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Sportrak Map
tictac80
2 Points
I have an old Magellan Sportrak Map that I used reliably for years and then was put away for about 4 years. recently, I inserted new batteries and reset the unit and now it is very inaccurate. After marking a waypoint, walking around the block, back to that waypoint, it is sometimes off by 100 feet. I have tried this numerous times and, when returning to the waypoint the bearing is fairly close but the distance is always way off. There are always lots of satellites connected. Does anyone have any idea why this could be and what i could do about it? Thanks in advance.
Comments
For starters, I would find a place with a clear view of the sky and just let the unit sit stationary for about an hour. That should give it time to download all the almanac data from the satellites and might improve accuracy (should also improve the time needed to get a fix in the future).
I would also try your same test in another location that doesn't have any obstacles, like a field or parking lot, and see if the accuracy is any better.
Beyond that, Magellan claimed 7 meter accuracy for this device. So if you record a waypoint, walk around for awhile, then return to the same spot and record another waypoint, they could be separated by 14 meters (46 feet) and the unit would still be performing up to specs. For example, the first waypoint might be 7 meters South of the actual location and the second waypoint could be 7 meters North.
When you tested the Sportrak recently, did you have WAAS turned on? There should be a setting for this somewhere in the menus.
Also, what accuracy was it reporting on the satellite screen during your test?
Note the comment about waiting 10 minutes to get a WAAS lock however, and that you could get significant errors in places where WAAS isn't strong. It's weird that Magellan didn't offer a menu choice to disable WAAS, but that review tells you a "secret salute" to do it (but heed the advice that it could lock the unit up).
http://i1360.photobucket.com/albums/r641/schakelf/Misc Photos/GPS_zps03xl0edx.jpg
I went around the block again to test my return point. It was only off by 2 meters!
It looks like you fixed my GPS. Thank you very much and now I'll know to turn it on early and let it find itself.
You shouldn't need to let it sit for an hour unless it's been a long time since the last use. But, as per that review, you should probably give it 10 minutes to acquire a good WAAS fix before using if possible. At minimum, you want it to have a 3d fix.
Thanks again.