60csx Accuracy

[+tuxster]

I purchased a Garmin 60csx a month ago and I like it over the magellan sporttrack color I use to have. BUT, I am finding the last couple of caches have been off by over 18-22 meters. There are 2 possible explanations to this:

1. the gps unit is so good that I am better than dead on

2. the gps unit need calibration

 

Now it navigates back to any waypoint I set it to within 1 meter. Some caches have been as close as 3 meters, but just the last 2 were really off.

 

Anyone else have this problem?

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[CenTexDodger]

I purchased a Garmin 60csx a month ago and I like it over the magellan sporttrack color I use to have. BUT, I am finding the last couple of caches have been off by over 18-22 meters. There are 2 possible explanations to this:

1. the gps unit is so good that I am better than dead on

2. the gps unit need calibration

 

Now it navigates back to any waypoint I set it to within 1 meter. Some caches have been as close as 3 meters, but just the last 2 were really off.

 

Anyone else have this problem?

 

Thanks

 

Mike

 

There is a third possible explanation:

3. The GPS of the person that placed it was off by that much.

[+Fred Flintstone]

Sure. I have done caches that were 100' off. I will do a cache that is 30' off then the next cache will be 3' away. I have used Magellans and Garmins. They both seem to do the same thing. The Magellan 210 I used seem to be the closest most of the time for caching. The Garmin 60 Csx is great for auto routing and is not to far off either. My observation is only a couple of feet difference. I do use my 60 Cscx more since the Magellan 210 is a friends gps. I also have a Magellan 315 that is 7 yrs. old. There is no comparision to the new gps units. You can always seek out a benchmark to check you accuracy also.

Good luck and happy hunting

[togetherless]

I was searching the forum for this very issue. I have noticed that the last 5 or 6 caches have been off by at least 30'. I realize that this could be variance between my unit and someone else's, but there's another issue that prompted me to check it out. When following a road, or just watching the map go by, my arrow always appears to be off the road. I can look at tracks and they always go near the road, but not on it. And lastly, when navigating with the map (Mapsource 6.9.1) it is usually telling me to go 200 feet to get to the Hwy I'm already on.

 

I guess a good question to sum up this post would be. If I was able to verify that the unit was out of calibration, how would I get that fixed?

 

Just a few little glitches. For the most part, I'm very happy with the unit.

Edited June 1, 2006 by togetherless

[ImpalaBob]

GPSs work by mathmatical calculations that are dependent on movement, signal strength, and reception accuracy. Your maps and waypoints are only as accurate as the unit that made the initial position calculation. Solar activity and a lot of other naturally occuring stuff can affect accuracy.

 

This is a game of plus or minus 30 feet at best! If you want more accuracy than that you had better be prepared to spend a whole lot more money for a GPS, and it will probably be a lot larger than you want to carry around.

 

Koikeeper and I have identical GPS units and sometimes they are exactly the same .... and some times we differ by 30 feet.

 

As for the highway drift .... thats normal. Use Lock on Road option if you really want to see your cursor over the roads.

 

ImpalaBob

[+YuccaPatrol]

So far, my 60csx has brought me closer to EVERY cache than any of my previous units. The last 5 caches were all within 10 feet, with several less than 5.

[+Sputnik 57]

At the risk of suggesting something I'm sure you have already checked, be sure your datum is set to WGS84. Using another datum can put your own coordinates dead on for you, but off by tens or hundreds of feet for others.

[+geobc]

I was searching the forum for this very issue. I have noticed that the last 5 or 6 caches have been off by at least 30'. I realize that this could be variance between my unit and someone else's, but there's another issue that prompted me to check it out. When following a road, or just watching the map go by, my arrow always appears to be off the road. I can look at tracks and they always go near the road, but not on it. And lastly, when navigating with the map (Mapsource 6.9.1) it is usually telling me to go 200 feet to get to the Hwy I'm already on.

