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Magellan Triton related info only


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I created this thread because the other one has become a little crazy.

So let’s just talk about actually units and dealing with Magellan customer support as it pertains to the Triton series.

 

I currently have A Triton 1500 from newegg.com that did not have The USB Cable and Manual. I have contacted both Magellan and Newegg about the problem

The csr at newegg placed an order for the missing parts for me. She informed me that if there was a problem I would receive an email informing me to contact Magellan. I did this on Friday and I am going to follow it up sometime today.

 

I also have been calling Magellan. If you ever talked to a brick wall that is what I have experienced talking to them. I have called them 2 times a day on Friday and Yesterday.

Every tech I spoke to was not up to date on the triton series and I was informed I would get a call back on every call which never happened. I was able to finally get a reference number yesterday and I plan on following up today.

 

I decided I want to like the unit so I also ordered another one from radioshack.com which btw has a 30day full refund on the product. This unit I fear will also be missing the cable because it looks as if both units are being shipped from the same place somewhere in NJ. Both radioshack and newegg do not have these in their Warehouses they are drop shipping these from the same location probably one of Megallans fulfillment centers

 

I should be getting my second unit today but I think I might be returning it today also,

 

From what I have played with so far I like it but I have not used it in the field yet.

If you have any questions I will try to answer them the best I can

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A Few Updates.

 

I received the Radio Shack triton 1500 and guess what no cable or manual or cd.

I already received my RMA and RS will be sending me a prepaid return shipping label and I will get a full refund

 

Now the good news sort of

 

I did get a call back from a very nice gentleman at Magellan Corporate this afternoon he apologized for the inconvenience and they are going to exchange my unit out for a new one. They will be sending me a prepaid UPS label to ship mine back to them and then send out my new one. He also said that he will send me a free case once they become available.

 

So if everything works out I should have my new complete triton in a week or so.

Edited by mattlikesbikes
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Did you try loading a MapSend Map directly into an SD card using a card reader? If you do, does it work in the Triton?

 

Coming from Garmin I do not have any mapsend software. I did download Vantage Point and I also have had NG topo for a while (one of the main reasons I want the triton) but with out the cable there was not much I can do . I did put some put some pictures on the SD card and was able to view them.

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It looks like small batch of Triton 1500 devices slipped out of Magellan before official release and got to Newegg and RadioShack. These Tritons are missing cable, CD etc. from the box and have outdated unstable firmware loaded on them. Magellan is aware of this problem and already pulled off this batch from retailers (It looks like Radioshack is still trying to sell them). So probably all people who bought devices from the early batch should contact Magellan to get properly packaged up-to-date Tritons. According to some sources, Magellan officially released Triton 1500 and 400 yesterday, so you can expect to see them on the shelves in a week or so (depending on logistics). Until then I wouldn't recommend buying Triton 1500 from any retailer.

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I have read the descriptions of the Triton and even called Magellan in regards to my question and did not receive an answer. I would like to know if it is possible to read the long description of the cache on the Triton. Also, is the entire hint available? I downloaded Vantage and it makes it seem like these things should be possible.

 

Thanks for the opportunity to pick your brain,

 

evshro

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I have read the descriptions of the Triton and even called Magellan in regards to my question and did not receive an answer. I would like to know if it is possible to read the long description of the cache on the Triton. Also, is the entire hint available? I downloaded Vantage and it makes it seem like these things should be possible.

 

Thanks for the opportunity to pick your brain,

 

evshro

 

Sorry guys my Triton is packed up and ready to ship back to Magellan

But I did manual type in one cache and it did let me type in some of the description.

I will let you guys know when I get my updated Triton. And answer any other questions

Thanks

 

Matt

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*Currently owns an Explorist 500.*

 

I was looking to upgrade and when I heard of the Tritons coming out I thought they would be the answer to my prayers. Needless to say I was dissipointed to see such shoddy marketing on Magellans part. I look forward to some unbias reviews of this product when people start getting what they ordered instead of a load of crud.

 

Hopes:

Over 500 caches displayed.

Over 30 letter discriptions.

Long battery life (12+HR) with casual usage.

 

Give me just these things and that new chipset and I will be a happy caching machine.

 

(((Monitoring post)))

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Any takers on the bet that "Triton, eh?" is someone from Magellan's PR or Marketing Dept.? Not that there's anything wrong with that... it's nice to finally see them addressing some users' concerns! If they are indeed from Magellan, it would do them well to check out all the customer service horror stories we see on this board (as well as anywhere Magellan owners are submitting customer reviews), then compare them to the Garmin & DeLorme CS stories we see, and forward them up the corporate ladder. I've seen too many "Never another Magellan for me" posts, that what they're saving by outsourcing to India cannot compare to the sales they are losing not only to current and past customers, but also to potential buyers scared off by this.

