Is Waas That Good

[+st3roadking]

i have a garmen etrex yellow and can get a magellan 200 for a little more. is there a big difference in performance? is waas that much better? pros and cons on both please!? thanks, st3roadking

[+Milbank]

I have a gramin legend.

I find that the gps uses a lot more battery power if I have Waas turned on.

 

With Waas turned on the gps does at times show I'm with in 8-10 feet of the waypoint.

With Wass turned off it may only show me with in 30-40 feet of the waypoint.

 

It does not seem to help me find a cache.

 

I also use my gps in rural area's to find houses I need to do work at.

I can find a house without Waas too.

[+New England n00b]

I have WAAS on my Legend. In my area, I rarely ever even SEE the WAAS birds, so all I get is drained batteries. If the only diff. is WAAS... I might save up a bit longer and get the next step up (Garmin or Magellan. But Garmin if you want a good one... )

[+tirediron]

I have WAAS on my Legend. In my area, I rarely ever even SEE the WAAS birds, so all I get is drained batteries. If the only diff. is WAAS... I might save up a bit longer and get the next step up (Garmin or Magellan. But Garmin if you want a good one... )

I'm with n00b.. on the rare occasions I've been able to lock onto the WAAS birds, it hasn't helped much at all, the GPSr slows down a lot and it eats batteries like they are going out of style. I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about it.

[SilverLynx]

I have a MeriGold, and I don't think I can turn WAAS off on mine (well not without access the secret menus). I usually get a WAAS lock within 10 minutes of turning my unit on. With it a WAAS on, the gps usually shows me with in 3 - 8 feet. On the rare occasion that I didn't get a lock, its usually 20-30 feet. But the days I don't get a WAAS lock, the weather is poor, and I don't get very good satellite locks either.

[+Renegade Knight]

On Garmins you can turn WAAS on or off. I leave it off. On Magellans you have to have it on (unless you use a hidden menu or something I'm told).

 

WAAS is nice but not critical.

[peter]

WAAS does improve the accuracy somewhat. But the problem is that the WAAS satellites are low in the sky so they can only be received when the horizon is relatively unobstructed. Under those conditions I usually have a good enough position fix without WAAS. OTOH, in the places where I have trouble getting an accurate fix the horizons are rarely clear enough to get the WAAS signals. So it helps when you don't need it and doesn't when you do.

 

I'd much rather have a receiver with a PC interface like the eTrex than a WAAS-capable model like the eXplorist 200 which has no computer connection.

[+Couparangus]

I'll add my 2 cents. Round these parts N44, I seldom get WAAS reception whilst 'caching. Didn't know you could turn it off on the Garmins, think I'll try that. For geocaching I don't think there is much benefit to having WAAS.

 

C-A

[+welch]

I'd much rather have a receiver with a PC interface like the eTrex than a WAAS-capable model like the eXplorist 200 which has no computer connection.

ditto.

though the 200 would have a basemap (which your stuck forever because of the no connection problem).

couldn't you just be normal and buy a legend?

[Sarjor]

It appears that I disagree with most of the posts here but oh well, I've have a Sportrak Pro ( WAAS capable) for about 14 months and my previous machine did not have WAAS.

I am at 45 N and uaually have no problem tracking and locking in on the WAAS birds, even in the bush looking for that silly rabbit, with no battery life problems.

I am totally sold on WAAS and use it often for Geocache hunting, Fishing, Flying (of course it will track all Birds at 1000 ft plus, but that is expected).

It must be a Magellan thing.

My opinion,,,,,worth the Bucks!!!

Edited January 22, 2005 by Sarjor

[+leatherman]

I am totally sold on WAAS and use it often for Geocache hunting, Fishing

It must be a Magellan thing.

My opinion,,,,,worth the Bucks!!!

Agreed.

I have hunted for caches, micros, by someone that takes great care to post good coords. He would return over the course of several days to take readings. I could get within 3 feet of his caches. EPE of three to six feet.

WAAS works fine.

Battery life isn't an issue between the two mentioned. The eTrex gets about 18 hours and the Explorist 14 hours. Turning WAAS on or off isn't even on topic. One frame preconceived notions.

Is WAAS worth it?

Only if you are a techno geek. Best of the best and all. Since you are asking I would have to say that you already think it is.

Otherwise. Getting within 30 feet and learning what to watch for is much more important.

[Sarjor]

That is the problem,,,faster, higher, bigger, more bytes.

Hey leatherman do you have topo loaded in yopur machine?

I want to get a topo Canada cd for mine but boy they are hard to justify the cost.

[+leatherman]

I have used TOPO, exclusively for caching, for nearly three years. The TOPO lines give a texture to the map when I enter the woods or a park. Rather than a blank area. Magellan has street names on TOPO, unlike Garmin. So there is no reason to get MapSend Streets.

 

I only use Directroute for finding addresses.

[Sarjor]

Great news thanks for the reply, it seems that it's definitely worth it