Garmin Etrex Legend, And Accuracy

[mattress]

I bought a Garmin eTrex Legend from a friend

http://www.garmin.com/products/etrexLegend/

 

Today was the first time I took it out to try and do a geocache. before, I've always lugged out my laptop with a usb gps antenna (very cumbersome!)

 

this GPS unit seems really nice, i even bought a mount for my bicycle handlebars.

 

Anyway, I tried doing a geocache today, in a somewhat-wooded area, and couldn't find the geocache. It became INCREDIBLY frustrating.

 

1 second, I'm a good 50 feet north from it, so I start heading south, slowly, slowly, until the GPS says I'm next to the geocache, and then it flips out and says i'm like 50 feet south from it..

 

I walked in circles for like half an hour before I finally gave up.

 

Do you guys have any tips? Is this a bad GPS unit to use? I tried with WAAS enabled and disabled, and it didn't make much of a difference

 

thanks for the help

[+Team Neos]

I used a Legend for a long time and loved it. They are great.

 

There may be several explanations. The "slowly, slowly" part might have been your undoing. I did better when I walked briskly to the cache.

 

I used the unit on the map screen, my husband preferred the compass screen.

 

I have heard that when you are on overzoom, it is less accurate than when you are out further--never tested that, though.

 

When the unit started flipping around, I was usually within ten feet of the cache.

 

Wooded areas can cause any GPS unit to lose its signal, or to distort it. If I had real trouble I would head to a clear area, get a reading an mentally mark the spot then walk toward it---if the cache wasn't there, I would triangulate on the spot from three different spots.

[+gof1]

I use an Etrex Legend.

Heavy tree cover will give the things fits.

Try coming at the cache from several different directions about 50 to 100 feet out.

Visualize the point were these lines meet. This will get you close.

Also make sure you hold the unit flat as this will increase the accuracy, has to do with the type of antena the Legend uses.

Good luck.

[mattress]

Also make sure you hold the unit flat as this will increase the accuracy, has to do with the type of antena the Legend uses.

Good luck.

 

lol I guess I was doing it wrong. I was holding it straight up towards the sky like a cell phone with bad reception,

[utahjack]

I use the legend and love it. I am always within 10 feet.

I found one today that was less than five feet in the woods.

But like they said the trees will distort the signal.

[Keystone]

Moving from "Geocaching Topics" to the GPS Units and Software Forum.