| Author |
Message |
April
Guest
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 Posted:
Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:39 am Post subject:
GPS for heavy cover |
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My garmin vista is slowly fading away and I need a replacement. I was going
with another garmin, but have been hearing the magellan does not lose it's
signal in wooded cover. My vista absolutely does, constantly. It's very
irritating. Any magellan users have any comments? I don't need all the
fancy doo dads. I have those with my vista and find I don't use them that
much anyway. Satellite signals are the most important thing. |
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Frank
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 22, 2005 9:08 am Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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April wrote:
:: My garmin vista is slowly fading away and I need a replacement. I
:: was going with another garmin, but have been hearing the magellan
:: does not lose it's signal in wooded cover. My vista absolutely
:: does, constantly. It's very irritating. Any magellan users have
:: any comments? I don't need all the fancy doo dads. I have those
:: with my vista and find I don't use them that much anyway. Satellite
:: signals are the most important thing.
Go for anything with a SirfStar III chipset and you'll be surprised at how
things have changed--for the better. |
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Sizzler
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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I currently have a Garmin CPSMap 60c and have a 60cs on the way (giving the
60c to my father :)) and I have been quite happy with the performance of it.
In the past I have used a Garmin Legend C, Magellan Explorist 400, Magellan
Sporttrack Pro and a couple of Magellan Meridians (green and gold). My
experience has been that all units work well in all but the most dense
coverage areas. I will be keeping the 60cs for a long while for sure and
when I find my usage is such that I lose signal frequently I'll spring for
the $20 (approx) Gilsson or Garmin external antennas for it. I haven't had a
need for an external antenna yet but from what I hear and read it makes an
amazing difference where needed.
I use my GPSr both in the city and in the country for many activities like
geocaching, hiking, driving, motorcycling and mountain biking. As I
mentioned above, all without any issues.
Just my $0.02 and some other insight into several GPSr models.
Hope that helps a bit.
"April" <ew5212remove@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:rxvgf.96$2W1.78@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
| Quote: | My garmin vista is slowly fading away and I need a replacement. I was
going
with another garmin, but have been hearing the magellan does not lose it's
signal in wooded cover. My vista absolutely does, constantly. It's very
irritating. Any magellan users have any comments? I don't need all the
fancy doo dads. I have those with my vista and find I don't use them that
much anyway. Satellite signals are the most important thing.
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Don B
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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I have used my iFinder Hunt along side a friends Garmin and under tree
cover he was losing the satellites quite often, while my Hunt never lost
lock once. We also tried them sitting at my kitchen table, his would not
lock and again, mine would. I have no idea what each GPS is using for a
chipset. One of the reasons I went with the iFinder for a handheld was
based on an older Eagle Map Guide Pro I owned, it also did well under
tree cover. |
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otrek
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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Garmin is going to build GPS units using Sirf III chipsets.
They are already selling 2 units (fitness) with this chipset,
and a PDA.
BUY a Garmin with Sirf III !!! (if you need an Handheld GPS)
I wait to buy, until they make a unit with alkaline/rechargeable
batteries: i don't trust litium battery. |
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Sam Wormley
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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April wrote:
| Quote: | My garmin vista is slowly fading away and I need a replacement. I was going
with another garmin, but have been hearing the magellan does not lose it's
signal in wooded cover. My vista absolutely does, constantly. It's very
irritating. Any magellan users have any comments? I don't need all the
fancy doo dads. I have those with my vista and find I don't use them that
much anyway. Satellite signals are the most important thing.
|
See: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/gps/gpsusfs.htm |
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Frank
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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otrek wrote:
:: Garmin is going to build GPS units using Sirf III chipsets.
:: They are already selling 2 units (fitness) with this chipset,
:: and a PDA.
::
:: BUY a Garmin with Sirf III !!! (if you need an Handheld GPS)
::
:: I wait to buy, until they make a unit with alkaline/rechargeable
:: batteries: i don't trust litium battery.
If you are speaking of Lithium Ion, why would that be? |
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Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:08 am Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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Apparently on date Wed, 23 Nov 2005 16:41:49 GMT, Sam Wormley
<swormley1@mchsi.com> said:
| Quote: | April wrote:
My garmin vista is slowly fading away and I need a replacement. I was going
with another garmin, but have been hearing the magellan does not lose it's
signal in wooded cover. My vista absolutely does, constantly. It's very
irritating. Any magellan users have any comments? I don't need all the
fancy doo dads. I have those with my vista and find I don't use them that
much anyway. Satellite signals are the most important thing.
See: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/gps/gpsusfs.htm
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I'm surprised you don't even mention Sirfstar III chipsets.
