I have no bias....

[nickyu]

OK, first thing first.

 

I am new to GPS units. I didnt know the first thing about GPSr's. I am not a geocacher, but from camera forums, I will try to aviod a brand flame war.

 

After reading a few different sites including this one. I have come to a few conclusions. The Magellan Meridian locks on like everyone says it does.

 

How did I come up with this postulate? I used a eTrex Legend, GPSMAP 76, and a Meridian GPS for the test.

Initially b/c of the size I was determined to get the Legend, interface is nice and screen is clean and clear! impressive.

THEN, the whole antenna thing. I decided to try a GPSMAP 76 and a Meridian GPS.

 

I presonally think that Garmin put all the R&D in the wrong area! while the Controls and software were great, they cant seem to lock onto the 'birds'. The Meridian's Interface looks dismal next to the 76 but I will tell you currently the Meridian has 7 Sat's and the 76 has 3 at best.This is in my office! I even went into McDonalds and it held a signal ..weak but there. It was in my pocket! (antenna just sticking out)

 

I have read all the forums and yes, I am holding it in the right position. For all units.

 

I thought I might share this... I need a GPS unit to work under tree cover for hiking and the only unit of the three worked like I felt it should was the Meridian.

 

This makes me sad, cause I really like the Garmin units they seem more refined, but if a GPS dosnt work to me its just a expensive piece of plastic!

 

Anyways this might be helpful to 'some' of the newbies looking for units.

 

[This message was edited by nickyu on July 29, 2003 at 08:57 PM.]

 

[This message was edited by nickyu on July 30, 2003 at 06:13 AM.]

[+Searching_ut]

There are many problems with just looking at the satellite bars to see how the unit is performing. In many of the situations you describe, the receiver picking up a signal when the others weren't was very likely the receiver with the problem. For the system to work correctly, you need to have a direct line of sight to the satellite. Any reflected, or bounced signals induce errors in your postion. If you say compare tracks of the units in a large variety of different areas, I think you'll find the better reception comes at the expense of fairly significant accuracy problems in some conditions while moving.

 

The different manufactures have made different trade offs in the way they have set up their units for gain/multipath rejection. As a general rule, boosting the gain for better reception in area such as flat terrain with canopy will cause positional errors in multipath prone areas such as mountain canyons.

 

In the end, it's kind of like the gearing of an automobile. The best setup depends a lot on how you plan to drive it, and even if you're consistant in that sort of driving, there will most likely be times when you wished it was set up different.

 

My own choice is to carry a couple different units. I use my etrex for recording tracks, and guidance while on the move, and most mountain or canyon use. I use the sportrak for stationary readings or on the move in heavy tree, but basically flat areas.

[+Rubberhead]

I'm thinking that I read somewhere on this board that the Magellan units will extrapolate coverage and movement to handle situations like driving through a mountain tunnel.

 

I've only owned Garmins, but I'm sure a Magellan owner can speak to whether this is true or not.

 

Ducks - Flying, great tasting, geocaches of meat

[nickyu]

So does this mean that the Meridian has (severe?) errors in canyons?

 

I am looking for a unit for a variety of terrain which will include both trees and canyons, how about canyons with trees? ... is the only solution 2 untis?!

[+leatherman]

Exactly what are your expectations for GPSr accuracy? What are you doing with it?

I have cached side by side with a GPS V on these three deep valley heavy tree cover locations. Coals of Newcastle, Hadley falls, and Super Genius 10-12.

We both experienced signal loss. However the GPS V would completely lose satellite lock and just blink and beep. Me meridian would track back and forth fifty or so feet but it kept feeding me info.

 

Pepper playing nice!

Mokita!

[+bigeddy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by nickyu:

I am looking for a unit for a variety of terrain which will include both trees and canyons, how about canyons with trees? ... is the only solution 2 untis?!

---

Each receiver has a different feel and, to a large extent, you get use to its idiosyncrasies. Just moving to a small clearing or holding the receiver above your head can dramatically improve reception in some cases. Many geocachers who often find themselves in poor reception areas use an external antenna amplifier.