 

As already mentioned, if you're truly concerned about your unit's accuracy, compare it against a benchmark. Comparing against the Mapsource or built-in base map isn't a reliable test because the map data itself could be faulty.

 

BTW, what zoom level are you using when you see your position off the road?

 

GeoBC

Edited June 1, 2006 by geobc

[+Intermountain Angler]

I was searching the forum for this very issue. I have noticed that the last 5 or 6 caches have been off by at least 30'. I realize that this could be variance between my unit and someone else's, but there's another issue that prompted me to check it out. When following a road, or just watching the map go by, my arrow always appears to be off the road. I can look at tracks and they always go near the road, but not on it. And lastly, when navigating with the map (Mapsource 6.9.1) it is usually telling me to go 200 feet to get to the Hwy I'm already on.

 

As already mentioned, if you're truly concerned about your unit's accuracy, compare it against a benchmark. Comparing against the Mapsource or built-in base map isn't a reliable test because the map data itself could be faulty.

 

BTW, what zoom level are you using when you see your position off the road?

 

GeoBC

Thanks for stating that Geo this is exactly what I have noticed and what I was going to strongly suggest

to others. using my 76CSX and Topo w/basemap. I have seen where the road on the map is absolutely not correct. for those of you in doubt go to your map page and zoom in on a major road, if you have a unit with a proximity circle you will notice that it is getting significately larger on the screen. Now look at the road you are zooming in on it is not changing in proportion, in other words the proportion of the road is not changing as you zoom in the screen to match your scale on the screen or the proximity circle. If the road would change as it should your circle would be nothing but road with estimated GPSr accuracy of 10 to 30 feet and with the unit zoomed in to 20 feet. What it is showing is you off the "road" most of the time, remember a major road is around 40+ feet wide with shoulders. what I have seen is my unit to be extremely accurate to the point of showing me right on the edge of a river as I am driving and the road quite a ways off, the fact is the river I drive along and the road are that close in quite a few places, my GPSr shows me where I should be however the map does not show the road there. Frankly trust your unit over the maps, don't expect miracles, the whining about perceived accuracy is getting outrageous, and lastly as stated MANY times before if this is so important or you are just curious find an ADJUSTED benchmark and test the accuracy of your unit against it. If you are within the estimated accuracy of the unit at the time you do the test you have a winner!!

[+geobc]

[Thanks for stating that Geo this is exactly what I have noticed and what I was going to strongly suggest

to others. using my 76CSX and Topo w/basemap. I have seen where the road on the map is absolutely not correct. for those of you in doubt go to your map page and zoom in on a major road, if you have a unit with a proximity circle you will notice that it is getting significately larger on the screen.

 

My reason for asking that question is this: if you are zoomed in to the point where the little "overzoom" message pops up, then the map is no longer accurate because you are viewing it at a magnification greater than its degree of error can cover. So my point was a bit different than yours but I think we're both getting at the same thing: beyond a certain amount of zoom, you can no longer rely on the map to be accurate at that scale.

 

GeoBC

[+Intermountain Angler]

[Thanks for stating that Geo this is exactly what I have noticed and what I was going to strongly suggest

to others. using my 76CSX and Topo w/basemap. I have seen where the road on the map is absolutely not correct. for those of you in doubt go to your map page and zoom in on a major road, if you have a unit with a proximity circle you will notice that it is getting significately larger on the screen.

 

My reason for asking that question is this: if you are zoomed in to the point where the little "overzoom" message pops up, then the map is no longer accurate because you are viewing it at a magnification greater than its degree of error can cover. So my point was a bit different than yours but I think we're both getting at the same thing: beyond a certain amount of zoom, you can no longer rely on the map to be accurate at that scale.

 

GeoBC

HMMM

I have not noticed the over-zoom message THAT much but it does have good logic.

The scale i was using along the river was either .2 or .3 tenths of a mile (I was changing the zoom here and there) when I was making my observations.