Lowrance I-finder H20, is mine broke?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I got a Lowrance Ifinder H2O unit, but just got a Lowrance Ifinder GO. The GO is a really cheap unit but easily finds my location inside my house within a minute. My H2O on the other hand takes atleast a couple minutes to find a location outside and even then it comes and goes.

I guess the question is how long does everyone elses unit take? I am seriously contemplating returning this H20 and going with the GO if it is going to be more reliable.

[iffwalleyes]

Great question I have a Global Map 100 that locks with in 2 minutes everytime but I have noticed that my ifinder hunt C is very slow to lock position. I really like the unit and I bought it for the map chip capibilities but is there somthing that can be done to speed this unit up? Does it slow down due to the color screen or is there some other reason? Or are these units just slow to lock period.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

My unit is not the color unit. My GO seems to be identical as far as controls and the system runs, so Im not sure why the H20 is slower.

[SportFishin']

I just received H2O before Christmas it has been taking about 1-3 minutes to aquire my position.

I have a question for you guys. I have the Lake Master MN maps & have noticed that there are spots on the maps that have roads into the lakes, like the map is off just a little. Is this happening to anyone else? (ie. southwest side of Lake Independence.)

Later,

Chris

[AQUAJOE]

I have the same issue. Everything is off by about 100 to 300 ft.

[fish2live]

make sure you are using the right map datum i believe it should be wgs 84 in our region. if you are not using the right one all your points will be off, i ran into this when in the army depending on state and country in you would have to change it. all we use to do to make sure it was right is look in the legend of a military map. i'm not sure if civilian maps have them or not i would think they would.oh ya if this is wrong your unit will have a hard time aquiring sats.

[hanson]

My H20C with Lakemaster chip is been dead on just about everywhere I go. I've been running it in my truck for over 3 weeks now. It has been up to Lake of the Woods, Upper Red Lake, and my parents place in Crookston via 1-94 from the Twin Cities.

99% of the time, my track is right on the lines representing the highways. There are some places that get way off but I have to believe the map hasn't been adjusted for newer road construction.

I drove out onto Red Lake from Rogers Campground and my location on the GPS was exactly where it was supposed to be when at Rogers Campground.

I haven't noticed that the GPS takes too long to acquire its position. I think it helps if you are moving though. I turn it on in the truck and within a 1/4 mile I'm usually locked in.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I tried driving all over the place and checked the datum, the datum was correct and driving around didnt make a difference, BUT.....

I was messing around with my GO unit and relised it didnt have the WAAS connection on, once I turned it on I lost my signal. Well I checked with my H2O unit and couldnt turn off the WAAS but did turn off the DGPS and immediatley got a position lock in 3D and an EPE went below 40.

So heads up to everyone having trouble getting a fix on their location, try to see if your DGPS is on by:

Menu > Menu > GPS setup > enter > uncheck 'require DGPS'

Can anyone who hasnt had any problems comment on whether there unit had this on or off?

[ScoutII]

The other thing to look for when having signal locking proplems, is the Ext Passive Ant command. Page 68 of your manual covers how to check the status. Start with the Satellite Status page, press MENU|dwn to Ext Passive Ant. Press ENT to turn on or off.

[iffwalleyes]

Ok so it wasn't just me then. I was noticed my track was off quite a bit. I will check this few things and see if it gets me back on track. Otherwise other than being slow to lock and not on I have loved the color and mapping capibilites.

[Genofish]

My H20c is also off by 300 feet or so.Any one have any ideas how to fix?

[LMITOUT]

Without a WAAS lock the unit should report an error of around 60ft. With WAAS acquired it should show an error of less than 20ft.

Is your expected error reported as 300ft on the GPS or are you actually 300ft from your known location?