 

However, in the meantime, they can give us all the info on the Tritons they can, and it will be much appreciated! :wub:

Edited by geowizerd
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Can the cache descriptions just be transferred over or do they always have to be typed?? You sound like you know what your talking about which is a far cry from the tech genius at Magellan that didn't even know what geocaching was. Is a screen shot of a cache description possible???

 

Thanks for the info,

 

evshro

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I've seen too many "Never another Magellan for me" posts, that what they're saving by outsourcing to India cannot compare to the sales they are losing not only to current and past customers, but also to potential buyers scared off by this.

 

I'm not sure the math is completely right in that statement. Outsourcing savings do compare to lost earnings. That's why companies outsource. They've done the math. They know customers who have to deal with outsourcing are unhappy, but they're willing to take the trade-off.

 

If I had to guess, I would say that the average Indian phone rep earns 60%-70% less than their American counterparts. The difference is probably even greater if you figure total benefits package (FICA/health insurance). There are probably dozens of "never another Magellan for me" posts on the Groundspeak boards. There would probably still be some complaints even if customer service was domestic.

 

Even if a die-hard cacher never bought another Magellan for the rest of his life, how many would that be? Four GPSrs? Five? Multiply that by the number of "Never again Magellan" users (hundreds?).

 

outsourcing savings = $ millions ; loss of customers = $ hundreds of thousands?

Edited by CacheNCarryMA
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Can the cache descriptions just be transferred over or do they always have to be typed?? You sound like you know what your talking about which is a far cry from the tech genius at Magellan that didn't even know what geocaching was. Is a screen shot of a cache description possible???

 

Thanks for the info,

 

evshro

The cache descriptions and hint should just transfer over through vantage point. This is similar to what folks do today with their explorists and the geocache manager software, or through GSAK. You get all of the text from the cache descrition, and finder comments, plus the hint. Not sure about the 'snapshot' though. The only downside to going TRULY paperless right now is that a palm with cachemate gets all of the text, but none of the pictures (I know, there are other solutions, but this one appears to be the most popular). A direct transfer of the cache page would be great, but it doesn't come in the .gpx file (unless I am mistaken...). The perfect solution would be a GPSr that can carry and display all of the information from the cache page; text, pics, hints, past logs.

 

Also, looking back at the older Triton thread, the cache limit was stated as 1000 points for the triton, versus the 200 limit currently experienced by all explorist, meridian, etc... users.

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Thanks for starting this thread! I am totally new to geocaching and have never owned a GPSr. My husband is buying me one for a Yule gift and I am leaning towards the Triton 400. I was hesitant when i saw so many posts about horrible customer service.

 

It seems that there will always be a Magellan vs. Garmin debate (much like Mac and PC) and there will always be satisfied and unsatisfied customers no matter what product or company you're talking about.

 

I am still leaning towards the Triton 400, but I will be following this thread closely for a while before making a final decision. Somewhere (and it's killing me that I can't remember where) I did read an article from an online magazine that stated that Magellan was aware of their reputation of bad customer service and that they have been focusing more effort in correcting this when releasing the Triton series. I wish I coudl remember where i saw that because I really like the Triton. The customer service is the only thing that would make me leary of buying one at this point.

 

I'll be really interested in seeing what people think about the Triton once they actually get to use one for a little while.

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Also, looking back at the older Triton thread, the cache limit was stated as 1000 points for the triton, versus the 200 limit currently experienced by all explorist, meridian, etc... users.

 

Is there POI availibilty?

 

Like the Garmin where you can upload an almost unlimited amount of POIs. Including hints etc.

Edited by FunnyNose
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How well-built did the unit seem to be? Did it feel like it could take a drop or fall without coming apart? And, what about the silver "spoiler" at the top... is it an active part? Or, just a bit of protection for the LED light?

 

To tell you the truth it felt more solid then my 60csx . It seemed well built and had a good feel to it. The “Spoiler” part is attached well I assume it can be used to clip something to it?

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I removed this silver stuff on top using screwdriver. It doesn't contain any antenna. Probably it's just for attaching device to something like belt.

Overall device looks quite sturdy to me with all rubber housing around. And it already survived several drops from about 3 feet height.