They seem to work indoors. |
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otrek
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:45 am Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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:::: I wait to buy, until they make a unit with alkaline/rechargeable
:::: batteries: i don't trust litium battery.
::If you are speaking of Lithium Ion, why would that be?
(sorry for my terrible English)
First, if the Lithium Ion is NOT swappable and get damaged,
generally it's expensive to substitute it (think to my iPaq 3630)
Second, if it is not swappable, you have only a few hours
of working. If you are in a forest and lost, you would like
a GPS12 with alkaline!
Third, if you don't pay attention and discharge completely
the battery, you risk to destroy it (this happened with iPaq,
but maybe it's only an old problem of Lithium technology) |
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Frank
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:08 am Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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otrek wrote:
:::::: I wait to buy, until they make a unit with alkaline/rechargeable
:::::: batteries: i don't trust litium battery.
::
:::: If you are speaking of Lithium Ion, why would that be?
::
:: (sorry for my terrible English)
::
:: First, if the Lithium Ion is NOT swappable and get damaged,
:: generally it's expensive to substitute it (think to my iPaq 3630)
::
:: Second, if it is not swappable, you have only a few hours
:: of working. If you are in a forest and lost, you would like
:: a GPS12 with alkaline!
::
:: Third, if you don't pay attention and discharge completely
:: the battery, you risk to destroy it (this happened with iPaq,
:: but maybe it's only an old problem of Lithium technology)
I have a small unit that holds 4 AA batteries that charges my Palm or Ipaq.
I put 2500 mAh MiMh batteries in it, and it recharges the Palm quite a few
times. When it wears down, I just replace the batteries in it. I believe
it'll recharge the Ipaq 4 times per battery swap. The Palm a few more.
I got it here: http://pc-mobile.net/power.htm
It works very well.
Frank |
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David Lee
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:08 am Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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otrek wrote ...
| Quote: | :::: I wait to buy, until they make a unit with alkaline/rechargeable
:::: batteries: i don't trust litium battery.
::If you are speaking of Lithium Ion, why would that be?
(sorry for my terrible English)
First, if the Lithium Ion is NOT swappable and get damaged,
generally it's expensive to substitute it (think to my iPaq 3630)
Second, if it is not swappable, you have only a few hours
of working. If you are in a forest and lost, you would like
a GPS12 with alkaline!
Third, if you don't pay attention and discharge completely
the battery, you risk to destroy it (this happened with iPaq,
but maybe it's only an old problem of Lithium technology)
|
Even if used correctly - or not at all - LiIon batteries will deteriorate
with time. For example the guarantee given by HP on their notebook
batteries is only for 80% of specified charge capacity remaining after one
year of use. The two genuine HP battery packs I have had have performed
much worse than this - the first dying to about 60% in only 6 months and the
warranty replacement passing 80% after only 9months (and out of warranty
:-( ). Fortunately a cheapo 3rd party battery purchased from ebay has
performed much better (under identical useage) although it's capacity has
still fallen to 80% after 21 months.
The other worry with LiIon chemistry is that cells cannot absorb any
overcharging at all. If overcharged they vent hydrogen and since they run
hot this generally takes the form of a sheet of flame! This is why notebook
computers have such sophisticated battery management systems - with "smart
batteries" containing microprocessors and memory - so that self-immolation
of laptops is mercifully uncommon. However I remain very suspicious of
cheaper re-chargeable LiIon battery systems.
David |
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Frank
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2005 9:08 am Post subject:
Re: GPS for heavy cover |
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:: The other worry with LiIon chemistry is that cells cannot absorb any
:: overcharging at all. If overcharged they vent hydrogen and since
:: they run hot this generally takes the form of a sheet of flame!
:: This is why notebook computers have such sophisticated battery
:: management systems - with "smart batteries" containing
:: microprocessors and memory - so that self-immolation of laptops is
:: mercifully uncommon. However I remain very suspicious of cheaper
:: re-chargeable LiIon battery systems.
::
:: David
You can just about bet that if there were sheets of flame spurting out from
phones, Palms and Ipaqs all over the world, we'd be hearing about it. :-)
I'm guessing that they have overcharge-protection circuits as well.
I've used the same laptop battery for two years. I know how long it held a
charge when new, alsmost to the minute. It'd be interesting to see how long
it does now. Thanks for the thought. I'll do the same test that I used for
it way-back-when and find out.
I know that any battery wears out over time. Seems like the LiIon specs have
them lasting pretty well. A year of daily use sounds about right, though
that is a battery type that benefits from topping-off much more than others,
as it has no memory issues that I've read of. I leave my laptop plugged in
when not on the road. I haven't noticed it draining faster, but that's not
an objective measure. We'll see when I do some "real" numbers. That'll also
tell what kind of difference the continuous-charge method makes.
:-)
Frank |
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