Needing Help Getting Started

[OkieDokie]

I recently bought a GPS Companion for a Handspring Visor but it didn't come with the CD ROM (the guy is still looking for it). I tossed some batteries in it, plugged it in and it started but wanted a rough location and would never locate satellites.

 

I then found an update download from the Magellan website and installed that onto my PDA. It consisted of the GPS Companion, NAV Companion and the Map Companion, but no maps. On the Sky Chart screen it showed one of the satellites as black and the bar indicating strength was pretty big, but white. I was always in NO FIX status and never got to 2D or 3D.

 

Do I need the maps for this to work? Am I missing something? Am I not reading the instructions correctly? I was standing outside on a clear night with no large buildings around in Oklahoma, so I would have thought the durn thing would have worked.

 

Any help is welcome

[+CompuCash]

I think that the antenna is not picking up the birds. A black bar usually means that the satalite has been contacted and is receiving date - a white bar means that the satalite has been contacted but is not locked on and not receiving data.

 

It requires 3 satalites to determine basic position - that is 2D - and I believe you only get like 100 ys accuracy. That is pretty bad for GeoCaching - might be ok for streets. Unless you paid $10 for this toy I'd suggest you get your money back and go buy something new in a hand held unit. You are not going to be satisfied with this and it is likely not to work well for at all for geocaching.

 

You can get a GPS at WalMart for around $100 - not a great one but it will work. The Magellan Sportrak Map costs about $150.

 

There are a lot of discssions here on what it the best first GPS etc.

 

Edited July 16, 2004 by CompuCash

[+Quintheeskimo66]

I have the GPS Companion by Magellan for the Palm M105. I had a similar problem where the guy I got it from lost the Navman software, but he found it and shipped it to me.

 

I found that I had to be outside to get a clear signal, or at least near a window. Try stepping outside to see what kind of signal you get Perhaps the signal is being blocked if you are in a building. BUT it should be able to "see" the sats even without the maps. Without the maps, you will get Lat and Lon and things like speed and heading.

 

I'm now sure what other programs can upload to the unit, but I know that mine works fine with Rand Mcnally's Streetfinder. It came with with the unit I bought, but I upgraded to the latest version of the software.

 

If you get your Companion working and if you think the Street Finder will work for your unit, I'd be willing to part with mine. But you can get the latest version for about $40.

[Swagger]

If the person you bought it from isn't local (within a couple hundred miles), it'll probably need to be re-initialized. That's the process where the unit waits for all the almanac information to be received from the available satellites before it tries to determine it's position. It could be that it's trying to locate satellites that it can't see, because it thinks it's in a completely different place on the planet.

 

Check the documentation for the unit to see how to initialize it. I'm guessing that's all it needs.

[OkieDokie]

I paid $40 for it. Maybe I have not been waiting long enough. On some other posts I read that it could take 20 minutes on the first lock on.

 

At one point I did have two black satellites, but most of them seemed to be lower on the horizon, rather than overhead. I'll try playing around with it tomorrow and see what happens.

 

I was trying to get into the hobby for under $100, but I may not be able to.

 

Thanks for the help so far.

[+Quintheeskimo66]

Looking at mine. when in the Nav Comp program, tap on the Nav Comp line and you should get a a selection for Tools and one for Options. Choose Options and it will let you initialize.

 

Hope this helps

John