Undisciplined Gpsr

[+aisledog]

I have a magellan sportrak pro which, in general, I'm very happy with. However, when I near a cache co-ordinate and stop to look, the GPSr goes marching on...sometimes up to another 50 feet. I've tried giving it a good talking to but this hasn't helped. Any tips?

[+RichardMoore]

I have a Magellan Meridian that has a similiar problem. I walk faster than it can average the coordinates so I kept walking past the cache site. Then I would hear muffled laughter coming from inside the GPSr.

I've learned to stop when the unit says that I am 100 feet away and give it a chance to catch up. And then proceed slowly as I near the cache.

[+flask]

try wearing your thigh-high leather boots, and carrying that cute little crop...

[+Renegade Knight]

Best one I heard was to take a few steps backwards as you approache the cache zone. Tried it once it seemed to work. Then I picked my garmin back up and felt much much better.

Edited April 8, 2004 by Renegade Knight

[+IVxIV]

Ahh yes the famous Magellan slingshot effect

 

Try stopping, then turn the unit off/on & it should stabilze the reading. Geez you'd think Magellan woulda issued a patch for that bug by now.

[Swagger]

Any tips?

Get a Garmin.

[+Desert_Warrior]

Worse yet, Magellan does this when it first loses satellite lock. You can be several hundred feet down the trail before you know it quit on you.

 

Magellan owners complain the Garmins lose lock first. Not entirely true, they just tell you about it right away and let you make the decision. The Magellans just fake it a while and hope to re-gain lock before you notice it.

 

6 of one, or a 1/2 dozen of the other.

[+Renegade Knight]

You can set the magellans to notify you when you lose a lock instead of the averaging that it does by default. It's just buried deep inside some menu.

[+SBPhishy]

Magellan owners complain the Garmins lose lock first. Not entirely true, they just tell you about it right away and let you make the decision. The Magellans just fake it a while and hope to re-gain lock before you notice it.

 

Again, not wanting to start a war, but I gotta at least defend Magellan! They will fake it unless you turn on the "notify" alarm, as Renegade Knight said. However, in my personal experience, the eTrex series lost the lock first AGAIN and AGAIN, and yes, AGAIN.

 

You can set the magellans to notify you when you lose a lock instead of the averaging that it does by default. It's just buried deep inside some menu.

 

It's not buried THAT deep!

 

Personally, I have never really experience the slingshot effect. I have always heard people talking about it, but my MeriGold is always right on. I guess I just got lucky, or something... So far I have no explanation why mine doesnt really seem to do this. Not noticeably anyway.

[+greengolftee87]

I have a etrex legend and sometimes experiance this when i loost satelite connection, but it automatically stops after a few seconds.

[ckhd]

Personally, I have never really experience the slingshot effect. I have always heard people talking about it, but my MeriGold is always right on. I guess I just got lucky, or something... So far I have no explanation why mine doesnt really seem to do this. Not noticeably anyway.

I haven't noticed this with my MeriPlat either. Maybe the meridians are better? or maybe they have adjusted something in the firmware (I'm using 5.12).

[+Deckyon]

I have not had this error either. I have the MeriPlat at ver 5.12 for Direct Route)

 

Cant help, as I said, I have not seen the error.

[+Andy and Robin]

Both my Garmins fake it too when they lose lock. I drive through a tunnel every night that is maybe a mile long and neither one admits to losing the satellite lock until 7/8s of the wat through the tunnel. But if you watch the laptop connected to them it's pretty obvious because the tunnel turns and the track on the screen continues straight!

[+Desert_Warrior]

Both my Garmins fake it too when they lose lock. I drive through a tunnel every night that is maybe a mile long and neither one admits to losing the satellite lock until 7/8s of the wat through the tunnel. But if you watch the laptop connected to them it's pretty obvious because the tunnel turns and the track on the screen continues straight!

Interesting. Model and firmware????

[+SBPhishy]

I have never heard of Garmin's doing that. That is interesting indeed.

[+TotemLake]

Worse yet, Magellan does this when it first loses satellite lock.  You can be several hundred feet down the trail before you know it quit on you.

 

Magellan owners complain the Garmins lose lock first.  Not entirely true, they just tell you about it right away and let you make the decision.  The Magellans just fake it a while and hope to re-gain lock before you notice it.

 

6 of one, or a 1/2 dozen of the other. 

I usually notice this effect when it is showing my walking off the trail at a different tangent. It becomes pretty clear what is happening. Watching the satellite page reorient while I'm standing still ensures that it gets me back on track.

 

As for the slingshot effect, it seems to be minimized to some degree in the current version, 5.12. I've noticed I'm walking more directly to the cache locations without passing it up as much but the effect only seems to be about 4% more than the 40-45% that I was achieving before the upgrade.

Edited April 9, 2004 by TotemLake

[+robert]

As a few have suggested this is the infamous Magellan slingshot/boomerang effect. Not necessarily a bad thing and when you learn to deal with it, it's not much of an issue. The averaging helps with accuracy, and is great when placing a cache. After some practice and experience with your GPS, you will learn the tricks around the averaging. There's nothing wrong with your GPS.

[+rcspang]

I have a SporTrak Topo and have the same problem but have learned to deal with it. When I get close to a cache as stated in a previous post I stop for a few minutes and let it settle in. Unfortunatly I sometimes forget this and walk right past a cache but that's my problem. Other than this minor problem I am well pleased with my Magellan. I haven't failed to find a cache because of this small problem.

rcspang

[+robert]

It's not so much a "problem" as it is a function of the way the GPS processes the data.

 

[+cache chasers]

We use the slingshot effect to our advantage. We have our Magellan set to go off when I get with-in 100 feet of the cache. We stop let the GPSr catch up with us but while we are waiting we play a little game. Everyone takes a guess where the cache would be. After the GPSr gets a lock on us we proceed to our guess to see if the cache is hidden there. If its not we then use the GPSr to find the cache. The kids love doing this.

[+robert]

good idea, cache chasers.

 

It's all just a matter of learning to use the equipment you have. it's not better, nor is it worse. it's just different. learning to use it properly keeps it from being a "problem".

 

good luck!