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Extrex Legend In Tree Cover


BadAndy32

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I have been having trouble maintaining a sat. signal even under light tree cover, Is this just an issue common for the Legend or is there anything I can do to get a better signal. I have not downloaded all the updates for the device yet could that be an issue?

 

That's the reason I traded up to a Garmin 60 series. I went on a 10K hike and it was mostly under tree cover. I lost signal SO much the walk registered about 4.5K, and when I got a signal the error reported was huge! Since I do a lot of walking under tree cover I plan on moving up to a 60CSX shortly for the more sensitive chip set.

 

Rick

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I have been having trouble maintaining a sat. signal even under light tree cover, Is this just an issue common for the Legend or is there anything I can do to get a better signal. I have not downloaded all the updates for the device yet could that be an issue?

 

That's the reason I traded up to a Garmin 60 series. I went on a 10K hike and it was mostly under tree cover. I lost signal SO much the walk registered about 4.5K, and when I got a signal the error reported was huge! Since I do a lot of walking under tree cover I plan on moving up to a 60CSX shortly for the more sensitive chip set.

 

Rick

 

thats really disappointing considering that i just bought a legend yesterday :blink:

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This was the main reason I went from the Vista to the 60CSx. It could do ok in light tree cover in a flat area but in a canyon any tree cover at all I could not get a good fix.

 

This is why I'm contemplating a similar move, from a Legend to the 60csx. I've found that even under fair tree cover in winter (deciduous trees) that I have quite a bit of bounce. I'll probably keep it as a backup unit.

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The Legend is equiped with a Patch antenna like all the Etrex series. Patch antennas are not as good under cover as receivers with Quad antennas. The Rino and 60 series all have quad antennas.

Of course this supposed problem with patch antennas only seems to affect the grayscale eTrex series and not such models as the Magellan eXplorists, Lowrance GM100 and iFinders, or even other Garmins like the color LegendC/VistaC and the older 12 series. Nor is it noticed by those with external patch antennas like the ones by Gilsson.

 

Perhaps the antenna type is not really the issue.

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Huh. I've got the Legend Cx, and I get satellite locks sitting in my living room no where near a window.

 

I'm quite sure they're talking about the original, B&W eTrex Legend. AFAIK, the Legend C & Legend Cx have newer better chipsets with much better reception.

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The Legend works fine under trees as long as you use it properly. It needs to be held flat, face up to the sky. If you place it your pocket, clip it to your belt, hang it from around your neck or hold it in your hand dangling at your side you may lose the lock under trees.

 

Turn it on well before you enter the woods so it knows where all the sats are and when you are carrying it you should hold it as if you are carrying a tray of beer. If you do this, even if you lose a lock, you get it back within seconds. Since 90 percent of all cache hunts are a short walk, this is not an issue at all. If you are on a longer hike, clip it face up to the top of your pack's shoulder strap.

 

When I used my Legend (and later my Vista) alongside users of other units, there were times when I had better reception than they did and there were times when they had better reception than I did.

 

Before the latest generation of units came out, the eTrex line was the most popular around. Two years ago, at any event or group hunt, the vast majority of the units you would see were eTrex and I'm talking the northeast where there is a heavy tree canopy. If they didn't work under trees there is no way they would have been so popular.

 

Its been said that eTrex units have probably found more caches than all other units combined and I don't doubt that.

 

Sure other units have better reception under trees and aren't as sensitive to positioning. The eTrex color units blow the old eTrex units away with their reception, but there is no reason that the Legend, Vista, "old yeller" or Venture, can't be used sucessfully under trees. Thousands of geocachers have done so.

 

The Legend is equiped with a Patch antenna like all the Etrex series. Patch antennas are not as good under cover as receivers with Quad antennas.

 

This is absolute baloney. Though the old eTrex units are sensitive to position, the newer generation of units with patch antennas often out perform quad helix designs. I used a Lowrance iFinder H20 for a while and its patch antenna's reception under trees blew away Magellan Meridians and Sportraks, Garmin 60's, Rinos and 76's, which all have quad helix antennas and I'm sure eXplorist and eTrex C users out there will agree that the patch antenna works great.

Edited by briansnat
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Well I'll put this to the test tomorrow night. A buddy and I are doing a night cache and I'll take my Legend and my 60csx along and test them side-by-side in the woods. I'll hold both horizontally, vertically, and while standing on my head reciting the Pledge of Allegiance too. :anibad:

 

FWIW I've had issues with the Legend while holding it horizontally in tree cover. I'll be using my GPSr for more than light geocaching, so reception in nmountains, canyons, and under heavy tree cover is important.

Edited by jiminpotomac
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The new Explorist all have patch antennas, Magellan doesn't even make a GPSr with a quad-helix anymore.

