Gps V And Geko 301, Yes Or No?

[+Jolly-Rodger]

I am VERY new to geocaching, I haven't even gone out to find my first cache. My friend just got started and was talking about it and I thought, COOL I have to do this! Any ways, I need to buy a GPS and I am thinking of the GPS V because of all of the features, size, versitality, and the mapping. It will be used to get into the proximaty of a cache and arround as a basic NAV unit. I can get a great deal on a used Geko 301 to get me arround when I am out ot the truck on foot. I can get a GPS V for arround $275 from Gander Mtn. and the Geko for $50 from my friend. Does this sound like a pretty good combo? I can't find much info from people that are using either of these units so any help would be greatly apriciated! Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

 

-Thanks,

Brian

[+DaveA]

If you are going to spend $325 in total for a GPS I recommend you get neither of those units and instead shop around online for a Garmin 60C or 60 CS. There is a $50 rebate on them now which at the lower priced outlets will get you the 60C slightly below $325 and the CS slightly above.

 

The 60 is top of the line in hand held GPSrs and it does mapping and autorouting (with additional software). It also has a color screen which makes map viewing much easier.

 

Alternately you could look at the Magellan Meridian and Explorist line.

 

The Geko is considered an entry level unit and while it works just fine there is no reason why someone willing to shell out over $300 on GPSrs shouldn't have higher end gear.

[+badlands]

DaveA’s right, if you do a search in the forums for Garmin and for Explorist you find tons of information on both units and the pros and cons of each.

[+briansnat]

I'm with DaveA. Instead of shelling all that out on 2 units, get one that does everything you need. The Garmin 60CS that he mentioned would be a very good choice.

[+Team Cotati]

The GPS V is one of the best deals out there. Forget the Geko. Beautiful.

Edited June 6, 2005 by Team cotati697

[+Renegade Knight]

The V has the advantage of coming with City Select. You should be able to shave another 50 off the price with some searching on the net.

 

A good deal on the V is about 100 less than a good deal on the 60CS plus you still need to buy the maps for the 60CS.

 

In your shoes I'd play wiht the Gecko for 50 bucks. Then decide what all you want in a GPS and buy that one down the road a spell.

[+Docapi]

If you haven't done any caches yet, Id get the Gecko for the $50.

 

Play with that one for a while, and if you want to upgrade then go for the V. You could get your money back on the Gecko on E-bay or the forums here pretty easily.

 

The 60 or 60cs is a really great unit, but even though you could get one of them for around the $325 mark, you would still need to get the software for another $100. The V comes with the software, so you need to figure that into your budget.

 

$275 for the V is pretty steep. They can be found for $230 or even less with a little looking.

 

I see no need for 2 GPSr's The V will do everything the Gecko 300 can, and then some.

[+WalruZ]

fwiw, I've found (just) over 2000 caches with a geko 301, and if you can get it for $50 I would jump on it. Buy it anyway and I'll buy it off you for a profit to you. I know a few other experienced geocachers who use that model as well. It has a small form factor, simple UI and is very rugged.

 

If you want maps, get a palm (which you'll want to get anyway) and put mapopolis on it for $40. That's the combo I use and I'm very happy with it. Although you won't see your current position on the palm, a map on the palm is much easier to manipulate than maps on, say, a legend.

[+sbell111]

I found over 1400 caches with my trusty 3+. Unfortunately, I recently found a great deal on a V, so I upgraded. (The are on clearance at BestBuy for $199) The V is more different from my trusty 3+ than I realized so its taking me a little bit to get used to it. I know that I'm going to love it, however.

 

Coincidently, I was surfing around on ebay this morning after listing my 3+ when I came across a good price for a Geko 301. I bought it, too.

 

That being said, the V is a great unit for driving as well as hiking. Don't get them both unless you really want two GPSrs.

[+Jolly-Rodger]

Thanks for all of the replies so far! The main reason I want two units is beacause the one in the truck will be well mounted with hard-wired power and the external antenna because of all of the off-roading I do. I don't want it bouncing arround and falling out of a mount. I think it would be easier to buy a second unit due to convenience.

[+DaveA]

Thanks for all of the replies so far! The main reason I want two units is beacause the one in the truck will be well mounted with hard-wired power and the external antenna because of all of the off-roading I do. I don't want it bouncing arround and falling out of a mount. I think it would be easier to buy a second unit due to convenience.

not really, most 3rd party auto gps units are designed to be powered by a cigarette adapter and mounted via sticky tape or suction cups not had wired and permanently mounted.

