What can I do with my sequential GPS 300?

[Guest Pete Holden]

Last year, on a whim, I bought a Magellan GPS 300 at Walmart for $60. It seemed to work fine in Utah (no trees), but hardly at all in the Colorado woods.

 

Okay, now I know I should have bought a parallel unit, and I will some day. But, for now, what am I missing?

 

1. How much slower is mine at acquiring a fix when I'm out in the open?

2. How can I tell when I'm in the trees if my fix is a good one? I would have thought that when the coordinate reading settles down it would be good, but that doesn't necessarily seem to be the case.

3. If it says it's tracking 4 or 5 sats, doesn't that mean I can be confident of the fix?

[Guest kablooey]

Yeah, I'd be interested in anything you find out. I just found my first cache yesterday in a wooded area with a Magellan 300, but it wasn't easy, and I spent quite some time in the wrong place wondering why I couldn't find what I was looking for.