SLOW Garmin 696 satellite acquisition time...

[schristo@mac.com]

My 696 seems to have gotten very slow to initially acquire satellites... Once locked it is fine and never loses signal.

It is taking 3-5 minutes to get a GPS lock with a clear view of the sky during taxi to the runway; most of the time it is locked before take off. The Dynon powered GPS gets lock within 10-15 seconds...

No real help from Garmin customer support other than a suggestion to do a hard reset (which I have done) from the guys on the phone, and a suggestion to do a master system reset from email support.

Garmin claims that up to 5 minutes is all that they quote as an expectation but I recall much better performance in the past and it is so much slower to acquire GPS position compared to the Dynon...

I am using the standard puck on the dash.

Any others seeing extended time for the 696 to get a lock on position?

[humptybump]

A couple of questions:

What version of firmware are you running? How old is the data?

I can't sleek for th 696 specifically but in the past, Garmin GPS can becslow to acquire if the internal satellite database is not up to date as the system is looking for satellites based on old information.

Of course, my idea could be a red herring.

When you say "aquire", how many satellites are you counting? My 696 takes a couple minutes to get enough for what I call "good accuracy".

[schristo@mac.com]

Originally Posted by humptybump

A couple of questions:

What version of firmware are you running? How old is the data?

using the current 4.8 software...

Originally Posted by humptybump

When you say "aquire", how many satellites are you counting? My 696 takes a couple minutes to get enough for what I call "good accuracy".

time to acquire is for it to generate any position data... this can come from 3 green signals but is more often from 4...

[mburch]

I see from your website that you have your portable GPS device mounted as one would normally do with a dedicated panel-mounted unit. I suggest trying a different GPS antenna, beginning with the unit's own internal antenna. If that helps, then you know the external antenna or its connector is to blame. If that doesn't help, consider looking at issues related to satellite visibility or interference from other devices.

mcb

[L.Adamson]

I just took mine outside, from off the office desk, where it now resides. It took a few seconds less than a minute from pushing the startup button to satellite acquisition. Five satellites with a 6th coming on line.....for this first minute. This is with the built in antenna. Always used the external antenna under the windscreen in the airplane.

It's now eight satellites, back in the office. 8-11 were normal, while in flight.

L.Adamson

[Steve Barnes]

Stephen, My 296 was taking a long time to acquire satellites and a friend said all I needed was a new internal battery. It was a watch type of battery soldered into place. We carefully disassembled the unit and desoldered/resoldered a new battery into place and like magic my GPS has worked perfectly ever since. That was 4 years ago.

Steve Barnes "The Builders Coach"

[sailvi767]

I was going to suggest the same thing. On the Marine Garmins once the internal clock battery is dead it takes 5 to 10 minutes to get a lock. Change out the battery and you get a lock in under 1 minute. The internal battery is what retains the time and last know position. Both are needed for a quick fix. If you current unit works fine once you have a position then I would bet on the clock battery being bad.

George

[schristo@mac.com]

Pulled the unit from thepanel for testing... internal antenna grabs satalites as expected; fast lock and powerful signal strength. Plug in external antenna and reception is dramatically degraded. Need get my hands on another external for testing.

[schristo@mac.com]

After testing the unit with the internal antenna out of the panel it was clear that the external was significantly degraded. After some research and from field reviews, I ordered a new antenna, a Glisson unit that claimed better performance at a lower price point than Garmin.



It is GREAT to have the expected GPS performance back with my 696... very fast initial acquisition, nearly instant reacquisition after shut down, lots of very strong signals.