Accuracy Problem???

[spanielman]

Used a Garmin GPS III+ but had some problems recently (both occurred on cloudless days in the wide open of southwest Utah):

 

PROBLEM #1:

While searching for a cache today I walked slowly ahead for ~ 20 feet. After I stopped walking and stood still for ~ 30 seconds the "Distance to Waypoint" indicator zoomed from 50 feet to 108 feet. I thought I was still long enough to get a good location fix.

 

PROBLEM #2:

Visited the first cache we ever found so I know where the cache was located but let my nephew use the GPS to introduce him to the joys of caching. The waypoint indicator was at least ~ .2 mile off. This happened twice about 2 weeks apart.

 

QUESTIONS:

Is there a logical explanation to these "errors" with my GPS?

Can it have anything to do with the military possibly degrading the signals during the war?

 

I don't believe in UFOs or large government conspiracies but something is up. Any ideas???

[Kerry.]

Is there a logical explanation to these "errors" with my GPS?

 

There could/can be many reasons why this might occur, GPS is not guaranteed 100%

 

Can it have anything to do with the military possibly degrading the signals during the war?

 

What war? but in any case, No forget this possibility.

 

Cheers, Kerry.

[+bons]

Usually when mine goes off by quite a bit I realize that I have battery save turned on or something similar. I get some bizarre jumps and movement with WAAS on. The last time I left waas on and placed the GPS on a log I watched the cache location zoom right by me, from 50' south to 50' north. yay...

[+idratherbehiking]

I have noticed my Etrex Vista do the same thing. I will try turning off the WAAS and see if it helps. Also my Vista seems to work best on partially cloudy days and worse on clear sunny days.

[+Renegade Knight]

While caching today my partners Sport Track went goofy on him. He was a tenth of a mile over from where I was at according to his GPS. Then while he was pondering why our GPS's were so far apart (normally it's a few feet) it showed him moving at 2mph. It took about an hour for his GPS to come back to where we were actually at. It was odd. Normally when my GPS wigs out it's brief and it comes back almost immediatly.

[+briansnat]

I turned on my GPS, it got a good sat lock, but insisted I was over 500 hundred miles from my destination, which was actually under a mile away. Looking at my location on the map, it was telling me I was in West Virginia, when I was actually in NJ.

 

I turned it off and on several times and got the same info, so I just left it on and started walking...checking back about 10 minutes later, all was normal. Go figure.

[bug and snake]

I took my eTrex to Australia at the end of last year on a business trip. When I turned it on it didn't do the usual 'Have you moved big time since you last used me' thing. It gave a position somewhere mid Pacific and wouldn't budge from there till I turned it off for a while. Later, when I turned it on again, it behaved as expected.

[+Lone Duck]

My GPS III+ does the same thing sometimes. The solution is to move away and return to the location, perhaps multiple times. My best hunch is that the signals are always in a state of flux with the accuracy varying. That can cause the jumps.