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Selective Availability ? (magellan gps320)


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Hi Everyone out there ,

 

I own a magellan GPS 320 its about 4 months old and i've had a few problems ,

 

the thing is every so often my gps goes crazy ! it pin points me upto 5miles away . it always seems to happen at the wrong moment as well .

 

I've taken this paragraph from the magellan FAQ section on there site :-

 

"Q: What is Selective Availability (SA)?

A: SA is an intentionally introduced degradation in the accuracy of civilian GPS by the United States Department of Defense. SA errors can degrade the GPS accuracy up to 100 meters. However, this error is adjustable and random. Typically, errors of 30 meters or more are not unusual. Now that SA has been removed, typical GPS position accuracy is approximately 15 meters (50 feet)."

 

my case seems a bit more extreme than this ,

is there a fault with my gps ?

Does any other magellan user suffer from this ?

do any garmin users encounter this ?

 

HELP ME , Its Getting annoying

 

P.S. i bought the thing when on holiday in Australia so it'll be hard to return it :-(

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The GPS jumps from locating one spot to another on its own?

 

Go into a little more detail of exactly what is happening and when.

You probably know what you are doing, but as anyone in tech support knows, you make sure the basics are covered first.

 

You know how to mark a waypoint and navigate back to that spot?

 

Are you waiting for it to grab a solid lock on it's location before marking the spot?

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When i first turn the GPS on i wait for it to get a fix before setting off .

 

The problem i get doesn't really happen at any specific time that i could say ,

 

Sometimes it happens when i'm driving , sometimes when out in the field hunting for caches . and not really when there is bad coverage or tree cover .

 

I would say that i'm quite familiar with it and that i've got it set up right aswell .

Using the usuall map datum and co-ord system .

 

I e-mailed magellan about a week ago but still no reply :-(

 

But the only thing i could think of is that , when i first bought the unit while in australia it had the original software on it . and i did'nt experince this problem untill i uploaded the newest version . So it maybe a software fault

 

Thanks for your help

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quote:
Originally posted by ukdean:

Sometimes it happens when i'm driving , sometimes when out in the field hunting for caches . and not really when there is bad coverage or tree cover .


 

I'm still having a hard time picturing the scenario.

 

So, you're hunting a geocache and have the intended location as the point being sought.

 

Suddenly as if Tinkerbell sprinkled some pixie dust, the unit changes it's mind and goes from claiming that the cache is 328 meters away, to several kilometers?

 

quote:
But the only thing i could think of is that , when i first bought the unit while in australia it had the original software on it . and i didn't experience this problem until i uploaded the newest version . So it maybe a software fault

 

If it holds it's position like your average politician, I'd say it was worth trying the firmware reload.

 

quote:
Thanks for your help

 

Well, thank me (or not) after the unit stabilizes. icon_smile.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by ukdean:

Sometimes it happens when i'm driving , sometimes when out in the field hunting for caches . and not really when there is bad coverage or tree cover .


 

I'm still having a hard time picturing the scenario.

 

So, you're hunting a geocache and have the intended location as the point being sought.

 

Suddenly as if Tinkerbell sprinkled some pixie dust, the unit changes it's mind and goes from claiming that the cache is 328 meters away, to several kilometers?

 

quote:
But the only thing i could think of is that , when i first bought the unit while in australia it had the original software on it . and i didn't experience this problem until i uploaded the newest version . So it maybe a software fault

 

If it holds it's position like your average politician, I'd say it was worth trying the firmware reload.

 

quote:
Thanks for your help

 

Well, thank me (or not) after the unit stabilizes. icon_smile.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by ukdean:

The problem i get doesn't really happen at any specific time that i could say ,


 

Four things you may want to try:

 

1. Re-Load the software update.

2. Re-Initialize the unit for your current position.

3. Make sure elevation is set to 3D mode.

4. Clear the unit's memory (all of it).

 

I had similar problems a while back when my Mag320 was set to 2D elevation. I'd be going along fine, get close to my final destination... Then WHAM! I'm 1/2 mile away.

 

Like you, I couldn't re-produce it reliably.

 

Hope this helps!

 

...

alex

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