K
KraftyPg
Guest
Has anyone ever had problems with GPS units (any brand) where they momentarily get geographically embarrassed and forget where they are or roads on the maps disappear for a fraction of a second only to come back again but not forget any data or settings that are programmed into it?
I know most GPS's suffer problems of sending people the wrong way or to places they shouldn't and I'm not interested in those errors which are software and coding errors, I'm only interested in the momentary glitches that seem to right themselves almost immediately.
I can remember this happening to mine only twice and both times were somewhere between the Vic/SA border and the SA/WA border and because by the time the woman had told me she was lost and I needed to turn around she was recalculating the right course I never bothered with it but I've been getting more reports back from people lately where they are suffering for similar type issues. They never halt progress or stop working completely they are just small glitches the right themselves almost immediately. Had the reports only come from the GPS models I sell I'd probably consider them at fault but it's happening to more than just one brand.
At first I wondered if it was a black spot somewhere over central Australia for GPS signal because I know back in the mid 90's there was a major black spot over Central Aus for Pay TV but now the reports I'm hearing are coming from units in other states too and the only one common factor I've been able to pin point is the heat of the units, especially those suction cupped to the windscreens in direct sunlight. I never thought about heat when mine played up (and right now in Vic nothing gets hot so I can't test it) but those who have told me recently about the problem have suggested the units are quite warm to touch when it does occur.
It stands to reason that these things get warm, most of them run something very similar to old 486 CPU's which many computers used back in the 90's and just like computers they get warmer the more they are used but unlike computers they don't have fans so I am wondering if there could be a heat issue and if that issue is common to some brands.
There is a commonality between several of the leading brands of GPS units these days which further leads me to believe this problem is more wide spread than just the dozen or so people I know of but I'm interested to hear if anyone else has had such issue and whether or not their units were hotter than usual at the time the problems happened.
I know most GPS's suffer problems of sending people the wrong way or to places they shouldn't and I'm not interested in those errors which are software and coding errors, I'm only interested in the momentary glitches that seem to right themselves almost immediately.
I can remember this happening to mine only twice and both times were somewhere between the Vic/SA border and the SA/WA border and because by the time the woman had told me she was lost and I needed to turn around she was recalculating the right course I never bothered with it but I've been getting more reports back from people lately where they are suffering for similar type issues. They never halt progress or stop working completely they are just small glitches the right themselves almost immediately. Had the reports only come from the GPS models I sell I'd probably consider them at fault but it's happening to more than just one brand.
At first I wondered if it was a black spot somewhere over central Australia for GPS signal because I know back in the mid 90's there was a major black spot over Central Aus for Pay TV but now the reports I'm hearing are coming from units in other states too and the only one common factor I've been able to pin point is the heat of the units, especially those suction cupped to the windscreens in direct sunlight. I never thought about heat when mine played up (and right now in Vic nothing gets hot so I can't test it) but those who have told me recently about the problem have suggested the units are quite warm to touch when it does occur.
It stands to reason that these things get warm, most of them run something very similar to old 486 CPU's which many computers used back in the 90's and just like computers they get warmer the more they are used but unlike computers they don't have fans so I am wondering if there could be a heat issue and if that issue is common to some brands.
There is a commonality between several of the leading brands of GPS units these days which further leads me to believe this problem is more wide spread than just the dozen or so people I know of but I'm interested to hear if anyone else has had such issue and whether or not their units were hotter than usual at the time the problems happened.
