Alphawolf

It's the only GPS I will backpack with. It is the lightest there is, and I love it. I have access to any model Garmin makes for my backpacking trip (I sell them all...Magellan too) but I won't take anything but the foretrex 101. I have removed the wrist strap for even less weight. I attach it to my pack strap with a piece of Velcro.

I second that enthusiastically!

You were life support? What squadron? I personally thought the only reason the Viper drivers carried the 12 was they were obtained pretty cheaply. They (The Air Force) should've contracted with Garmin to produce the basic Etrex in desert tan color or O.D.. It would have been cheap, easy to use, rugged as the 12, smaller and lighter than the 12. The 3 squadrons I was affiliated with (421st, 34th, 4th, of the 388th FW, Hill AFB) has tons of problems with the 12s, once they started to get old. They kept them about 5 years longer than they should have.

HA! Wasn't that old 45XL a bugger?!?! It was my "introduction to GPS" and I'm lucky it didn't scar me for life! That thing took forever to lock, and it just wouldn't lock if you were moving. But, I thought it looked classic. I loved the black & white "maritime" look. I wish I still had it just for old times sake. Maybe as a cool paperweight or something.

It's from the Jurassic Period (talking GPS years here). It's sorta like asking "Why has Intel discontinued the Pentium II processors?"

I carry the Foretrex 101, loaded with Energizer Lithium batteries. It is the smallest, lightest GPS available (I even removed the goofy wrist strap to save more weight.) I have carried it for over 100 miles of backpacking the last two summers, and there isn't a single feature on any other single receiver, that would be worth carrying the extra weight as far as I am concerned. I don't like internal compasses (I think it is "backwards engineering" to design a compass that requires batteries, when one of the beauties of a compass is that it requires no batteries! Go figure!) The 1:100,000 scale maps that are generally available on a GPS are next to worthless for off road trekking. You need 1:24,000 quads. So why bother with a mapping unit? Altimeter? What for? No use at all for an altimeter in hunting, backpacking. My paper 1:24,000 maps show me the altitude very effectively. But...On the other hand, if you don't mind the extra weight, and don't care if you spend the extra money, then get one with all the bells and whistles. It won't help you navigate any better than the Foretrex 101, a paper map and a "real" magnetic compass. But...It will impress some people.

I concur with the posts about PC inter-connectivity...Get the 201, but not the 101. You would end up shooting yourself if you had to put in all those coordinates manually!

If the price is right for you, it will work just fine for geocaching. You will probably get a lot of posts suggesting a more expensive unit, with more "features", and that you should look at this one, or that one, or the other one, but the bottom line is...The Geko will serve a geocacher just fine!

That doesn't suck! It's a great unit for geocaching. You don't need maps for geochaching. Trust me on this.

The GMRS side of the 110 radio is way, way underpowered (output watts) compared to most current GMRS radios, including the current Rinos. So, in that sense, yes it is worse.

Well, the RINO 110 won't do maps like the Legend did. Its radio performance in pretty marginal. The GPS functionality is identical to the yellow etex.

Soooo wrong. I always have a map with my GPS. If you have a map along with your GPS, finding your current position on that map is much quicker and more accurate with a GPS (and a grid card) than without.

Did you read the first posting? The point of this posting originally was backcounty navigation , not geoaching. And what do you mean "And they don't weigh any more....."? My Foretrex 101 weighs 2.2 oz. (minus batteries) Show me a mapping unit that gets close to that! Then the batteries that go in it are AAA lithium not AA. Those too, are lighter again.

I can't argue that, but considering the extra $200 for the receiver, and $100 for the maps to go on it, $300 is a lot of money to pay for the convenience of having a little 1.7"X 1.3" map to look at! I detest having to pan those little screens around looking for something over the next ridge or somewhere. And besides, the extra ounces of the mapping units just aren't worth the convenience for me. An 18lb. pack is way more important to me than not having to pull a paper map out of my shirt pocket.

