U-Blox 7 GPS - Lights

[The Westmorland Flyer]

GPS units made in the far East tend to have a 'Almanac' that is looking for satellites it expects to see over the far East. [...] As a result at first time power up thousands of miles from where it expects to be can take a time for it to find itself.

This is an important observation. I've bought two U-Blox 7 GPS units, one from a UK distributor and the other came on the slow boat from China. The UK distributor stated on his web site that he checked each unit before despatch and sure enough, it was locked up within a couple of minutes. The one that came on the slow boat was almost as slow at getting lock - it took over an hour!

[N6010Y]

Both my slow boat from China models locked within a few minutes....

[bnmont]

So did mine 10 mins at most just by a window as well

[The Westmorland Flyer]

Must just be a matter of luck then. Or perhaps the guys on the said boat were lost and...

[Paul_Sengupta]

My slow boat ones both took the 10-15 mins to first get a signal, but it's important to get a good view of the sky during this time. Out in the open, my U-blox GPSs receive 7 to 10 satellites but as mentioned when on my upstairs windowsill I only just get 3 to 5, and sometimes get dropouts. I don't have Pilkington K glass either and have a clear view of the sky to the east. If I try on my downstairs windowsill, I only get a lock less than half the time with only 3 satellites generally visible, occasionally 4. If I try with my tablet or phone anywhere near the downstairs window I get a full complement of satellites.

But, as I say, out in the open (or in the car or the aeroplane) there's no real problem with the Ublox.