GPS units with Outstanding Reception

[+TinSparrow]

It's only a matter of time before I upgrade my eTrex, and my main complaint with it is its problematic reception. Since this is perhaps the most important criteria for my selecting another GPSr, I'm curious to hear of stories of GPSr units with outstanding reception capabilities. Have you been GeoCaching with a friend and one of the GPSr's functioned well while the other lost signal? Do you own two GPSr's and have you noticed that one unit always outperforms the other? I'd love to hear about experiences like this.

[umc]

My V sucks right now and I'm replacing it with another one to see if I got a lemon but my Lowrance Global Map 100 is probably the best. I never have a darn problem and it takes me right to the cache every time.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

Not so sure, Somewhat new Owner Of a Garmin GPS V Received on 10-03-02

[+TeamBullivant]

I recently upgraded from the yellow etex to a Magellan Platinum and it is like night and day....I still use the both on hunts to compare and the plat just blows the etex away. It's almost no fun anymore..just walk right to the cache, even under heavy tree cover.

[+AikenToCache]

I have a Magellan Map330. I can sit in my bonus room and get and maintain WAAS lock. I can sit in my garage, with the unit in my van and get and maintain lock, although I usually lose WAAs in the garage.

 

I was hunting a cache in heavy pine forest with a guy that had a GPSV. He constantly lost lock. He put his external antenna on and put it on top of his head.... still couldn't keep lock. My 330 never lost lock.

 

I hunted with a family with an eTrex. Same area as above. Mine never lost lock. They turned off the eTrex and we used my unit.

 

I have lost lock on the hunt twice. First time was first thing in the morning in HEAVY forest with wet leaves and rain. I stopped in a bit of clearing and stood still for a minute... it came back. Second time was in a rail cut with very high sides and overhanging trees.

 

That's what I know...

[binthair]

My Garmin GPS 12 works just great. It was almost obsolete when I got it a year ago, but research showed that it got very good reviews as far as accuracy goes; so I bought it. Almost never loses signal or goes bananas under tree cover. I have never not found a cache that was actually there and I have, at present, 266 finds. I sometimes post my coordinates for finds and many times others have found these very valuable for finding the cache. It doesn't have mapping capability but that just adds to the fun.

 

I recently did a survey of the Ottawa area cachers and 1/3 of them now use Garmin Legends (the most popular) and seem to be happy with its accuracy. It has mapping capability and nice screens. But the best bang for the buck, in my mind, is the Garmin GPS 12, if you can still get it.

 

Cheers!

binthair

[+RB_Nielsen]

My Garmin V is so good leading us to caches that we now refer to it as the seeing-eye dog. It hardly loses satellite lock, and when it momentarily does loose lock, it quickly recovers.

 

I will not go so far as to say that finding caches is always a cinch, but for the high percentage Of them the search has been pretty much a matter of walking straight to them.

[+raouljan]

'nuff said

 

>Personally Responsible for the Recovery of .00244% of the Benchmark Database!<--watch this number!

[+Treasure Hunters Inc.]

We have been using the Lowrance Globalmap 100 for two years now. It has never let me down. I like it better than my sons Etrex Vista. Even without Waas it seems to be every bit as accurate and has better reception and quicker lock. I would probably replace it with the new Ifinder by Lowrance if I could be sure I would be as happy with it. I do like my son's ability to save 10 tracks.

[Alphawolf]

On a scale of I to V, it would be my V! Every time!

 

"Never take a sunset for granted. Stop what you are doing and enjoy it. You never know when it may be your last"

[umc]

Treasure Hunters Inc.,

 

I didn't know that there were other GM100 owners out there. I thought I was the only one. I have owned my for 4 years now and primarly use my V just because I paid so much for it but when that goes south like it often does I switch to my GM100. I'm trying not to bash the V because I think I got a lemon. Now if the second one behaves the same way I will be bashing then. Just did my research and found that you can only save 3 plot trails on the GM100. I guess that could suck but I don't save any so its not a feature I use anyway. I also wonder if the iFINDER is the same quality of the GM100. The only way to find out for sure would be to buy one.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

Not so sure, Somewhat new Owner Of a Garmin GPS V Received on 10-03-02

[+ESFKids]

I have a GPS V and compared to my GPS 76, Magellan Trailblazer XL and my friends ETrex it has extremely good satalite recption. I use it both in my Jeep and as a handheld in the woods. It performs perfectly in both situations.

