Garmin GPS 276C? (1 Viewer)

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James - thanks for the heads up ! When we meet again ( Pismo-05? ) we will have to compare notes on the map thing.
 
Little pissed, GPS City said they had it in stock, they did not(after I ordered it) So I cancelled my order and ordered from
http://www.gpsdiscount.com/home.html

for less money, even with overnight shiping(I want to play wtih it this weekend) should have it this afternoon. These guys seems to have much better service, it was in Fed Ex's hands within a 1/2 hour......and on its way.

which external antenna did you use?

John

Boston Mangler said:
Cool, you wont be dissappointed! If ya got any questions, feel free, i use mine extensively and just rigged up and external antenna and hard wired the 276

Where did ya get it from? I found GPS city to have the best price!
Click to expand...
 
I agree about GPS city - they did the same thing to me. Said they had it, it never came, called and they said "oh that's on back order from Kansas City." When it finally arrived it had version 6 of the City Select software. As I installed the software it checked to see if any updates were needed and said that version 7 was out. I called Garmin and they have to send me a new CD with version 7 (2 weeks to get here but it's free) which in I turn have to reinstall over v6. I'm hoping the version 7 software is a lot better. We have a Garmin c330 in my wifes car and it does way better with city nav tasks due to a few options that City Select (v6 at least) doesn't have and it has the entire detailed US pre-loaded. With the 128mb Garmin memory card that came with the 276c auto kit I can only load about 5 states at a time. Haven't tried the 276c topo yet.
 
Got the 276 yesterday, played it with some and....WOW what a slick unit! took me no time to figure it out(it works like my GPSIII+'s) but its SO SO SO much better than the GPS3+. The City selelct is pretty good, has all my local streets on it and they seem to be very correct.

So far I am very happy with my purchase.

I am bummed, I have the Topo CD's but I cant find em for the life of me.........anyone have a copy?

John
 
desertdude said:
That is a inexpensive antenna - so far I have not needed any external antenna
Click to expand...

If mounted on the dash using the ram mount, there is zero need for the external antenna. I had mine like this and is worked flawless:

IMG_0422.jpg


However, now i mounted mine down low under the radio and i needed the external antenna because it had a hard time locking with the stock one. Here is a pic of my current setup

IMG_0423.jpg
 
its mounted on the dash, gets good reception but I am not picking up the WAAS, it says "searching for WASS"

Boston Mangler said:
If mounted on the dash using the ram mount, there is zero need for the external antenna. I had mine like this and is worked flawless:

[
Click to expand...
 
I get the same message "Searching for waas" on the GPS page - I read through garmins page on waas - not much about how it functions within the unit - after reading the page it seems that the waas signal is beamed back up to the sat - so would the gps always be searching for waas while being locked to the sat's?

http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html

this thread feels like it should be in outfitting :)
 
...and from garmins site-

(1) There are currently two WAAS satellites that can be received in the United States. One is over the Atlantic Ocean and one is over the Pacific Ocean. The satellites are in a geo-stationary orbit over the equator, so the farther north you are, the greater the difficulty in picking up the signal. These factors put the satellites very close to the visible horizon, allowing the signal to be blocked by terrain or buildings (the WAAS signal is in the same frequency range as the GPS signal and is a line of sight transmission). The best results using WAAS with the eTrex Venture/Legend/Vista units will occur by literally "pointing" the patch antenna of the unit at the location of the satellite. You can determine this by looking for satellites 35 (East Coast) and 47(West Coast) on the Satellite Status page in your GPS unit.
You will need to allow the unit to have good visibility of the WAAS satellites and track the signal for 10-20 minutes. After the initial data collection takes place, the unit will be able to quickly acquire the WAAS satellites and will normally take about 1-2 minutes to obtain a differential position fix. For more information on how to read the satellite status page, please refer to the appropriate owner's manual for your GPS.
 
Picked up WAAS here (midwest). Takes approx. 30 secs to lock it sometimes. On the initial power up it took 5 minutes or so to settle in. After locked it does not say "searching for WAAS"
 
OK, got it locked in.........untill I move very far, then its gone, guess i gotta be heading almost due west ta get it.....

desertdude said:
...and from garmins site-

(1) There are currently two WAAS satellites that can be received in the United States. One is over the Atlantic Ocean and one is over the Pacific Ocean. The satellites are in a geo-stationary orbit over the equator, so the farther north you are, the greater the difficulty in picking up the signal. These factors put the satellites very close to the visible horizon, allowing the signal to be blocked by terrain or buildings (the WAAS signal is in the same frequency range as the GPS signal and is a line of sight transmission). The best results using WAAS with the eTrex Venture/Legend/Vista units will occur by literally "pointing" the patch antenna of the unit at the location of the satellite. You can determine this by looking for satellites 35 (East Coast) and 47(West Coast) on the Satellite Status page in your GPS unit.
You will need to allow the unit to have good visibility of the WAAS satellites and track the signal for 10-20 minutes. After the initial data collection takes place, the unit will be able to quickly acquire the WAAS satellites and will normally take about 1-2 minutes to obtain a differential position fix. For more information on how to read the satellite status page, please refer to the appropriate owner's manual for your GPS.
Click to expand...
 
Landpimp said:
its mounted on the dash, gets good reception but I am not picking up the WAAS, it says "searching for WASS"
Click to expand...

bizarre, down in San Diego, i get waas almost immediately, sometimes takes up to 5-10 secs, but i never lose it
 
I am in the monterey bay area right now and cannot even lock into waas - no external antenna - just ram mounted to the windshield
 
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