 

Hard wiring the unit is probably best left to the dealership when buying a new vehicle with a GPS option.

 

Please do not go out and buy 2 low end or outdated units as I think you will soon realize there is better technology out there and desire it.

 

Neither unit you mention has a color screen. View the maps on a color GPS and you won't be able to stand monochrome again.

 

Sure, the V has maps preloaded, but it is monochrome. You could just get the Quest or Street pilot with preloaded maps and color screen plus the Quest has a form factor that makes it servicable for caching and other on foot uses.

 

Trust me on this, in a couple years you won't be able to find a non color GPS. Monochrome sucks. GPS units, as a rule, trail behind the times by 10 years or more, heck many of them just recently adopted USB ports instead of the ancient serial ports. I don't know why they are so behind the technology curve, but they are.

 

What this means is once a unit slips behind the curve it isn't simply old, it is ancient.

 

Monochrome screens have been ancient for 10 years. No PDA or PC or laptop even offers such an abysmal screen as an option.

 

If you get a GPS with an ancient screen you will never be happy with it, you will be thinking you should have gone color.

 

Do yourself a favor and get one color unit instead of 2 units that represent 1990's technology.

Edited June 7, 2005 by DaveA

[+sbell111]

I have to disagree with you, Dave. While many people are like you, I'm sure, I didn't feel the need to go color for hundreds of dollars more. The fact is, I was happy with my 3+ and reluctantly upgraded to the V because the price was unbeatably. The newer units can do nothing that my V can't do. Before you fire back, let me address what you would.

 

More memory. I was able to load maps for all of middle Tennessee and Kentucky all the way to Louisville. That is a really big area. If I go on a trip, I'll swap them for maps of the area that I am visiting.

 

Color screen. Don't care. I don't think its worth the price.

 

USB. The fact is, I'm not loading so much info that the difference in download times bother me.

 

In the V's favor, It is really rugged. I put my 3+ through its paces and it still works like brand new. I don't see the V being any different.

 

Its ability to switch between horizontal and vertical makes it ideal for use in the vehicle or on trail.

 

It is a bargain at $199. This is especially true when you consider that it also comes with City Select, software worth at least $100.

 

As far as the Geko 301 is concerned, find me a better unit that can be had for $50. Enough said.

 

Mad-Man -

 

I'm not sure what you meant by 'well mounted'. In my WJ, I keep my V on the shelf created by opening the ashtray. It rests solidly on a sticky pad and is powered by a cable plugged into the 12v outlet. I also use an external antenna that's routed into the dash and sits on the little shelf above the gauges next to the antenna for the Jeep's nav system. My setup allows the unit to be quickly removed for use on trail or updating coords. It also allows the unit to be low enough that it is not easily spotted by bad guys peaking into the tinted windows to find stuff to steal. Further, it allows me to quickly remove the unit if leaving the GC parked in a bad area.

Edited June 7, 2005 by sbell111

[+sbell111]

A further benefit of owning two units instead of one color one is that it is more fun to cache with friends and family. Everyone likes to drive, after all.

[+DaveA]

I have to disagree with you, Dave.

I will have to go get a forum moderator as this is clearly not allowed

 

I do understand what you are saying and everyone is different. For me I didn't think color was going to be a big deal, but after having it I couldn't go back. There are also advantages to having 2 units as you pointed out.

[+sbell111]

Most people just put my posts on 'ignore' instead.

[+Melrose Plant]

If you're that new, I'd go with the Geko at first, and you can always get something else later. I, up until the past month, had found all my 200+ caches with my trusty Geko 101. That's the completely manual cheapo model. I stupidly set it down at a busy cache site (busy with mostly muggles, that is) and left it there. It was of course gone when I realized what I had done.

 

I replaced it with a 60CS, but to tell you the truth, the way I use it right now, without learning how to use all the features, I might as well have bought another Geko (except for the larger screen). I love the 60CS, but I still miss the Geko. And this is one where you have to punch everything in manually. With the 301, this is not an issue. Go for the Geko! Then decide later.

