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Weird Ground zero problems


James Lobb

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Yes, don't expect the arrow to guide you all the way to the cache. When you get to within 10 metres or so the GPS has done it's job and you have reached the limiting accuracy of the device. When this happens it's time to rely on the force. If the GPS always took you directly to the location there would be no challenge.

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Yes, somewhat due to the slight inaccurracies of the gps but mainly from my slower movement the needle can jump around. It has to have significant movement so it can calculate which way is North. Needle starts jumping around because it no longer knows which way is North. At that point I like to look at the last 3 digits of the longitude and Latitude to hit ground zero. Also, I start looking around at that point too because you are real close and readings can be off by quite a bit depending on the conditions. Some people like to back off and get directional readings from 2 or 3 locations and use that to triangulate ground zero.

 

Oops, McKryton beat me to it. I like that name McKryton and your biography is great.

Edited by Big Max
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Very normal for two reasons. First off you need to be moving at a brisk pace so the GPS knows your direction of travel. When you get to GZ you tend to stop or slow down considerably so the GPS has no clue. What I do in this case is backtrack about 100 feet and approach the area again at a quick pace.

 

Second, once you are inside that EPE circle the GPS doesn't really know exactly where the cache is within that 15-25 foot radius.

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Very normal for two reasons. First off you need to be moving at a brisk pace so the GPS knows your direction of travel. When you get to GZ you tend to stop or slow down considerably so the GPS has no clue. What I do in this case is backtrack about 100 feet and approach the area again at a quick pace.

 

Second, once you are inside that EPE circle the GPS doesn't really know exactly where the cache is within that 15-25 foot radius.

That first reason only applies if your GPS doesn't have a true electronic compass (or you don't have it turned on). The second reason applies regardless.

Edited by Prime Suspect
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At a summer camp in July I organized an "Amazing Race" type event which was, essentially, a long multi-waypoint cache. Some waypoints were in fun places like inside an outhouse, under the deck, etc. Unfortunately one team seemed to have very bad luck with the GPS unit. They radio'd me (on the camp emergency channel, no less) saying "Help! It's not working!" When I came to see them they told me it was giving them weird directions, like 25 meters that way, then 100 meters the other way, and so on...

 

I gently took the receiver and watched as it resolved to 7 meters, pointing to my right. I told them to look to the right. They saw the tag immediately.

 

"Works just fine!"

 

"Oh, sure, it works when YOU touch it..."

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Heres what I did and do. When I first got my Explorist 400 after I got used to the controls I took it out to my garden and let it set for about 5 minutes to get a really good shot of where it was. I then set that as a waypint for HOME. I marked the bench it was sitting on so I could tell exactly where it had been sitting from a distance of about 30 feet. I backed off to the edge of my property (about 50 feet) and did a GOTO. When I get within about 10 feet my needle goes nuts. Then I came at it 3 more times and again I get between 10 to 12 feet before nutzy needle.

 

Now when on the hunt I do the same thing except I use 3 small orange cones (about 1 inch high) to triangulate my area. Once I have the cones set its hunting time. 2 for 2 so far using this method. Oh wait I only have 2 finds so I guess it works great.

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... and one more thing ... Avoid "hovering" over the unit, your body is an effective screen that can affect your unit. Hold the unit away from your body ... when you are close and the arrow gets all wonky on you look around, it should be near.

 

As you get more experienced you will spend a LOT less time watching the arrow and more time enjoying where you are.

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