What the hell do I keep doing to Sat Navs?!!

hollydays

I have had several Sat navs over the last 5 years.At first they work fine,then after a year or so,when I set them,they just say they can't find a signal,and wont work until I am at least half an hour into my journey!!

Why does this happen? What Am I doing to cause this?

OH never keeps receipts so I cant return them.

plane_boy2000

No idea - think you have been unlucky 0 mine is about 3 years old and no problems touch wood!

Viper_7

Do you let them go totally flat?
They can take a good 30 minutes to locate themselves when first used - or used a large distance from where they were last used.

vikingaero

Viper_7 wrote: »

Do you let them go totally flat?
They can take a good 30 minutes to locate themselves when first used - or used a large distance from where they were last used.

If you allow them to go flat they do a cold boot when you turn them back on. This means finding satellites is near impossible when you drive off.

anewman

Staying stationery with an open view of the sky, i.e. no garage or trees etc around, should get a sat nav to lock on faster. Newer models have a Sirf III chipset which locks onto satellites easier.

Using a sat nav in a car with heated or metallized windscreen can stop them getting a signal.

With many sat navs you can get an external MMCX antenna. There often have a small black matchbox sized magnetic bit which is meant to stick on the outside of your car.

cyclonebri1

anewman wrote: »

Staying stationery with an open view of the sky, i.e. no garage or trees etc around, should get a sat nav to lock on faster. Newer models have a Sirf III chipset which locks onto satellites easier.

Using a sat nav in a car with heated or metallized windscreen can stop them getting a signal.

With many sat navs you can get an external MMCX antenna. There often have a small black matchbox sized magnetic bit which is meant to stick on the outside of your car.

The added external arial does seem to help, but not alot. I use mine maybe once a month but when I charge the phone I charge the satnav, otherwise a 100mile journey in the car does not fully charge it;)

hewhoisnotintheknow

shielded windscreen

Why dont you try it in a friends car and try your friends in your car

DaveMacD

Doubt it's the windscreen that's causing the problem, as the implication is that changing the satnav solves the problem. Is it the same manufacturer of satnav, or are you changing makers every time?

Can sympathise, I've had my current model for a month, and it's failed already. Same as the OP, lost signal.

biscuitdunker

Mine's a couple of years old and does struggle to find a signal sometimes. Sometimes wave mine outside the window when stationary, usually helps it to get a signal. Also, re-inputting the destination and making it search again seems to help it get a signal too.

molerat

A major problem is letting them run completely flat. They then need FULLY charging and leaving until they pick up a signal, this may take 5 or 10 minutes preferably with power applied. Moving off will cause severe problems. Also it can be very difficult to pick up a signal with a part charged battery. The tech boffins say it should not make a difference but, from experience of selling them and the resulting customer concerns, it often can.

vaio

For once I was an early adopter of the technology, the first one was a Mio PDA type which still works, I upgraded to one of the generic £40 ones 3 or 4 years ago because it is much faster. Not had any trouble with either of them.