That is NG unless he walks…
in a straight line.
In order to get all the zigs and zags to add up the total distance walked the unit needs satellites all the time.
Cheers,
JackL
No Antenna needed
The newer units with the high sensitivity receivers don’t really need an external antenna. These include The Garmin eTrex H line and the Map 60CSX and 76CSX. These units work quite well under heavy tree cover without an external antenna.
The reception on these things is actually quite amazing. I can get reception in my living room
with my 60CSX and Legend HCX, while my old Legend and old Map 60CS can’t see a single sat.
Old news
The Magellans vs. the older Garmin units, I agree with you. The newer Garmins blow the Magellans away.
I get solid reception in my living room with my Garmin 60CSX and Legend HCX. My Magellan Meridian gets reception but barely. My older Garmin units, none at all.
reception
if you’ve got one of the older yellow etrex receivers, you’ll really have to pay attention to where the GPS goes when you’re walking. It does not have a particularly powerful processor (to run signal calculations), so it’s finicky.
The newer models have more powerful processors that can crunch solutions to more complicated signal degradation. My GPSMap 76CSx can filter out the signal bounce off of canyons and scattering as the signal bounces off leaves in the forest canopy. It also will work in my pocket, but it does better work when the antenna is out and exposed to the sky.
Tried it again today. Let it sit for 15
minutes, dropped it in the same pocket. No problem , except the neighbor says her car odometer says our walk is 1.1 miles. The GPS said .96. I’ll go with the GPS.
I have had a basic yellow etrex for
three or four years. I liked it. Bought a new H model a few months ago. Absolutely no comparison. The H works in the house, when the roof is snow covered. It also gets a position fix much faster than the old one. Technological progress.
SiRFstarIII
The new buzzword is SiRFstarIII - yeah, that’s a long, hard-to-remember buzzword, I know, don’t know what they were thinking. Whatever, for best reception, you want a GPS that has that chip. Since most canoers spend their time at the lowest available elevation in the area and often under heavy tree cover, you’ll usually want you GPS to have the best receptio0n capability.
From wikipedia:
The SiRFstarIII chip is distinguished from earlier SiRF chips and from GPS chipsets made by other manufacturers (Garmin or Trimble Inc for example), largely due to its ability to acquire and maintain a signal lock in urban or densely covered forest environments, and its faster Time to First Fix (TTFF), the time it takes for a GPS receiver to lock onto the satellite signals and determine the initial position. The enhanced abilities of the SiRFstarIII chips are made possible by several features:
A 20 channel receiver, which can process the signals of all visible GPS and WAAS satellites simultaneously.
The chip consumes 62 mW of power during continuous operation.
Assisted GPS can reduce TTFF to less than two seconds. This makes the chip useful for cell phone manufacturers supporting location services (such as the E911 legislation in the United States).
Receiver sensitivity of -159 dBm while tracking; GPS receivers based on this chipset have routinely performed better than receivers based on other chipsets. Reviewers have praised the SiRFstarIII chipset for its superior sensitivity and tracking capabilities.
Not just SiRFstarIII
Units with the SiRFstarIII chipset have outstanding reception. The Garmin Map 60 and Map 76 X models have this.
The new Garmin eTrex H line doesn’t use SiRFstarIII, but they have a competitor’s chip (I forget the brand) that performs just as well as the SiRFstarIII.