Lowrance Gps Question?

[Pete-K]

Have a few Questions for the ones running there Lowrance units, How slow does the GPS show movement? On my Humminbird units I have to be moving way faster then I need to be when fishing a spot that is pinpoint dead on. Was about ready to throw the Matrix 97 off the boat yesterday. When fishing a key spot that is about as big as a car, Its just way to much of a hassle to stay on those spots.

I know throw out a marker. But when your fishing around other boats and there not catching fish. I don't want to mark them for others. Now I can take my Garmin Hand held and it updates as soon as the boat moves allowing me to know what way to move to get back on top of this single rock thats holding fish.

Been running Humminbirds for a lot of years, started out with a flasher then the first LCD screen they came out with. Always told my self I would not swap. But with Lowrance having it where everything can be shared between both the front and back units. Plus if there GPS will show the boat moving at less them .07 MPH I may be saving my copper for 2 new units. I thought with the Bass Boys drop shotting so much. Humminbird would figure this out and fix there units where they allow us to stay on a spot.

I have a 997c-SI and love it other then the GPS now showing me moving until I;m away from my spot. Even the Matrix 97 is the same. And hate to use the Garmin hand held to stay on a Spot.

Lost in Pickwick because of a GPS that shows a donut until your moving way faster then I can and still catch fish..

[Todd Driscoll]

_{What you are referring to is the loss of direction that GPS units experience when absolutely dead still. Your actual GPS position is still very accurate, but the unit just loses which way North/South is. I only have experience with Lowrance units, but can tell you that sense of direction is gained with very little movement using the standard internal antennas on the new units. With HDS, you can also add the external 4000 antenna which further increases the response of direction to movement. Internal antennas provide a position update 1X/sec, while the 4000s provide it 5X/sec.}

[Wayne P.]

Good answer Todd. While I use Humminibird equipment, the GPS functions are the same. GPS units cannot tell any direction until consecutive track points are made that indicate which direction the track is going. A built in error exists because the satellites are not stationary, they are moving around in orbit. That movement is recorded on a plotter which it interprets as moving in some direction. That is why the curser wanders around even if you are motionless. The more accurate a GPS system is, the more frequent that movement is shown. A less accurate system has a longer delay in making corrections so it appears to be more accurate, which it is not. Your Humminbird has a Min Track Distance setting, reduce that to a lower value so the track points will be closer together. Default is 16' That will use up the total number of track points per track at a faster rate though if that is a concern. It still won't stop the satellites from moving and the affect it produces. Humminbird chose to use the circle icon as an indicator of very slow or no movement instead of the constant wandering of the position icon. There is no loss of accuracy in position and many experience a position accuracy of 2'-3' as indicated on the GPS Diagnostice view as EPE. When you save a waypoint position, that does not move and will be in the same position when you return to it regardless of what unit you use even if the unit used to return to is a different unit or brand.