Also there is small bump right above the flashlight that probably should protect flashlight from fall damage .

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I've seen too many "Never another Magellan for me" posts, that what they're saving by outsourcing to India cannot compare to the sales they are losing not only to current and past customers, but also to potential buyers scared off by this.

 

I'm not sure the math is completely right in that statement. Outsourcing savings do compare to lost earnings. That's why companies outsource. They've done the math. They know customers who have to deal with outsourcing are unhappy, but they're willing to take the trade-off.

 

If I had to guess, I would say that the average Indian phone rep earns 60%-70% less than their American counterparts. The difference is probably even greater if you figure total benefits package (FICA/health insurance). There are probably dozens of "never another Magellan for me" posts on the Groundspeak boards. There would probably still be some complaints even if customer service was domestic.

 

Even if a die-hard cacher never bought another Magellan for the rest of his life, how many would that be? Four GPSrs? Five? Multiply that by the number of "Never again Magellan" users (hundreds?).

 

outsourcing savings = $ millions ; loss of customers = $ hundreds of thousands?

 

Not to hijack this post but...

 

While outsourcing may save millions this is a cost savings which means Magellan is no longing spending money on employing CS people. By losing sales they are losing revenue and that is what most companies run off of. Magellan is run by a private equity firm which probably means that they don't have a large bank account to draw from. This means that they fund the company from revenue so the loss of customers will kill the company faster than the cost savings from outsourcing can save them.

 

I think losing customers is financially more devastating to Magellan.

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I've seen too many "Never another Magellan for me" posts, that what they're saving by outsourcing to India cannot compare to the sales they are losing not only to current and past customers, but also to potential buyers scared off by this.

 

I'm not sure the math is completely right in that statement. Outsourcing savings do compare to lost earnings. That's why companies outsource. They've done the math. They know customers who have to deal with outsourcing are unhappy, but they're willing to take the trade-off.

 

If I had to guess, I would say that the average Indian phone rep earns 60%-70% less than their American counterparts. The difference is probably even greater if you figure total benefits package (FICA/health insurance). There are probably dozens of "never another Magellan for me" posts on the Groundspeak boards. There would probably still be some complaints even if customer service was domestic.

 

Even if a die-hard cacher never bought another Magellan for the rest of his life, how many would that be? Four GPSrs? Five? Multiply that by the number of "Never again Magellan" users (hundreds?).

 

outsourcing savings = $ millions ; loss of customers = $ hundreds of thousands?

 

Not to hijack this post but...

 

While outsourcing may save millions this is a cost savings which means Magellan is no longing spending money on employing CS people. By losing sales they are losing revenue and that is what most companies run off of. Magellan is run by a private equity firm which probably means that they don't have a large bank account to draw from. This means that they fund the company from revenue so the loss of customers will kill the company faster than the cost savings from outsourcing can save them.

 

I think losing customers is financially more devastating to Magellan.

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Sorry, I must have not come across there well. When I said screen shot I meant a photo of the cache description on the triton posted on this page. Anyway, just to clarify, are you saying the Triton will hold an entire cache description? Is it just as it would be on a PDA?? That would be impressive. Using cachemate I get the entire text of a cache page, including the last few posts. Perhaps the last post regarding a 2,000 character limit is wrong.

 

Thanks again!

 

To me it would nice to have a GPSr that could show an entire cache description!

 

evshro

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Even if a die-hard cacher never bought another Magellan for the rest of his life, how many would that be? Four GPSrs? Five? Multiply that by the number of "Never again Magellan" users (hundreds?).

 

For every complaint you see on here or other forums or venues, there are probably a hundred that don't bother posting, or don't even know such forums exist. Geocachers are probably a small percentage of all handheld users, and handhelds are probably a smaller percentage compared to auto units. I believe the numbers would be much greater than you're imagining.

 

While outsourcing may save millions this is a cost savings which means Magellan is no longing spending money on employing CS people. By losing sales they are losing revenue and that is what most companies run off of. Magellan is run by a private equity firm which probably means that they don't have a large bank account to draw from. This means that they fund the company from revenue so the loss of customers will kill the company faster than the cost savings from outsourcing can save them.

 

I think losing customers is financially more devastating to Magellan.

 

I agree with this 100%. There is no more effective advertising (good or bad) than word of mouth. I can't think of a better way to lose potential customers than having them read - in multiple places - and hear from friends and family that if you have a problem, you're going to spend many hours talking (trying to communicate is more like it) to someone in India, who knows nothing about the product and is reading off a script. And all for nothing in most cases, from what I've read, or at least taking multiple calls and transfers to a dozen different departments, who seem to have no idea what the other departments are doing, and their computers are not connected. That is NOT customer service! And that is exactly what will kill a company, IMHO.

