Is my garmin defective?!

[gamja]

I bought a new garmin Venture Cx recently, and so far, everything has been going all right. However, it seems that every time I put the thing in my pocket, it loses the GPS connection. Even when I place my hand over the globe symbol (which I'm assuming is where the antenna is), it loses all of the connections in a few seconds. The sky was clear and blue when I was doing this. Is this normal or do I just have a defective unit?

[+Team Dubbin]

Anytime you cover the antenna you are going to loose signal.

[gamja]

hmm, yea, but all the signals from all the satellites?

[+Team Dubbin]

Well if you're bloccking the antenna then yes.

[+hydnsek]

The GPS unit has to have a clear "line of sight" to a satellite to receive its signal. Solid objects such as trees, buildings, hills, and your hand can all prevent that. That's why you get fewer satellites among skyscrapers or trees, but lots in an open field (depending on the sat configuration at any given time). Clouds, otoh, are not an issue; they are fluffy and insubstantial.

Edited February 15, 2007 by hydnsek

[+Arndtwe]

your unit is not defective. if you cover the anntena or hold it upside down then it will lose its signal. this happens to all units unless it has an external anntena. so, dont worry, just dont cover it and make sure to hold it up.

[Gecko206]

Mine does that, but it gets the signal back just as fast, so it isn't a problem. Get a unit with an external antenna if you like. You can mount it on your head.

[+Team Dubbin]

Get a unit with an external antenna if you like. You can mount it on your head.

 

I have been thinking about doing that with my crappy 60CS

[+JDandDD]

As others have pointed out everything is acting normally. Your body is an excellent blocker of the signal. What hasn't been mentioned, you don't have to lose all satellites to lose lock. Just get below 3 satellites visible and satellite lock is lost and the unit will not be able to compute a location. You will also lose lock if satellites aren't seen long enough for the calculation to be made. In your scenario, turning around me let it see several satellites at different points in the sky, but only for a few seconds at a time so the GPS doesn't get the time to get lock.

 

JD

[+9Key]

I can get a signal inside my house, yet if I get my pumpkin head in the way of the thing I lose signal quickly. Draw your own conclusions on that one.

[+ePeterso2]

Do you live in a glass house?

 

And if you do, do you throw stones?

 

And also if you do, how do you get dressed without getting complaints from the neighbors? (Unless, of course, the neighbors like the show?)

[Keystone]

Moving thread from "Geocaching Topics" to the "GPS Units and Software" forum, with a caution to keep it from coming to rest in the "Off Topic" forum.

[MtnHermit]

I bought a new garmin Venture Cx recently, and so far, everything has been going all right. However, it seems that every time I put the thing in my pocket, it loses the GPS connection. Even when I place my hand over the globe symbol (which I'm assuming is where the antenna is), it loses all of the connections in a few seconds. The sky was clear and blue when I was doing this. Is this normal or do I just have a defective unit?

Here's how I carry my Venture Cx:

 

It is shown attached to the shoulder strap of my daypack.

 

 

The human body is comprised mostly of water, the GPS's use microwave frequencies [1575 MHz] to "talk" to your GPSr, have you ever put water in a microwave oven? Have we got an Ah...Ha Yet?

 

Hermit