Magellan 300

[+AJB3023]

I have a Magellan 300 that I got several years ago. Been out caching with it 3 times now and no luck. It seems that when I get close to the coordinates, say about 50 meteres or so my GPS starts giving me false readings. Bouncing around from say .005 to .009 of a mile. It doesn't seem to do this while driving. It will actually read .000 when I hit a coord that I have imput to check it out.

 

Anyone out there using one for Geocaching. On the first hunt I went on I kept getting a reading that was off by about 50 feet. I know cause I emailed the cach owner and he gave me the location. I went back out and found it and was off by about 50 feet. I also set up a test out in a greenway close to the house and again when I would get with in about 50 feeting it starts bouncing around. I'm going to buy a newer unit soon but until then I'm wondering if I should keep at it or just wait till I get a newer unit. It seems to work pretty good for hiking.

[+fizzymagic]

50 feet is about as well as you can ever expect to do with a Magellan 300; that is the built-in precision of the coordinates (they are DD MM.MM). .01 minutes is about 60 feet in latitude and about 40 feet in longitude (more or less, in the US).

 

If you can enter coordinates in UTM, you might be able to do a little better. I forget if the 300 supports that or not.

[+IVxIV]

My first Geocaching GPS was a Magellan 315, which is pretty similar(?).

 

Yes it seemed to work OK for seeking out caches. Be sure your datum is set to WGS84, and your coordinate format is correct. Like fizzymagic said, try using UTM coordinates that might help improve accuracy.

 

If you can *mark* a spot in an open field then return to it later with good accuracy, it should be able to do the same for a cache coordinate.

[+AJB3023]

My first Geocaching GPS was a Magellan 315, which is pretty similar(?).

 

Yes it seemed to work OK for seeking out caches. Be sure your datum is set to WGS84, and your coordinate format is correct. Like fizzymagic said, try using UTM coordinates that might help improve accuracy.

 

If you can *mark* a spot in an open field then return to it later with good accuracy, it should be able to do the same for a cache coordinate.

The difference between the 300 and the 315 must be the software or firnware. I saw a 315 the other day and it looks exactly like my 300.

[+AJB3023]

My first Geocaching GPS was a Magellan 315, which is pretty similar(?).

 

Yes it seemed to work OK for seeking out caches. Be sure your datum is set to WGS84, and your coordinate format is correct. Like fizzymagic said, try using UTM coordinates that might help improve accuracy.

 

If you can *mark* a spot in an open field then return to it later with good accuracy, it should be able to do the same for a cache coordinate.

The difference between the 300 and the 315 must be the software or firnware. I saw a 315 the other day and it looks exactly like my 300.

[+Docapi]

The 300 was the same thing as the GPS Pioneer. They were, if I remember right, 2 channel receivers.

 

The 315 was their first 12 channel receiver. It was also called a 320, same thing but geared towards avaiation.

 

With the 315/320 they also went to .mmm instead of .mm, and with firmware upgrades you could get it to read out in feet once you got closer than .01 miles.