z3bum

WAAS helps reduce the induced errors in your position, imrpoving accuracy from around 100m (300 feet) to under 10m (less than 30 feet) In some locations, at high altitude, I have seen the accuracy down to five feet which is pretty impressive. WAAS helps alot when looking for caches once you are close to them, but doesn't do much if you are on an hour long trek first, so I usually turn that feature off to save battery power and then back on as I approach a site.

Greetings, If you were not on Sprint, I would say the Nokia N95 makes a fantastic fair-weather Geocaching device. It has a built-in GPS and runs a free version of Trimble Navigator. Trimble Navigator allow you to access premium features like wireless notes for free, and makes it quite easy to find some caches. I would recommend checking the Geocache Navigator site for a list of compatible phones. THere are alot of of Sprint ones as you'll see on the link below... http://www.geocachenavigator.com/GetStarte...74/Default.aspx

I just bought a Colorado 300 and have loaded various maps on it. Getting the RAM-Mobile mount for it, which consists of a holster with diamond ball, a short arm made from light composite, and a handlebar ball. I use RAM mounts on my scooters, and they have provided vibration free mounting systems that work well. I figured why not use the Colorado as a navigation device for bikes and scooters? We'll see how it works. My NUVI is great, but not so good in direct sunlight, and not waterproof, so the Colorado makes alot of sense.

Garmin is a US-based company. Most countries charge a hefty import duty on US-made electronic equipment, or even equipement designed in the US and built elsewhere. Hence the higher cost of Garmin products. For Europeans who want Garmin products, best is to order online and have the seller ship the unit as a 'gift', which should bypass the import duty, or maybe reduce it. Of course, with the Euro at an all time high to the dollar, the US is a great place to visit and shop for "toys"!

The Garmin handhelds aren't really more accurate than a NUVI. But...NUVIs are not water resistant. Not even close! My Rino 530 could fall into a creek and be fine, but if the NUVI 360 I have got rain water on the screen for a long enough period of time, it would get damaged. So, if you are doing alot of geocaching in the wilderness in all climates, I would get one of the waterproof Garmins. I also have a Nokia N95 cell phone that works as a cache locator, but I am using it on nice days mainly in cities...

Garmin TOPO US 2008 comes on a DVD, so that's your first hurdle... can you read dvds? I would get the DVD vs. the memory card, because you can use any memory card you like. Also, TOPO is unlocked, and can be loaded on any of your Garmin GPSes, because, well, you have more than one, right? (I have a Rino 530, Nuvi 360, Vcomm Vcommand and a Nokia N95) The topo maps are nice for biking if you use your etrex as a bike computer. Other maps that work well would be the Mapsource metro guides for the US or Europe, and the Worldmaps. And of course my favorites, the Bluecharts! What could be better than turning your handheld gps into a chart-plotter? Good luck.