Nuvi 265WT reporting wrong location - anyone seen this before?
Tue, 08/30/2011 - 11:41am
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 16 years
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We pulled out the GPS yesterday to get to a place we hadn't been to before and it reported that we were in a totally different location - at least 15 miles from where we actually were. It also kept losing satellite reception and/or displaying "poor satellite reception". Making a semi-educated guess, it sounds like a receiver problem or a problem with whatever the unit uses for a timing reference... if there was lots of jitter I'd think that it would be likely to think the signal was bad and report poor reception.
Has anyone seen this before? The damn thing is barely a year old and doesn't really see that much use.
Any suggestions other than throwing it in the trash? I guess I could try a reset.
- Phil
Update?
Is your firmware up to date? I had this happen some time ago.
http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4103
a lot depends on where
A lot depends on where you are when the unit is looking for signal and if you give it enough time to fully sync.
Urban canyons with lots of reflective surfaces don't work too well, the same for any location without a clear view of the sky. The unit needs signal from at least 3 sats in order to give reasonable resolution, and if you are moving it just makes the problem worse until it downloads the current almanac of sat locations.
In some cars, treated windshields also block the signal, so that could be a problem as well. Without more information on exactly the issue and how you were trying to use the unit anything said here will be guesswork.
Illiterate? Write for free help.
Has anyone seen this before?
Has anyone seen this before?
I saw it on a Garmin Nuvi 250 about a year ago. I was in a car driving back from the beach. Suddenly we were no longer paralleling our route down from earlier in the day. As I continued to watch it, the GPS decided we were off-road and in the middle of a field, although we were actually on the same divided highway that we had been.
One curious thing is that this wasn't the only GPS in the car. A friend also had his GPS (a different brand) and his never got lost like mine did.
I did a lot of fooling with the device, cycling it off and on and the like. It eventually snapped into line. I'm not sure exactly why it started working again. Must have been "confused" for about 10-15 minutes.
I paid attention here and found another report of another Garmin GPS in Indiana doing a similar thing on the same day. After I posted a question the other poster indicated it happened at the same time my problem did!
possible
We pulled out the GPS yesterday to get to a place we hadn't been to before and it reported that we were in a totally different location - at least 15 miles from where we actually were.
It is possible the last time it was used got turned off 15 miles away, until it reacquires contact with the satellites it behaves as been 15 miles away.
It also kept losing satellite reception and/or displaying "poor satellite reception". Making a semi-educated guess, it sounds like a receiver problem or a problem with whatever the unit uses for a timing reference... if there was lots of jitter I'd think that it would be likely to think the signal was bad and report poor reception.
Has anyone seen this before? The damn thing is barely a year old and doesn't really see that much use.
Any suggestions other than throwing it in the trash? I guess I could try a reset.
- Phil
If the unit was turned off far from the present location or hasn't been used for a long period of time it will take longer to acquire communication since the satellites it last communicated with may no longer be the same ones overhead.
Garmin 38 - Magellan Gold - Garmin Yellow eTrex - Nuvi 260 - Nuvi 2460LMT - Google Nexus 7 - Toyota Entune NAV
no problems with my 265T
I've never had such a problem with a 265T but have had similar problems with other Garmin units. As others have noted, the problems I have had could typically be associated with the unit reporting it was at the last known location while trying to re-acquire satellites.
Locations
Some locations are wrong. One time it has the correct address, but wrong city, so sends you to the wrong city. Another case is just the wrong address, a business in a residential area. Another case puts the spot half a mile down the street.
That is why poi-factory is so important.
Sometimes I lose the signal in a city or when I am holding the unit while someone else is driving.
My TomTom has been acting wierd too.
I have two Garmins with no issues. I have a newer TomTom. It seemed to require weekly quickfix updates or it would take forever to acquire a signal. I was really frustrated with it losing signals while driving in relative openess. It always works great in the house. One day when it couldn't acquire a signal, I took it out of the car and it rapidly acquired a signal. Next, I tried opening the sunroof. Again it acquired a signal quickly. So, it seems that there is something about my car (a 1999 BMW) that seems to interfere with the signals on the TomTom but not the Garmin. It also seems to be related to position within the car. I have nothing special about my windshield that I know of.
So, maybe there is something about your car that interfered with it.
Metal oxide
...So, it seems that there is something about my car (a 1999 BMW) that seems to interfere with the signals on the TomTom but not the Garmin. It also seems to be related to position within the car. I have nothing special about my windshield that I know of.
So, maybe there is something about your car that interfered with it.
Some cars have metal oxide film on their windshield for electric deicing and/or a metallic reflective film to help keep the UV rays and heat out of the interior. These treatments can block or weaken RF signals required by GPS and other wireless devices.
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon
BMW 700 Series?
.... So, it seems that there is something about my car (a 1999 BMW) that seems to interfere with the signals on the TomTom but not the Garmin. It also seems to be related to position within the car. I have nothing special about my windshield that I know of.
So, maybe there is something about your car that interfered with it.
The document link below from the tollway authority addresses the windshield problem with I-PASS units. The tollway had to research this problem for the same reason.
http://www.illinoistollway.com/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/TW_CONTE...
Looks like it's ok now
Apparently it was just the almanac of sat locations or something similar, we were in a hurry and starting moving before it acquired the satellites (although we have done this before with no problem). Everything seems to be fine now. I'll check for updates when I get the chance. I think the sat locations are included in the updates from time to time as well.
Weird!
Thanks for all of the replies, we were afraid our GPS was toast.
- Phil