Mountain Biking - Buy a new GPS or no?

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Peek the Geek
03-20-06, 11:51 AM
Most of my mountain biking (and hiking, for that matter) is done in the woods, where there tends to be pretty thick tree cover. On some of my longer trips, especially when I'm on trails new to me, I like to use a GPS for various reasons. The problem is, the GPS I have has an awful time getting and keeping satellite signals while in the trees.

The GPS I have is a Garmin eTrex Vista that is three or four years old. My question is, would I get significantly better signal reception if I replaced it with a newer $300-$400 model, or is reception going to be spotty at best while in the trees, no matter what?

Thanks.

cryptid01
03-20-06, 12:35 PM
What type of accuracy are you looking for? Your etrex (or any other handheld) will not yield any better than 10M accuracy horizontally in optimal conditions. High multipath environments (trees, buildings, etc) are just not well suited for GPS, regardless of manufacturer claims.

I use $40,000 subcentimeter GPS receivers on a regular basis, and they don't work in the trees either.
Peek the Geek
03-20-06, 01:23 PM
What type of accuracy are you looking for? Your etrex (or any other handheld) will not yield any better than 10M accuracy horizontally in optimal conditions. High multipath environments (trees, buildings, etc) are just not well suited for GPS, regardless of manufacturer claims.

I use $40,000 subcentimeter GPS receivers on a regular basis, and they don't work in the trees either.

Well, I'm not looking for really specific accuracy. I guess I'm just wondering if spending a couple extra hundred dollars on a more recent model would give me any more consistent readings than what I'm currently getting. I.e., do the receiver type and antenna type specs really mean that much?

I think you've pretty much answered my question with a strong "no".