Magellan Triton 300 Help

[+OregonCacher]

Hey,

 

So I went on two caches tonight after just purchasing this GPS. The GPS worked fine however, I selected the cache I wanted to track to that I had added with Vantage Point, and tracked towards it like normal. I was going towards where it said, but based off of the information I had it seemed like I was going in the wrong direction.

 

I cancelled my route, and re-tracked towards it on my GPS, and it took me a completely different direction that turned out to be the correct one.

 

The cache I just got back from wanted to take me over a river(i'm out in the open), and so I did the same thing as the previous cache. I cancelled the route and re-selected it, and it brought me closer on the side of the river I was on right to the cache.

 

It was night time and raining, would that affect it? Or do I have a defective GPS? I shouldn't have to do this every time i'm searching to get a reliable reading

[+SkellyCA]

I have a triton 400; when I first turn it on, it still thinks I'm at the last place I was when I turned it off, so I have to walk around a little to let it figure out where I am

[+OregonCacher]

Well its not as much,

 

But I will turn it on in open areas, let it find its 3 Satellites needed, and then it takes me towards the cache, then when i'm about 100 feet away if I turn it off and back on again and go through the process, it will direct me towards a completely different direction, and 2/2 times thats been the correct direction, not the first one

[vagabond]

Why not let it find more sats I normally can pick up 10 to 12 sats on my 400

 

edit to even in the MH I'm picking up 7 sats with the 400

Edited December 30, 2008 by vagabond

[+SkellyCA]

I agree, 3 satellites is just a minimum required to triangulate a location; the more satellites, the better. Satellites are 22,500 miles in space; takes a little time.

[BassMasterCHS]

I agree, 3 satellites is just a minimum required to triangulate a location; the more satellites, the better. Satellites are 22,500 miles in space; takes a little time.

 

more like 240 miles

 

Correction, I retract the above statement...I was looking this subject up and it turns out I found some around the 22k mile mark...and some around 240..Odd?

Edited January 2, 2009 by BassMasterCHS

[+mchaos]

I used my unit and it worked very very well. It was super accurate. Took me right to the caches.

 

There are some things you have to consider some times. Trees and large objects can bounce sat signals and give an in accurate reading. If you only have 3 sat's tracked then the trees will make it hard to get an accurate signal.

 

The more Sat's you are tracking the more accurate the unit will be.

 

you can get a location with 2 sat's, its called a 2D fix.

With 3 or more its a 3D fix.

 

Best advice is to track as many sat's as the unit can find so it can get the best triangulation. Then go for it.

 

Carry spare batteries with you so you don't have to worry about turning off the unit to save power, and make sure the back light turns off in the minimum time, that will save most of the battery life.

 

I make it a point to leave the unit on while I am out, especially if I am in un familiar woods. One day when scouting for a cache location, I went way off trail and was not paying too much attention. It was pretty deep in the woods. By the time I found a great location to mark I was disorientated and was not sure how to get back. With out a GPS I would have been able to find my way back, but it might have taken me much longer.

 

Because I had the Unit on the whole time I hit back track and made light work of finding my way back to trail.

 

In some instances I save tracks of the area as they may come in useful later.

 

On my Mio I hacked it with Mio pocket and use BeeLine GPS for driving to the cache sight or letting me know when I am close on route. I leave it on the whole time I am driving and I save the track, now I have my own personal road map of all the area's I have cached.

 

It has come in handy trying to find some caches.