Get very good readings with your SporTrak

If you are a user of a Magellan SporTrak, then you have to the ability to get very good coordinates without a lot of work.

The SporTrak has built-in, and normally on, what is called auto-averaging. By this time, no doubt, you've seen that the detail screen will say either "averaging" or "WAAS avg" when you've stopped for a couple of seconds. This is the auto-averaging kicking in.

You probably also have seen that it appears you are moving slowly on the map screen or compass screen even though you are sitting still in the real world. This is the unit "catching up" to where you really are. Some folks call it the "sling shot effect."

We are going to use this to get very good and repeatable readings, and it is very easy.

First, simply find your spot you want to measure and find some way to orient the unit nose up. With less than clear coverage, you might want to switch to the satellite page and make sure you are receiving good signal from at least four satellites. Move your unit a little to make sure, not too much, though.

Next, just let it sit for about 5 minutes. This lets the previous averaging get out of it's system.

Look on the details page, where it shows you it is averaging and move the unit just enough to break averaging. This should be just a couple of feet. As soon as it breaks averaging put it back.

Wait about 10-15 minutes and then take a waypoint. You should be good to go. If you have fairly heavy tree cover you might want to wait a while longer, maybe 30 minutes or so.

If you want, you can repeat this to see what you get. Maybe even come back on a different day.

It might be advised to try this out in your backyard to get the hang of it before hiking way back into the woods, and maybe even experiment on your own.

Hope this helps!