+Team Firefly Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 My dad is looking at purchasing his first GPS.A friend of his from work has an 2002 Lowerance I finder with PC cable and CD. He wants 100 bucks for it.My question is how good is this unit? How does it compare to an Etrexs? Use, screen, data entery, etc. I wondering if buying this unit is really worth the price when I know he can buy a yellow etrexs for 100. I love my etrex and recommended it to him but if this Lowerance is a good deal then I will recommend the I finder. May the GPS be with you. Quote Link to comment
+MoDean and Tanner Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 I have been very pleased with my iFinder. The screen is much easier to read than the small (in my opinion) etrex. Is the cd included the Mapcreate 6 software? If it is you will be able th load highly detailed maps. The only big negative in my mind if the fact that the iFinder case is not waterproof. Quote Link to comment
+Team Firefly Posted October 22, 2003 Author Share Posted October 22, 2003 not sure on the mapcreate 6 software , but I will have him check on it. The guy just told him it comes with a software cd. Is there a standard CD that comes with it? How small can it zoom into feet wise?? May the GPS be with you. Quote Link to comment
gm100guy Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 Try Before You Buy Go to the above page and you can demo the ifinder right on your computer and see how you like the unit. gm100guy http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm Ontario geocachers http://groups.msn.com/GeocachinginOntario/homepage Quote Link to comment
+Team Firefly Posted October 26, 2003 Author Share Posted October 26, 2003 We tested the unit this weekend. Hit 3 caches in our area and brought both gps's. My vista and his ifinder.The ifinder sucks. it was off by over 200 feet. He was standing on a cache and it was pointing the other way. Mine said that I was on top of it with in 2 feet. Needless to say he is returning it to his friend and buying a yellow Etrex with his 100 bucks. May the GPS be with you. Quote Link to comment
skigill Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Does your friend still want to sell the ifinder? I am interested if it has the mapcreate software. Quote Link to comment
LowranceTracker1 Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 quote: We tested the unit this weekend. Hit 3 caches in our area and brought both gps's. My vista and his ifinder.The ifinder sucks. it was off by over 200 feet. He was standing on a cache and it was pointing the other way. Mine said that I was on top of it with in 2 feet. Needless to say he is returning it to his friend and buying a yellow Etrex with his 100 bucks. *Even though I don't really like the I-Finder, I have a problem with what is written here and have to speak my mind on it. Obviously there is something wrong with this particular GPS unit, as I have used Lowrance GPS units for years and years and they have been more accurate than any other GPS I have ever used. For instance, I recently found a cache with my Lowrance Global Map 100 and the GPS said I was within 4 feet of the cache, which I was and another geocacher had his Garmin Map 76S with external antenna and WAAS turned on, and his GPS read within 13 feet and he was standing next to me. If it isn't hard, it isn't worth doing right? Quote Link to comment
+phantom4099 Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 quote:Originally posted by LowranceTracker1: quote: We tested the unit this weekend. Hit 3 caches in our area and brought both gps's. My vista and his ifinder.The ifinder sucks. it was off by over 200 feet. He was standing on a cache and it was pointing the other way. Mine said that I was on top of it with in 2 feet. Needless to say he is returning it to his friend and buying a yellow Etrex with his 100 bucks. *Even though I don't really like the I-Finder, I have a problem with what is written here and have to speak my mind on it. Obviously there is something wrong with this particular GPS unit, as I have used Lowrance GPS units for years and years and they have been more accurate than any other GPS I have ever used. For instance, I recently found a cache with my Lowrance Global Map 100 and the GPS said I was within 4 feet of the cache, which I was and another geocacher had his Garmin Map 76S with external antenna and WAAS turned on, and his GPS read within 13 feet and he was standing next to me. If it isn't hard, it isn't worth doing right? How do you know the placer had accurate coords? As far as you know your unit just gave a similar reading as the placers (which could have been off be a unkown number of feet). Wyatt W. The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions. Quote Link to comment
+MoDean and Tanner Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Not to mention, you can't jugde the accuracy of any gps by the last 50 feet of a cache hunt. Most of us know that is when all consumer grade gps units become erratic. Quote Link to comment
LowranceTracker1 Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 MoDean and Tanner, your GPS should be alot more accurate than 50 feet. I have an average accuracy of 3-8 feet on every cache. If it isn't hard, it isn't worth doing right? Quote Link to comment
+phantom4099 Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 The "accuracy" is just an estimate, and it seems to vary form manufacture to manufacture (so one manufacture could put lower numbers than another manufacture). There is also other factors that affect accuracy that are not taken into account by the "accuracy" figure (e.g. atmosphere, multipaths, etc…), so in the woods that number means about nothing (I personally feel there is little to no use for it). Also talking about the "accuracy/EPE" figures tell the more experienced people in this forums you have not had much experience with consumer GPSr (not meant to be an insult, just informing you). Wyatt W. The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions. Quote Link to comment
4x4van Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 I agree with phantom4099. EPE is just a "guestimate" made by the unit itself based on conditions. It's like a Chevy dealer telling you that the Chevy is better than a Ford, while the Ford dealer is telling you that the Ford is better than the Chevy. Different GPSr brands, and even different models, will vary, and alot of that variance has to do with the firmware installed and how "optimistic" it is, not how accurate the unit really is. Think about it...if a unit knows exactly how far off it is, then why wouldn't it just give you the more accurate numbers in the first place? Because it is a guess based on a number of different factors. And different manufacturers give different factors different weight, therefore different results. LowranceTracker1, if your unit is "telling" you that you have an average accuracy of 3-8 feet on every cache, than that tells me that Lowrance units have very "optimistic" firmware, not that Lowrance units are more accurate than the others out there. Especially since a cache's coordinates are subject to the error of the placer's unit in the first place. Try doing some benchmark hunting, you may be surprised. We don't stop playing because we grow old...we grow old because we stop playing! Quote Link to comment
+Etrex Pirate Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 My brother bought an IFinder a few weeks ago and had the same problem and there was an easy fix (at least on his). The default setting was Degrees:Minutes:Seconds instead of Degrees:Minutes:Minutes which Geocaching uses I'm the good kind of pirate... if there is such a thing Quote Link to comment
gm100guy Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 quote: We tested the unit this weekend. Hit 3 caches in our area and brought both gps's. My vista and his ifinder.The ifinder sucks. it was off by over 200 feet. He was standing on a cache and it was pointing the other way. Mine said that I was on top of it with in 2 feet. Needless to say he is returning it to his friend and buying a yellow Etrex with his 100 bucks. I find this to disturbing also. If you read between the lines here and see that he was standing still that would explain his unit being out that much. I have been using my gm100 for 3 years and never had a problem like that. I went and found a cache this morning and when I was standing on top of it I had a reading of 2 feet. If I was up grading only to waas I would get an Ifinder anyday. I have been using Lowrance products for years and never had problems with them. gm100guy http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm Ontario geocachers http://groups.msn.com/GeocachinginOntario/homepage Quote Link to comment
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