 

Most of us have our favorite GPS receiver--the one we are familiar with!--but people have found many hundreds of caches with all types of receivers. Many choices.

[+Searching_ut]

quote:

---

nickyu said:

 

So does this mean that the Meridian has (severe?) errors in canyons?

---

 

I've found that the vast majority of the time, the Magellans accuracy will be off and drift by somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 150 feet, while my eTrex will often drop coverage peridically for say periods of 50 to 150 feet in the same areas. (Having been using GPS since long before SA was turned off I wouldn't really call that a severe error) In the extreme areas however, like the desert canyons of southern utah, with 1000 foot plus sandstone walls, or in steep canyons with high granite walls, my sportrak is prone to sometimes being off by distances of tenths of miles to several miles. (I don't even use my sportrak in southern Utah anymore as I'm afraid I'll end up throwing it against the rocks) My eTrex will sometimes jump way off as well, but it's generally a very fleeting jump that you notice mostly when you view the tracks. In the field, you just see a momentary speed blimp, or that your directional compass will jump way off for a moment.

 

If you jump to the website listed on my profile, you can see some track examples

[+Renegade Knight]

I've learned you can set the Magellans to beep and otherwise act like a Garmin when they lose lock. The default though is like Leatherman said. It will keep on feeding you it's best guess of location and direction for a spell.

[greatwhite6]

I think it's settled......Magellan is the king

 

Any belief worth having must survive doubt.

[+Criminal]

Leatherman said:

quote:

---

I have cached side by side with a GPS V on these three deep valley heavy tree cover locations. Coals of Newcastle, Hadley falls, and Super Genius 10-12.

We both experienced signal loss. However the GPS V would completely lose satellite lock and just blink and beep. Me meridian would track back and forth fifty or so feet but it kept feeding me info.

---

 

Huh, my V has never “blinked”; maybe he has the V+?

 

Yeah, that maggie was feeding you something alright! We know it’s just the jealously, or that Monroe madness...

 

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

[nickyu]

I thought I would go and try the vista along the same route.(just for fun!) I thought it would have the same problem as the Legend, however I was plesantly surpirsed that it was locked the whole time. It even had more 'lock' than the 76. I was in and out of tree cover. By tree cover I mean: there were parts where it was dark and I couldnt see any sky.

 

Now, I am super confused But, due to size I am going to go with the vista. Even if it does have short-comings, it cant be any worse then any other units.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Good luck with the Geocaching. Maybe I will try one someday (now that I have a GPSr)

 

Nick

 

Good from Far, Far from Good

[+Team Shibby]

If you are looking to get the best of both worlds, just purchase a unit that has a quad-helix antenna but also accepts an external antenna. Most external antennas are amplified patch antennas, so if one is not working for you, you can switch over to the other.

 

You may just find that coverage in certain areas will be the same no matter what type of antenna you use.

 

Kar

[+GOT GPS?]

I took 2 GPS V units and a Platinum on South West Airlines, from Detroit(DTW) to Tampa, Florida(TPA), and when I looked at the tracklogs, the GPS V's ruled supreme.

The Meridians may seem to be better than the garmins, but the tracklogs proved otherwise. there were some breaks in the tracklog of the GPS V, but that was fixable. The Meridian tracklog was one long tangled mess of not more than 30 or so tracklog points from Detroit, to Tampa. I had the Tracklog on the Platinum set to AUTO DETAILED also.

 

As with any GPS, including eTrex, Map 76, or Meridians. You will need a view of the sky for at least 15 minutes, to get a good copy of the satellite Alminac. I have two GPS V's, and find that if I have a good download of the Alminac on just one of the GPS V's, that the other will usually show fewer satellites availible and a bad quality of Position, until it also gets a good 15 minutes of view of the sky.

 

If you moved more than 300 miles with the GPS off, or not used it for more than a day, you need to set it down somewhere for the 15 minutes for downloading all the Satellite Positioning data. With my two GPS V's, I have seen this many times. I have the same firmware in both units also.

 

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