For serious backcountry use, I contend it is foolish to carry only a GPS for navigation. I think most "experts" would agree a good map, compass and the knowledge to use them are essential for safety. So...That being said, if you are going to have a compass and maps anyway, then why go to the significant extra cost of a color mapping unit plus the 1:24,000 Topo maps to load on it? I use a Garmin Foretrex 101 with paper maps and a grid card. I print my own maps from NG TOPO state series. Plus, with lithium batteries and the wrist strap removed, it is quite a bunch lighter than most any other GPS you can get. To me, after hiking 30 miles, every ounce matters. Now, if you don't mind spending the extra $300 or so for a color mapping unit, and the 1:24,000 National Parks maps to go on it, then the Garmin Legend Cx is great. I recently (Sept.) "tested" one on a 45 mile backpacking trip in Yellowstone. I had the 1:24,000 National Parks Topo on it, and it worked great the entire time. (But...I still had my compass and paper maps with me.) To me...It just isn't worth the extra big money to see the pretty maps on the screen. I can be just as accurate with my Foretrex, a grid card and a paper map.

Well, if my 7 years of experience selling Bushnell products is worth anything... I wouldn't touch it! If I compare any Bushnell products to any other mainline manufacturer of the same type of product, Bushnell loses every time. Nope...I would even take a Magellan over one of these! Ha!

This simple: If you are using your GPS with a compass...Use mag. north If you are using it with a map...Use true north If you are using it by itself...It doesn't matter one bit

Curious minds want to know... Why do you have magnets in your backpack? I've done a lot of backpacking, but that is something that has never found its way into my pack.

That's a darn good question! I have no clue!

By the way, this was in in C-17 last night...

Barometers in GPS units have been around for years. I have never found the use for one. They will report altitude more accurately than a non-barometer unit, if, and only if, they are properly calibrated. They must be calibrated often. You have to calibrate them against a known altitude or a known barometric pressure to have good accuracy. A regular GPS will give you altitude readings that are pretty darn accurate. Besides...Who really cares? I mean, you are where you are. Who cares if you really are at 7580 feet instead of 7500 as reported by your regular old non-barometer GPS? Some will claim they use it to predict weather...Watching the barometer climb or dive over several hours. I tend to rely on the TV or Radio for my weather predictions. They are more accurate than me guessing about it based on my GPS. The other thing they will do is track your elevation gain/loss over a time period. My legs will tell me that data!

Well, I'll tell you this much. I have sold GPS receivers for 7-1/2 years. I have owned many, many different models. I have "field tested" nearly all of them, from every manufacturer, at one time or another. The Cobra 100 is, without a doubt, the most worthless GPS receiver I have ever had in my hands! I am sorry to rain on your parade after you purchased it already, but I'm trying to save you some grief. Maybe you can unload it on ebaY for a few bucks. But that would be good, because a few bucks is more than it is worth. I bought one of those a couple of years ago, because it was a killer deal for me, and I wanted a loaner. One that I could loan out to a friend or whatever. Pitiful waste of time and effort. Within a week, I had returned it.

That's pretty much true, but just remember it has to be a Garmin map product (Like the City Navigator you mentioned) to do those tricks, not the Delorme product you mentioned. It won't load to your unit (or it's memory card). Your SD card will hold a certain amount of mapping. It can be from anywhere on the City Navigator maps. You can just keep adding maps until the SD card is full. They can be uploaded to the memory and will stay there until you chose to replace them with different maps from the Garmin product. You can even buy additional SD cards and pre-load them with maps from anywhere, and just swap out the SD cards on a "as needed" basis. Or, just get a really big card, and not worry about memory space.

Well, there's no way a GPS receiver will ever be a substitute for the experience of driving in an area and learning it with a human brain! How can you expect a $190 piece of microchip to be smarter than you? The whole idea is to get from here to there when you have no idea where you even are now, or even where there is... It might not be the way an experienced driver would choose, but it most likely will get the job done. Would you prefer going back to a paper road map?