Accuracy problem

[Kieth-Tx]

I have a Meridian Gold...easy to use and fast lock on satellites. I was down near Zapata Texas on a well site....wide open area. I had wrote down the coodinate of the well and a few other location points at the well site. Go back the next day just to verify a couple of the points...not even close. I guess my question is...how accurate can I expect this unit to be, and which unit is the most accurate out there? I was using Deg-min.mmm...is this the most accurate setting I can use? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Andrew Kalinowski]

Hmm, what do you mean by "not even close"? Meridian can easily give accuracy and repeatability of couple meters if you let it average for a little while. Having said that, you do have to be careful with Meridians. They have auto-averaging. It kicks in when the unit thinks that you are stationary. What sometimes happens is; the averaging for a stationary position activates when you are moving slowly or when you stopped for a moment, it may take a substantial (20 meters or so) change of position before unit realizes that that the change is not a reading fluctuation but the change n the actual position. One of the ways to make sure that you get accurate reading is: when you stop to take a reading, look at the screen - it should display "averaging" and running time of the averaging. Wave the unit around so the averaging breaks off and restarts. Than, let it average for, well, the longer you let it average, the more accurate reading you can expect. With good view of the sky, 5 minutes should give you just few meters accuracy.
deg-min.mmm is fairly accurate. Depending on latitude, The resolution should be better than 1.5 meters. Personally I like UTM. By it's nature, it gives 1 meter resolution regardless of latitude. Also; because UTM values are in meters, it's easy to quickly calculate distances without resorting to any aids.

HTH

 

[Kieth-Tx]

n/t