Satellite lock

chrissyboy2241 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 05, 2007 Posts: 35

Like many other people i have a problem getting my Satmap to lock on to any Satellites at all. It takes an age to find them and then the signal strength jumps around. Is this a hardware problem or is it something that could be fixed in a future update?

GJF · Frequent Visitor Joined: Feb 08, 2007 Posts: 894

I'm having the same problem, depend what you call ages, my A10 takes up to 10minutes but it doesn't always keep the lock, it loses it and has to start looking again.
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TomTom Go 60
Garmin Nüvi 660, Firmware v4.90
Drive-Smart GPS with Loader v1.4.16
HTC Advantage X7500 MS 6.1 Tchart Speed Sentry
Satmap Active 10, Software v1.16
Fuzion 32 HUD Bluetooth GPS receiver

Physicist · Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject:

One S10 of mine took an eternity, meaning it never locked though it did show a single satellite at the 12 o'clock position on the screen (early Garmins were prone to do this too though Garmin did provide a work-around based on pressing various key sequences). Satmap gave me a replacement receiver - they are outstanding in this respect - which will sometimes locks on rapidly (if you are turning it on in the same area as before) or take up to 20 minutes and then lose lock again at some random later time...... only to have to repeat the whole process again. Desperation has driven me back to use my Garmin 60CSx despite the inferior mapping available for this set.

The Garmin Colorado 300 with its large screen and long battery life (their screen can be read without backlight) would demolish the A10 in its present incarnation if Garmin were able to provide OS mapping in its raw form (rather than the subset available on Garmin UK Topo software).

lucevans · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:06 am Post subject:

FrequentFlyer · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:06 pm Post subject: Help is at hand ?

Recently posted on PGPS....should have been put on here as well.

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=63520&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

lucevans · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 8:45 pm Post subject: Re: Help is at hand ?

ocam · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 08, 2007 Posts: 46

Dragsterman · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 06, 2007 Posts: 39

I too have had problems every time when the unit tries to lock-on to satellites. It takes ages for the unit to find them and on various occasions it has soon lost them. This is pretty frustrating when you want to find out your location in a hurry. I'm not impressed...

Yasack · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 22, 2007 Posts: 34

Just a thought to everyone on this subject. I have found that I have trouble aquiring at lock if I use rechargeable batteries. (I have been using VAPEX 2700mAh), but if I use the ENERGIZER LITHIUM as supplied when I purchased the unit I get a lock in the specified time.

Has anyone else noticed this? I was wondering if it had anything to do with the power supplied from rechargeable batteries?

Regards,

Richard

Georgie_Clo · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 25, 2007 Posts: 11

Someone somewhere else in the forum mentioned orientation / accidental obstruction of the antenae.... I've used my unit in a local forest - just to check sensitivity - and I've NOT lost satellite lock, although satellites being received can vary between five and nine. It even keeps lock when I put it in the top pocket of my jacket! Satellite acquisition time ranges from a couple of minutes to five minutes or so. I HAVE found that switching the unit on and allowing it to get a good lock IN THE OPEN (ie with good view of "the heavens") helps considerably before moving off and using it in anger.
Having said all of that, SMap exchanged my first unit as it singularly failed to get a lock.
But I have to say that my current unit is spot on. Sure - there are niggles, but this is by far the best OS / GPS mapping unit on the market by far.

Physicist · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 9:58 pm Post subject:

If I wear my A10 about my neck (as intended since they provide the neck strap) I lose lock except in wide open countryside. I can only retain lock under more 'average' conditions by holding it in my hand some distance from my body. To those who say your sets never lose lock let me point out that it may lose lock unknown to you..only to join up the positions at which lock is attained by straight lines (easily fooling you into thinking there was no problem). I have no such problems with my Garmin. A good reason to improve the A10's sensitivity!

finkployd · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 25, 2007 Posts: 13

My unit seems to acquire lock quite quickly...

There are two instances of acquisition...

a cold lock. You've driven somewhere new and powered up the A10. In this case my unit takes upto five minutes to acquire lock, but often only a few minutes.

a warm lock where you haven't moved since powering the device off and back on. In this case my unit acquires lock in about a minute, perhaps two.

It seems I'm not having problems with my unit... sorry
Wink

Darren · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:32 am Post subject:

My observations are that the unit is very slow to acquire the first cold start fix, very much slower than ought to be expected of a SiRFIII chipset equipped device.

But, once lock has been acquired my unit has held on to the signal without fail even under testing conditions such as heavy tree cover, signal obstruction etc.

Warm starts have given mixed results with a fix being re-acquired quickly on some occasions and much less so on others.

I'll be speaking with Satmap about this as it suggests the initial fix delay is a software issue but that otherwise, the antenna and sensitivity is at the level I would expect.

From some of the reports above it would seem there are some quality issues which is to be expected of a first generation device but Satmap have demonstrated that their customer service is excellent, a rarity these days!
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Darren Griffin

LostMike · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:28 am Post subject:

Would it be helpful for people posting on the performance of their device to make clear which version of the software they are using?
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LostMike
Satmap A10. Platform 21
Software version 1.5.9193
Satsync 1.525

Darren · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:59 am Post subject:

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