 

And you can have a too senstive antenna. You don't want to pick up reflections off trees, buildings, metal objects, or anything that will distort the signal etc or it will give you a false fix.

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I have always used my eXplorist held flat.

BTW, I got that about patch and quad antennas from GPS for Dummies.

You might want to tell the author that that is balony!

Try holding your 200 in a more or less 45 degree to vertical position,my 500 seems to pick up sats better that way.

 

And comparing a quad antenna toa patch antenna my 500 will constantly beat my gold. ' I don't believe its so much the antenna as it is the goodies inside.

Also check the revision date on gps for dummies :anibad:

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I have been having trouble maintaining a sat. signal even under light tree cover, Is this just an issue common for the Legend or is there anything I can do to get a better signal. I have not downloaded all the updates for the device yet could that be an issue?

 

I've had a Legend for 4 years, and it's never been good under even light tree cover. That's why I got a 60csx. I assume any of the new x models will do as well.

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I started with an eTrex Yellow, upgraded to an eTrex Legend and now after reading this, and seriously considering upgrading to one of the new C models...I've found lots of caches...and usually only had problems in the thickest of tree cover. Sometimes it also happens to be where the sats are positioned, doesn't it?

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It needs to be held flat, face up to the sky.

 

I'll give that a try, the next time I'm in the woods, hopefully that will give some improvment.

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

Good suggestion. Also, I found that laying it on a non-moving object like a rock or downed' tree helps a lot to get the lock again. Holding it even when you think it's not moving is not as good.

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has anyone actually done this?? Upgraded from a Legend to a Legend C and saw a significant improvement??

 

 

I started with an eTrex Yellow, upgraded to an eTrex Legend and now after reading this, and seriously considering upgrading to one of the new C models...I've found lots of caches...and usually only had problems in the thickest of tree cover. Sometimes it also happens to be where the sats are positioned, doesn't it?

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I cache with a blue Legend, my wife caches with a 60CS. Generally when I have lost signal (under tree cover) so has the 60CS. Exceptions have occurred but have been rare. The Legend is a fine unit. I do expect the 60CSx to be significantly better at holding a lock under tree cover and may actually buy one once Garmin can get all the bugs out.

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has anyone actually done this?? Upgraded from a Legend to a Legend C and saw a significant improvement??

 

 

 

I started with an eTrex Yellow, upgraded to an eTrex Legend and now after reading this, and seriously considering upgrading to one of the new C models...I've found lots of caches...and usually only had problems in the thickest of tree cover. Sometimes it also happens to be where the sats are positioned, doesn't it?

 

I've upgraded from the old Legend to the Vista C (pretty much the same as the Legend C) and yes, there is a significant improvement under tree cover and it also aquires a signal when you first turn it on much faster than the old legend.

Edited by roadrage64
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The Legend works fine under trees as long as you use it properly. It needs to be held flat, face up to the sky. If you place it your pocket, clip it to your belt, hang it from around your neck or hold it in your hand dangling at your side you may lose the lock under trees.

 

Turn it on well before you enter the woods so it knows where all the sats are and when you are carrying it you should hold it as if you are carrying a tray of beer. If you do this, even if you lose a lock, you get it back within seconds. Since 90 percent of all cache hunts are a short walk, this is not an issue at all. If you are on a longer hike, clip it face up to the top of your pack's shoulder strap.

 

When I used my Legend (and later my Vista) alongside users of other units, there were times when I had better reception than they did and there were times when they had better reception than I did.

 

Before the latest generation of units came out, the eTrex line was the most popular around. Two years ago, at any event or group hunt, the vast majority of the units you would see were eTrex and I'm talking the northeast where there is a heavy tree canopy. If they didn't work under trees there is no way they would have been so popular.

 

Its been said that eTrex units have probably found more caches than all other units combined and I don't doubt that.

 

Sure other units have better reception under trees and aren't as sensitive to positioning. The eTrex color units blow the old eTrex units away with their reception, but there is no reason that the Legend, Vista, "old yeller" or Venture, can't be used sucessfully under trees. Thousands of geocachers have done so.

 

The Legend is equiped with a Patch antenna like all the Etrex series. Patch antennas are not as good under cover as receivers with Quad antennas.

 

This is absolute baloney. Though the old eTrex units are sensitive to position, the newer generation of units with patch antennas often out perform quad helix designs. I used a Lowrance iFinder H20 for a while and its patch antenna's reception under trees blew away Magellan Meridians and Sportraks, Garmin 60's, Rinos and 76's, which all have quad helix antennas and I'm sure eXplorist and eTrex C users out there will agree that the patch antenna works great.

 

I second that!

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I've had a Legend for 2-3 years and have noticed problems a lot under trees, though holding it flat seems to help, but I try to always hold it flat to begin with. We seem to walk in cirles a bit before the unit decides for sure where it wants to point me.

