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Most Hidden Caches Using Waas ?


DesertStormVet

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Having used a Legend and a 60CS, I leave WAAS off.

 

Part of the "it gets me closer" might be your belief that WAAS is working. Next time you're out, move to the satellite screen (with the bar chart on it). Do any of those bars have a D on them? If no, you're not receiving WAAS. If you see the D's, then you are receiving WAAS. In some instances you will receive it, in other (most?) cases you won't. The difference when finding caches is negligible, though, except for maybe the smallest micro in the woods. :P

 

On another note, welcome to geocaching!

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120 and 110 are off WAAS, the other 120 is on WAAS. WAAS does get you a little closer if you are just standing around waiting for accuracy, but we usually have found it before she gets under 10' of accuracy.

 

Now, hiding a cache I think WAAS is a good idea. We used all 3 Rino's and that other brand when we hid our cache. Plus, we went back to the area 3 days in a row to get the coordinates under different weather conditions.

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I always use WAAS and it definitely improves my accuracy and it has no noticable effect on battery life.

 

I know WAAS improves my accuracy because I have tested my unit in my backyard with it on and off. I leave it sit for several minutes, save the waypoint and turn the unit off. For several days I will go place the unit in the same spot and leave it sit for several minutes and then see what the displayed distance to waypoint is. With WAAS it is usually 7' or less, without it is usually 15-20'.

 

This is with a Meridian unit. It is rare that the unit isn't able to receive WAAS signals around here.

 

I wouldn't even think of hiding a cache without using WAAS, if available.

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I have a Magellan Meridian Platinum GPS and I have yet to figure out a way to turn off the WAAS, so I have elected to just keep it on.  It is more accurate than my previous GPS that did not have WAAS. :D Hope this helps!

As far as I know you can't disable WAAS on the Meridian line. When I said I see no effect on battery life I am comparing my Meridian to my GPS315.

 

I am curious now about a couple things.

 

Some swear WAAS does nothing for them and some say WAAS eats batteries.

 

Looking in this thread it appears Garmin users, particularly the Etrex users are the ones claiming WAAS eats batteries and does little to nothing for accuracy.

 

The Magellan users don't see the battery issue (although as noted there can be no testing since the Meridians are full time WAAS, one has to compare battery life with Magellan, non WAAS units and that introduces variables). Magellan users also report better accuracy with WAAS.

 

So, I wonder if this trend will continue in this thread or if it is just an anomaly so far.

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As far as I know you can't disable WAAS on the Meridian line.

You can turn off WAAS on the Meridian using the secret menu. I've never done so. I've always left WAAS on.

 

Jamie

What 'secret' menu would this be? Is there a web site that explains how to access it? If so I could test the accuracy/battery life issue pretty quickly.

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I have a Garmin Legend and a 60c, when hiding I try to get WAAS and multiple readings for the best possible coors. However, I can only get the WAAS (little d on the bars) about 50% of the time. When searching for a cache, it has on a few occasions got me a bit closer to the cache location but as previously noted, I usually find it before getting a good WAAS lock.

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I have a Garmin Legend and a 60c, when hiding I try to get WAAS and multiple readings for the best possible coors. However, I can only get the WAAS (little d on the bars) about 50% of the time. When searching for a cache, it has on a few occasions got me a bit closer to the cache location but as previously noted, I usually find it before getting a good WAAS lock.

I imagine your geographical location would/could affect your ability to receive WAAS, but I hear from others that getting WAAS takes a long time.

 

With my Meridian it generally gets WAAS 90+% of the time (could be location related) and it gets it quickly, about the same time as it gets the first 4 sats, maybe a tad longer.

 

Again I am wondering if this is a difference between Mag/Garmin units or if it is better explained by variablity from one user to another.

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I was also wondering about the value to using WAAS. It was off by default on my Quest, I enabled it but never saw that it was even active. I had it powered on for a good couple of hours driving around town (DFW area) and I never saw it in "WAAS" mode.

 

Thanks,

jaw

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