 

I am definately not a Magellan basher. I have an eXplorist 400, and am quite happy with it. While this is my first GPSr, I have used many at work, Magellans, Garmins and Lowrence. I have always liked the Magellans best, for accuracy, sat aquisition and tracking, and intuative ease of use. So I would really like to see them not only survive, but thrive.

 

Getting back on topic.... :santa: I think maybe these Tritons being shipped without cables and s/w are part of this problem. Either (best case) they have very bad quality control over what is being shipped out in their name, or (worst case) they are purposely shipping them out that way so they don't lose the Christmas sales, and will let everyone fight it out with customer service to get the missing parts. Either way, it is not a good launch for the Triton line, which is a shame, because they have a lot of promise as a geocaching unit.

Edited by geowizerd
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Hi Matt,

 

since Triton 1500 has voice rec. and sound player, did you find anywhere in manual any info about voice guidance in automotive mode ?

Also I heard rumors about possibilities to connect heart monitor to Triton ?

 

Regards,

 

D*

 

I did not have the manual for the unit but I do not belive it can do that ( I have sent mine back and can not check on anythng untill I get my new one back)

 

As for the early units that some of us have received I believe it was stated either in this thread or the other 2 threads that are going on that these units where not supposed to end up for sale and mistakenly wound up at the distributor.

I really really wanted one and as soon as I saw it for sale online I jumped on it. I do not regret it. I really liked what I saw so far. Hopefully when my new unit gets here I will be able to test everything out. I will be doing a winter camping/hiking trip next weekend and if it gets here in time I am going to load up my Ng Topo maps to it and really test it out :-)

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I just got my Triton 1500 Back from Magellan with everything in the box that should be in the box :D .

Let me just say that Magellan’s customer support with this issue was great once I got past the initial outsourced support but to be fair and I am taking a guess at this that their outsourced support had no clue that the 1500 was released or had any information on the unit because I am assuming it should have not been released at that time. After that I was contacted by the right people and everything was handled smooth and fast. And I could not have asked for better service.

 

I have to head out for a little so I will not have a chance to play with it until later but I uploaded the user manual to the triton yahoo group if anybody wants to check it out. I did not see any options to upload files here .

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Sounds like the company is trying to make things right on this Triton 1500 snafu. Please share about your experience using the product; I don't know much about GPS but bought one for my boyfriend who asked for one for Xmas (it's being replaced, like yours) and am eager for details. Thanks!

 

Leslie

 

I just got my Triton 1500 Back from Magellan with everything in the box that should be in the box :D .

Let me just say that Magellan’s customer support with this issue was great once I got past the initial outsourced support but to be fair and I am taking a guess at this that their outsourced support had no clue that the 1500 was released or had any information on the unit because I am assuming it should have not been released at that time. After that I was contacted by the right people and everything was handled smooth and fast. And I could not have asked for better service.

 

I have to head out for a little so I will not have a chance to play with it until later but I uploaded the user manual to the triton yahoo group if anybody wants to check it out. I did not see any options to upload files here .

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Just curious...How does the reception on the triton compare to that on the new Garmin H Series? I had ordered a Triton 400 online & after reading all of the horror stories decided to cancel my order before it shipped. I've had my Garmin Venture HC inside of a metal building that doesn't even get regular FM radio reception, and was surprised to be able to get a pretty decent lock on my gpsr....Needless to say, trees, valleys and building have little effect on this unit. Since in my opinion the gpsr is only as good as its reception, how do the Tritions fair?

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Matt - how quickly does the unit seem to acqire sats, both initial and on subsequent starts?

 

I did not time it but I had the Triton and the 60csx next to each other on my living room floor and turned them on at the same time. The triton won but not by much.

 

Not sure how you got it to aquire sats in your living room? Do you have a glass ceiling? I tried the 300 at REI yesterday and it was completely overcast with clouds from a snowstorm. The Triton picked up all sats and took very little time doing so (about 1 minute to get 5 full strength signals). I can tell you that my meridian platinum wouldn't have picked up any of them, maybe two if we were lucky.

 

We haven't had the pleasure to use the unit much more than that however, as we don't have ours in hand yet. We're having some difficulty getting a 500 series in our area. It's being shipped, but because of the holidays...it takes time.

