Accuracy With Yellow Etrex?

[ghostwriter13]

how close of a waypoint do you usually get in an open area with bluebird skys? on average

 

10 to 15 feet? or closer?

[+Harry Dolphin]

Proud owner of a yellow Etrex (and keep entering the WJTB Contest hoping to win a better GPS)...

Four to thirty feet seems the norm for me. A lot depends on the abilities (?) of the person hiding the cache. I've been to more than a few where the Etrex consistently points eight to thirty feet into the pond, or over the fence... I blame him/her, not my Etrex! Bluebird skies, great atmospheric conditions, and my favorite sattelites in view, and with a good hider? I'd say about seven feet! On a good day.

[+sbell111]

The little yellow one works fine. How far away you get with a good signal largely depends on how well the cache owner did when he was getting his coords.

Edited August 10, 2005 by sbell111

[Dinoprophet]

One of my first finds involved checking your accuracy with a benchmark. When I first got there, it said I was 30ft off. After letting it settle for a few minutes, it got to 15.1 feet. My elevation reading was exactly right. This was on a busy street corner, only low buildings around.

 

You might read the other logs on that cache and see what other units got.

 

The bottom line is, I've never received any complaints about the coords on my hides, and I'm quite sure I've never failed to find a cache due to bad readings. (edit: well, maybe once or twice it's happened)

Edited August 10, 2005 by Dinoprophet

[Keystone]

Hello,

 

I am moving this topic over to the GPS Units and Software Forum.

[+Kite and Hawkeye]

how close of a waypoint do you usually get in an open area with bluebird skys? on average

 

10 to 15 feet? or closer?

With the yellow, I've consistently seen 14-foot accuracy under a clear sky with a lot of satellites. In normal use walking along a trail, anywhere from 14-21 is common. Occasional blips of worse accuracy under trees, but rarely for any length of time. The yellow does not have WAAS (I've heard conflicting things about recently-manufactured yellows, but our 2002 edition definitely doesn't have it) so you won't see accuracy down to less than 14 feet estimated error. But that's plenty accurate; we've never had trouble that could be blamed on a lack of GPSr accuracy.

[+Smukke]

I have only found one cache so far when my eTrex was within 5 feet of being 'right on.'

 

That said, most of the caches near here are way in the trees/swamp/lakeside/brush/etc., so it's hard to blame the eTrex for what Mother Nature does to satellite signals. The area's daily afternoon thunderstorms mean tree leaves/pine needles are almost always wet.

 

I still have managed to find a lot -- just look in a wider area than most. My biggest concern is getting coords close to correct when I hide things. I'm not at all confident about the eTrex's ability there. OK, I take 10 or so readings, then I average them... They are not all that different, so even though I did some math, it still feels like a 'best guess.'

[TXcachehunter]

Are you talking about the 3.00-3.30 upgrade or am I missing something?

[TXcachehunter]

The 3.3 firmware upgrade is for v3.0 and up, I have a v2.14

[TXcachehunter]

Notes:

 

WARNING: If this software is uploaded to a device other than that for which it is designed, you will not be able to operate that device.

If attempts to upload software fail, you may need to return the device to Garmin® for service.

Note: This software is only compatible with the following previous versions: 3.00 or greater

Edited August 11, 2005 by TXcachehunter