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Highly sensitive Chip!


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I am considering upgrading to a GPS with a high sensitive Chip (Not Colarado) 60csx or 76csx etc.

 

I was wondering if anyone can compared a GPS with and without these chip to tell me just how much better is the sensitive chip. I am looking for practical info here that I can understand and relate to. Is the price worth the difference. I lose signal in trees and steep hollers with my GPS 72 (garmin unit). When I lose signal I get it back pretty quick and seldom much of a problem. Deep hollers and thick pines trees make the most of it.

Will I do any better with the sensitive chip or will I still be blocked.

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I have an "old" GPSr with the low-sensitivity chip. It loses lock in mild tree cover, and it's impossible to get it started when you're in a city with any high buildings nearby.

I also have one with the newer SiRF Star III chip, similar to the CSx range. Much better: if you can get somewhere clear to initially lock on to the satellites, then only severe tree cover or canyons (urban and otherwise) will cause it to lose signal. Sometimes it's a bit slow on inital lock.

My third GPSr is an HCx: this often locks on instantly, even when indoors or in thick forest or around high-rise buildings. You can just leave it switched on in a bag or a pocket and be pretty sure it's going to be useable wherever you are: as battery is life well over 12 hours on a single charge, I tend to leave it on all day if travelling or caching. Make sure you get the one with "H" in front and you can forget about tree cover problems.

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I am considering upgrading to a GPS with a high sensitive Chip (Not Colarado) 60csx or 76csx etc.

 

I was wondering if anyone can compared a GPS with and without these chip to tell me just how much better is the sensitive chip. I am looking for practical info here that I can understand and relate to. Is the price worth the difference. I lose signal in trees and steep hollers with my GPS 72 (garmin unit). When I lose signal I get it back pretty quick and seldom much of a problem. Deep hollers and thick pines trees make the most of it.

Will I do any better with the sensitive chip or will I still be blocked.

I just upgraded from the 76CS to the 76CSx. The difference is remarkable and I highly recommend one of the high sensitivity receivers.

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To second other comments above, the difference is significant. I can directly compare my Garmin eTrex Legend with my Garmin eTrex Vista HCx.

 

The Legend, sitting on the coffee table in my living room, might get a peek at a satellite or two, never enough to get a lock on position. Even sitting it in a window of the living room, I would probably not get a position.

 

The Vista HCx, sitting next to my Legend on the coffee table, showed an EPE of about 25'. So, I had a pretty decent position fix, indoors.

 

Cache On!

 

JohnTee

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I've got several handheld GPSr units including a Colorado 300, and a Bluetooth GPSr for my Tablet PC. The Bluetooth GPSr has the SIRF chipset and maintains sat lock inside our shop -- the others only work when near the window, and then they wander quite a bit.

 

Wish the Colorado had the high-sensitivity chipset, but at least it does paperless caching.

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I have a colorado 300, 60Csx and Explorist 600 and I can get full sattelite locks from all of them from inside my home office. There is only one window in the room and I don't sit near it. It does take a bit more time to lock but they eventually do. Ususally the 60CSx will lock first then the colorado and the explorist.

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I used to have a 76CS and I loved it. I now have a 76CSx and you couldn't get me to go back to the old unit. The difference in signal reception and signal lock is incredible. I wouldn't even consider recommending a unit without the high sensitivity receiver.

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After I got my 60CSx I found I was healthier, could run farther than ever before, my kids listened better and even my dog was nicer to me.

 

Ok, well, perhaps not, but really the high sensitivity chip is SO much better than the others, you'll never go back. Seriously. I've gotten a lock in my BASEMENT already. (Not always, but it's happened).

 

The high sensitivity chips almost never lose signal under typical circumstances. If they do (like when driving through a mile-long turnpike tunnel) they'll regain a lock within a few seconds of seeing the birds again. The old chips don't even compare...

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I pulled my 60Cx off of the windscreen mount and tossed it in my pocket once when I went into a supermarket. When I looked at the tracks later to my amazement it had tracked me up and down the aisles inside the supermarket, just using what it could see through the windows along the front edge of the building.

 

I'd need a very good reason to go back to a non high senstivity unit, and I have to say price would not enter into that decision - the low sensitivity units might be significantly cheaper, but they're also significantly worse.

 

Gary

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I managed to get a complete uninterrupted track on a 2 hour ferry crossing last weekend using my Vista HCx. It was one of those fast-ferry catamaran type of ships and I was sitting in the middle of it, not near any windows really, so I'm assuming what signal it managed to receive was actually coming through the metal roof above me. . It did take some time to get the initial fix, but once it had it, it hung on to it for dear life. Very impressive!

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The only problem with high sensitive gpsr is that it tends to wonder a bit in difficult conditions.

