What Is Your Gps?

June 30, 2005

Briefly discribe the GPSr you use. Do you recomend it or does it take you off track.

I use a Magellan explorist 300. It is a great Gps and I recomend the explorist series.

22.1k · June 30, 2005

Moving to the GPS Units and Software Forum.

June 30, 2005

I use a MeriPlat with TOPO 3D and DirectRoute software and maps. I have a 1 GIG SD card, a must, for all the maps/waypoints/routes I like to store. Recomend using an SD reader/Writer and NOT the serial cable for uploading large maps! Most of my map regions are 120 megabytes. It has taken some practice to figure out the unit and to ultimately get comfortable with it. But, once I did, I am now very happy with it. Common complaints on the Magellan units is the "boomerang" effect. I slowed down a little bit more when approaching a cache and have been very happy and have not had a problem with that.

I recently purchased a SporTrack Topo for the wife and kids, they like the smaller form factor. Personally, I do not have a problem with the MeriPlat size. I also like the larger screen on my MeriPlat.

I use Sony 15 minute rapid charge 2500 mAh NiMH batteries in both units and get about 14 hours run time on a 15 minute charge.

11.3k · June 30, 2005

I have a Garmin eTrex Vista. It is small and fits in my hand well. I loaded the Mapsource Maps for my area and still have room for more maps.

It is very accurate and sometimes will 0.00 out within a few feet of the cache. However, that does seem to depend on what kind of GPSr the hider was using.

The Vista has elevation data which is a nice feature for the area where I live.

I use Energizer NiMH 15-minute batteries with the Energizer charger. Very convenient to be able to have fresh batteries in only 15-minutes.

June 30, 2005

VERY basic.

Etrex Yellow. Haven't done anything with downloading waypoints at this moment in time. Maybe next week...

This unit is simple, basic, and does a fine job for us.

Cheers,

FF

June 30, 2005

I'm currently using a Lowrance iFinder Pro. I upgraded to it from an older Magellan 315 which I still have for a backup GPSr. I was attracted to the iFinders great value for it's price. And the SD/MMC street/terrain cartridges have an excellent amount of detail. The unit is a comfortable small-mid size with a big high rez display, and it hasn't let me down once the whole time I've owned it. Rock-steady satellite locks.

I bought a Panasonic 4-pack AA 1950Mah NiMh batteries to run it with, and am very happy with those too.

Oh, and I also use a Sony Clie PEG-SJ33 Palm PDA equipped with Cachemate for paperless caching. The Sony is a bit more than is needed for Geocaching, but I already had it before starting this sport/hobby, so am using it "very carefully" out in the woods to avoid damaging it.

I also use Microsoft Streets&Trips on my home computer to graphically map cache sites, nice software!

June 30, 2005

I have really liked my Magellan Platinum. I use it in the car, the airplane, and in the woods.

Recently I aquired a few Garmin RINO's. These are nifty gadgets when caching with a group because you can talk to, and watch, your associates movements. Works great with my Civil Air Patrol cadets.

June 30, 2005

Magellan Meridian Gold.

Works great. I always find the cache location, I just can never find the damned thing. I bring Marcie with me and she spots all my DNFs no problem.

June 30, 2005

Garmin GPSmap 60c.

I have had this gpsr for around a month and a half. It does everything I could think of and more. Supports all the regular stuff and has special geocaching views and logging abilities build in. Fits great in my hand and works really well for navigation in my car. The controls are very intuitive and could be used without reading the manual. I would highly suggest this gpsr.

The only thing I would like to have seen is a SD card on it. Although 56megs is a ton...it would be nice to download all my mapsource maps just once. But thats no biggy and 56megs is quite large. I could fit all the maps for my last trip which included CA,AZ,UT,WY,MT,ID,WA and OR (minus the LA area maps). So this is not a big gripe just would be a nice added feature.

July 1, 2005

Extrex Legend is my primary GPSr. Nice, small unit, simple easy-to-use controls, and it fit my price range. Seems to do quite well under tree cover. Lately, I usually have it connected to my Palm m500 running Cachemate and CacheNav. It's worked very well for me.

