+Sammluna Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 I just started geocaching. We dug out our old Visor Handspring that had a Magellan GPS on it. My husband got it two Christmases ago, and it never really worked. Well, it was a beautiful sunny day on Sunday and after about 20 minutes, we got a fix and we went geocaching and found our first two caches--but they were in the suburbs--no big trees or buildings. The rain and clouds finally came (I'm 20 miles west of Seattle) this week and I have not been able to get a fix. The thing has been on for hours and DAYS. I've replaced batteries. I've driven to different places--nothing. So, I thought I probably needed a new GPS and narrowed it down to a Garmin etrax Legend. However, the more I read, the more I found that cloud cover and lots of trees would interfere with a signal. This is something I'll have alot of around here. Am I out of luck? What have you found? How long SHOULD it take to get a fix? Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment
ChiefPig Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 I think after the first long fix, unless you move it 100 or 200 miles away while being off, the next fixes should only take a minute or less. The first one is when the unit gets the almanac and learns where the satellites are at your location at a specific time. After that, it can make an intelligent guess where the satellites are the next time you turn it on. Quote Link to comment
+Sammluna Posted October 22, 2003 Author Share Posted October 22, 2003 Thanks for your quick reply. Well, I had a fix less than ten miles away. I've been trying for two days for one and can't get it. Is it the heavy clouds? I've looked into the Magellan SportTrak, and it seems to get better reception. But, are there downsides to the Magellan. Rubberbanding? What's that and does it affect all their GPS's. (Okay, so now I have several questions, here) Eager to get GOING!! Quote Link to comment
+Sammluna Posted October 22, 2003 Author Share Posted October 22, 2003 P.S. My husband did download the map software since our first fix. Maybe that compromised it somehow?? Quote Link to comment
+tirediron Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 It sounds like you might have a problem with your Handspring unit. Clouds really shouldn't have much of an effect (read: None) on GPS reception. Very heavy rain might. Tall buildings and heavy forest canopy will. Not knowing the Handspring at all, I can't comment on that, but I have been using a Legend for over a year now, and have found it to work very well in all weather conditions (I am near Victoria, so our weather is pretty much the same) and in all but the heaviest canopy. The patch anenna used by the eTrex series in theory will get better reception in urban areas than the quad-helix type of the Magellan series. The only thing you may want to think about as far as the Legend goes is it's limited internal memory for maps. For us in Canada, it's not really a big deal, since there is no topo data available for upload, but you might want to get some input from local cachers about this if you intend to buy/upload topo or other mapping data to your unit. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment
+Sammluna Posted October 23, 2003 Author Share Posted October 23, 2003 Went to REI today and played with the Magellan SporTrak Map and the Garmin eTrex Legend in their parking lot. Of course, my clip on Magellan never got a fix and these guys had no problem. I spoke to a couple of Legend owners there who loved them. I liked it better, too. Felt good, and changed as I moved unlike the Magellan which changed sporadically. Side by side, they gave me different coordinates. So, I used the knowledge of the REI guy (hey, they aren't on commission!) who was SO into GPS's. We chatted for a while. They don't price match, so I came home and ordered a Legend from offroute.com. I did buy a regular compass at REI, though. I figured spending $10 on a compass was cheaper than getting the Vista (and more fun for my daughter). Can't wait! Sus Quote Link to comment
+Dan_Edwards Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Madd Trakker:I just started geocaching. We dug out our old Visor Handspring that had a Magellan GPS on it. My husband got it two Christmases ago, and it never really worked. Well, it was a beautiful sunny day on Sunday and after about 20 minutes, we got a fix and we went geocaching and found our first two caches--but they were in the suburbs--no big trees or buildings. The rain and clouds finally came (I'm 20 miles west of Seattle) this week and I have not been able to get a fix. The thing has been on for hours and DAYS. I've replaced batteries. I've driven to different places--nothing. So, I thought I probably needed a new GPS and narrowed it down to a Garmin etrax Legend. However, the more I read, the more I found that cloud cover and lots of trees would interfere with a signal. This is something I'll have alot of around here. Am I out of luck? What have you found? How long SHOULD it take to get a fix? Thanks for your help! A few things I learned while I was using the GPS module with my Visors. I used it with both a Deluxe and a Pro. Reception was pretty good with the Deluxe, but it was great with the Pro. First fix after resets take a while. The only time this GPS does a warm restart is if neither unit has had batteries changed, resets done, so first fix takes a while a lot of the time. A lot of the Deluxe Visors have bad RF problems and will not work well with Wireless devices, if your have poor reception with new batteries, I would suspect that first. Having a GPS on the PDA is pretty cool, but its a jack of all trades and master of few. The Topo Maps available on the PDA are much more detailed then GPS handhelds, but GPS handhelds are a lot more dependable in the woods. The combo of both is nice. A = A Quote Link to comment
Kerry. Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Clouds haven't seen too many of them be an issue with GPS mainly because they aren't an issue, really. Cheers, Kerry. I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go Quote Link to comment
+Rubberhead Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Madd Trakker:Do I need a new GPS or is it just cloudy? I agree - I seem to want a new GPS everytime the weather changes too. ________________________________________________ Garmin eTrex Vista, Legend, and GPSmap 162 with Bluecharts/Fishing Hotspots/POI/Road & Rec Ducks - flying geocaches of meat Quote Link to comment
LowranceTracker1 Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 There are major Solar storms right now affecting GPS accuracy because of interference with the GPS satellites. The problems will probably last another week. If after that you're still having problems, I would suggest troubleshooting then. If it isn't hard, it isn't worth doing right? Quote Link to comment
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