dzavetsky Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 Hello all....new to the list and new to GPSing.... I bought my first GPS this past SUnday, a Magellan SPortrac....got it home and realized that it didnt do exits, etc for highways and the Legend did, so I went back and exchanged them and came home with the legend.... Well, now I am lost as to what to do...here are my concerns/problems and I hope someone out there has the answers for me.... 1) The unit has the basemaps and they seem pretty thorough actually...the problem is with accuracy...most of the time, my position is far off the actual spot it SHOULD be on the map displayed....I may be travelling a road and the track shows parrallel to it, but far from the correct track.....I just got back from wlaking a local rails-to-trails bike path and tried geocaching.....Well, I ran into someone with a Magellan Platinum....his unit showed us standing on the old railroad, while mine showed us standing in the middle of the yough river, under the bridge...some several hundred yards away.....I am planning on trying metroguide...will my accuracy improve?? I cant see using this thing if it shows me on ONE street when I am really on a parrallel one...this guy mentioned that he had to "calibrate" his......My owners book shows nothing of the sort.....WHat is the deal? 2) The memory --- Is 8mb enough?? I am wondering bigtime....I wantt o use Metroguide, so thatI can load my local area (pittsburgh PA) and then the area to which I am travelling and maybe a couple areas in between..... 3) when tracking back or using waypoints it seems like the "approaching turn" and bent arrows come in way too late to be effective for driving..... I am having serous second thoughts on the Legend at this point.....I dont have a lot of $$ to spend, but I cant see keeping this if its accuracy is this far off.....The actuall LAT/LON numbers compared ok.....just the maps are WAY off.... Can anyone guide this lost soul??? Am I just using it incorrectly?? Thanks in advance all... Quote Link to comment
+Searching_ut Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 In my dealings with units from both manufactures, I've found that in the USA, both have about the same degree of error in the basemaps, which can be quite significant sometimes. The Meridian you were looking at almost certainly had more detailed Mapsend maps loaded. Garmins latest metroguide (Purple jacket) has about the most accurate road data you'll find anywhere. Quite a bit better than the public domain data you'll find on Magellans Mapsource. Earlier version of Metroguide came from a different database. For about 70 percent of the country, they're quite a bit more accurate and up to date than the Magellans Tiger map data. The other 30 percent comes from the same Tiger map data, but a slightly older version so the Magellan product has the edge in those areas. As for having enough memory, that's a tough call. The amount you can fit into 8 megs varies with how built up the area is. Quote Link to comment
able2ru Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 I can't say if 8megs is enough for you, it will hold about 1/3 of Arkansas. As far as being off, the base map is pretty crude as far as accuracy goes. I would load a better map and zoom in and see if it still is way off. Even the Metroguide maps are off. No map is perfect since many are tiger maps and not knocking tiger, they did a lot with very little gov't money, and the gps sometimes lies too. If you have WAAS capability, turn it on. You should be accurate to at least 12 feet or less with that turned on. The very first time it is initialized, it will be off more until it reads all sats. But if it is still a long ways off, then send it in for repairs or see if the store will exchange it. Able2ru? Quote Link to comment
+wickedsprint Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 quote:Originally posted by dzavetsky:Help! need GPS advise...I am lost... Does anyone else find this ironic...LOL Quote Link to comment
+hoovman Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 quote:Originally posted by wickedsprint: quote:Originally posted by dzavetsky:Help! need GPS advise...I am lost... Does anyone else find this ironic...LOL Seems to me you should learn how to use a GPS (and compass) before you get lost Quote Link to comment
+TotemLake Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 quote:...this guy mentioned that he had to "calibrate" his... What that guy meant was the 3-axis compass needs calibration when new batteries are put in. The 3-axis compass is a real floating electronic compass which calibrates to magnetic North. This has nothing to do with the GPS orientation/accuracy. As you are pretty new to this, you aren't aware of the other threads, but the short of it is; with GPS receivers side-by-side, they will rarely agree upon position. This variation is due to a whole slew of conditions that even mere inches can change. As pointed out earlier in this thread, neither map is going to be very accurate based on how the data was collected. Even paper based maps show the same inconsistency. Aaaand I have to agree with hoovman. Before you grow too dependant upon the GPS, do know how to use a compass with a map, learn how to use your GPS a little better, and carry spare batteries. Now for GPS memory size. Buy the GPS with the most memory you can afford now. You will appreciate the extra space. I personally have a MeriPlat (Meridian Platinum) with 128MB SD card and learned how to use it before I left my backyard, and learned to navigate with it before leaving the neighborhood. One other thing, buying a map to download to your GPS will not improve the accuracy. It just adds detail. My understanding is the receiver you bought is pretty reliable and accurate. Some receivers will be just a little slower zeroing in on the actual location. Cheers! TL Quote Link to comment
+kevin917z Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 my garmin did that too, several times it showed me in a river or lake since the built in base map isnt that highly detailed like the maps you load into the GPSr, it showed me in the lake or river but not far into it, after installing Metroguide the detail was much better, it showed the rivers and lakes in more detail. after that i havent been shown as being in rivers or lakes. The base map is good enough you can even turn most garmin units to "lock on road" so if your very close to a road it will show you on it. All gps units will do this to some extent. For me 8mb has been enough, depending on the mapsource program you can fit quite a bit of maps in it (half to 3/4 of kansas for me) Quote Link to comment
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