Edited June 7, 2005 by Balboagirl

[+Moore9KSUcats]

We've have a Garmin V for 2 years and really love it! (We started with a used Garmin 12, used that for 1 1/2 years). It does all we need. The mapping and directions ability is great, although if you are geocaching alone, it is difficult to read the turn-by-turn directions. I do the navigating, hubby does the driving (although he gets frustrated if I don't give him the turn early enough, which does happen with the software). We just switch to off-road when we get to the park. We haven't tried the 60 series, but the V is plenty rugged. It has been dropped several times, and hubby fell hard on a rockbed in a river with no damage to it. It was in a padded camera case (we were heading back to the car), but the camera ($400 camera... sigh) never did turn on again.

 

We just picked up a Garmin 18 (has car mount and streetmaps, downloaded into a laptop) and it actually gives turn-by-turn with voice! So cool!

 

Good luck whatever you decide, and welcome to geocaching!

[+DaveA]

Just out of curiosity, if one buys a Garmin GPS that somes with the map CD software does that software work with other Garmin GPS units or is it limited to the unit it came with?

 

If the software works with all Garmins then it seems to me it makes sense to buy whatever Garmin comes with the software at the cheapest price and buy another, higher end unit to load the software to. Wouldn't cost much more than buying the high end unit plus software.

[+Docapi]

The Garmin V comes with the Mapsend software, and 2 unlock codes. One for the V, and one to spare.

[+briansnat]

The Garmin V comes with the Mapsend software, and 2 unlock codes. One for the V, and one to spare.

 

Sort of. Mapsource City Select comes with 2 unlock codes. Mapsource Topo, Roads and Recreation and, I think, Metroguide don't use unlock codes. I could be wrong on Metroguide though, but I'm not on the other two.

[+Docapi]

Oh, so the software itself comes with 2 unlock codes.

 

I knew I got 2 codes with the packaged CitySelect software in my V, I assumed that the 2 codes were part of the package.

 

So no codes for the topo software? That is good to know

Edited June 8, 2005 by Docapi

[+briansnat]

 

So no codes for the topo software? That is good to know

No unlock codes for Topo and no unlock codes for Metroguide (I just checked Garmin's website). The GPS V comes with City Select so the unlock codes do come into play.

Edited June 8, 2005 by briansnat

[peter]

We just picked up a Garmin 18 (has car mount and streetmaps, downloaded into a laptop) and it actually gives turn-by-turn with voice! So cool!

Why get the GPS 18? The nRoute software is a free download and you already had the CitySelect maps and your GPS V. Just connect the GPS V to the laptop, load it with nRoute and CitySelect and you get the voice turn-by-turn directions.

 

Of course if you want to use the GPS V in one car and the GPS18/laptop combination at the same time in another car then you'd need both.

[+sbell111]

I considered using a laptop to do mapping in my car, but I decided against it for a few reasons. First, mounting a laptop can be a real pain. Second, if left in the mount, it kinda is an invitation for a broken window.

 

I really wouldn't want to use it except for cross-country trips, I guess.

[+diverhank]

You can use the GPS V for closein geocaching also. There's no need to get the gecko also unless you want to.

[+geobc]

Thanks for all of the replies so far! The main reason I want two units is beacause the one in the truck will be well mounted with hard-wired power and the external antenna because of all of the off-roading I do. I don't want it bouncing arround and falling out of a mount. I think it would be easier to buy a second unit due to convenience.

I use my 76C for off-roading as well as day-to-day use. Attached to the windshield with a RAM suction cup mount, it doesn't move AT ALL. The 76C and RAM moves btwn three vehicles, my Jetta, my wive's Eurovan, and my Jeep YJ. All have very different dash configurations but the windshield mount works great on all three vehicles.

 

We do some rather extreme (it's an overused adjective but in this case very appropriate) fourwheeling as well as spending far too many hours on washboard roads. You don't need to worry about the GPS falling off. But to ease your mind, you could always sling the lanyard around the mirror so if the GPS does come loose, it'll hang from your mirror.

 

Also, the 76C (and 60C/CS) runs for a very long time on two AA batteries. I run mine for the whole weekend on four NiMH batteries. I haven't bothered using my III+'s old 12V power cable since I got the 76C. I'd strongly recommend buying a single unit (the 60C/CS or 76C/CS).

 

The map updating and route calculation speeds are much faster than on the V, as well.

 

GeoBC