 

I also have problems when the sky is clear!! This seems odd, but when it is at least a little cloudy, the Legend works GREAT. But have a perfectly clear day, without a cloud, and I can't hold a lock on enough satelites to keep a signal. Is this a Legend issue? Or perhaps just a fluke? It's happened enough times that I find it odd though. This past Sunday I had this happen. After I did get enough satelites, we passed under a bridge, and lost them all in that split second.

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For what it's worth I have both the Legend and the 60CSx. The 60CSx buries the legend in every way. I have never lost signal under tree with my 60CSx and I had the unit in my pocket, upside down, dropped it a couple of times, gave it to my kids to cary and they were swinging it around for most of the time. The first place I took it was to a local park where my Legend lost more signal than it ever held. And I was holding it flat, on one foot, while singing Lydia the tattooed lady...or whatever excuse is being passed around for poor "under tree" reception by the Legend. The old adage that you get what you pay for is most true with gps units. If you are going to use it more than 2-3 x a week, and would like to do more than just cache ( FYI:most everyone starts out just caching but quickly find out how cool these units are and start using them for auto routing and many other things) then get your money back on the Legend and grab a 60CSx. If you just want to do some caches and not interested in anything else (havent heard that before) then sick w/the legend. And just so you know there are many online gps dealers that will offer you a 30-60 day period where you can send the undamaged unit back if you do not like it. Tiger gps is the one that I know of off the top of my head.

Good luck...and welcome to the misery of "which one to get"? : )

Edited by IRISH~CACHER
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I've upgraded from the blue Legend to the new Legend Cx, and the Cx does seem to be more sensitive, as I can lock on to 1 or 2 sats whilst inside, which I could not do with the blue Legend.

 

The trees aren't out in Leaf yet, so I haven't been able to test the new unit under tree cover yet.

 

I will do a test with both units side by side to see if I can notice any difference.

 

Most of the articles I've read seem to state that the new 60Cx and CSx will blow the opposition away because they use the new Sirf III chipset, but unfortunately I was one of those people who was constrained by a budget, so couldn't spend that much money on a new GPS.

 

I'm happy with the Legend Cx, and so glad that Garmin did eventually decide to add a memory card slot to the etrex range.

 

Adrian

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I have the Legend Cx and experience some reduction in satellite locking ability in the dense pockets of the woods, but it's a reduction that's expected and it's not particularly major or debilitating. I've still found caches with it in the forest. Mind you, this is the only GPSr I've owned so it's my only reference point.

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My husband and I both used Legends to find our first three hundred caches and loved them. Many times, we would be out caching with many other people, using various brands and types of GPS units. The legend got a signal as often as any other unit, and held the signal as well as any other unit. I was usually one of the first to locate the cache.

 

At Christmas we upgraded to a 60cs and a 76cs, for the autorouting feature. Over spring break we took the new units out, and let two people with us use the Legends. The people using the Legends found the caches as often as we did using the fancier units.

 

If you want to use this thread to plead with your spouse for a more expensive unit with more bells and whistles, you should ignore my post.

Edited by Team Neos
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Well I'll put this to the test tomorrow night. A buddy and I are doing a night cache and I'll take my Legend and my 60csx along and test them side-by-side in the woods. I'll hold both horizontally, vertically, and while standing on my head reciting the Pledge of Allegiance too. ;)

 

FWIW I've had issues with the Legend while holding it horizontally in tree cover. I'll be using my GPSr for more than light geocaching, so reception in nmountains, canyons, and under heavy tree cover is important.

Thanks for doing the PLEDGE ;) I just read that a cacher could sit in his living room and get sat fixes...being that my shop was nearer...I turned my legendcx GPSr on and WOW I was receiving sats & Ds sitting in my Shop....I like my legend cx even more now:)

Edited by Wild Thing 73
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I found a topic the other day (after mentioning I couldn't keep a lock on a clear day sometimes), and seems a lot of people in the east were having problems that day. So... I guess it wasn't my Legend after all. I have never used another GPS, so I can't say for sure that one works better than another. But we've found most of the caches within a few feet of where the Legend put us. And for what we paid, and the fun we've had - I can't complain. As for the tree cover, I usually chalk it up to not having a clear view of the sky (which is pretty much a requirement).

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My 2 cents:

 

My Leged has treated me very well, except in sharp canyons and in areas with skyscrapers.

 

Otherwise, I hold my ol' clear-blue Legend flat and get 20 to 30 foot EPE without WAAS (which never really works well for me in my area).

 

I love it. I'd consider trading up to a 60cx/csx, but money and need right now don't require it. I'm content for now.

 

/But when I DO get teh money, that 60cx or csx (haven't decided which) is mine. Mainly for teh USB port, teh SIRFIII chipset, and the boatloads of memory.

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