"there's Gps And Then There's Gps."

[+tabulator32]

I bought one of those yellow Magellan eXplorist 200's when I got into geocaching and I love having the road map overlay.

 

My buddy bought another GPS (I forget which) and he paid about one third of what I paid and his has no map overlay.

 

Here's the catch: When I scale in all the way, my screen gets down to the "this line equals 100 feet" scale and my buddy's gets down to "this line equals 20 feet". On the flip side, his seems to emit a beep every so often saying he has lost his sinal while mine continues to track with at least four or five satelites.

 

While I realize the actual screen display should not have anything to do with the actual accuracy of the GPSr, he still seems to be able to hone in a little better on the precise location of the cache.

 

I understand typical GPS readings are plus/minus ten or twenty feet.

 

Is there a good GPS that can maintain a good signal reception, get "close up" on its screen display and not cost a small fortune?

 

Also, I have heard of hikers and such hooking up external antennaes and fastening them to a backpack for better reception in the woods. Does anyone here do this? Does it make a considerable difference?

 

[WH]

My 60CS can zoom in pretty far and I rarely have an issue with satellite lock.

[+briansnat]

Is there a good GPS that can maintain a good signal reception, get "close up" on its screen display and not cost a small fortune?

Lowrance iFinder H20.

 

Also, I have heard of hikers and such hooking up external antennaes and fastening them to a backpack for better reception in the woods. Does anyone here do this? Does it make a considerable difference?

 

Yes, the external antennas give you better reception, but I've never had the need for one in nearly 4 years of geocaching, with a variety of units, often under heavy tree cover.

Edited July 24, 2005 by briansnat

[+Team Cotati]

The only time that I have seen a situation where having an external antenna was an absolute requirement is when you are deploying a GPSr based receiver/transmitter to be used for covert operations. In this instance since the combo unit is often concealed under the body of a vehicle, an appropriate external antenna is a must. Other than that, don't worry about it.

Edited July 24, 2005 by Team Cotati

[+Ed Rad]

Just upgrade to and eXplorist 500 or 600 and you'll never need anything else...

[+Gecko1]

The military does it, so it obviously works.

[Keystone]

Moving thread to proper forum.