[+Marky]

quote:

---

Originally posted by RB_Nielsen:

and when it momentarily does loose lock, it quickly recovers.

---

I have an Etrex, a Sporttrak Pro and a Meridian Plat. The Etrex loses lock all the time. The Pro and the Plat have *NEVER* lost lock on the hunt. They rock big time.

 

--Marky

"Everyone spends time in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

[+GeoCraig]

I have a SportsTrakPro. Once it locks on, it stays locked on. I've only lost the signal a few times--usually in a very steep canyon between lots of rocks. It's a great unit.

[+leatherman]

Lets see if I can get some rude arguments started.

 

I own three so far. The first, and longest, is a GM100. Which is the absolute worst for Geocaching. My experience with the GM100 is very similar to UMCs GPS V.

 

The second is a Map330. The reception was like going from night to day. Even though Jan and I were hunting with two GPSr, we were relying on the Map330 most of the time.

 

The third was a Meridian Platinum. Which was a distinct reception improvement from the Map330. Noticeably like going from a 700MHz computer to a 2.2GHz computer.

 

I do not own a GPS V, however I have cached side by side with a friends. The reception is noticeably less stable. Losing reception more often. It seems to take twice as long to settle down, when your at the coords.

I almost bought a GPS V. However I did read user opinions about accuracy and stability that made me lean towards the Meridian.

 

Now before everyone jumps in here and attests to how perfect and wonderful the GPS V is, Just remember the thread is about Reception.

The GPS V is sub par, IMHO

 

If you do not extend your expectations unto others, you will not be disappointed by the stupid things they do.

Mokita!

[umc]

Right on Leatherman. Sorry I can't argue with you. I think you may have a lemon GM100 as I have a Lemon V. Or at least I hope its a lemon but if not I haven't heard anything bad about the reception and the ability to hold a lock on the Meridians.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

Not so sure, Somewhat new Owner Of a Garmin GPS V Received on 10-03-02

[+Treasure Hunters Inc.]

From the various responses to this thread (many others of this kind in the past) it seems that all brands and models have their good and bad units (lemons). Or could it be that they all take some getting used to, before the user gets familiar with them. After all the GPS engines are all very similar, there are only two type of antennas (as far as I know). The real differences come in the OEM's program/algorithm which determines what is displayed as a position and vector to the desired point.

 

I have download 4 software upgrades for my GM100 over the past couple of years, and they did provide improved performance. That was one of the features which led me to purchase it back then, when others didn't provide that.

 

The rate at which the GM100 updates it's position and another feature called pinning on the GM100, can drastically effect its performance during the last 150 feet or so when you are moving slowly or changing directions often. I imagine similar features/controls on other units have similar effects.

[+IMLost]

Magellan Sportrak Map! I have never lost a lock on the sats.

[rmpgis]

I'll have to throw another vote for the GM100. The Eagle Explorer is another great reciever but both of these are getting old and would be hard to recommend for general geocaching.

[+TinSparrow]

This has been an interesting discussion, and I'm glad that I posted the original question.

 

For all those folks that were able to describe episodes where two or more GPSr's were used at the same time, it seems that the following models ALWAYS compared favorably (in terms of reception):

Lowrance GM100

Magellan Meridian Platinum

Magellan Map 330

 

On the other side of the coin, these units NEVER came out on top when a side by side comparison was performed (once again reception was the judging criteria):

Garmin eTrex

 

Other models (V comes to mind) were mixed in how many times they compares positively and negatively.

 

I'd still love to hear comments from other folks who have had similar side by side experiences.

[3fros]

I had once really wanted an Etrex because they are small and waterproof. I used a friend of mine's Etrex yellow. I was geocaching in some woods with another friend and it kept losing satellites. It was a joke trying to get it to stay locked. The friend (not the owner) that was with me remarked "If this is how GPS receivers work, I don't want one".