 

...but thats okay!

 

I'd rather have a location fix that is has a little offset or wonders around a bit in difficult conditions than no satellite lock at all.

 

Many people have complained that "I left my gpsr on a desk for few hours and when I came back there were tracks all over the place! how awful!" But without high sensitive chip there would have been no lock at all.

 

So, really, if you can live with the sometimes occuring positional error in such a places where nonsensitive gpsr would give no lock at all, go for it.

If you cannot live with that when your gpsr is in a hous on a desk and shows movements back and forth, while its actually sitting still - dont get it ;)

 

PS: tested it on the top of my car roof one day. Let it sit there for an half an hour with clear sky view. It was rock solid - odometer remained at 0 meters. EPE was 2m

 

But as stated before - I'd rather have somewhat errenous location fix than no location fix at all.

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The best example of the difference between the old chip and the new one that I can think of was the time I was geocaching and drove into a parking garage. This was a 3 story garage above ground level. I kept a satellite lock at the bottom level of the garage with my 60CX. My older 60CS would have lost signal as soon as I got in the shadow of the garage much less drove inside.

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...and the HCx isn't - it uses the next-generation (which is even better).

Didn't say that it did. As I understand it, it's got an MTK chipset for a receiver. Better, is of course, in the eye of the observer. Both chipsets have some issues. Both are sensitive enough to pick flys*** out of pepper. I'd like to throw my CSx and an HCx (which I don't own) into our old Orbit simulator and see how they stack up, that would be fun.

 

A real mindblower for sensitivity are these uBlox receivers. We use those in some of our custom products, and they are so sensitive that they get satellites indoors with NO ANTENNA CONNECTED. Egads!

 

-Pacific

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...and the HCx isn't - it uses the next-generation (which is even better).

Didn't say that it did. As I understand it, it's got an MTK chipset for a receiver. Better, is of course, in the eye of the observer. Both chipsets have some issues. Both are sensitive enough to pick flys*** out of pepper. I'd like to throw my CSx and an HCx (which I don't own) into our old Orbit simulator and see how they stack up, that would be fun.

 

A real mindblower for sensitivity are these uBlox receivers. We use those in some of our custom products, and they are so sensitive that they get satellites indoors with NO ANTENNA CONNECTED. Egads!

 

-Pacific

 

What kind of receiver does an eTrex Venture HC have? (I just ordered one, hope it's as good as my Nuvi 350's.)

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I recently purchased the Legend HCx. I was hoping to use it for hiking. However, it will not pick a signal in the woods. When I get to a clearing it picks up the signal again. I believed the forums I read about great reception inside building and it can do this. But I can generally find my way around my house without the aid of a GPS! :angry: Even when walking on a road with light tree cover it will routinely show me as stopped unless I come to a place in the road where there are no trees. About a third of what I walk is recorded, this is not a one-off this is ALL the time. This makes the odometer page useless. I was hoping to use this to calculate the distance I walked and measure area; both impossible. The unit is great on my bike, car, or in my boat; in other words when I am in clear areas. My previous unit was a Magellan Map 410 (1999). It did not pick up the satellites quickly but did manage to read my walk just as well. However, I do live in an area with rocky hills and large pine trees. This makes it a challenge for any GPS. There have been reported problems with this unit's new chip and/or software and are well documented in the Groundspeak forums.

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If you have a Legend HCx then something is wrong. What you are describing is the normal pitiful reception of a regular Legend. Even the Legend Cx is okay under trees But a Legend HCx should not loose a signal under trees even in a rain forest. I would call Garmin to check settings then send it back for exchange repair if it didn’t work any better.

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If you have a Legend HCx then something is wrong. What you are describing is the normal pitiful reception of a regular Legend. Even the Legend Cx is okay under trees But a Legend HCx should not loose a signal under trees even in a rain forest. I would call Garmin to check settings then send it back for exchange repair if it didn’t work any better.

I have been in contact with Garmin for the last 2 weeks. They told me to reset my unit. Of course this did not work, which I told them and now I am waiting for a reply. (It has been a week.) Many others have reported a problem. There is also some controversy about the new chip. I did notice the other day when I was walking, the track was 30m off the road I was on. I wrote this off to Garmin's topo map. Then a friend picked me up and the track then followed the road EXACTLY. It seems to be related to the speed which one moves , an often reported problem with these units. The 2.60 upgrade was supposed to fix the problem but has not.

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The location error is a widely reported issue but I have never heard of a Legend HCx loosing a signal in the woods.

I just went out to check the signal strength in an area where the track arrow freezes but will then indicate a straight line rather than the twisty path I am on. There are 3 and up to five strong signals. The track will indicate I am stopped when I am moving and thus the distance and actual track are not recorded. I am baffled. One time it was off by 34m.

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