Are all GPS receivers the same in performance?

Hello everyone,

I just received a Lowrance 334C as a gift for my bass boat, since we still have ice I decided to do some road testing in the car on the dash and thats where there is some confusion. I did talk to 4 techs at Lowrance and got just about 4 diffrent stories, anything from get a unit with a puck, windshield material, not enough sky and maybe the unit is foulty and I don’t understand it should work. After few tests I decided to mount 2 Garmin units next to the 334c and go for a 50 mile ride. Here are the results: While parked in my driveway (marked it as a waypoint), Garmins locked on in under 1 minute, the 334c about 10 minutes. Garmins showed 8 to 15 foot error, 334C showed 60 foot error. While driving Garmins stayed at around 7 to 12 foot error, the 334c was anywhere from 30 feet to 500 feet in errors. All very strange. On the way back, I set up navigation to a waypoint (my driveway) all 3 units tracked very well on the road map, but when I arrived at my waypoint the Garmins showed a 10/15 foot error, the 334C showed 298 foot error, my driveay is 50 foot wide. After zooming in on the 334 I was able to see the huge diffrence.

So, what is the deal here? Who do I trust on the water in the fog? Is someone tweeking to sell?

Will welcome your comments,

Mike

Does, the Lowrance have the internal antenna?

The 334c is with the internal antenna.

Wade, from Jolly Ann Marine can probably answer your questions. He says he has been running a 332C and it is sweet. I assume that means it is accurate.
I’m thinking about getting a 332c or a 334c so would be interesting to see the answer to this.

Friend of mine is a communications engineer and he tells me that as of now the GPS receiving technology is just about at its peek, now just waiting on Milliatry to give us more.
He also thinks that some Mfg companies tweek their units to gain publics confidence and market shares. But who know what he has been drinking. I think I am going the puck way and get a 332c, hope to hear from that guy Wade.

I guess I would ask myself another question. “If I had a choice of being 10/15 feet off of my target, or 250/500 feet off?”…Lowrance, Garmin…Lowrance, Garmin…Huuuummmmm??

I have been running a Lowrance LCX-16ci and a Globalmap 3000mt for about 4 years now both use a puck antennae. I also have my driveway as a waypoint and have no problem hitting it within about 7-9 feet on a continual basis.

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Friend of mine is a communications engineer and he tells me that as of now the GPS receiving technology is just about at its peek, now just waiting on Milliatry to give us more.
He also thinks that some Mfg companies tweek their units to gain publics confidence and market shares. But who know what he has been drinking. I think I am going the puck way and get a 332c, hope to hear from that guy Wade.

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I run the LMS 332C next to the LCX 26c HD. Each unit has their own antenna(puck)and give me identical readings. I believe the accuracy on the units is a function of how many satellites they are reading (especially the WAAS satellite) at any given time!

While we have limited feedback on the 334C at this point, I would guess there is a problem with your specific unit. Before you do too much though I would get the unit out in the open and see how it does then. I’m not sure how well the 334C is going to do inside a vehicle. I think it’s going to do well on the console and should do well on the bow as long as it has clear line to sky.

Generally speaking, it would be careless for any of us to turn this into a Lowrance versus garmin issue. It’s not. Both companies are making excellent GPS units at present time. I’ve personally had no problems with the performance of my LMS-332C or my LMS-330C prior to that. There are numerous folks running Lowrance GPS here. Some will have issues, some won’t. Let’s not generalize this…

Please let us know how this turns out for you. Thanks!

This is not Lowrance vs Garmin. This is a money spending consumer vs anybody. When you have same conditions and 2 diffrent mfg units reading 200/300 feet of diffence among the 2, then you have to ask , why is that? On water in bad weather as you run into someones dock is a bit late to research this issue, the entrance to my harbor is 100 feet wide.

So I think for now I will assume that the 334c is a foulty unit and will replace it with another one or pehaps I will just get the puck style unit. Does anyone know the length of puck cable on the 332c?

Thanks ,
Mike

I am probably going to get in a lot of trouble for saying this, but I have always viewed Garmin as a GPS company that dabbled in fish finders. Conversely, I have always thought of Lowrance as a fish finder company that dabbled in GPS. I ran a number of Lowrance units, 350A’s and 332’s, and I was always having issues with satelite lock up, and true position. I have had 3 garmin GPS units, and have never had an issue with Sats or position. Like Wade said, could be a individual unit deal. I will defer to Wade in a heartbeat here as he sees many more of each units than I do. I use my 188 on a wheeler, and in my truck as it has an internal antennae and accepts the chip. I have had no problem with sats, even if it sits on my seat!

You would have to compare apples to apples……..Did you make note of what satellites are being picked up by both units? If, for whatever reason the Lowrance didn’t pick up sufficient satellites and signals, that will give a bad reading. That could have been due to how the unit was established in the vehicle.

Too many varibles here to make an accurate guess of why this unit isn’t working or wasn’t working……

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This is not Lowrance vs Garmin. This is a money spending consumer vs anybody.

