Am I doing something wrong?

[CassCach]

I just got a Garmin Geko201 for Christmas.

 

I put two brand new batteries in it.

 

The instructions said the first time you use it to put it out doors for 15-30min.

 

I did this. After 15 min it had not been able to track any satellites. I came back in another 15min and it had found two satellites.

 

I took it to a nature center where I like to go hiking today. When I got there I put the unit on top of the car and turned it on. in 15min it was not able to find a single satellite. I the drive home I turned it on again and at one point it found one satellite but only for a minute. It never found another one the whole trip home.

 

I've also driven to the store with it on my dash and left it on while I was in the store and it never finds any satellites.

 

Every time I turn it on now it tries to track but ends up asking me if I'm indoors or hundreds of mile from my last location.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

 

So far this thing seems to be completely useless.

 

I have read many peoples reviews of this unit who say they use it with no problems at all. So why can't I get this to work anywhere?

 

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[+Renegade Knight]

It may be that your GPS has never had time to get the initial fix it needs. Try turning on and leaving it where it can get good reception for a couple of hours. Make sure that spot isn't moving. Don't worry about it, dont' watch the pot boil. After a couple of hours pick it up and see how it works again. If it was the initial boot session was interruptied it should work.

 

If it's something else, then we can try and help with that.

Edited December 28, 2007 by Renegade Knight

[CassCach]

Well, I tried what you said.

 

I left it out on the back porch for a couple of hours. At one point I saw it had a strong signal and 4 satellites tracked. By the time the two hours or so were up it had shut itself off because the batteries were weak (down to one bar).

 

I replaced the batteries with new ones and took it for a drive in a loop around my house. By the time I got back it had a warning saying Weak signal and asking me to press OK.

 

I put it back out on the porch in the same place it had sat before and it can only find one satellite and very weakly sometimes it can't even find that one.

 

After about 10min it can find all 4 sat's again with strong signal.

 

Does this sound normal?

[+webscouter.]

It doesn't sound normal but if the unit has never had a good lock without moving it will not have downloaded the almanac that helps it get a quicker lock.

 

Also the GPS units have a line of sight reception. If you place it in your car where it doesn't have a good view of the sky it will loss reception.

[+fairyhoney]

I like putting mine on the dash board in plain sight Could it be that you have a "bad" GPSer? If so, is it possible for you to return it and exchange it for another. You could also ask the person behind the counter. Some of them know their products.

[abhllnd]

Try going into "Setup" and input the "Time Zone" or "UTC Offset". If it has a place to input the numbers for some place close try that.

[+briansnat]

If you are in an area with a lot of trees and/or buildings it may have trouble getting "burned in". Go to nearby ball field where you can get a clear view of the sky, turn it on and set it down for about 10-15 mins. You should be good to go after that.

 

And for future reference, the Geko likes to be held flat, face up to the sky for best reception. Under trees this is imperative.

[CassCach]

OK, still having troubles.

 

Responding to the above posts.

When I had it in the car I would put it up on the dash, flat on its back facing up.

 

The time is set for local time.

 

I have always held it flat, face up to the sky when trying to get a signal.

 

-----

 

Today I turned it on at 2:30 and put it out on the back porch in the same location where it sat for hours the other day.

 

 

Here is a pic from the Geko's point of view

 

 

After 1min it asked me if I was inside. I told it no and it kept on trying to track.

 

After 15min still not a single satellite.

 

 

After 45 min it did find three or four satellites. I picked the unit up to check to see if the time and timezone were correctly set (question from above post) and after seeing that everything was set correctly I went back to the tracking screen. It had lost all satellites and a box popped up saying 'Weak Signal' and asking me to press OK.

 

I can try taking it to a ball field and seeing if that will help, but I'm not holding out much hope for that.

 

Unless someone can come up with something else to try I think I'm going to have to take it back. I think I could try exchanging it for another just to see if it is a bad unit and I just got unlucky getting this particular one. This was a Christmas present and it was bought at Walmart so I doubt anyone behind the counter will be any help, unfortunately.

 

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I'll post back if I get it to work or exchange it.

[CassCach]

Double post

Edited December 29, 2007 by CassCach

[CassCach]

I took the Geko to a baseball/soccer field and let it sit for 15min. In that time I had several (maybe 10) satellites tracked.

 

I picked it up (after the 15min) and walked around the field. The compass seemed to work well (while walking) and it showed my MPH. It responded very quickly when I changed direction.

 

At this point it was getting dark so I got in the car and headed for home. I put the Geko on the dash and for the first few miles it seemed to still be tracking several satellites, but as I got closer to home it gave me the 'Weak Signal' again.

 

I got home and put it back out on the porch and it couldn't track a single satellite. After about 10min of this I shut the unit off and back on again. It instantly found one satellite and then one more after about a minute but it still said tracking, not 'ready to navigate'.

 

After about 15min after turning off and on again it has several satellites and sometimes they have a 'D' over the signal and the display says 'Diff' accuracy.

 

I took it for a walk around the house and watched the compass/mph. It seemed to work for the most part but is very sluggish.

[+niffir]

Since it worked so well in the ballpark, I would think that the problem isn't with the unit but with the places you have been trying to use it until then. My GPS doesn't work well under tree cover and is entirely useless in valleys between steep hills and in my (cinderblock construction) apartment. That's just the nature of satellite reception. Maybe you need a more sensitive model if the reception is generally going to be bad in your area. Or perhaps you are just have a dud model that is working sometimes and not at others-- you could try returning it to Walmart and getting a replacement to see if the situation improves or maybe borrowing a GPS from someone else to see if you encounter a similar problem around your home.

[bodet328]

I would agree. The problem you are describing seems to be exactly the same with my house.

I can't go anywhere in there and recieve a single satellite. The same with cellphones.

No signal. But it's strange how you cannot recieve anything even when outside.

I don't think you are doing anything wrongit's probably just the location.

[abhllnd]

take it back.

[bodet328]

take it back.

take what back?

What do you mean?

Edited December 30, 2007 by bodet328

[abhllnd]

gps unit. take it back to the store. try a different one of the same model. see what happens.

[+Mudfrog]

gps unit. take it back to the store. try a different one of the same model. see what happens.

I agree,, sounds like the unit has problems to me. While i have been to places where the unit didn't seem to work as well, this doesn't sound like what's happening in your case. The dash in most vehicles is a good place to get signal and since you aren't, it sounds like the unit itself has problems.

 

Like others have said though,, it will not work as well if satellite signals are blocked. Tree cover is bad, a vehicle with a more vertical windshield may make for a harder signal lock, anything that keeps the unit from "seeing" a clear sky hurts...

[CassCach]

SUCCESS

 

I took the Geko back and picked up a Magellan eXplorist 210. I was going to exchange it but they didn't have any of the same model, but it seems like the eXplorist is a better deal anyway.

 

I put it out on the back porch and within a min or two it had several satellites and a map to my house!

 

I took it out for a try to the same baseball fields. It turns out there is a cache their that I didn't know about yesterday. So I found my first cache.

 

It was called "ROAD WARRIOR SERIES CT I-84 Cache 2 EXIT 15 " (GCPG3Y)

 

I took a sticker and left this smiley face poker chip.

 

I also left a note in the log book.

 

 

Thanks again for everybody's help and advice!

[Mag Magician]

Thanks again for everybody's help and advice!

 

You are welcome! We tried, we sweated with you, and we are there when you resolve a problem. Ain't it nice to find new friends?

[abhllnd]

GO! TEAM! GO!

 

We win!