Hi Tink:

___I use (2) Sirf IIe/LP chipset based GPS receivers (CF and a Serial based version for 2 different PDA’s) with Mapopolis as my SW of choice. You need just 3 birds for an initial track but 4 will give you a lock. 9 can be seen most of the time. The 2 GPS receivers I use can see 9 birds in view at any given moment with locks as low as 27 - 29% most of the time? I have not watched the SAT screen much since I initially began GPS NAVI ownership so my numbers might be off by a small amount? Bad weather, tall buildings (traveling in the inner city), and tree canopies can drop both the number of birds seen and their signal strengths in my experience.

___Back to the Honda’s NAVI. It is far off before a lock just as all GPS receivers are. My home is on a digitized road but when it first boots, it places me all over the subdivision, in the lake, in the fields, etc. Another way you can generate an error is by not following a pre-planned NAVI route. Plan any route on a highway near you. Watch your NAVI display and instead of taking the path it wants you too, do the opposite and watch the NAVI take you down the ramp you did not take for ~ 10 seconds before it begins a recalc and it snaps back. Another way to see an error generated. Drive down any non-digitized road for over ½ a mile w/ breadcrumbs enabled and drive back. Do this a few times. My place of employment is un-digitized for a particular reason thus I see it every time I arrive at work. The track as seen by the bread crumbs is scattering and yours will as well.

___My thoughts anyway …

___EricGo, your speedometer/odometer is based off wheel rotation. With < 20,000 on the MDX and at differing pressures from 32 - 40 #’s, the Ranger at 50 #’s, and the Accord at 50 #’s, my Casio and Compaq based NAVI solutions speed, lat/long, and elevation display screen matched basically dead on with the speedometers of all 3. 60 miles per hour at 60 miles per hour. The Insight’s speedometer was ~ 1 miles per hour higher then that of the NAVI unit when running 55 #’s at 60 miles per hour. As the tires wear from their original 2 + ft. of diameter, (9 - 11/32 of tread towards 2/32’s), you will see the odometer track slightly higher miles traveled and higher speeds from the same original non-worn tires distance and speed as a comparison. I think the manufacturers cal the odometer/speedometer to ½ the wear of the tires but this is a guess?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net