+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 I am looking to buy a gps that does mapping. Shows streets and everything.... I dont want to pay too much for one. Do you know any good choices that maybe good. Must be a garmin. does not have to be color screen mapping is a must not too expensive Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 How much is "too much"? The Legend will set ya back roughly about $150. It won't hold very many street maps though. The Legend C will set you back about $250 - it's got a beautiful color display and will hold about 3 times the maps than the Legend and will give turn-by-turn directions. The 60C will hold 7 times the number of maps of the Legend and does a few more tricks than the Legend C - it'll suck a quick $350 out of your wallet! Then ya gotta get the maps! Figure on $80 to $110 for the maps (depending on which GPSr you choose). Hope this helps... Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 Im looking around to spend about 200.00 I was originally looking at a rino 120 but i dont think it holds maps... Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 (edited) Ahhhh - y'know what!? You should maybe look at the GPS V. It holds a little over 2 times the maps of a Legend, does autorouting, gets good reception and comes WITH the map software - all for about $250! It was all the rage back before the 60 series came out about 20 months ago. Still a great unit! Nearly indestructable. B.T.W. - the RINO 120 DOES hold maps - 8MB - same as a Legend. Edited September 16, 2005 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Neo Geo right. You can get a refurb GPS V at Compuplus for $187; a Froogle search shows new units going from $230 up. Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 if i get a rino 120, do you think its worth it... i like the idea of 2 way radio....so i dont have to carry an extra item around...pockets gets full...lol... Quote Link to comment
+Sputnik 57 Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 The rino is great if you are hunting or camping with someone else who has one. The ability to transmit locations to each other and show where everyone is on your GPSr is pretty neat. But purely as a radio, I think that there are lots of other dedicated radios that are better. Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 Im talking about the rino 120 is the mapping worth it? radio part will be okay, im not doing extremely fancy radio talk...lol Quote Link to comment
rontr Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Also if you happen to have a Sportsmans Warehouse around you, they have the refurb GPS V for $200 which includes the software. Ron Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Im talking about the rino 120 is the mapping worth it? 8MB is pretty slim when loading MetroGuide maps! Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 neo, how big does that map cover? Like cities or states for 8mb? Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 (edited) It really depends on the population of the area in question. MetroGuide maps are full of POI (points of interest) data which takes up most of the memory. The higher the population density in a given area, the more businesses there are to serve the population, and thus more POIs. I cannot load the entire Washington, DC Beltway road system into 8MB, but I can load the entire state of South Dakota and a good part of Nebraska. Refer to the pink-shaded area in the image below. That represents 7.24MB of MetroGuide version 5. Version 7 (now current) will probably take slightly more memory for the same given area. Edited September 16, 2005 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 is there any way of adding memory or installing part of the map. Like just the West Orange area? thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 (edited) Nope - no way of adding memory. That's a sore point with Garmin users. We'd love to have Garmin give us units that use SD memory cards, or some sort of expandable memory, but in this area they're not listening to their customers' wants and needs... The pink-shaded area in the above diagram shows three seperate map segments. You can pick and choose areas to install up to a certain extent. The light grey grid lines represent the borders of selectable map segments. So you could deselect one of the three pink-shaded rectangles and select a different one. Edited September 17, 2005 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 17, 2005 Author Share Posted September 17, 2005 so is it worth buying a rino at a price of 191.00 new Quote Link to comment
