+OTB FAM Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Well I received my magellan explorist 500 in the mail yesterday and was off to do my very first geocache today on my lunch break. I found two out of two of my first caches! It is a bit misleading though when the gps says you are still between 10 and 20 feet from the location when as it turns out you are right on top of it. Is this normal? Quote Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 All 'civilian' GPSs have a limited amount of accuracy. 10 to 30 is normal. Under heavy tree cover or near cliffs it could be up to 100ft. The best thing is to get to the cache site, put the GPS aside and start searching. Quote Link to comment
+MAG315 Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 That's actually pretty good. Most caches will show off anywhere from 10 to 30 feet so you're right in the ballpark. Quote Link to comment
+EScout Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Do not try to determine how accurate your GPSr is by how close you are to caches. If you really want to see what it can do, go to a super-accurate "adjusted" benchmark (in the USA.) You will be surprised how accurate it is (sometimes so accurate it will scare you.) Quote Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 (sometimes so accurate it will scare you.) Maybe whenever the technology is used for the guidance system of a smart bomb. For caches , you even need to take into account the accuracy of the hider's, added against your reading, it's all part of the fun. Quote Link to comment
+OTB FAM Posted July 20, 2006 Author Share Posted July 20, 2006 I guess it would be no fun if it brought you right on top of the cache. The fun is in finding it. Quote Link to comment
+Team ChipsNDip Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 I guess it would be no fun if it brought you right on top of the cache. The fun is in finding it. I had the same reaction when I first started caching. Be assured you're not doing anything wrong, and the GPS is behaving like it should. In general, once you get to "ground zero" the best thing to do is to put away the GPS and start looking for hiding spots in a 20ft radius. Now, I don't always follow that advice, and I do go back and revisit my GPS if I feel I've gotten too far off of where I should be - but in general it's a good rule of thumb. Quote Link to comment
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