I also have a couple headless GPSrs as well; they're Radio Shack Digitraveller units. I've also used them connected to the Palm, and they seem to work just as well as the Legend does. Excellent sensitivity, so they work well under tree cover. In fact, I'm thinking of taking the youth at church out Geocaching (if they'll go - kids...), so I'm trying to scrounge up a couple Palm IIIs or Palm Vs to use as displays, so I can have a couple teams using them.

My nephew is using a Palm Vx with Magellan-made Rand McNally Streetfinder wrap-around GPSr, running Cachemate and CacheNav. I found this combo on a table at the 2005 Dayton Hamvention, dirt cheap. It also worked very well under tree cover when we took it out for its inaugural geocache hunt this past weekend. I don't think he lost signal once. I wouldn't hesitate to use this sort of arrangement if your primary interest in a GPSr is for geocaching. In fact, I wouldn't mind getting one of the Magellan GPS Companions for my m500 (the connecting cables snag a lot in the brush, so a wrap-around would be great).

Jim

July 1, 2005

Started with the yellow etrex which did it's job just fine, then I got the GPSmap60C, and BOY was that an eye opener...

3.3k · July 1, 2005

Garmin 60C:

Beautiful color display, lots of memory for map data, autorouting feature (once you do autorouting, you'll never go back), USB connectivity for speedy uploading of maps and data, quad helix antenna, external antenna connection, did I mention autorouting?, games, calculator, alarm clock, stopwatch, autorouting, special geocaching mode, calendar, and oh yeah - autorouting!

July 1, 2005

Magellan meridian Yellow.

Yeah I know. They don't even make these any more. But as far as I can tell, they're the same as the meridian Gold with the exception that my yellow has a 2MB basemap verses the golds 16 MB base map. I do have the SD memory slot which I do take advantage of. Because of the memory slot, the card I have in it lets me keep maps of Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina and part of Virgina on it. So the 2MB base map is really meaningless to me. I use the TOPO software with my GPSr.

I love the size of the screen. I only wish the Explorist series had a screen of simular size.

I jet ski a lot and keep my unit (I mean my GPS unit) attached to my jet ski when cruising around the lake. Lake Lanier in Atlanta.

-Jeff

Edited July 1, 2005 by gpsjeep

July 1, 2005

Meridian Marine

Use with Blue nav. ; Canada topo, my first GPS and really like it. Comes in handy when I'm at work on ship.....connects to laptop and bingo, I always know where we are.

July 1, 2005

It's all in my sig.

July 1, 2005

I have a Magellan Meridan Gold....I love my Merigold. Went on a canoe trip last month and used my Merigold a lot of the time. I will be going out west on a backpacking trip in a few months and plan on extensive use of my GPSr. With my compass and map in hand plus the benefit of my Merigold...how can I get lost ?? lol...

July 1, 2005

I use a Lowrance iFinder that seems to get a signal where others say they have had problems. I live in the mountains of S. Calif. and have found many a cache amongst the forest trees. Great price too.

July 1, 2005

Earlier this year I upgraded to a Garmin GPSmap 76CS. I picked this because I wanted a unit for highway navigation as well as Geocaching. This has enough memory to allow me to load all of Oregon plus California south to Sacramento from City Select in addition to the Topo maps within a 60 mile radius of my house with plenty of room to spare.

Ernie

July 1, 2005

Before we knew we were sucked into this geocaching thing, we used our Garmin Street Pilot. (designed to sit on the dash of a car, short battery life, bulky). It worked, but wasn't all that well suited to caching. Before that, for the first two caches we looked fo, (one found, one DNF), we used one of those little PDA model GPS units that we just happened to have. Not at ALL suited to caching. (go ahead, say it, we're gadget ho's).

We got ourselves a Magellan Explorist 300, and it RAWKS. It gets great reception and does not jump around nearly as much as the street pilot. We got it about 3 weeks ago and like it very much so far! We especially like the electronic compass feature, and the general user-friendliness. As an added bonus, it's small enough that it can pass for a cell phone when enountering a group of muggles.