peter Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 MetroGuide maps are full of POI (points of interest) data which takes up most of the memory. Have you seen a breakdown of the memory usage in Garmin's map programs? I saw elsewhere that the 6 million POIs in City Select-NA v7 only amount to 10% of the memory but that also gave no source. Consideration of the data required per POI led me to a back-of-envelope estimate of about 20% but it depends on how much compression is used. Mr. Eagle, Keep in mind that maps, like the MetroGuide ones shown by NeoGeo, will add about $80 to the price, so the total for the Rino 120 would be about $270. OTOH, a GPS V with twice as much memory can be bought for about $200 which includes City Select maps plus the auto-routing feature. My inclination would be to go with the V and buy a separate radio for about $50 *unless* you have friends who will also have Rinos and you want to use the feature that lets you see the location of the other people on your screen. Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 17, 2005 Author Share Posted September 17, 2005 rnt they going discontinue the v since it is old Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 (edited) I've not heard anything through the grapevine that they have any plans to do that. Then again, they may might discontinue it sometime soon. If they did discontinue it, it wouldn't have any impact on its performance. It would just mean that they wouldn't make any firmware updates, and they haven't had any updates since October of 2003 anyway. Just goes to show that they've got everything right with it by now. Just because it's old, doesn't make it any lesser of a GPSr than it was two years ago. It just means that they've come out with some slicker models that cost a lot more money. With the V's 19MB of memory, you could add maps for all of Manhattan! Edited September 17, 2005 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
peter Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 rnt they going discontinue the v since it is old I wouldn't be at all surprised. My eMap was discontinued quite a while ago, but it still works as well as it ever did. It's not like a relatively rare and discontinued car model where you have problems finding parts later. Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 MetroGuide maps are full of POI (points of interest) data which takes up most of the memory. Have you seen a breakdown of the memory usage in Garmin's map programs? I saw elsewhere that the 6 million POIs in City Select-NA v7 only amount to 10% of the memory but that also gave no source. Consideration of the data required per POI led me to a back-of-envelope estimate of about 20% but it depends on how much compression is used. Given that a POI has about 50 bytes of data, and if there are 6 million POIs, I figured about 300MB of POI data. Given that a CD holds 700MB, I figured close to 1/2 the actual data on a MetroGuide CD are POI data. Compare how many Roads & Recreation maps (which contain very little POI data) you can load into a GPSr with how many MetroGuide maps you can load... That's the basis of my of my thinkin'. Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 17, 2005 Author Share Posted September 17, 2005 neo, what did you exactly mean by road and rec maps vs poi about memory Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 17, 2005 Author Share Posted September 17, 2005 what about gpsmap60? Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 (edited) neo, what did you exactly mean by road and rec maps vs poi about memory That was directed toward Peter in reference to how much of some older maps could be loaded into a GPSr. what about gpsmap60? A fine unit indeed. She'll do about everything a GPS V can do and more - and she's priced that way too! About $250 for the GPSr and another $110 for the maps = $360.00 total. Then it becomes a toss-up between the MAP60 and a LegendC... It's considerably more than your desired $200 budget. The GPS V is a lot of "Bang for the buck". Considering your stated budget, and how many more bells and whistles you'd get with a 60 or a Legend C, I think you might feel you spent way too much money if you went with one of those later models. Edited September 17, 2005 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 17, 2005 Author Share Posted September 17, 2005 neo, what did you exactly mean by road and rec maps vs poi about memory That was directed toward Peter in reference to how much of some older maps could be loaded into a GPSr. what about gpsmap60? A fine unit indeed. She'll do about everything a GPS V can do and more - and she's priced that way too! About $250 for the GPSr and another $110 for the maps = $360.00 total. Then it becomes a toss-up between the MAP60 and a LegendC... It's considerably more than your desired $200 budget. The GPS V is a lot of "Bang for the buck". Considering your stated budget, and how many more bells and whistles you'd get with a 60 or a Legend C, I think you might feel you spent way too much money if you went with one of those later models. If i do decide to go with the gpsmap60, i seen it for 246.92. is that a good pricE? Quote Link to comment
+GOT GPS? Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 The GPSmap60 is a good one, and I have the 60C version. I have had many Magellans and Garmins, and find the Map60 series the best of them. The GPSmap60 has 3 connectors on back, Antenna, USB, and Data/Power connectors. The GPSmap60 has a better lock on sats, than my GPS V's had. Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 If i do decide to go with the gpsmap60, i seen it for 246.92. is that a good pricE? After a few moments of searching, I'd say that's a fairly low price. If you spent a couple hours searching, you MIGHT save a couple of dollars. Quote Link to comment