 

One day I was talking to my sister about wanting a GPSr and she said they had a Mag 315 that they had never used. I bought it for $80 and I love it. It locks onto satellites a lot easier and doesn't lose lock nearly as easily in the woods.

 

One of the reasons I hid this geocache in some real dense woods was to have a little fun with the Etrex users.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=14803

 

Which brings me to a recent poll I did. I wanted to know what GPSr people were using because I wonder what GPSr those who said they went right to it were using, and what GPSr those who said they had a hard time were using.

http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=9120989835

 

I met a fellow geocacher in those same woods looking for my cache while I was on my way out after doing some maintenance on the cache. He was using a Garmin V and when he saw my magellan he said they weren't very good. I just smiled as he was trying to keep a lock.

 

I met another geocaching family with an Etrex one day while on a hunt. Once the trees started to get thick their GPS was saying that the cache was one direction, and mine was saying it was a different direction. From what I knew from my use with the Etrex I was going to go with mine. They decided that it was best to follow mine too.

[+Gimpy]

It's real limited on memory capacity, but of all the Garmins that I have/had, it's by far the best at holding a lock under heavy tree cover. I don't even take the Street Pilot or V into the woods, so not sure about them. Use them for road navigation only. But the V being built on the same body/antenna system as the III Plus, I would think it would hold a lock real well. Never really tried the eMap in the woods either. Have that one mainly because it has the data card option. I keep a 64mb data card in it, loaded with Metroguide maps for pretty much the whole Northeast. Never know when it might come in handy. My main unit I use for heading into the woods, is the MAP76. Does a real good job of holding a lock, & if it starts to lose lock, I just connect the external antenna, & that will almost always cure the problem. If the stuff is so thick that even that doesn't do it, I'll pull out the III Plus, & it will do the job flawlessly 95% of the time. Had & sold an eTrex Vista. Up in my neck of the woods, the Vista was rendered useless even in medium tree cover.

 

"Gimpy"

[+ED634]

The garmin 3 plus never failed me yet,im with you Gimpy.

[+Centaur]

I have never owned anything but a V, which I got because I wanted the auto routing and rerouting features. I have nothing to compare it with, but all I can say is it has always got me to the cache, and the few times it does lose lock, it picks it right back up again quickly.

 

I did try it in my in-laws car the otherday on the dashboard. My in-laws car must be one of them with the metallic windshield covering because I coudl hardly get any signal through the glass. I got enough to get me where I was going, but the lock was poor. I moved the V from off the dash and held it out the drivers window (once i was parked silly!) and the signals trippled and more sats locked up. So you have to watch some of the cars when using a GPS on the dash, there are some that have a transparent metalic coating that kill the sat signals through the glass.

 

[+jollybgood]

My GPSV works flawlessly. I couldn't be happier with reception. I've been in some pretty heavy pine forest where light is almost choked out and still held a lock.

 

Only problem I've ever had is in my van when driving certain directions (usually east). My windshielf has a metalic coating and can cause problems. But an externa anttenae solved the problem.

 

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

[+jollybgood]

I keep my attennae at a 45 degree angle to the ground. I've found putting it fully vertical can diminish reception a bit.

 

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

[Little Longhaired Outlaw]

I've been using a Meridian and alongside other GPSr's, it's always been faster, more accurate and locked solid. I don't upload any maps to it, so I can't comment on that feature, but as far as holding the signals and accuracy I give it high praise!!

 

Wherever you go.......... there you are!!

[crr003]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ED634:

The garmin 3 plus never failed me yet,im with you Gimpy.

---

 

Happy with my 3+ too. Even happier when I found out turning off battery saver mode helped at slow speed.

 

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

[Ruben]

Can't say that i have trouble with my Etrex Vista which i bought recently.

Today i went for a short mountainbiking trip which took me through some forrest with moderate tree cover in the southern part of the Netherlands.

Never lost the reception on my vista. Best of all. It was in my side pocket of my pants. So not mounted on my bike or anything.

It logged the full 20 kilometres without any problems.

