read (easier to read in full sunlight than the color touchscreen I have now). What others have said here is true, you need to be patient with it and let it acquire a strong fix before going into any sort of cover, and you need to hold it flat in your hand as you navigate. Other than that, it did well by me in helping to find caches. I don't have any experience with other basic handhelds, but for me this was an ideal entry-level unit. One thing you might want to do is to download and install the latest software update, version 3.90, that came out in March, 2008. You can find it here. Since Garmin has discontinued the Legend, this is likely the latest update they'll publish for it.

It's never too late. And despite the weird warning in that post, there's no reason you can't do this more than once. Your unit will pull in new almanac data if it needs it. Otherwise it won't. Either way, no harm done. Does the Triton series handle almanac data? If so, that make's yet one more thing not mentioned in the manual or on the Magellan site, as far as I know. You'd think they'd want to advertise that and make up a fancy name for it, like Garmin did with HotFix.

Thatnks for the info. Maybe I should concentrate on the lat/lon rather than accuracy when hunting down a cache. I actually did this once and it worked out okay. How can you tell if WAAS is kicking in? In describing the satellite status screen, the manual says "The numbers indicate the GPS satellite ID while “W” indicates WAAS." Which numbers is it referring to, the ones on the satellite icons or the ones on the colored bars? So far, I haven't seen Ws on either.

Your battery life experience with the Legend HCx is only one hour shy of Garmin's published spec (so maybe some manufacturer battery life specs are more than just hype). But you're right -- it depends. And looking at my useage -- a moderately-used GPS, four TV-related remotes, two Wii remotes, a wireless mouse, a wireless keyboard, noise-cancelling headphones, and a few other gadgets I have laying around -- rechargeables are the way to go (and have been for several years). This is especially true given that I can't fiind a 48-pack of Alkalines for nearly the price you can where I live. I checked both Sam's Club and Costco and the best bulk price I could find was about a buck a battery, roughly a quarter of what you pay. If I paid what you do, I might consider throw-aways, just for the convenience factor, but in the long run, I think that with my usage, my investment in a new charger such as the C9000 that you have (my thanks to Bamboozle for putting the thought in my head to do some research on MAHA and other comparable chargers) and the 2650 mAh batteries I already have will pay off.

Thanks for the info. I'm researching the C9000 now, and although it seems feature-rich and versatile, I wish I was more familiar with the terminology such as mAh and concepts such as discharging, refreshing, and cycling in order to take advantage of it.

Yes, the first thing I did was install the latest update via VantagePoint. I didn't, however, let the GPS sit under the open sky for a half hour. I'll try that (I hope it isn't too late for it to do any good). My Legend was used when I bought it, so it may have been much more "seasoned" and therefore was more accurate They should tell you that kind of stuff in the manual, but the Triton's manual is woefully deficient in many areas.

I received my new Magellan Triton 2000 yesterday and have been putting it through its paces, learning the controls, etc. The biggest issue I'm having with it is accuracy. I took it out for a walk a couple of times and went on a geocache this afternoon, and the only times I had the three-meter accuracy WAAS offers was a couple of times for a split second it hit 6 feet, and once 3 feet. Otherwise, I've been in the mid 20s to mid-50s. I went for a two-mile walk tonight and was consistently at 16-18 feet accuracy. Not encouraging. I used to get WAAS-grade accuracy much more frequently from my eTrex Legend, so I wondered if I had somehow disabled WAAS, like I could on my Legend, or it whether it came disabled by default, but there doesn't seem to be a setting for that. Or maybe it takes a while for a new unit to "burn in" before it starts to have consistent, reliable results. It's otherwise good at pulling in a signal; I can even acquire a fix in my basement sometimes. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.

Any idea how to configure it to run with my Magellan Triton 2000. It's not an option on the list of Magellan models, and I can't seem to find any of the other models that will work (although admittedly I haven't tried them all). Thanks.

I just got my new Magellan Triton 2000, and being the cheapskate I am, want to use rechargeable batteries. The manual, however, says that recharegeable batteries "are not recommended." No explanation given. Does anyone have any insight as to why Magellan wants us to steer clear of rechargeables? (Audio Technica likewise advises against rechargeables for my noise-cancelling headphones -- is there a trend here?) Thanks.

I've just begun looking into maps for my new GPS (a Magellan Triton 2000) and am confused by some of the terminology, such as quadrangles, grids, datum, 1:24K, etc. Does anyone know of a resource that covers map basics such as this? The forums are great for getting answers to specific questions, but I'm basically looking for a primer. Thanks.

How do GSAK and VantagePoint like .GPX 1.0.1 files? Do they handle them okay? (I'm expecting my new Magellan Triton 2000 this afternoon and want to experience my first paperless geocache tonight.)

Thanks for the info! I just subscribed to Maps4Me and downloaded the map of France. So far, it looks awesome on Vantage Point.