Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 45

GPS Companion in NYC?

I just picked up my GPS Companion at Staples in downtown NYC. I loaded the software and fired it up. No fix! I wonder if anyone else out there has been able to get a fix in the Wall Street area? Can all the tall buildings be causing problems? Or should I possibly attribute this to a defective module? I did notice that when I plugged the unit in before installing the software on the CD that the software on the module was version .05 (!) That would probably explain why I got a soft reset whenever I pulled it out. Happily, that problem was fixed when the installed version of the software took over.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 21

Marcosoft vs CompUSA

Is the Magellan GPS on Marcosofts website the same as that sold at CompUSA.

Is Quo Vadis 2.0 included with the Magellan GPS?

How good is street/address lookup?

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 30

Question on Maps

Finally Got my gps companion module last night. I had no problems with getting a fix, and traveling. I do however have a question on the maps. I'm using the suffolk county new york map, and there is a dead spot in it. About a 5 mile area where all streets disappear. (this is on RT 25 near the intersection with rt347). Who should I ask about this? The Marcosoft people or the Magellan people?

Thanks
Adam

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Torrance, CA
Posts: 13

Maps and NYC Reception

afabio: DeLorme Solus Pro 2.0 operating in coordination with Street Atlas (roadwarrior edition is best) has maps covering the entire continental US, you can download any segment including route maps and directions (generated by the PC) to the Visor. It works fine with the Magellan, although it is necessary to occasionally restart the connection to the GPS, an annoying but far but fatal problem. Check out http://www.delorme.com

jakemonO: GPS reception is problematic in the direct vicinity of skyscrapers, they block reception of satellites that are behind them, and reflect the signals of visible satellites in a manner that can cancel out the signal (multipath). In my experience it is best to find a plaza or vestpocket park to get a good fix. In many cases, simply moving over to the curb, especially at an intersection is sufficent. Of course, I've only been able to test this in the denser sections of downtown LA, where it is considerably safer to stand at a street corner curb for an extended period of time!

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Illinois
Posts: 32

Magellan w/Solus Pro and SA7?

Monopole: I tried saving and loading a short route using Solus Pro and SA7, but when I attempted to initialize in Solus Pro I got a fatal exception and a message that seemed to indicate the line in the program that caused the failure. I then had to reset. Is there a specific way to save, load, and run w/the Magellan?

Ken

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 45

skyscrapers, et al.

monopole: I stood in the middle of Broadway and 99th street during rush hour and got black bars on 4+ satellites. The software said 3D, but map companion said I had no lock. Any ideas? If I get any more exposed I'm not liable to be heard from again.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 15

Re: skyscrapers, et al.

quote:

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Originally posted by jakemonO
monopole: I stood in the middle of Broadway and 99th street during rush hour and got black bars on 4+ satellites. The software said 3D, but map companion said I had no lock. Any ideas? If I get any more exposed I'm not liable to be heard from again.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Wichita KS
Posts: 99

I have had on-again and off-again problems with the magellan. Today I called Magellan to discuss them. One thing that the tech support person had me do, which I did not know would affect the fix time, was set the GMT offset in map companion. This does more than help it to set the clock on the organizer, it helps it get a fix. If the unit looks at the clock on the palm then sees your offset is the default "0", then it is way off on guessing your longitude, even though you have a close estimate of it already filled in.

What I have learned from using the magellan module for four days:
1. The software on the module (GPS companion) is almost useless. Hopefully they will load Nav Companion an map companion on future modules. Keep backup copies of nav and map companion on a flash or backup module if you will be away from the computer.
2. You must set the GMT offset in map companion, we all have the City Time app, so this should not be too difficult.
3. The module will not hold a 3d fix if there are lots of trees around, you go under a lot of overpasses, or you make a bunch of direction changes in a very short period of time.
4. the module will not hold any fix at all if there are a lot of large trees/buildings adjacent to the road, you stop under an overpass, or you go indoors for very long. The trees are bare now and I hope spring will not make this problem worse.
5. When everything is set up properly and you are in an open area the module will take between 30 seconds and 5 minutes to get a fix. Occasionally it will take longer.

The module is fun and useful but only about 80% reliable. You will get a good fix which will work in the car most of the time away from tall buildings and dense trees. If anyone has had a much better experience than I have, let me know so I can trade mine for a new one ;O)

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 41

Magellan Mapping Program

I have had my Magellan GPS for a couple of days and found out some things about the GPS/Maps:

1. You must load all the maps in a given county to avoid blank areas when using the mapping program.

2. The GPS acquires a fix pretty rapidly, however like my stand alone GPS it requires a "decent" view of the sky. Lots of trees, buildings limit the speed of acquisition or prevent getting any fix at all.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 30

Map Companion solution

Here's why map companion sometimes requires you to "start Gps":

You're running map companion, then shut the pilot off, and remove the module. This removal causes the pilot to wake up IN map companion. Map companion then detects that the GPS is missing, and tells you. It also disconnects the GPS. (like pressing the stop button). M.C. will not re-start comms with the GPS until you press the start button.

