Overnight Anchoring - Portable GPS Alarm

I have a several year old Magellan SportTrak Pro handheld. Here inside my house it locks on and picks up 4 to 6 satellites. It works anywhere in the house, unless you put it on a counter under a cabinet or something like that. I think the Magellan line has good sensitivity.

It also has an anchor alarm. However, the tiny built in beeper is barely audible to me (I have poor hearing), and it only beeps for a short time. I would never hear it under normal circumstances. I doubt it has any sort of external alarm capability, as it is intended only as a handheld.

Be aware too that the satellites are always moving around, so if your reception is marginal, the GPS could go in and out of lock.

I just tested the Magellan in my shop (38x48ft) which has a metal roof. The magellan picked up 3 or 4 satellites inside with weak signals. The Garmin 2210 on the boat in the shop, with the remote antenna sitting near the compass, did not pick up any satellite. The Magellan had the advantage in that it had already locked on to at least six satellites before I took it into the shop, so it knew what it was looking for.

Outside, the Magellan handheld got lock on about 6 satellites quickly, and after a couple minutes it was locked on to 8 of them. In general, a GPS must lock on to 4 satellites to know where it is, since it must resolve x, y, z, and t.
 
jrirvine1 said:
Stray Cat said:
this boat uses the Smartview for depth and it turns off when you shut down the engines.

:smt100

Stray, I believe you can still use the smart craft depth sounder with the engines shut down by leaving the ignition switches on at the first click. This enables the smart craft system gauges including the depth sounder and alarm if activated.
 
jrirvine1 said:
Stray Cat said:
this boat uses the Smartview for depth and it turns off when you shut down the engines.

:smt100

Stray, I believe you can still use the smart craft depth sounder with the engines shut down by leaving the ignition switches on at the first click. This enables the smart craft system gauges including the depth sounder and alarm if activated.

Jim - I'm still somewhat old school...would this cause any harm to the electronic ignition? :smt017
 
[/quote]

Stray, I believe you can still use the smart craft depth sounder with the engines shut down by leaving the ignition switches on at the first click. This enables the smart craft system gauges including the depth sounder and alarm if activated.[/quote]

Jim - I'm still somewhat old school...would this cause any harm to the electronic ignition? :smt017[/quote]

No harm here. The first position, as I understand, is to enable the electronics, gauges and sensors only. When you depress the switch you should hear a beep, which is usually, but not always the outdrive lubrication sensor telling you it is working, and then all gauges become active. The engines are not engaged at all until the switches are fully depressed.
 

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