Several days ago, in preparation of my first field use of the device, I synch’d, updated & activated it. The device could not acquire satellites inside my home or in the back yard; needed to go into middle of street and then lost satellites as I walked back up the driveway (still with a clear view of the sky).
I should have realized then there was a problem.
The following day I drove to a trailhead, 30+ miles outside cell service, and was able to get GPS satellite coverage during my entire hike using an app on iPhone and on my old GPSMAP 76CSX to follow coordinates to geocaches, but in three attempts the 66i was never once able to acquire satellites. It finally acquired satellites for a short period while on a summit, but was unable to maintain the lock when moved 6 feet (still open sky). To say I was disappointed with the unit’s performance on its first trip afield would be a gross understatement.
Besides searching for geocaches, I was planning to use the messaging service to keep in touch with my wife but, without acquiring satellites, I don’t think that was possible. So for about 10 hours she didn’t know how or where I was until I could get back within cell service to let her know I’d be a couple hours late to dinner.
The next day, following repeated failures to acquire satellites, I tried “auto-locate” per online instructions but kept bouncing between showing an increasing number of satellite bars and no satellite bars. Several times got up to 7 or 8 bars then displayed “Lost Satellite Reception”, all the while standing in my back yard, with a clear view of the sky. After moving to the middle of my front yard I was able to see 10 satellite reception bars for less than a minute before they all went blank and the display read “Lost Satellite Reception”. Again, all this occurred while standing still with an unobstructed view of the sky. I then tried the device “reset” reset procedure per the online instructions, which should reset the receiver. Next, I had to re-activate the device but it again lost satellites several times during the activation process, following reset.
The warranty is for 12 months, but I have had the unit for about 16 months. Due to illness and surgeries I was unable to try it out until recently. Guess I should have at least tried to get a fix on satellites back when I purchased it, even if I wasn't going to be able to use it for a long time. Who would have thought this could possibly be an issue?
Having spent over $600 for this new GPS receiver/messenger combo unit, I expected the primary function of the receiver to be superior to my 15 year old GPSMAP 67CSX, but was highly disappointed to discover its ability to obtain and lock onto satellites is even far below that of an old GPS45 I had 25 years ago. While the big daylight viewing screen is very nice, it’s worthless when paired to this unit.
