Lowrance HDS-5 Waypoint problem

[leechlake]

I have an HDS-5 on my pontoon and when I go to mark waypoints the cursor shows I'm in one spot but the waypoint ends up marking in a different spot that while is "close" to where I am at it isn't really very close. I'd have to guess but I'd say it's 100-200 feet off.

I end up using the spot as a reference and because I've fished the lake for years it works but can be frustrating or if someone else is using the boat they have no chance finding the spot.

Is there something I can do to fix this problem while it's on the boat or do I have to do something on line to fix this issue.

[Superduty]

If you cursor(crosshairs) over to a spot on your map, HDS units will drop the waypoint at the cursor and not at your boats location. If you simply hit the waypoint button it will drop the waypoint at the boats location. It then gives you a choice of icons and names etc.

[Savage Brewer]

I asked a friend who has an original HDS-10 Gen1 and he thinks the waypoints on his are pretty close, maybe always within a 10 to 15 foot radius of the object.

With any gps there can be drift, even Garmin says you may experience up to 15 meters of drift, which is about 45 feet or so.

Now with that said, my handheld GPS's seem to have about a 1 to 3 meter accuracy when I have WAAS lock when standing still and giving a short time for the receiver to settle down .

I wonder if the HDS units have WAAS enabled by default, or is it an option you need to enable in a menu.

[PerchJerker]

The more you zoom in on the screen when navigating to the waypoint the more "accurate" it will be. It has to do with screen resolution and how many pixels it takes to draw the waypoint symbol when you're zoomed out.

[CaptainMusky]

Only a couple things could explain what you are seeing IMO. 1. You are moving when saving the waypoint in the first place and the waypoint doesnt get placed exactly where you want it because it takes time for the GPS to recognize your command and you have moved a bit. 2. General inaccuracy of GPS lock. Depending on your GPS fix you can be off a considerable distance. Make sure you have WAAS enabled in your system settings.

The fastest way to mark a waypoint I have found is to hit "enter" and then "enter" again. After the first "enter" is pressed a pop up box will come up and you can choose the icon to display, clicking "enter" the second time marks the spot with the chosen icon.

I have used the feature of marking a waypoint from the sonar screen and that is VERY handy. Just scroll back the sonar screen and do the same sequence. The nice feature here is that say you mark a pod of fish or a hump that tops out you can put your cursor right at that depth on the sonar screen and the waypoint will save that data with the waypoint.

[leechlake]

thanks guys. I think it's been user error when I zoomed and ended up moving the cursor before I marked the spot so the spot ended up on the crosshairs vs the boats position.