Nuvi 350 question (startup time)

CD
I have a 350 with software version 4.3 and it acquires reception in less than 45 seconds (consistently). Including the boot-up time, it probably takes a couple minutes. During trips, if I stop and allow it to power down, it takes less than 15 seconds once it is powered back up. I don't think that 2 minutes (provided that is a max) is an unreasonable amount of time as I've had other units that can take up to 5 minutes to acquire satellite reception.

When powering up for the first time in a day, it takes about 90 sec - 2 min to lock in satellites. The rest of that day, it will take 90 sec. or less when sitting still. It will take longer when in motion. From what I've read out and about, this is typical behavior of the Nuvi line - and quite a bit faster than other brands & models.

I have a new nuvi 360 and acquisition time for me is consistently less than 45 seconds. I try and wait for 30 seconds while still in the driveway, so the unit has a static point to calculate to, and it works great. Does the 350 have WAAS capability? If yes, is it enabled? I don't know if that helps acquistion time or hurts it, but it supposedly makes the gps more accurate.
My boot up time including signal acquisition time from a cold start is close to 2 minutes.
My $.02!! Happy navigating!!

i'm in the same boat as you, cdstrong. it came with version 3.5 out of the box, and it worked great. then i did the 4.3 update and it feels very sluggish, as map drawing/updating feels off by a bit, and it takes much longer to acquire a satellite signal.

well, this got me wondering if mine was any slower. same as the others, i updated to v 4.3 and have loaded quite a few poi's. So i checked mine and it was up and running in about 40 sec. I personally dont think thats bad..

even with the update to v4.3 mine is always up and running in around 30 to 45 seconds, I really love my NUVI.

It is probably the WAAS. Make sure it is turned off if you want it to "find itself" quicker. It only is more accurate by an average of 5 meters, which I don't think is a huge deal while driving around as compared to say geocaching.

I can't remember where I saw this, but I found information about the average time it takes for the unit to locate itself with WAAS on and it is temperature dependant. It takes longer when it's colder.

I like to watch the satellite signals screen while the GPS is starting up to see how things are coming along.

You can see which satellites your GPS has found and where they're located in the sky. On nuvi, you can access the satellites screen by touching the signal strength bars on the menu page.

Interpreting the Satellites Screen

A separate signal bar is shown for each satellite. You usually need signals from 4 satellites to get a good initial position calculation.

If you haven't used the GPS for a while, it needs to listen to each satellite's signal for 30 seconds (to acquire ephemeris data) before it can begin using the satellite in position calculations. The signal bar will change color when ephemeris data has been received.

(Ephemeris data provides details needed for the GPS to know exactly where the satellite is located. It's repeated every 30 seconds in the signal broadcast by the satellite.)

JM

I have read complaints about waiting for a lock on the satellite in other forums as well. I have also read that an external antenna not only speeds up this process greatly, but allows almost an uninterrupted lock on the satellite signal - even under a forest canopy or in a tunnel. Can anyone verify this?

Thanks!

I thought I was the only one who liked to watch that screen! That is a cool screen. It took over 1/2 hour for it to find anything last time I turned it on. I guess using it in Cali one day and then NY on the next really confused my GPS.

I don't find that function on my c530. Does anyone know if it is available?

I'll hazard a guess at your question (since nobody else has). Most all garmin units show satellite signal strength via bars on the upper left side of the main menu screen. Again, with most models, if you touch those bars, it will take you to the satellite screen where you can see what satellites you are receiving, and the strength of the signal from each. For me personally, the screen holds no fascination. As long as all the bars on the main menu screen are green, I know that I'm "good to go"....