GPS wouldn't grab

[Ryan_V]

Went to the pond today to work on the shack. of the 5 hrs we spent in the car on the way there and home, the GPS aquired a signal for a grand total of about a minute and a half. it's an i-finder and only a couple years old, and used very little. is it the GPS, or was something up with satellites?? there are only a few hours of use and it certainly should work. any ideas...???

[Nelson380]

The car's roof will block reception. Mounting a dashboard RAM will help keep contact w/ the satellites and keep it in the line of site.

[schweady]

Quote:

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The car's roof will block reception. Mounting a dashboard RAM will help keep contact w/ the satellites and keep it in the line of site.

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That's another reason to move up to one of the color units. They all have a 16-channel GPS+WAAS receiver vs. 12-channel in the B&W units. I can easily get a signal inside the house - and sometimes in the basement - with my ExpeditionC. When in the wagon, I have it in a RAM mount on the floor by the center console - no signal problems. In the wife's Taurus, it sits in the cup holder or in the console storage bin, almost under the dash - good signal. (Maybe not with the most excellent precision, but enough to maintain signal.)

And a semi-related P.S.: When I got my replacement unit back from Lowrance last week it came with a note reminding me to never store it where temperatures would exceed 150 degrees - ie: on the dashboard of a parked truck or directly under a black boat cover.

[PierBridge]

You have a problem with your GPS.......my Black and white unit's pick up a signal as easily as my color units when used in my vehicle or inside my house.

I'd try a hard reset first.

[schweady]

Quote:

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You have a problem with your GPS.......my Black and white unit's pick up a signal as easily as my color units when used in my vehicle or inside my house.

I'd try a hard reset first.

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Thanks, PierBridge, but maybe you're talking to Ryan_V. I don't have a B/W unit, and I'm certainly having NO problems with my color unit. (Quite the opposite, I'm lovin' it!) Just sayin' that the 16 channels offer 4 more than the B/Ws, making it that much more likely to hold a position wherever.

[iffwalleyes]

I am on my 4 th I Finder Hunt C and have the same problem you discribe. It it mounted on the a pillar of my truck right in the windshield and it will some times takes 2 hours to get position. There is for sure something wrong with the unit. So it is not just the black and white units having problems. As a matter of fact my old Lowrance Map 100 is the most reliable GPS I have. It is far better than the new color but it doesn't do chips.

[PierBridge]

I was talking to RyanV.......Glad yours is working good..

[caseymcq]

You may want to check out your set-up menu. If you have "Require DGPS" checked there is a good chance that you might not be picking up the signal required for the differential correction.

If it is checked, uncheck it and try your GPS again. If this is the situation I would just about gaurntee that this will solve the problem.

[Ryan_V]

casey...I checked the box, and it is unchecked, so I'm thinking I have a problem with the unit itself. I e-mailed lowrance and I hope they take care of me!!

[iffwalleyes]

Call them and wait on hold other wise you will never hear back from them. They are pretty slow on emails.

[Ryan_V]

they actually got back to me and want to charge me $75 to look at/fix it. this thing has only a few hours of use and I feel that lowrance should stand by their products. Ihave the ifinder pro, and these things are not too much new. it was my first GPS, and it has always acted very slowly, so I thought it was normal. if they want to charge me that much, I guess I'll shop around at other brands.

[Wilson]

I purchased a H2O last fall, and the unit I purchased had the exact problem. I used it quite a bit and got tired of the problem and called Lowrance. They sent out a new one to me within a couple weeks 'under warrenty'. Turned out to be a problem with the antennea within the unit was faulty. I'm sure if you would have sent your's in within the 1 year warrenty timeframe, they would have sent you a new one also. I've had great service with Lowrance on the warrenty of the product, but I am aware that once the warrenty is off, I'll have to foot the repairs bills if any occur...

[caseymcq]

Ryan_V:

The Garmins are a little more expensive but I know they have LakeMaster microSD cards for their "x" units now. That may be an option you would want to consider. I have two Garmin handhelds and I really like both of them.

[Shane]

I see there's a a firmware update on Lowrance's website dated 8/25/05 version 1.7.0 for the iFinder pro. If your not already running this it might be worth a shot.

[CatManLee]

I have had my I-Finder do the same thing...I was out on Lake of the woods last year ice fishing. I loaded up to go home and turned on my GPS to find my way (It snowed, so I couldn't see my old trail) and nothing? it just kept trying to find a signal with nothing... Finally after about a half an hour it locked on long enough for me to find my way back. I wasn't in grave danger, but it still sucked having no frickin' idea wich way to go? Now I always carry a compass with (just in case)!!! Besides that one time, it usually locks in fairly quick, but sometimes will take longer than others.

I thought about sending it in, but decided it's not worth my time or the trouble. If it totally stops working, I'll buy a new unit, since it's now past the warranty.

[Augusta]

Been reading these posts and just thought I would throw this idea out there. I just purchased a new H2O C and in the owners manual it mentions doing an "auto search" which when done, searches for the satellites nearest to your area. The book said that the GPS was turned on at the factory and is programmed to search for those satellites and should really be programmed to use the satellites nearest your area. This is supposed to allow the GPS unit to lock on sooner.

Like I said, I'm new to this GPS thing, so I'm just throwing out a possible idea as to what might be causing some of the problem. By the way, mine locks onto the satellites usually within 60 seconds or less.