My GPS in New York

So, as I posted here a while back, I got a new GPS unit (Garmin 265WT) and have been using it ever since when going to places unfamiliar.  I like it a lot and don’t have to bother my friends when I get lost anymore or consult with google maps or mapquest and such.  It turns on and finds satellites very quickly, gets me to where I need to go, and just works great.

Now, I had used my GPS to get to the parking lot I used to leave my car before going to New York.  Not wanting to leave it in my car for a few days in a strange lot, I took it with me to New York.  And since I had it with me, I decided to try it out while there.  And you know what?  I was very disappointed.  Now, I don’t know if its because the sky was full of clouds the couple days I tried to use it, or the buildings in New York are just too tall and surround you all over, or whatever, but for the life of me I could not get any satellite reception at all and so my GPS was just dead weight.

Has anyone ever tried a GPS in NYC?  Was it just me?  Or just my unit?  Can weather and/or skyscrapers cause you not to be able to locate a satellite?  I wasn’t really going to use it all that much since we were taking subways and walking everywhere anyway, but it was still rather disappointing.  What made it even worse is that my friend used her blackberry and Google maps and she got perfect reception and it was able to tell her exactly where to go and such.  Granted, that uses cell phone receptions while mine uses satellite, and you can bet that a city as big as New York has great cell phone reception.  Anyway, I’m back in the spread out suburbs of OC, so don’t really have to worry about it anymore.