[+MedicP1]

I have a MAG 315 and I would put it into the great category. It rarely loses a lock in even heavy woods and while driving routinely grabs 10 SATs. Most of the time while driving I have a 2 or 3 Meter reading for accuracy. It is the only one I've used but I love it.

 

GPSr's...A step in the right direction!

[Mr502go]

I have a Vista, and it has been working GREAT for me. Used it in THICK forest cover here in GA. To top it off, I was on my 94 Honda CR250 Motocross bike. In sections I got him in the top of 5thgear with the throttle pinned. The GPS read roughly 60mph. Never had any probs losing signal. It was REALLY neat to look at the track log on my computer watching the elevation changes over a short distance, not to mention looking at the tracks. Anyway I was really impressed with it's tracking, especially at such high speeds through dense cover. I had it mounted in a GARMIN Gps case, which was actually designed for the 12 (got it because it's padded, and is fully enclosed) which was strapped to the gas tank using sleeping bag strapping (stuff you use to strap a sleeping bag to your backpack). I couldn't watch it while riding, but it was protected in the event of a high speed crash (fortunately there were none) and when I got back to the truck, it showed very complete tracks.

[+Pharisee]

I've been using a Legend for the last two months, my first GPSr. So far it's not been too bad. It does loose reception under heavy tree cover and that's in Autumn when most of the leaves have gone. I suspect it will only be worse in mid Summer. The other problem with the Legend is it's limited memory, 8Mb is NOT enough.

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

You don't stop playing because you get old. You get old because you stop playing.

[+Centaur]

Let me Markwell you over to HERE to see what my V was up to in the car.

 

[+Baston]

I have an Eagle Map Guide Pro (GM100) and a eMap. By far the best for me has been the Map Guide Pro. Very rarely do I lose lock and when it does, it regains it quickly. The eMap is a cool toy that I got at a great price.

[Scabbers]

Quick comparison from my 6 months of experience. Last June I got a Magellin snap-on for Palm V. I used it for 6 weeks and never really had an issue with reception, treecover. Frequently, it even could get a lock in my house.

 

Then, in late July, I upgraded to a Garmin GPS V. Plain & simple ... I love the unit, love the maps, love the autorouting, but reception IS NOT as good as the cheapo Magellin/Palm combo. Here in the mid-atlantic states ... treecover is dense & heavy in the summertime. I'm talking big, tall leafy Oak, beech, & maple trees.

 

The GPS V loses lock and bounces around more than I was used too. Also, I notice that if I move my GPS V off my dashboard into the center of my car it WILL, for sure, lose lock.

 

Still, I've learned to deal with it and I rarely ever take the Magellin/Palm with me anymore. But to answer your question directly, my feeling is that Magellins are way better than the Garmins for holding lock under borderline conditions.

 

Now here's where I go from fact to opinion ... I think the GPS V is probably nearly the best of the Garmin line, simply becaise the antenna is larger. I have no doubt that an external antenna on my car would be even better (never tried it). Also, our best friends recently started geocaching with an eTrex. They ALWAYS complain about losing lock under the trees ... seems MUCH worse than my GPS V. Again, the smaller, internal antenna on the eTrex is likely causing problems in borderline areas ... same problem as the Nokia 8000-series cell phones.

[EdAtlanta]

I know this unit isn't usually used for cacheing but I have one that I use on my boat and it is portable so.........It is color which my old eyes like and it hardly ever lose lock. I don't use the backlighting unless I really have to since it eats up batteries quickly. This unit works well under tree cover and I like it a lot. It is a little large for hiking but when you only have one unit, you use it. Works well for me.

EdAtlanta

[JaegerWolf]

I've been using a Meridian and alongside other GPSr's, it's always been faster, more accurate and locked solid. I don't upload any maps to it, so I can't comment on that feature, but as far as holding the signals and accuracy I give it high praise!!

 

Ditto on that mark!

I love my merigold!!

[dangps]

Not to beat this to death, but I definitely recommend the Meridian! My Platinum is outstanding, and the yellow eTrex I had before it can't even compare. Also would like to recommend Tiger GPS where I bought mine, they are very courteous and helpful, and amazing prices! One stop there and half of my Christmas shopping is already done

[+Criminal]

For all who would speak negatively about the V, bite me.