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Mike, Sorry. That comment wan’t directed at your post. I didn’t think that you were making it a Garmin versus Lowrance issue, I just had an idea were this was heading and it’s not your fault. Your question is a good one.

Tuck!

Acutally, I used to see the Garmin/Lowrance issue the same as Tuck and that’s the way it was years ago (your age is showing Tuck). But in the past few years, both companies seem to have caught up to each other in both sonar and GPS.

Mike, Let us know the results please. Maybe this will help someone else.

hey Wade, no big deal all frindly on this side.
I have to agree with Chris, everybody is good at something. If I had the space I would buy 1 unit from each, but that is not he case. Gary, I had both of these units 1′ apart and I was not watching what satellites they locked on, but I will take a look at it again, but then why would they lock on to diffrent satellites if the units are next to each other? and yes I do own 2 Garmins and this is my first time with Lowrance and I am scared. lol

I think as a avid outdoorsman shure would like to find out why the diffrence, I can live with few feet, but in hundreds that is a tough one.

Thanks everyone,
Mike

I’m thinking very hard about buying this unit….has anybody that has this unit been on the water yet with it….and paid close attention to the accuracy of the speed? Will this unit tell you if you’re going .4 or .5 or .6 mph……..OR will it not read a constant speed until you’re going over 1 mph?

I just happened to have my bass club meeting last night and I asked around about the Lowrance units, most guys prefer the puck style units as they feel those are more accurate. Their preference is the 332c and 3500c. Did not talk about the speed under 1mph, but I can tell you that my short lived 334c showed me moving at .5mph, the problem was, I was standing still in my driveway testing it. I will be picking up a 332c tonight.

Mike

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Will this unit tell you if you’re going .4 or .5 or .6 mph……..OR will it not read a constant speed until you’re going over 1 mph?

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My LMS 332c reads in tenths of a mile per hour(i.e. .4, .6, .7 etc) under 1 MPH.

My 334 came last week. I hope i made the right choice.

Got a few questions first. Was this the first time you ran the unit. It takes a lot longer the first time since the unit has to figure out where in the world its at, no small feat.
Two, did you have the WAAS on. SA is off but atmospheric conditions can have as great a degrade of accuracy as SA.
Three, did you switch positions of the units. Todays cars and trucks generate all sorts of interference. Some thing I see as a ham radio operator is todays electronics fall short of shielding their equipement against this. The unit that was over the middle of the dash could be affected more by the fan motor.
I also believe internal antenna’s don’t recieve as well. Many tech’s argue that’s wrong because you don’t have line loss at that very high freq, but I flee you get too much junk in the way where a puck can be put in the clear and open area.
WarrenMN

Mike;

I would recommend doing the test again. This time have another person in the truck with you, so you don’t crash while playing with the units and driving at the same time!!!!

When you are reading the accuracy of the two units, side-by-side, switch over screens and read the satellite readings and compare the two.

If both units are drawing the same satellites, with the same pwr frequencies, then I would send the unit back to Lowarance, explaining the results of your test.

However, if the units are not measuring up to the same readings of the satellites, it may possibly be, the way the internal antenna is reading inside your vehicle.

Steve, These LMS units read at 0.1 mph.

Dan, I think you’ll be fine. You did your homework and if there’s any problem with the unit we’ll get ‘er taken care of. I don’t expect there to be any problem but you never know with any electronics. That’s why we have the warranty though.

Thanks for more of your posts,
The first time I turned it on it took 3 beers or so to lock, =15 min. After that it was anywhere from 2 to 4 min.
The WAAS was on, and I aslo tested it in the open space.

I think the whole GPS thing is very strange, and I am not ready to trust manufacturers and their way of marketing their products to a general fishing industry. A qulity product should be tested for performance in adverse conditions and not in the middle of the lake on a sunny day. This technology has been around for a while and it should work for our type of applications. My son tells me it’s time to leave it alone and tells me I am to detailed ( I think he used another word for that) I am trying to do just that, but this type of thing gets to me every time and the consumer needs to get after these companies to clean up their act.
We already have Bill Gates, one is enough to experiment
on us. Anywy, I will return this unit and try one with the puck, if that fails I will get a Ray combo unit as thats
what I have on my cruiser and that unit and others alike are dead on.

Thanks,

Mike

I did pick up the 332 c and much much better performance.
First power on it took about 3 to 4 min to lock after that it was under a min. This unit does come with the network connectors, so if you are loking for a clean looking install you will not get it with this unit unless you do it in dash, otherwise you will have some connectors hanging around. Once you install in line fuses on both power lines you then can solder them (red+red and black+black) thus ending with just 1 set of red and black. The puck power line needs a switch as the power is on at all times.
The puck should be a leat 2′ away from your unit as you will have a problem with SHIELDING which will result in poor receiver signal. Don’t try to splice any closed cables, it will not work. I was told that the 332c is just about the best combo for under 1000 dollars. I did talk to several RF techs/engineers in regards to the diffrence in signals among some units and……….To avoid Jolly jail I will take the 5th.

Cheers to all,

Mike