 

On another note:

I don't want to come across as rude by saying this, as I certainly don't mean to be. But, I've been watching these Triton threads and most of them are long and have lots of Magellan bashing etc. and it seems to be mostly from "members" who are not premium members and have only made a handful of posts on this whole site, maybe claim to have found a cache or two. I have to wonder if these are sock puppet accounts. I'm not saying that if you are new you don't have the right to post your opinion. It just makes the posts questionable as alot of people get on this site and try to cause problems.

 

Magellan isn't perfect, but hey neither is Garmine, Lowrance, Busnell, etc.

Edited by elmuyloco5
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I have a 60Csx and it can easily pick up a signal inside my house and inside an up armored Humvee.

 

I should hope you can get a signal in a vehicle, there's nothing special about that. But the buildings, well I have to ask how close you were to windows. I've tried out several of the newer models of Garmins in the stores and not one has aquired a signal. Guess you must have a magic one. :rolleyes: Both units have the same SiRFstar III chipset. There shouldn't be much difference between that capability between the two. Other aspects of the units might be arguable, but the reception should be pretty balanced.

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I have a 60Csx and it can easily pick up a signal inside my house and inside an up armored Humvee.

 

I should hope you can get a signal in a vehicle, there's nothing special about that. But the buildings, well I have to ask how close you were to windows. I've tried out several of the newer models of Garmins in the stores and not one has aquired a signal. Guess you must have a magic one. :rolleyes: Both units have the same SiRFstar III chipset. There shouldn't be much difference between that capability between the two. Other aspects of the units might be arguable, but the reception should be pretty balanced.

 

Ok, I tried it again, & in the metal building the windows do appear to play a role (you should keep in mind that a metal building is basically a faraday cage). The only windows in the building are on the west side, and all of the satellites that I was able to get a lock on were to the west. However, I walked from my living room, down the hall & into the bedroom of my house (hall has no windows or even any exterior walls), and it tracked me the whole way. Even more impressive is the fact that I have large oak trees all around my house. If the triton can get this kind of reception, I'll probably reorder it once I'm sure they've worked all of the kinks out.

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I have a 60Csx and it can easily pick up a signal inside my house and inside an up armored Humvee.

 

I should hope you can get a signal in a vehicle, there's nothing special about that. But the buildings, well I have to ask how close you were to windows. I've tried out several of the newer models of Garmins in the stores and not one has aquired a signal. Guess you must have a magic one. :rolleyes: Both units have the same SiRFstar III chipset. There shouldn't be much difference between that capability between the two. Other aspects of the units might be arguable, but the reception should be pretty balanced.

 

Ok, I tried it again, & in the metal building the windows do appear to play a role (you should keep in mind that a metal building is basically a faraday cage). The only windows in the building are on the west side, and all of the satellites that I was able to get a lock on were to the west. However, I walked from my living room, down the hall & into the bedroom of my house (hall has no windows or even any exterior walls), and it tracked me the whole way. Even more impressive is the fact that I have large oak trees all around my house. If the triton can get this kind of reception, I'll probably reorder it once I'm sure they've worked all of the kinks out.

 

Once a unit has reception with a sat, it should track just fine for a short while if it's taken away from the reception. My Magellan Meridian Platinum does that, and at this point it's considered a pretty old unit. This won't do a whole lot for you though, as time passes and you move further away, the more inaccurate the reading becomes. You can really tell this in a car if you take your GPSr to a point where it really can't see anything (covering windows, etc) and the reading will slowly move away from the road you are on as you make turns and such. Just like sat TV, the unit needs to have good communication with the sat to be accurate.

 

Might I ask though, what application would you need it to register in a building? Personally, for my uses, I'm more interested in how a unit reads in heavy cloud cover, stormy situations, tree cover, etc. We tried out the 300 in the first two situations and I was really impressed. I know my Meridian would'nt have read then. And we are very happy with our meridian. It gets signal in the mountains under tons of tree cover when other cachers we know can't get any reception on their Garmins (don't know which models they were using). To then see that the Triton received signal even in conditions our meridian can't, really impressed me.

 

We're upgrading ours because we don't have color, etc as it's an older model. But I can say wholeheartedly, I love our Magellan. And no, I don't work for them. The unit has been fabulous. We've never needed to fix anything, and hence haven't experienced any problems with their customer service as we just haven't needed them. But this unit is 4-5 years old (parents gave it to us so I don't know quite when they bought it).

