Home > Consumer Reviews > Gilsson 3-Foot High Performance Active Remote External GPS Antenna

This really pulls in the signals, and much more quickly than the built-in. Short cord good good for use on foot. Might be a bit short for some car layouts, but fine for my Sentra. Recommended

I have two of these for my two older Garmins and love them. I can get a signal in my garage with the door closed, it acquires satellites much faster. I was using it the other day and was impressed that it didn't loose the signal in a long tunnel, the radio lost the station I was listening too but the GPS didn't. One of the few products I have no complaints about it after using it for a while. Buy the window mount and just stick it up above your mirror out of the way and it will work great.

I love this antenna. I've been using it for my Garmin GPSMAP 60CS since I bought it several years ago. Well, recently after a long day of kayaking, watching the STS-119 shuttle launch, and then battling traffic to get home, I was exhausted and sore. I haphazardly yanked on the antenna cable to remove it from my kayak's deck bag, and the connector separated from the cable and stayed attached to the receiver's antenna port.

Oops. Truly not a fault of the antenna. I bought another one quickly.

I've had this thing on my kayak (in fresh water and salt water), on top of my car, clipped to the outside of my backpack, you name it. It has performed admirably every step of the way.

And the performance is excellent. On my last kayak outing, I was getting a consistent 5-foot accuracy on my 60CS, which I have never once achieved with the built-in antenna. Doing the Rock Springs Run here in Central FL with consistent heavy tree cover, I have always been able to get 8-foot accuracy or better.

At any rate, it's such a significant difference that I'm buying another one immediately, and when I upgraded receivers recently, I chose the Colorado 400T over the Oregon 400T specifically because the Oregon doesn't have a port for an external antenna!

One important note, though, is the connector type - choose carefully. If you have a model that has the antenna port on the back (like the 60-series), then choose the angle connector. If your antenna port is on top of the unit (like the Colorado), choose the straight connector. I made the mistake of getting the angle connector for the Colorado, and it's impossible for me to remove the connector without pliers, due to the tight connector and minimal finger space to get a good grip on it.

Also, in my experience (having had both a 9-ft cable and a 3-ft cable), if you're doing any hiking or geocaching with it, do yourself a favor and get the shorter cable. My longer cable spent all of its time coiled up and getting in the way. You could always get an extension cable for the rare occasions where you need the length, and leave it at home the rest of the time.

Seattle can have terrible GPS reception, especially when driving North/South on I-5. There seems to be a number of dead zones around the city. I own a Garmin 760 and sometimes I can drive all the way to my destination before it acquires a satellite. However, using one of these Gillson antennas I get full satellite signals almost right away and the accuracy is so good it can tell what lane you are in!

I have a 2007 Camry with one of those windshields that interferes with reception on my Garmin c340. Got tired of losing the satellites and got the Glisson antenna (with a 9 foot cord, didn't think 3 foot would be enough) which virtually eliminates satellite loss. I wrap the cord around the rear view mirror once and stick the rest up between the sunroof and the sunroof sliding shield. Works great up there. Didn't have to run it outside like I expected to. When updating my Garmin destinations indoors, I can now easily acquire satellite signals. which I could not do before connecting the external antenna, which just demonstrates the difference it makes.