Joel Irwin
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2015
- Messages
- 138
- Reaction score
- 30
- Country
- United States
I remember back in the 1990s when I was using Garmin units as my stand alone GPS, when you turned them on, they would take a certain amount of time to lock onto 4 satellites before they determined the location. There were also 'places' where the satellite signals were not available or strong enough and there was no lock.
I thought those days were behind us until I purchased the 0806. Aside from parking garages or the like, I have a navigation system in my 2011 Prius and it locks almost immediately whenever I turn on the car. Now I don't really know anything about how (if any) GPS chip technology has evolved over the last 20 or so years and I would guess that the car probably has a stronger antenna to home in on the satellite signal (that is absent in the 0806). However, many of the 'problematic' spots for my 0806 are not so for my car.
Now I live in SE Texas which is as flat as Florida so we have no hills or canyons to block satellite signals. But we do have national forests. Last Sat I was driving through a national forest and the 0806 refused to lock the GPS during the whole time I was driving in the forest even when I powered it off and back on. This was 'normal' behavior for my 1990s Garmin GPS units. As soon as I left the forest, the GPS locked.
So I wonder of course, what type of GPS chips are in the base unit - are they the same ones used in car navigation systems. Is there a way to improve the signal collection abilities of the GPS unit?
And also, is there a different base unit with GPS that is compatible with the 0806 that I can purchase to substitute for, that will improve the lock time and allow me to use the GPS in areas like national forests?
I thought those days were behind us until I purchased the 0806. Aside from parking garages or the like, I have a navigation system in my 2011 Prius and it locks almost immediately whenever I turn on the car. Now I don't really know anything about how (if any) GPS chip technology has evolved over the last 20 or so years and I would guess that the car probably has a stronger antenna to home in on the satellite signal (that is absent in the 0806). However, many of the 'problematic' spots for my 0806 are not so for my car.
Now I live in SE Texas which is as flat as Florida so we have no hills or canyons to block satellite signals. But we do have national forests. Last Sat I was driving through a national forest and the 0806 refused to lock the GPS during the whole time I was driving in the forest even when I powered it off and back on. This was 'normal' behavior for my 1990s Garmin GPS units. As soon as I left the forest, the GPS locked.
So I wonder of course, what type of GPS chips are in the base unit - are they the same ones used in car navigation systems. Is there a way to improve the signal collection abilities of the GPS unit?
And also, is there a different base unit with GPS that is compatible with the 0806 that I can purchase to substitute for, that will improve the lock time and allow me to use the GPS in areas like national forests?