Edited July 1, 2005 by Sue Gremlin

July 1, 2005

Before we knew we were sucked into this geocaching thing, we used our Garmin Street Pilot. (designed to sit on the dash of a car, short battery life, bulky). It worked, but wasn't all that well suited to caching. Before that, for the first two caches we looked fo, (one found, one DNF), we used one of those little PDA model GPS units that we just happened to have. Not at ALL suited to caching. (go ahead, say it, we're gadget ho's).
We got ourselves a Magellan Explorist 300, and it RAWKS. It gets great reception and does not jump around nearly as much as the street pilot. We got it about 3 weeks ago and like it very much so far! We especially like the electronic compass feature, and the general user-friendliness. As an added bonus, it's small enough that it can pass for a cell phone when enountering a group of muggles.

I use a magellan explorist 300 and love it!

1.2k · July 2, 2005

I use a pair of divining rods, crystal ball, ear candle, mood ring and a pack of tarot cards. I've yet to find a cache but I'm confident my methods are working.

The Great Wizardo

July 2, 2005

I have a etrex legend C..It does what it needs to do..Gets me to the caches

July 2, 2005

Garmin 60cs and magellan 100 explorist

July 2, 2005

MAGELLAN MERIDIAN COLOR. Had it about 2 months, and LOVE IT! Use a 250 SD card and MapSend Direct Route. Taking vacation to the east coast and have downloaded detailed maps for the area and pre-planned all my routes. Also save waypoints for all the caches I hope to find. :anitongue:

July 2, 2005

I use my Garmin Quest to get me to the spot to park (because its easy to read on the bike) and then switch to an eTrex Legend. :anitongue:

July 3, 2005

I use a pair of divining rods, crystal ball, ear candle, mood ring and a pack of tarot cards. I've yet to find a cache but I'm confident my methods are working.

The Great Wizardo

what type of wood is the divining rod from? I use willow but just seem to find creeks and streams. :unsure:

July 3, 2005

Just switched from a Lowrance iFinder to a Garmin Etrex Vista C: Lovin' it so far!!!

July 4, 2005

I use a Garmin Quest.

I use it in the car to get to the cache and then switch it to off road when I get out and hunt for it.

Works friggin awesome.

July 24, 2005

Just purchased my first unit. A Magellan Meridian Marine (3m). On sale at 'Big-5' today. Regular $359.99. On sale for $249.99 with a $50.00 rebate. So far ...so good.

1.6k · July 24, 2005

Have both a Meridain Platinum and an eXplorist 600. Wouldn't trade either for a different unit. Got DircetRoute today, will give it a good test drive tomorrow.

July 24, 2005

Garmin Legend loaded with contored maps of northern england, mainly the lake district.

Use OS map to get close to the cache by car, then gps. Having a controred map on my gps helps alot in deciding whether to walk over or around a hill to get to a cache.

July 24, 2005

Lowrance Ifinder H20. I works well for geocaching and is compatible with the Eagle Intellimap 320 in my boat.

Roy

2.9k · July 24, 2005

What Is Your Gps?, Briefly discribe the GPSr you use.

Lets see:

Its 2.4" x 6.1" x 1.3"

Buttons on the bottom.

Antenna on top on left side with power button at the base of antenna.

color LCD - 160x240 pixel resolution

56 megs memory

No memory card ability

No sensors

Has Autorouting

CS Vers. 5

USB and Serial ports on back

External Antenna Connection.

July 25, 2005

Would you believe I use a Garmin 45? :anibad:

Had it left over from my boat. Has some problems under trees, but has an external, movable antenna that seems to help it out. No mapping, autorouting or anything fancy. Just a git me to a Lat-Lo input(Waypoints).

Unfortunately, it is a 1994 model, so the accuracy is +-40'. :anibad: Fine for a lake, but kind of tough for caching. On some I have to come at it from several directions to triangulate the cache better. It even has a MOB Button(Man OverBoard) for fast inputs(I use it to mark my car).

