Nuvi 7xx Accuracy

This doesn't answer your question, but I have the 350 (with the antenna) and I also get teens as well. I have seen here that ppl have gotten just as good reception with their 7xx units as with others.

same here

On the road in central NJ, I consistently have 11 satellites with 6 or 7 pegged at full signal strength and accuracy of 11 to 20 feet and watching while driving I think it averages 15 or 16.

Right now on the desk in my basement using a car charge converter it has 8 satellites and reports accuracy of 24 feet and the only windows are the tiny basement wells.

My first garmin so nothing to compare.

2 days ago my nuvi 750 was able to get down to 11 ft accuracy while sitting in the school lot waiting for the kids. I had the satellite screen up and the stronger the satellite signal from each satellite the greater the accuracy.

I'm usually averaging around the mid 20s. Have seen it get into the teens, but most of the time its somewhere in the 20 ft. range.

I've only had the 750 for a few weeks. Best I've noticed so far is about 19 ft. It's usually in the 23-27 range when I check it. At first I thought it was because I have it mounted low on the dash, but its not much better right up against the windshield.
I'm surprised at the way the signals come and go and the signal strength bounces around. I didn't expect that.

I have never seen my 750 get below 13 feet.

I get in the mid-teens

After reading this thread I turned my 750 on as I've never checked this since I've only had it a few weeks. It's telling me 22 ft accuracy and that is in my house! I kind of expected it to not be that good since I'm in the house. I'll check it when I go out and about later and see what I get then.

Because the aerial/antenna section of the 7xx series is at the back of the unit (and is therefore blocked somewhat by the LCD screen), it's actually a lot more sensitive, when the back is uppermost...you have to hold it above your head, at arm's length, so that you can see the 'Satellite Screen'.

If you try this, you'll notice the signal strength bars shoot up, and the claimed accuracy improve quite a lot.

Of course, this is not exactly practical - but I've noticed that it can be used to make the 7xx acquire a lock in the first place, when otherwise it might be struggling.

I am glad I found this section... I have only had my 750 a few weeks... mine seems to average in the mid 20's...

I guess since I am fairly new to Garmin and the world of GPS's... is this normal? For some reason I was expecting 8 - 12 ft.

GPS accuracy is not really a variable between units, and depends much more on environmental factors. I note that some of you are talking about indoor estimates. Please note that at the frequencies transmitted by GPS satellites, indoor signals may have been reflected to the unit with resultant variability which the algorithms have no way of calculating.

Outdoors, in clear sky conditions (no trees or buildings to obstruct the signals) the accuracies you note are about right. You should check to see whether the WAAS is enabled. if it is, and you are in range of a WAAS satellite, then the correction for actual mapped environmental variables will bring your accuracy up to the 8-12 foot range.

If you wish to compare units, you have to be certain that they are actually calculating using the exact same satellites. If they are, the accuracy should be the same and, though you may not have perfect accuracy, the difference in location between the two units, using the same satellites, will be even more accurate than either position. You can only be certain that two units are using the same satellites if the two units have the capability of calculating more satellites than are being received by each, and actually display the same ones. If the almanac of one or both is not up to date you may be surprised.

Thanks for the information on this...

I just went out and did a short five mile test... I was all over the map as far as accuracy... anywhere from 57 feet to the best which was 14 feet.

I seemed to get better signal and better accuracy heading East. That is where I was hitting 14 - 16 feet.

Thanks for the responses. Looks like my 780 accuracy is fairly typical of other 7xx units, but not as good as some of the other models.

I do wonder why Garmin removed the WAAS functionality from the 7xx series since it could probably benefit from the increased accuracy due to the weaker antenna. I think I remember reading that WAAS drains the battery faster, but since most users probably use their nuvi units in the car and plugged in, that shouldn’t be an issue.

I always keep WAAS enabled on my 680 since it is always plugged in and not worried about battery drain.

Where does it tell you how many satellites it's tracking and how many feet of accuracy on a 750?

Just press the top left where your signal bars are and you should receive the screen about your long, lat, altitude, accuracy, and satellites that are connected.

As far as I can tell that's not in the manual, makes me wonder what else this dude will do.
Thanks for the help.

I've got a Nuvi 670 and the longer I use it the more I find that isn't in the manual. Garmin makes a good product, but like so many electronics manufacturers, they don't produce a really decent manual. Just look at Microsoft for instance. Try Garmin's support at http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/home/support/searchsupport , maybe you can find some of the things that aren't in the manual.

I made a roadtrip that was roughly 60 miles each way. I checked accuracy at least a dozen times during this trip and for the most part it ranged 12-14. The worst I saw during the journey was 18ft. I'm happy with that. If I'm within 12, 14, or even 50 ft of my destination, then I think I can find it from there!

750. Nothing happens when I click the singal bars. I can tap the time and pulls up time settings.

Update: Found it on tech support. I need to press and HOLD for the screen to show up.

Ok, I would assume my Nuvi 780 would work the same, but I get nothing pressing the signal bars. I do have a "where am I" screen under tools, but it only shows lat. lon. and altitude. Nothing about accuracy or number of satellites.
Does anyone know if the 780 is supposed to be the same or is my unit malfunctioning?
Thanks,
Chudly1
UPdate: ok, just got the answer from above post after writing this.
Thanks for the info!