My Gps Didnt Work Correctly In Boulder Colorado

[+Four Distinct Personalities]

Hi.

 

Relatively new here, sorry if this question has been asked before.

 

I am an east coaster who often travels to Denver/Boulder for business. I tried earlier this week for the first time to find some caches in the Boulder area and brought my GPS with me (Garmin Etrex). Without getting into specifics, my GPS was about one third of a mile "off". Using the clue and the map, I found the obvious general area of where the cache was hidden, but my GPS was telling me that I was 0.4 miles away from the cache location....

 

Is this normal because of the altitude? Can I somehow change a "setting" to correct for this? Any advice?

 

Thank you.

[+Langner91]

Did you enter the waypoint coordinates manually? Can you verify that each and every digit is correct and none were transposed?

 

That GPS shouldn't care if you are in CO or NY.

[+Four Distinct Personalities]

Did you enter the waypoint coordinates manually?  Can you verify that each and every digit is correct and none were transposed?

 

That GPS shouldn't care if you are in CO or NY.

yes and yes. but i quadruple-checked the coords when it became obvious that my GPS was not leading me to where the "view map" location was showing me (I had printed the map and had it with me).

 

i do recall reading that sometimes a GPS will ask if you've moved more than 500 miles since it was last used. I expected to be prompted for this query, but it did not.

 

grrrrrrrrr.

[+KKTH3]

It's because its Boulder! Everyone knows that Boulder is oft referred to as 27 square miles surrounded by reality. Don't trust anything that happens in that town.

[+Renegade Knight]

If you can find caches in your hometown, all the settings that let you do that are the same in Denver. You should be good to go. The most likely thing is a miskeyed coorinate or you fudged a setting on your Denver trip.

[+Team Cotati]

Did you enter the waypoint coordinates manually?  Can you verify that each and every digit is correct and none were transposed?

 

That GPS shouldn't care if you are in CO or NY.

yes and yes. but i quadruple-checked the coords when it became obvious that my GPS was not leading me to where the "view map" location was showing me (I had printed the map and had it with me).

 

i do recall reading that sometimes a GPS will ask if you've moved more than 500 miles since it was last used. I expected to be prompted for this query, but it did not.

 

grrrrrrrrr.

I don't think that it asks, it will just have to re-sync with the satellites that are viewable in your new location. This might take an extra minute or two the first time that you turn the unit on. If in doubt you should be able to perform a manual initilization of the unit. Perhaps others in here who are familiar with your specific unit can assist. This re-sync task is common to most all GPSr's as far as I know but should not be a big issue. Also you might want to pick a spot and set a random waypoint there and then check the resulting coords and if they look reasonable, back off and track back to that waypoint.

Edited August 11, 2005 by Team Cotati

[+Thot]

i do recall reading that sometimes a GPS will ask if you've moved more than 500 miles since it was last used.  I expected to be prompted for this query, but it did not.

My Magellan SporTrak does not prompt you, but as I recall the one time I did this, after moving it 1000 miles or so, when I restarted it it took quite a while to find its bearings. I'm not sure how long anymore, maybe 10+ minutes.

Edited August 11, 2005 by Thot

[+Renegade Knight]

...I don't think that it asks...

My GPS V will ask if it takes too long to acquire a lock. When it askes it gives me the option for a new location (which takes longer to get a lock since the GPS isn't where it thinks it is) or to use indoors. Typically I'm downloading waypoints and forgot to tell it I'm indoors. When I actually have moved 2000 or more miles there hasn't been a problem getting a lock.

[+geobc]

yes and yes. but i quadruple-checked the coords when it became obvious that my GPS was not leading me to where the "view map" location was showing me (I had printed the map and had it with me).

What map datum was your GPS set to? Was it the same datum as the source of the data you were typing in?

 

GeoBC

[+Four Distinct Personalities]

yes and yes.  but i quadruple-checked the coords when it became obvious that my GPS was not leading me to where the "view map" location was showing me (I had printed the map and had it with me).

What map datum was your GPS set to? Was it the same datum as the source of the data you were typing in?

 

GeoBC

I printed the map in close up right from the cache page on geocaching.com, and entered (manually) the coordinates from the cache page.

[Phoenix2001]

On rare occasions a GPS receiver can come up with a value that is clearly wrong. If you let it sit with a good view of the sky, it might correct itself within a few minutes (assuming it has a current almanac - if the almanac is out of date, you might have to wait about 15 minutes). I generally just turn it off and back on again. So far turning it off and on no more than twice has corrected any wrong location problems.

Edited August 11, 2005 by Phoenix2001

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Did you enter the waypoint coordinates manually?  Can you verify that each and every digit is correct and none were transposed?

 

That GPS shouldn't care if you are in CO or NY.

yes and yes. but i quadruple-checked the coords when it became obvious that my GPS was not leading me to where the "view map" location was showing me (I had printed the map and had it with me).

 

i do recall reading that sometimes a GPS will ask if you've moved more than 500 miles since it was last used. I expected to be prompted for this query, but it did not.

 

grrrrrrrrr.

 

Yes, but which of your personalities entered the coordinates and which rechecked them?

 

John

[+jim-co]

It's because its Boulder! Everyone knows that Boulder is oft referred to as 27 square miles surrounded by reality. Don't trust anything that happens in that town.

I saw a newspaper article saying that caches are against the law in Boulder. Maybe the town council also stopped the sat. signals somehow.

 

Jim (nonBoulderite, but from Colorado)