Looking at the Garmin 60 series sometime in the future(soon I hope).

August 2, 2005

Magellan SporTrak Map. I also have a serial cable for my IPAQ so I can connect the SporTrak directly to the IPAQ. That allows me to use the GPS with color map software on the IPAQ, and also to upload and download waypoints from the GPS while in the field.

Software on the IPAQ includes GPX Sonar and G7toCE.

Can't upload new detail maps from the IPAQ tho...

Edited August 2, 2005 by Major Catastrophe

1.1k · August 2, 2005

Garmin GPSmap 60cs since April of 2004 and immediately loaded CitiSelect v5 and Topo into it. Have been using GSAK downloaded Pocket Querie info for the last six months. Just ordered CitiSelect v7 so I'll have the info for my upcoming Canadien vacation. It is going to take a giant change in equipment technology to move me from this GPSr. I had used a Meridian Color for a year prior to switching.

August 2, 2005

Merigold, National Geographic State series TOPO. EasyGPS.

A great combo for loading the GPS, and getting great, detailed Topo maps for the days' hunt.

I'm looking to upgrade the GPS though, as my wife has taken an interest in geocaching, and has made off with my Merigold all week, and now she won't give it back.

She says, and I quote, "Just go buy another one, I like this one!"

Too bad NatGeo's Topo maps don't seem to support the eXplorist series....

August 3, 2005

Garmin eTrex Legend and an eTrex Yellow for backup. I'd upgrade to the newer color units, except for the fact that Garmin and Magellan are still stuck in retro mode.

Out of all of the various electronic devices I own, the GPS industry is always lagging years behind in technology. Cutting edge is definitely not in their vocabulary. My gawd, they just discovered USB for their handhelds; and how long has that been around?

With mapping software that consumes memory in the GB range, I find it incredibly stupid that they make devices capable of only loading it in the sub-100 MB range. Flash memory is cheap. High end handhelds should come with 1-2 GB on board and low end units with 512 MB; and all units should have memory expansion slots.

So until the industry gets its act together, I'm not about to waste hundreds of dollars on a device designed with a retro mindset.

Edited August 3, 2005 by tubemonkey

August 3, 2005

I'm now using a new Nextel GPS Blackberry 7520 with Trimble Outdoors mapping software. It's awesome to be able to type detailed descriptions of caches or other things you see along the way and then have that data appear on the PC map where the waypoint and description were logged. The color screen is the best I've seen in direct sunlight for number of colors and brightness - great for topo maps.

3.2k · August 3, 2005

Don't have one atm.

Is a 76CS worth the extra $ over a 60CS?

August 3, 2005

Is a 76CS worth the extra $ over a 60CS?

ABSOLUTELY.

Since Garmin does not currently equip its handhelds with a memory card slot, the units are limited by their internal memory capacity. The 76CS has 115MB. The 60CS has 56MB. Double the memory, $50 more.

For me it was an easy choice. In addition to caching, I use my receiver for auto routing. In the course of my work, I travel thru much of California and the West by car. My 76C will load detail street mapping that covers San Diego thru LA, SF, Scramento, Reno, Las Vegas, Phoenix and most of the territory in-between.

Edited August 3, 2005 by MLP-76C

August 3, 2005

I use a Garmin eTrex Legend that is like four years old. Still works great, gets signal quickly and doesn't lose it easily. If I was buying a first one again I would buy the same unit, for the price it can't be beat. I have good eyes though too, if you're eyes aren't what they used to be, get a color one, my father can't see much on my Legend. For the extra $50 bucks from the eTrex yellow you get the mapping feature that I use all the time. I hardly ever even look at the navigation screen, I do all my routing from the map page. Love it.

3.2k · August 3, 2005

Is a 76CS worth the extra $ over a 60CS?

ABSOLUTELY.

Since Garmin does not currently equip its handhelds with a memory card slot, the units are limited by their internal memory capacity. The 76CS has 115MB. The 60CS has 56MB. Double the memory, $50 more.

