Anyone else have a P.O.S. GPS??????

[Quackerbacker]

It is a serious handicap when geocaching. I find that the only reliable way to find a cache is to get within .02-.04 miles and let the GPS 'average' for a couple of minutes. I then get the bearing and look at a compass. Even in wide-open terrain, the pointer arrow isn't even close to being reliable. It sends me to the wrong side of the road/path all the time. I only rely on the pointer to get me close. I compared my GPS side to side with a newer GPS and the coordinates are usually behind by a couple of seconds when hiking around. I am thankful, however, that my GPS will eventually acquire the correct coordinates (just takes a while) and I can find the caches. (Only a couple of no-founds, but I came back later and found em). Anyway, my only point to this thread is whether or not anyone else experiences these difficulties?BTW my GPS is a Magellan ColorTrak (a few years old.)

[+Team Hoijong]

I have got a Magellan GPS 310 and experienced no problems.. when i'm about 20 meters from the cache i start walking at a reasonable speed and then stop after a few seconds and the Compass and all information is correct it will read something like 0.01 KM from destination and the compass points strait at the cache.. so last 10 meters i walk and i usually find the right spot..

I did read some threads about the temperature to be a big point in the working speed of your GPS..

 

I did read about in hot conditions it will take about 15 seconds to get a fix.

And in cold conditions can take up to 2 minutes to get a fix..

 

I'm living here where it is almost always above 30 degrees Celcius.. maybe that my GPS works far more quicker than yours does in the cold..

 

Happy Cachin'

 

[+Team Hoijong]

I have got a Magellan GPS 310 and experienced no problems.. when i'm about 20 meters from the cache i start walking at a reasonable speed and then stop after a few seconds and the Compass and all information is correct it will read something like 0.01 KM from destination and the compass points strait at the cache.. so last 10 meters i walk and i usually find the right spot..

I did read some threads about the temperature to be a big point in the working speed of your GPS..

 

I did read about in hot conditions it will take about 15 seconds to get a fix.

And in cold conditions can take up to 2 minutes to get a fix..

 

I'm living here where it is almost always above 30 degrees Celcius.. maybe that my GPS works far more quicker than yours does in the cold..

 

Happy Cachin'

 

[+worldtraveler]

quote:

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Originally posted by Irresisti:

I did read about in hot conditions it will take about 15 seconds to get a fix.

And in cold conditions can take up to 2 minutes to get a fix..

---

 

The "warm" and "cold" acqusition times in the owner's manuals are not referring to temperature. When you turn your GPS receiver off, it stores within its memory both its present location and an "almanac" of satellite position information.

 

When you turn your GPSr back on, it will attempt to use this information to help it acquire satellite signals. If you are relatively close to the position where you turned it off, and if not too much time has transpired, the stored data will be pretty accurate and the acqusition time will be short. This is a "warm acquisition" or "warm boot".

 

The farther you travel and/or the longer you wait before turning your GPSr back on, the less useful the stored data becomes. When the stored data is outdated to the point that it doesn't help the GP

Sr acquire satellite signals, you have a "cold acqusition" or "cold boot" situation.

 

You can reduce the cold acqusition time on many GPSr by scrolling the built-in basemap (if it has one) to your actual location or by entering your known coordinates immediately after turning it on.

 

Worldtraveler

"Time's fun when you're having flies." - Kermit the frog

[Best_Buddies]

You suffer from the classic "averaging" problem. Your GPS averages its position when you are not moving. The problem is that its definition of "not moving" is quite fast compared to normal walking speed.

 

This is not really a bug. This was the only way to get any type of accuracy when Selective Availability was turned on. When SA was on, your GPS could report you as moving a couple of miles per hour even while standing still. The averaging was designed with this in mind.

 

Now that SA is turned off, the averaging feature is more of an annoyance, but there it is. Unfortunately, I have not heard of your model being currently supported by firmware updates.

 

If you still think that it is so terrible, I will take it off of your hands for $20.

 

Your best bet might to be to move fast to kick your unit out of averaging. Then, stop dead and wait a second. Get the range and bearing to your target, and use a manual compas to find it.

 

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Any similarity between my opinions and reality is entirely coincidental.

--Harrkev

[+Prime Suspect]

You may already be aware of this, but I'll post it for informational purposes anyway. Unless you have a unit with a built-in electronic compass (and you have it activated), the arrow will only be useful while you are moving. Once you stop moving, the arrow could point anywhere. For the arrow to function, the unit needs two pieces of information, and has to make one big assumption. The two pieces of information are your location right now, and your location a few seconds ago. From this it can determine your direction of travel. The big assumption is that you are holding the GPS so that it is oriented in such a way that the "top" of the unit is pointing in the same direction you are traveling (some units allow you rotate the screen display, altering which side is the "top"). Turn the unit 90° while walking, and the arrow will be 90° off. A unit with an active electronic compass can determine its orientation from the earth's magnetic field.

 

And what's a Point Of Sale GPS?

 

[+Prime Suspect]

You may already be aware of this, but I'll post it for informational purposes anyway. Unless you have a unit with a built-in electronic compass (and you have it activated), the arrow will only be useful while you are moving. Once you stop moving, the arrow could point anywhere. For the arrow to function, the unit needs two pieces of information, and has to make one big assumption. The two pieces of information are your location right now, and your location a few seconds ago. From this it can determine your direction of travel. The big assumption is that you are holding the GPS so that it is oriented in such a way that the "top" of the unit is pointing in the same direction you are traveling (some units allow you rotate the screen display, altering which side is the "top"). Turn the unit 90° while walking, and the arrow will be 90° off. A unit with an active electronic compass can determine its orientation from the earth's magnetic field.

 

And what's a Point Of Sale GPS?