What Gps Has The Best Reception

[team jsstyles]

ok i currently own a meridian gold and im usally 10-20 feet off the mark when i am looking for caches . so i want to upgrade..forget all those stupid options i dont use any of them. i just want to find the cache what will get me the closest...what is the most accurate .. yes it has to be handheld ......

[+EraSeek]

ok i currently own a meridian gold and im usally 10-20 feet off the mark when i am looking for caches . so i want to upgrade..forget all those stupid options i dont use any of them. i just want to find the cache what will get me the closest...what is the most accurate .. yes it has to be handheld ......

10' is not bad. I know of no resent study comparing units for accuracy. Just some older ones. Here are some things that will help:

The bigger the antennea the better. Some will tell you a quad helix is better than a patch, but that is not really the case. Quads are usually better because they are bigger.

WAAS reception will help when the atmosphere is disturbed (most usually in the day. It adjusts for signal delay giving you an improved postion.

An external antennea may help. Some of these are powered giving an extra boost.

Fresh batteries.

Time. New technologies are coming down the pike, I hink about five years away.

Newer models usually have some improved accuracy technologies.

 

My bias would run like this: Garmin 60, Garmin V, Garmin map76, probably in that order.

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Is submeter accuracy good enough for you?

 

Trimble GeoXM

 

 

Edited July 11, 2004 by vw_ev

[+embra]

Any consumer grade GPSr will have some error. When you add the error of the hider and the finder together, I would say 10-20 ft is as good as one can hope for.

 

If you want to check your unit's accuracy against a relatively-precisely know set of coordinates, look in the benchmark section for one near you that has adjusted (not scaled) coordinates. These were place with professional-grade equipment accurate to within centimeters.

[+Renegade Knight]

You know, I wasn't happy with my Corollas gas milage. Then I looked around...

 

Your GPS is fine. It's not broke. Another GPS won't get you any better accuracy than you allready have. Even if you spend a bunch of money you have to deal with the accuracy issues of everyone else who is happy with 20' when they placed the cache.

[+pcmike]

Doesn't the DoD dumb down the GPS signal anyhow and thats why WAAS and DGPS was implemented? Just get a good GPSr with those two features + nice big antenna and you should be better off, I guess? I just got my 60CS and I used it today to find 6 caches.. everytime I was within about 3-5' from the cache (when actually trusting my 60CS!... hard to do when you've moved from a basic yellow!), YMMV.

[+JeepCachr]

Doesn't the DoD dumb down the GPS signal anyhow and thats why WAAS and DGPS was implemented? Just get a good GPSr with those two features + nice big antenna and you should be better off, I guess? I just got my 60CS and I used it today to find 6 caches.. everytime I was within about 3-5' from the cache (when actually trusting my 60CS!... hard to do when you've moved from a basic yellow!), YMMV.

That was called selective availability and it being turned off is what started geocaching. A guy hid a box and posted coordinates on the web as a celebration of SA being turned off. Clinton did at least one good thing while he was in office.

[+Still Searching]

I have had the same thoughts about GPS accuracy for caching. I wanted the most accurate reciever I could get but the accuracy of the "finding reciever" means very little if the cache coordinates were aquired with a GPS reciever with "lesser" accuracy. Besides half the time the search in the area where the cache is supposed to be is the most fun.

[+trail hound]

I use a Garmin Legend and it takes me -right to the spot!!!!!! It is as accurate as needs to be!!!!

[+raouljan]

Is submeter accuracy good enough for you?

Hummm ... the website states

"2–5 meter accuracy GPS receiver"

 

Where does the "submeter" come in?

[+EraSeek]

Is submeter accuracy good enough for you?

Hummm ... the website states

"2–5 meter accuracy GPS receiver"

 

Where does the "submeter" come in?

That unit is actually huge. Weighs about a pound and a half. Cost is around $3500.

Popular science has an article in the august issue comparing military to civilian units of things like humvees and GPS units. The military version of a hand held is $10,000. I'll stick to my civilian grade Garmin.

 

On the other post from above, WAAS corrects for a signal passing through an active ionosphere, which will slow the signal and cause a postion error. Waas also adjusts a few other errors as well.

 

As to the original post, most any GPS will do fine. Some are a bit better than others, and the complaints are usually reception, not accuracy. Your unit should be fine. It is a good brand name with a good rep. I just like my Garmins. Its mostly a features thing.

[schmism]

My wife works for a survey company. They are looking at a new GPS setup. $15K will get you a nice setup that requires a basestation to brodacast a correction, but hey the handheld is good to sub centimeter!

 

If I can get withing about 5-8 meters with my Merdi im happy.

[+robaz and the bear]

My worry is that if things get too accurate, that final few feet of the search would get too easy and some of the fun would be lost. Also, I agree with the sensible person that said that it doesn't matter how accurate your gps unit is, the person setting the cache might be 30 ft out??

But I understand, it is human nature to always strive for more. In UK, we do not have access to WAAS, I have a Magellan Map 330 and a Garmin eTrex Vista and I have found every cache I have looked for. More important, this sport has got me walking again and that has to be good. And I have found walks half a mile from my house, I did not know existed. I love this sport.