Ok, So this is a little inconvenient, but hey, it's a lot better behaved than most modules.

-Adam

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 30

re: maps dissappearing

Halldp,
In my map directory, (newyork/suffolk) there are a multitude of files. Most of them are very small. The map titled suffolk is ~700k, and would seem to have all the other maps on it. Are you saying that I need load the overall map, and all the smaller local maps? I have yet to try to load the local map for the area I found to be blank. (don't have the disc here at work), but I will try that tonight.

-Adam

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 15

Re: re: maps dissappearing

quote:

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Originally posted by afabio
The map titled suffolk is ~700k, and would seem to have all the other maps on it. Are you saying that I need load the overall map, and all the smaller local maps?
-Adam

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 6

I have been using the Magellan GPS module for about a week now and have been relatively satisfied with its performance. I have mostly used the Map Companion software for car navigation.

Things I like:
Map Software seems to be accurate in most cases. Like the fact that your position is always in the center of the map, and map refreshes are very fast. The street name displays are great, making it easy to figure out where you are and where you are going. Map size is also small. I was able to load my entire county in under 2 megs. With other software, I can only load a few cities.

Once I get a fix, I am usually able to keep the fix when traveling. It does switch from 2d to 3d fixes when traveling, but it still is able to track my position. (Do I really need to know how high I am when traveling?)

Battery life seems to be as stated by Magellan. I have used the GPS unit for about 9 hours total time, and I still show some battery life left on my original batteries.

As long as you stop the GPS or switch to the main menu before removing the unit, you will not get a soft reset of the visor.

Small Problems:
Connecting to get a 2d or 3d fix seems to take a long time if I just insert the module and let it try to connect on its own. If I go to the initialize screen in Nav Companion and re-initialize by re-selecting my location from the map, I tend to get a fix in under two minutes. This seems strange that I should have to re-initialize every time.

When using GPS, the maps should be oriented so that the direction you are traveling is always up. If you turn, then the map should turn as well. It is sometimes difficult to find and track your progress when you are traveling south, west or east. It would also be nice to search by street number and not just by road or intersection. How am I suppose to know what intersection an address is close to?

The unit seems to drop from 2d to 3d quite often. When I am viewing the satelite signals, the signal to noise strength rapidly changes up and down, and the locks of satelites goes in and out. I will get a spike of 50 on a few satelites, then it will fall to zero. I am wondering if this has anything to do with the RF interference that has plagued the wireless modems, since gps also uses radio frequencies? I know the Geode initially had problems with RF interference, but they apparently solved the problem by using some kind of shielding. I wonder if magellan did too?

Overall I am satisfied with the Magellan GPS Companion, and for $150, I can't argue with the price.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Redwood City CA
Posts: 472

Magellan and Multiple Waypoints

I've been using QuoVadis for some time now, and I was wondering if the version that comes with the Magellan fixes what I've felt to be the biggest shortcoming in the program.

Does the latest software allow you to set up and save different destinations on the map?

Thanks!

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: birmingham, al
Posts: 41

Re: Magellan and Multiple Waypoints

quote:

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Originally posted by John Nowak


Does the latest software allow you to set up and save different destinations on the map?

Thanks!

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__________________

(OIIIIO)

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: birmingham, al
Posts: 41

quote:

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Originally posted by acarrion
Connecting to get a 2d or 3d fix seems to take a long time if I just insert the module and let it try to connect on its own. If I go to the initialize screen in Nav Companion and re-initialize by re-selecting my location from the map, I tend to get a fix in under two minutes. This seems strange that I should have to re-initialize every time.

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__________________

(OIIIIO)

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Redwood City CA
Posts: 472

Re: Re: Magellan and Multiple Waypoints

quote:

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Originally posted by editboxer

quote:

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Originally posted by John Nowak


Does the latest software allow you to set up and save different destinations on the map?

Thanks!

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Unfortunatly not.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 45

finally got a lock

Well, I finally got a 3D lock. The suggestion of setting the GMT offset helped, I think. Not the greatest reliability here in the big apple, though

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: CT
Posts: 11

Magellan GPS Companion

Got my unit yesterday. After reading the instructions contained on the CD ROM and installing the batteries correctly (after seeing the messages here) I had absolutely no problems starting up the unit. Loaded the two modules additional maps and fired it up.

The unit sticks out 5/8 of an inch, not an inch as someone said here.

I drove around today in the car and it worked great! The map showed the GPS position and scrolled as I drove. Some of the streets don't show up at certain zoom levels so you have to zoom in on them and then you are fine.

Getting a fix definately works better outside but seems to work reasonably fast (couple minutes from a cold start).

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 1

Looking for a case

Got my Magellan GPS module last week. Very happy with it. Does anyone know of a case (preferably the slip-on kind) that will hold the visor with the GPS module installed?

Checked out magellangps.com web site. They mention a case, holder and car power cable but don't appear to have them available for sale. Are these available yet?

Thanks,

--Gary