Registered: Jun 2002
Location: 3rd planet, Solar System
Posts: 112

HandyGPS Acquisition time 5 min+?????

I have just purchased a HandyGPS receiver but when I plug it in and step outside I get no satelites acquired. I have waited as long as 3 minutes without a single sat showing up in the program. When I contacted Nexian I got a message back that it could take 5-10 minutes from a cold start to get a bearing!!! I find that hard to believe since I have used the Magellan unit and it rarely took longer than 2 minutes. Anyone with HandyGPS please post here how long does it take to get a bareing.

Thanks.

Edit - just came back from testing the module on top of a 3rd story parking lot (open top). I was able to acquire at least one satelite (got the time) within a minute but it still took 4-5 minutes to lock on to 3 satelites as necessary for getting direction and altitude.

I'd still like to hear from people who have used both the HandyGPS and the Magellan (and the HandyGPS Pro). I'm considering looking for a Pro unit if it indeed gets better reception (bigger antena ?)

Last edited by Gambit on 01-27-2003 at 06:04 PM

Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Vermont
Posts: 148

I own a Garmin eTrex - and the first time I took it out of the box and turned it on it took it a good 7 or 8 minutes to find satellites. Once the GPS knows about where it is from last session it will only take it a minute to startup because it knows which satellites to look for.

The Magellan probably took less than 2 minutes on a warm start, already being started up once.

Give it a good 10 to 15 minutes- it should perk up. After that your startup times should be stellar.

- cml