+Team Duck&Co Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) Hello, I live in Holland and before I used the magellan explorist gc, I used a Samsung Galaxy S3 for caching. I want to have a beter gps-device but that won't cost to much. Today I've used the MEGC, but I found out that his accuracy is about 6meter (19 feet).. Is that normal? I get that result when I'm on open field en no house in the proximity of 50meter. Some tree's but not that much.... My galaxy is broken so I cannot test what his accuracy was on that spot, but it sounds not that accurate for a gps-device. Does anyone has that problem also? Otherwise I think I will return the device, and then I want to test with a Garmin Dakota 20.... Edited July 16, 2014 by team duck304 Quote Link to comment
+T.D.M.22 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Accuracy is a potential error. That means it could be anywhere from zero to 6meters off. Ten meters is a good accuracy, and by the time you get the close, start looking for the cache. And the you have to remember that a GPS of any one will only take you to the posted co-ords, not where the cache is. That means that perfect accuracy won't help if the hiders GPS was off, or the cache wasn't put back in the same spot. And then there's many things that can affect accuracy, not just trees. The number if satellites, solar flares, even a dying battery. So all things considered 20-30 feet is pretty good. And remember this applies to got smartphone, your exploring GC, or even the $700 high end GPS that has a million functions. Quote Link to comment
+T.D.M.22 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 And I'd like to add that as geocachers we are expecting a lot from a GPS. Using one to find a house, where you parked or your favourite camping spot, you don't expect or need to be within centimetres. Even 100 feet will be fine. We are asking for almost military precision from our devices- so don't expect it to be perfect 100% of the time. Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Do you mean this little thingamabob (red arrow): If so, that has almost nothing to do with "accuracy". That is EPE (Estimated Position Error) indicator. It is more of a consistency indicator than much of anything else. All GPSr devices have it -- whether they indicate the figure or not is another matter. It's the nature of the (GPS) system as a whole -- the satellites, your receiver, the signals received, etc., etc. It does not mean that the device is 91 ft. (in this example) off the mark. Simply put, it means that the mark will be within a 91 ft. diameter circle... repeatedly, given the current conditions. The accuracy itself could be dead-nuts on and it is most always closer than the indicated EPE. Just for fun, Google search "Estimated Position Error" and see what kind of fun stuff pops up. It is calculated on a long and complicated formula that the GPSr manufacturers have so far refused to release... claiming such to be "proprietary". Most folks (geocachers anyway) usually ignore it. Any number short of say... 250 ft, shouldn't bother you at all. Quote Link to comment
+Team Duck&Co Posted July 18, 2014 Author Share Posted July 18, 2014 I have returned my Magellan to the shop. I was not satisfied with the joystick and some other thing. I now have the garmin dakota 20 and I;m very happy with it. the GPS chip is much better I thing. my accuracy is now in a city 3m. the magellan had trouble in that city to find my location. Also the electronic compass is very handy.... Quote Link to comment
+T.D.M.22 Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 I have returned my Magellan to the shop. I was not satisfied with the joystick and some other thing. I now have the garmin dakota 20 and I;m very happy with it. the GPS chip is much better I thing. my accuracy is now in a city 3m. the magellan had trouble in that city to find my location. Also the electronic compass is very handy.... The same rules apply about the "accuracy" no matter what GPS or even smartphone you use. That means you're likely to experience it again. There might be an "accuracy" of 100 and you never notice it. I'm just saying because if that's the real, and only reason you returned it, you might be in for a surprise. If you truly didn't like it, and prefer the new one for other reasons-then that's fine. Quote Link to comment
+Team Duck&Co Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 I have returned my Magellan to the shop. I was not satisfied with the joystick and some other thing. I now have the garmin dakota 20 and I;m very happy with it. the GPS chip is much better I thing. my accuracy is now in a city 3m. the magellan had trouble in that city to find my location. Also the electronic compass is very handy.... The same rules apply about the "accuracy" no matter what GPS or even smartphone you use. That means you're likely to experience it again. There might be an "accuracy" of 100 and you never notice it. I'm just saying because if that's the real, and only reason you returned it, you might be in for a surprise. If you truly didn't like it, and prefer the new one for other reasons-then that's fine. The accuracy was not the main reason why i returned the device. eventhough I have to say that my garmin is very precise, but that is only compared to the magellan that I used 1 day and not in the exact same area.... but I like my garmin more then the magellann so i'm happy caching with my garmin. Quote Link to comment
+Team CowboyPapa Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I have returned my Magellan to the shop. I was not satisfied with the joystick and some other thing. I now have the garmin dakota 20 and I;m very happy with it. the GPS chip is much better I thing. my accuracy is now in a city 3m. the magellan had trouble in that city to find my location. Also the electronic compass is very handy.... The same rules apply about the "accuracy" no matter what GPS or even smartphone you use. That means you're likely to experience it again. There might be an "accuracy" of 100 and you never notice it. I'm just saying because if that's the real, and only reason you returned it, you might be in for a surprise. If you truly didn't like it, and prefer the new one for other reasons-then that's fine. The accuracy was not the main reason why i returned the device. eventhough I have to say that my garmin is very precise, but that is only compared to the magellan that I used 1 day and not in the exact same area.... but I like my garmin more then the magellann so i'm happy caching with my garmin. According to this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision, The terms accuracy and precision are not synonymous and interchangeable. Consistent with a post above, the EPE defines the probability of a number of data points being within the defined circle. Consequently, the EPE value is representative of precision rather than accuracy. CowboyPapa Who just came across his long unlocated slide rule of 50 years and will now use it to calculate the EPE of his GPSr. Quote Link to comment
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