 

I know there's a big Garmin vs. Magellan battle that rages, but like I said in another thread, it's more like a Ford vs. CHevy thing than whether one is really better than the other. Both are excellent companies with excellent track records. I think brand is less important than which unit will suit your personal needs better. The Triton won't be the ideal unit for all, but for some, I'm sure it will.

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Personally, for my uses, I'm more interested in how a unit reads in heavy cloud cover, stormy situations, tree cover, etc.

 

Cloud cover and stormy situations have NO effect on your gps reception, tree cover and canyons/ravines do.

 

It has for me. I've been out in the mountains in the exact same area that I had been in for hours with a great signal and when the storm rolled in, the signal ended. I also have left my house on a snowy stormy day and couldn't get reception. No different for my TV satellite (even without snow on the unit itself). But on a partly cloudy day, or a clear day in all the same areas, my reception is excellent. Seems to me the clouds and storms were affecting it to me.

 

I know they say it doesn't affect it, but my experience suggests otherwise. I've have experienced no other time that my GPSr would not receive a signal. I've had no trouble in the mountains, canyons, in tree cover etc. I have had a weaker signal in those instances where we may have a reliability of 35 ft vs. 10 ft in those situations, but never total loss. Everytime a big storm comes (and I mean thick cloud cover) the signal is lost. i don't see how you could take it any other way.

Edited by elmuyloco5
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Personally, for my uses, I'm more interested in how a unit reads in heavy cloud cover, stormy situations, tree cover, etc.

 

Cloud cover and stormy situations have NO effect on your gps reception, tree cover and canyons/ravines do.

 

It has for me. I've been out in the mountains in the exact same area that I had been in for hours with a great signal and when the storm rolled in, the signal ended. I also have left my house on a snowy stormy day and couldn't get reception. No different for my TV satellite (even without snow on the unit itself). But on a partly cloudy day, or a clear day in all the same areas, my reception is excellent. Seems to me the clouds and storms were affecting it to me.

 

I know they say it doesn't affect it, but my experience suggests otherwise. I've have experienced no other time that my GPSr would not receive a signal. I've had no trouble in the mountains, canyons, in tree cover etc. I have had a weaker signal in those instances where we may have a reliability of 35 ft vs. 10 ft in those situations, but never total loss. Everytime a big storm comes (and I mean thick cloud cover) the signal is lost. i don't see how you could take it any other way.

 

If a storm is truly effecting your gps there must be something wrong with your gps. The only storm that will effect gps reception is a solar storm, which is is space so you wouldn't see any cloud cover :rolleyes:

http://www.n3kl.org/sun/status.html

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Personally, for my uses, I'm more interested in how a unit reads in heavy cloud cover, stormy situations, tree cover, etc.

 

Cloud cover and stormy situations have NO effect on your gps reception, tree cover and canyons/ravines do.

 

It has for me. I've been out in the mountains in the exact same area that I had been in for hours with a great signal and when the storm rolled in, the signal ended. I also have left my house on a snowy stormy day and couldn't get reception. No different for my TV satellite (even without snow on the unit itself). But on a partly cloudy day, or a clear day in all the same areas, my reception is excellent. Seems to me the clouds and storms were affecting it to me.

 

I know they say it doesn't affect it, but my experience suggests otherwise. I've have experienced no other time that my GPSr would not receive a signal. I've had no trouble in the mountains, canyons, in tree cover etc. I have had a weaker signal in those instances where we may have a reliability of 35 ft vs. 10 ft in those situations, but never total loss. Everytime a big storm comes (and I mean thick cloud cover) the signal is lost. i don't see how you could take it any other way.

 

WAY OT here, but...

 

While cloud cover, rain and tree canopy should not affect reception, moisture that collects on tree leaves or your antenna can...

http://gpstracklog.typepad.com/gps_tracklo...cloud_cove.html

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No moisture on my GPS. We didn't actually have it out in the rain, just the storm had rolled over and filled the sky horizon to horizon.

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with my unit. It works perfectly fine at all other times. Never once had an issue outside this one for the last 4 years I've owned it. But like clock-work it happens when there is full cloud cover. If I were near you, I'd be happy to show you myself. I've also read of plenty of other people who find they have the same problem with various other brand units in the same circumstances. I know that it might not make sense, but you can't argue with the results.

 

I did read that pine trees specifically hold a significant amount more water than other trees. I may live in NM, but I live in the Rocky Mountains (much more like Colorado up here). Maybe that is the reason, but either way, the comment I made was that the Triton had no difficulty where I saw it with my older Magellan. Take it as you may, I saw a difference.

Edited by elmuyloco5
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