For me it was an easy choice. In addition to caching, I use my receiver for auto routing. In the course of my work, I travel thru much of California and the West by car. My 76C will load detail street mapping that covers San Diego thru LA, SF, Scramento, Reno, Las Vegas, Phoenix and most of the territory in-between.

That is one of my concerns. I would like to use the unit for my car as well and want to be able to load road and city maps. I'm new to the world of the GPS - haven't even actually started caching yet - and am very unsure about equipment. While I realize you can cache with a pretty basic unit I don't want to buy one and then find it doesn't meet my other needs and end up having to buy another unit right away.

The 76CS is a pretty spendy unit and I'm trying to decide if I really want to spend that much on a "first" unit. I've pretty much decided that I do want color and the electromagnetic compass for the final stage of cache finding seems like a very nice feature. As far as the marine applications and the altimiter I don't think I really care about those at all.

Being a computer geek I'm pretty amazed at the limited amount of memory listed for these units. Memory is CHEAP!!! I can't imagine the rationale behind including such a paltry amount of memory.

August 4, 2005

Garmin GPS 12: This was my first gps and I've had it for many years. This one I plan to keep forever even if it is for now just a back up/loaner. No map, compass, or extenal antenna conector but it does have a data port.

Lowrance Ifinder: I bought this one at wal-mart on clearance because I wanted maping. It had a lot of nice features but it wasn't water pruff or even resistant and I never did get the maps for it. It had an external antenna jack and a data port, I never used them. It also had an mmc slot which I used to transfer waypoints with. I sold it so my wife would let me buy a new GPS. I got about what I gave for it.

Garmin eTex: I got this one for a bunch of Marlboro miles + $25. I Never really used this one but before I got it I was in a training class in the Great Smoky Mountans National Park and one of the other guys had one. He seemed to have a really hard time hearing the birds while my GPS 12 didn't, so I'm not sure about the anntenna on these. I traided it and a couple of hundred bucks for a used HF ham radio.

Then I started GeoCaching

When I started I used the GPS 12 and it worked fine but I wanted something from this decade so;

Garmin GPSmap 76CS: This is my latest and greatest and so far I love it. It would be nice if it had enough memory for maps of the entire US., even though I don't think I'll ever get to travel that much. If I did I would probably want to get a dedicated moble unit so that isn't so much of a concern to me. As it is I can get the entire state of Tennessee plus, ( I think) most if not all, of the state with an older version of the topo maps. This one has an external antenna connector, both serrial and usb data ports, mapping with auto routing (which is awsome), color display, electronic compass, and altimeter.

August 4, 2005

I use a pair of divining rods, crystal ball, ear candle, mood ring and a pack of tarot cards. I've yet to find a cache but I'm confident my methods are working.

The Great Wizardo

That's still a lot of stuff to carry around. I find it easier to just follow another geocacher at a discreet distance, wait until they've dug up the treasure and gone, then make my own log entry.

1.2k · August 16, 2005

That's still a lot of stuff to carry around. I find it easier to just follow another geocacher at a discreet distance, wait until they've dug up the treasure and gone, then make my own log entry.

I tried that but I found the cachers just ran away from me. I guess I shouldn't blame them. I'd run away too if I saw someone behind me waving two metal rods, a pack of cards, wearing costume jewellery with lit candles in their ears dripping wax.

Edited August 16, 2005 by Couparangus

3.2k · August 16, 2005

Garmin GPSMAP 76CS.

August 16, 2005

I use a garmin etrex legend I love it but the antenna is a little more weak than the magellan explorist 200 I used to have. but I love this one because I can connect it to the computer.

August 16, 2005

GPS 38 -> Camo eTrex -> eTrex Mariner -> eTrex Legend -> eTrex Vista -> GPSmap 60CS (finally happy)

August 16, 2005

I have the Magellan Explorist 600 (could be better, needs a firmware update), Magellan SporTrak Pro (my first GPS unit, "old faithful"), and Garmin Forerunner 201 (great piece of equipment for runners!).

Ryan

Edited August 17, 2005 by ryguyMN

What Is Your Gps?

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