GPS accuracy

[Wayne P.]

What is the best Expected Position Accuracy you have seen with the GPS system you use for fishing?

Include the make and model of your equipment.

[NateFollmer]

This may not be exactly what your looking for but I use my Motorola Droid as a gps along with a free program called My Tracks. If I can hit about 8 gps satellites (which is easy to do until I get into dense tree cover) its accurate to 1 meter. If I only can hit 5 or less it says its accurate to 10 meters but its usually closer than that.

If you have any Android phones (like the Incredible, Eris, Droid, etc...) be sure to check that program out. It stores markers and notes so I place a marker and notes about the area and any fish caught there. It also tracks all kinds of other info too.

[Way2slow]

That's going to depend on location and system.  Mine is WAAS capable, which normally works better the farther south you get and I commonly get 13 - 16 feet.  I've never seen mine at less that 9 feet.

[reo]

I have a hbird 898 si and fish offshore rockpiles as small as the hood of a car. If wind allows and I can follow what the GPS is telling me to do I can find them first pass every time. If the wind blows me off track at the last second it may take another pass or two. I am certain that some of these piles are that small as I can see some of the shallower ones when the water gets super clear. As far as GPS goes that is good enough for me.

[Fishing Rhino]

Humminbird 898.  The best I have seen is nine feet, though 17 is most common. 

How accurate that calculation is, who knows?  I can return to the same marker time after time within a few feet.

Hazardous places to avoid are given a wide berth.  Patches of bottom that are productive can be easily found.

For small patches I usually put out marker floats.  A visual reference beats reading the display to stay in position.

[reo]

Agree, if fishing unpressured areas I throw out a marker once my spot is found

[Crestliner2008]

Make or model has nothing to do with it. They are all controlled by satellite positioning and they are all the same. None is more "accurate" than any other.

[Todd Driscoll]

Make or model has nothing to do with it. They are all controlled by satellite positioning and they are all the same. None is more "accurate" than any other.

This is true to a point.  However, for example, the newly released Lowrance LGC-4000 antennas provide a position update 5X/sec, while for all older Lowrance antennas and internal HDS antennas the update rate is just 1X/sec.  While the actual position recorded may be the same, with the 5X/sec update you get a much tighter visible plot of your current position on the screen, especially while stationary fishing.  When you are not moving, all units tend to lose sense of direction, and your map and position cursor may rotate as a result.  The 5X/sec update rate eliminates nearly all of this.

As stated before, WAAS-capability is very important to low EPEs.  With the LGC-4000, my Lowrance units typically have an EPE of 10 - 17 feet.

[Wayne P.]

Thanks for the answers. It was kind of a loaded question since I have several GPS units.

The reason I asked, is a Lowrance owner in Texas was questioning the application of a 50 channel receiver with a Humminbird unit. His HDS's best EPE is in the teens of feet and my Humminbird regularly gets 4'-5' EPE. I have seen a Humminbird screen shot with 2' EPE.

I was on the same lake with him (Fork) a couple of weeks ago and got 5' EPE while he was getting 17' EPE.

My hand held Lowrance (H2O) only gets about 28' on a lake. A friend of mine got 9' with his hand held Delorrne when I was getting in the 60' range at best when we were in the mountains of West Va. the past few days.

[Bud]

Wayne

The accuracy can also be affected by the format you have the unit set to.  DD.DDDD is the most accurate