 

Last night I noticed a new cache pop up in a huge park near my home. As always, I wanted to be first. I loaded the lat/long in my V and hit the road. Get to the park and the gates are closed, but the sidewalk goes around and there are no signs saying the park is closed. So I hike in, about two miles or so, in the absolute darkness. The roads in this park twist and turn, some dead end, and others will just bring you back where you started. The auto-routing was indispensable on these roads. I never lost lock either, and the tree cover was pretty heavy. Since I’m not sure if I’m “supposed” to be in the park I’m not using a light and I’m being very quiet. This would have been considerably more difficult with my old III+, which only overlays the map on the display but doesn’t interface with it. If I only had an arrow pointing to the cache it would have been impossible (w/o a map).

[+GrouseTales]

I own 2 Lowrance GM100's. They are great units with awesome reception. The outperform the other 6 gpsr's I've owned.

 

Only problem is they are getting phased and hard to find accessories these days. Everyone around her is selling the Garmin stuff.

 

[+ProDocJazz]

Since the original question was about reception I will say that my meridian "greenie" holds lock in my house, car and so far, under every cover I have searched. It was a bargin price wise so I think its performance is a bonus.

 

()=iii=<

[+Night Stalker]

I cache with a friend who has the Garmin GPS V. I use the SporTrak Pro. When we are in heavy forest cover he loses the signal while my SporTrak Pro does not. The downside is that even though I have not actually lost the signal it seems that my accuracy is way down.

[+Searching_ut]

The more experienced I've become with the Magellan receivers, the more I'm convinced they loose lock just as much if not more, they just don't tell you about it and do some position guessing in poor conditions. The degredation in accuracy you've noticed is most likely just one indicator of the fact that the receiver doesn't really know where it is. It becomes much more evident if you view your tracklogs.

 

I primarily use GPS for hiking. In tough reception conditions my sportraks have a tendency to claim to be receiving from 4 or 5 sats when they often only indicate a 2d fix at the time, and aren't indicating direction or position correctly. If you're in canyons or other areas where multipath can play a roll the track will often jump by tenths of a mile or so and stay displaced by a considerable distance for long periods of time when you're moving at hiking speeds. On the other hand, Garmin receivers will simply jump in position momentarily, then jump back into a more realistic position. When the Magellan receiver is showing a position that is off by a long ways, the Garmin will often just indicate poor reception. In poor reception conditions if you're moving in more or less a straight line, your Sportrak displayed position will generally lag behind the real position by a hundred feet or so. If you're winding and twisting along, the diplayed position will often get out of whack by tenths of a mile or more. I find it quite annoying, especially being as how my sportrak is so accurate when stationary in good reception conditions.

[wkendrvr]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Night Stalker:

I cache with a friend who has the Garmin GPS V. I use the SporTrak Pro. When we are in heavy forest cover he loses the signal while my SporTrak Pro does not. The downside is that even though I have not actually lost the signal it seems that my accuracy is way down.

---

 

It seems to me that Garmin is relaying info correctly "HELP NO SIGNAL!" While the Magellan leads you to believe that it is still locked. To each their own. I would rather know that my GPSr can't accurately determine position instead of it "guessing"

[+leatherman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by wkendrvr:

It seems to me that Garmin is relaying info correctly "HELP NO SIGNAL!" While the Magellan leads you to believe that it is still locked. To each their own. I would rather know that my GPSr can't accurately determine position instead of it "guessing"

---

 

I've had both. My POS GM100 would lose satellite lock and just blink 'till there was a good enough lock to give descent readings. Leaving you standing in the woods holding your GPSr above your head like a scarecrow. Sometimes it would lose its lock several times while trying to zero in on the cache.

I can't see how continuing to give you info can be bad. Eventually the accuracy gets better, and it keeps you looking.

When your EPE goes over 50' do you stop using your GPSr? I don't think so. You do with the readings you have.

 

If you do not extend your expectations unto others, you will not be disappointed by the stupid things they do.

Mokita!