Elderly handheld GPS

tolhurstorganic

tolhurstorganic

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South Oxon Boatat Wicormarine
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I have a Magellan handheld from around 1996, it was working well last time I used it around 7 years ago. It starts up ok, I have initialised it but it deoesn't seem to do anything after that. Doesn't lock on to more than 2 sats at a time and then a weak signal. Have tried it in a variety of locations without success. Is it now obselete or can it be re-set for current sats? Seems a shame to have to dump it.
Any info much appreciated
 
KREW2 said:
Indeed, I had an old Garmin that I left on all night.
Click to expand...

I cannot comment on how long it took to find itself. I left it outside wired up to a boat battery and went to bed, by the next morning it was up and running okay, as mentioned make sure it has a clear view of the sky.
 
I agree with all the stuff already said. I have a similar model and make a point of using it at least once a year in order for it to update itself.
It is a good unit but always had one odd quirk, it would always give an offset position by about half a mile. I did not worry too much as 1/2 mile seemed fine in the early days, when GPS was a naviagation aid rather than a pilotage tool. However I fiddled with it last year and managed to get an accurate readout by fiddling with the extensive range of Chart Datums.
Can't remember what the magic datum was but it was not that printed on the chart or anything like it - Turkish Ataturk (1912) or some such. No matter it now gives an accurate position on the chart.
 
I had one of those when I got the previous boat. It takes a very, very long time to pick up the satellites after it has been off for any length of time. It also needs a clear view of the sky.

It agrees with the Garmin I have now. I keep it as a backup.
 
I have two handheld Magellan 315 and they seem to work fine. The problem however is, their internal battery will eventually run out. You can't* replace it yourself and obviously Magellan don't offer any repairs for long obsolete equipment. AIU the symptoms are it won't log on to satellites, "sees" them but won't give you a fix.

_____
*I seem to remember a website where somebody presented a crude hardware hack.
Probably Geocities :(
 
tolhurstorganic,

beware early handhelds chewed through batteries, I think modern ones are better in this respect; my early Garmin handheld ( now backup to a plotter ) goes through 4 X AA Duracells in about 3 hours.
 
A GPS that old will probably be only single or dual channel - not the 12 or so channels that are usual these days. That means it will take a lot longer to lock on to the satellites and get it's initial fix than current kit. Doesn't matter on a yacht, but the fix on a fast moving vehicle will be less accurate.

It's 17 years old, so I'd regard it as having well repaid the investment! The amazing thing is that it works at all.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
A GPS that old will probably be only single or dual channel - not the 12 or so channels that are usual these days. That means it will take a lot longer to lock on to the satellites and get it's initial fix than current kit. Doesn't matter on a yacht, but the fix on a fast moving vehicle will be less accurate.

It's 17 years old, so I'd regard it as having well repaid the investment! The amazing thing is that it works at all.
Click to expand...

if it is that old is it one of those that didnt work after the GPS roll over week was it in 99?
 
My old Magellan 300 took about half a day to get its bearings after years of no use, I thought it was kaput. Now a couple of minutes and its up & running...
 
If it's an old Magallan 300 series, or the even older GPS Pioneer (that I have) it can take a LONG time to get a fix when unused for so long.

Go through the eezeestart procedure (in setup) where you tell it your location, the date, time and elevation, and it gets it's initial fix a lot quicker.

My old Magellan Pioneer is, and always has been somewhat deaf. It's fine for hill walking, until you go into a forrest where it loses it's signal. I tried it last week on a boat as a backup GPS and it could not get a signal. I concluded the shrouds were acting as a bit of a faraday cage reducing the signal tot he point this old thing couldn't cope. Back at the harbour away from anything metalic it found a fix without trouble.

So really these old devices are of very limited practical use for a sailor.
 
My Magellan 2000XL still works fine, however as mentioned it does take a while to find its position; one reason for this is that when last used it held that position in its memory when switched off, when started up at a far distant location from the 'off' one it seems to have to do a sweep of satellites to re-establish the new position, that takes a long time. There was an adaptor offered as an option to directly wire from the boat or other power sources 12-19volts-from a cigar lighter socket in my case . I got mine from a forum member and use the 200XL with the Navman chartplotter as a back-up.
My 2000XL was a generous retirement gift from my work colleagues back in 1998.


ianat182
 
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