Am I expecting too much?

phillevy · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 90

I've had a GPSlim 236 for 2 weeks now and find it takes anything from 20 seconds to 6 minutes to get a fix (mostly about 2 minutes though). Yesterday I was in central London on foot and was disappointed to find it was not able to get a fix for the whole time - I was mainly in Oxford Street, Tottenham Ct road, Charing Cross road and later in Park Lane/Mayfair. I realise the conditions were not ideal for reception, but my expectations were high for the chipset in this receiver. Does this mean it is not usable if I were to drive into central London or could the unit be faulty? - it worked perfectly once I had got home though.

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:10 am Post subject:

depending on when the last time was that tyou had a fix before, it may take that long in urban canyons. You are greatly helping the receiver if you switch it on before you start moving, and give it a minute or two to lock on.
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phillevy · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 90

Thanks for your reply, however why I was concerned in central London was that however long I gave it (and I was stationary outside of shops waiting for my wife and daughter!) it simply would not get a fix at all.

Skippy · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:50 pm Post subject:

phillevy · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 90

Thanks for such an informative answer - perhaps I'll find a park next time I go! As long as I am aware of what the hardware can do and can't do I'm happy -I just wanted reassurance it wasnt faulty.

Robin2 · Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:22 pm Post subject:

You might give it another couple of weeks. When I first bought my GPSlim236 it got its first fix very quickly. Then, over the next week or so, the time got longer and longer, increasing to about 6 or 7 minutes. But I persisted and the problem has gone away - I have had it for about 4 months now and the fix is very quick and reliable
Robin
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mikealder · Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:44 pm Post subject:

After four months of ownership I have only ever once had my 236 take more than 30 seconds to achieve lock and that was in Manchester city centre (tall buildings etc, I compounded the problem by not using the unit for a couple of weeks prior to this and the battery was flat - one of those dumb moment we all have at times) drove into a clear spot and it locked quickly as normal, There have been a number of people experiancing long time to fix, but its reassuring to hear the problem goes away - Great bit of equipment - Mike

JM-HoluxUK · Regular Visitor Joined: Sep 28, 2005 Posts: 65

Hi Phil,
Who did you get your GR236 from?
You say you've only had it a couple off weeks but there are a couple of retailers who are still shipping devices with the old firmware which does cause the problems you are describing.
If you are able to I would check the firmware revision using SiRF Demo. You need to see 3.1.1 to have the latest.
Regards,
Julie

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