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[confused and hungover]

i switched on my new AQ-500 GPS receiver this morning, got it synced up with with my M500, then opened the tom tom GPS monitor and set the receiver outside on a window sil for about 30 mins, it could only detect 2 satelites. i took it to the other side of the building and it could still only pick up 2 satelites... is this normal? how many do you need for tom tom to work? i read in one place it was 7 and someone else said it was 4... with 2 satelites the GPS signal strength in tom tom didn't show any bars, i see there are 4 bars in total but none of them were full...

i know this is probably because its on a window ledge and not outside but surely it should pick up more, especially as it was pointing to 45 degrees away from the building?

i'm away on my lunch break soon so i can actually check it outside but what other things affect gps signal, what if it's really cloudy, that kind of thing

[Samsonite]

copilot needs 4 sat fixes for 3d mapping but will work with 3 sats for minimal route guidance... dont know about TomTom, sorry...

Not sure why you can only see 2 satellites tho.  Any any given point, i've always had minimum of 5 visible, normally 7 or more!  (most i've seen is 9)

My emtac unit will work with even the smallest part of the antenna visible to the sky.  Ive never had any problems with weather/cloudy days but a low charge has thrown up the odd funny...  you fully charged?

TTFF (time to first fix) is a performance factor with GPS units. Again my emtac can take as long as 5 or 6 minutes if i havent used it for a few days -could this be your trouble?