More auto averaging Meridian Gold

[+GoodHunting]

I have read through several threads on averaging and most seemed to deal with placing a new cache, so my apologies if I’m reopening an old topic. I’m curious if my experience is typical and if anyone has any comments.

 

I have come to the conclusion that when my GPS says I’m 100 feet from the cache I need to stop. Hopefully there is a place to sit and read a book or something to occupy my eyes so I’m not tempted to look at the GPS for 5 minutes or so. After that time it usually says I’m 40 to 60 feet away and I start again. If I don’t stop I’ll end up way past the spot.

 

I tried this past weekend walking real slow starting at about 120 feet which was maybe a little better but not much. I’m not sure it was a valid test though because I was under lots of tree cover with very overcast skies plus the underbrush made it hard to walk in a straight line (kinda like most caches, huh.)

 

So is this normal? Does anyone have any “tricks of the trade”?

 

GoodHunting

[+phantom4099]

What GPSr are you using? Are you using a magellan 315/320? If so, do you have version 3.15 installed? This may help in the narrowinf down of the cache.

 

Wyatt W.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

[+alexm]

quote:

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I tried this past weekend walking real slow starting at about 120 feet which was maybe a little better but not much. I’m not sure it was a valid test though because I was under lots of tree cover with very overcast skies plus the underbrush made it hard to walk in a straight line (kinda like most caches, huh.)

 

So is this normal? Does anyone have any “tricks of the trade”?

---

 

Goodhunting,

 

What you are experiencing is what is loosely referred to as the "Slingshot Effect." That is, you stop at ground zero and the cache goes slingshotting past you in the direction you just came from.

 

I don't think that this is primarily an averaging issue, I believe it's more of what they call multi-path or cross-path errors caused by GPS operation in heavy tree cover (or walking between two tall buildings, etc...). I'm not an engineer (I'm sure one will chime in), but basically it's caused by the satellite signals "bouncing" off the objects around you (trees, leaves, buildings, canyon walls, etc...) instead of hitting you head on. I've seen this in several GPS models, magellan and garmin alike.

 

I think you have the only trick that I know of down though... I usually stop at about 50-75 off and wait for the GPS to "settle" down a bit and start looking around for the "usual" hiding spots. Usually not more than a minute or less.

Half of the time, you'll know where the cache is before the GPS does.

 

I'd like to see if anyone else has any better solutions....

 

...

alexm

[+GoodHunting]

quote:

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Originally posted by phantom4099:

What GPSr are you using?

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I'm using a Magellan Meridian Gold with v3.12.

 

GoodHunting

[+Jamie Z]

GH,

 

I have experienced this on virtually all my cache hunts with my Meridian Gold.

 

I started noticing that if I walked until my GPS said zero (or some other small number) feet, that I was really about 100 feet away. If I let the GPS sit for a few minutes, the number would slowly move toward the "right" number.

 

What I do now is walk until I feel I'm in the general area of the cache and turn off my Gold, and then immediately turn it back on.

 

After it re-locks, the distance measurement is almost always more accurate.

 

Jamie

[+GOT GPS?]

The Meridian Platinum performed better than the GPS V, on every cache hunt were i had both units. I see no problem with it.

 

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My home page about GPS units and information

[+GOT GPS?]

If you are having trouble with the Meridian, try holding the unit vertical, and at eye level, so that it gets a better view of the sky.

 

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My home page about GPS units and information

[+Night Stalker]

I use the auto averaging feature on my Sportrak Pro in heavily wooded areas. When I get close I stop for about 30 seconds and wait for it to settle down. I check the distance then move in a direction for about 6 feet and stop again. If the distance diminishes I continue slowly in that direction. I sometimes have to surround the cache using this method, but in heavily wooded areas this works quite well in eventually getting me to the cache. Of course you have to have patience to get there. In open areas the GPS goes straight to the cache without all the messing around.

 

Lost? Keep Going. You're making good time anyway!!

[+GoodHunting]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jamie Z:

GH,

 

What I do now is walk until I feel I'm in the general area of the cache and turn off my Gold, and then immediately turn it back on.

 

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"Interesting" story about this past weekend. I was in very heavy tree cover, just as I found the cache my batteries gave out. I changed batteries and went through the cache and signed the log, spent maybe three or four minutes. The Gold never did acquire a second satellite, it was a short way out so I just turned it off. Anyway, I will try your trick when I have a better view of the sky.

 

Bob

 

GoodHunting

[+infosponge]

When your GPS is calculating your position while you're in motion, it's expecting you to remain in motion. Since you naturally slow down as you get close, this throws it off and it puts your position further away along your direction of travel.

A quick pause to let it catch up usually does the trick. When I get close these days I just pause to take the compass out of my backpack and that's all the time it needs to be accurate again.

[+mookie]

I have the same experience with my Meri-Gold. The first few caches I looked for, I excitedly quickened my pace as I neared ground zero. When I got there I would start looking around in vane. As I would re-check my GPS it would undoubtedly show I was now 20-50 feet PAST the cache.

I use the 100 ft. alarm now so when it goes off, I slow my pace and walk slowly towards the cache. Or as others suggest, stop altogether when you get within 75-100 feet and let the GPS “catch up”

[+ZachNLiam]

I've never noticed anything quite like you're describing here. I haven't tried Magellan, but I have 4 different Garmin gps models, and none of them seem to do this.

 

When I 'zero out' I start to look around and will usually take a couple more approaches if I feel like I should.

 

Interesting discussion though. I'll pay more attention next time!