peter Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 Given that a POI has about 50 bytes of data, and if there are 6 million POIs, I figured about 300MB of POI data. Given that a CD holds 700MB, I figured close to 1/2 the actual data on a MetroGuide CD are POI data. Compare how many Roads & Recreation maps (which contain very little POI data) you can load into a GPSr with how many MetroGuide maps you can load... My estimate was pretty similar but I was using a total database size of 1646 MB for CitySelect-NA with auto-routing and 1184 for CS/MG without auto-routing as given by: http://www.gpsriders.net/mapsource_sizes.html Roads & Recreation differs in many ways besides having far fewer POIs. E.g. roads are drawn much more smoothly in MG/CS which requires more points in the database and there's the additional data to enable address and intersection lookups. Quote Link to comment
peter Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 (edited) what about gpsmap60? As NeoGeo pointed out, it's considerably above your stated $200 budget since it plus the CitySelect-NA maps would cost about $360. In that price range, a unit I'd consider is the Quest. It sells for about $340 and includes CitySelect-NA as well as both PC and car power cables and a dashboard mount. Although mainly marketed as an automotive unit, it's also quite handy as a handheld and is actually smaller and lighter than the 60 series. The built-in lithium cell can be a drawback but there are work-arounds for longer trips away from power sources. Big advantages over the GPS V or the GPSMap 60 are the much larger memory of 115 MB and a very sharp color screen. The voice directions when used in a car are pretty neat as well. Edited September 17, 2005 by peter Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 Neo Geo right. You can get a refurb GPS V at Compuplus for $187; a Froogle search shows new units going from $230 up. The GPS V is a great deal because it comes with the maps included in the price. Add $100 or more to the price of most of the other units if you want the detailed maps. Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 18, 2005 Author Share Posted September 18, 2005 for the mapping, does it have to be garmin brand, or can it be microsoft streets....etc. Quote Link to comment
peter Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 for the mapping, does it have to be garmin brand, or can it be microsoft streets....etc. If you want the maps to show up on the Garmin GPS receiver then it pretty much has to be Garmin maps. [There are some 3rd-party maps that are Garmin compatible, but they're mainly for countries that Garmin doesn't cover or for special applications.] Programs like MicroSoft Streets&Trips or DeLorme's StreetAtlas are compatible only in the sense that you can connect your receiver to your laptop and use that as a moving map/navigator and/or that waypoints/routes/tracks can be transferred - but not maps. Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 19, 2005 Author Share Posted September 19, 2005 I saw in the paper that garmin legend at dicks sporting store has a special$199 with the rebate for a bundle, : car adapter pc wire car holder hand case, gps (of course) topo software etc. is that a good deal? and is this gps worth it? Quote Link to comment
peter Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Pretty good deal, but as has been pointed out before you can also get a GPS V for about the same price and that has over twice the memory, the generally more versatile CitySelect instead of USTopo maps, audible alarms and notifications, external antenna options, and auto-routing. The Legend is a little smaller and lighter, but I'd consider the V to be a better unit overall. Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 19, 2005 Author Share Posted September 19, 2005 ok Quote Link to comment
+MREAGLEWO1 Posted September 20, 2005 Author Share Posted September 20, 2005 ok, for the GPS V whats the price for refurb. and new? are there any packages that contains everything, like mount for car, wrist strap, software etc. Quote Link to comment
+WearyTraveler Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 I recently lost my Garmin Vista (How does one lose a GPS... At least IT knows where it is). I've still got a GPS-V that I use for driving. When I use the GPS-V for caching (off-road goto), I find that the GPS-V takes a long time to refresh the navigation screen. I keep walking 20-30 feet past the waypoint before the navigation screen updates and tells me the cache is behind me. It's done this since I bought it and is very frustrating. For driving it's OK. For caching, it's getting ready to be thrown in a lake... Has anyone out there noticed this in their GPS-V? Is it the autoroute function that's keeping the V from updating? If so, is there a way to turn it off temporarily? I really loved my Vista. It updated promptly and always (well, usually) got me to the cache location. I'm thinking of replacing it with another Vista or upgrading to a Vista C. I read that the Vista C has autorouting as well. So I'm afraid to spend all that money on a GPS that's slower than my gait. So, I'm asking for information and advice. Why is my GPS-V so slow Vista or Vista C I need to make a decision and buy something before the 2 October geocaching event in Virginia. Cache on!!!!! Quote Link to comment
+WearyTraveler Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 MetroGuide maps are full of POI (points of interest) data which takes up most of the memory. Have you seen a breakdown of the memory usage in Garmin's map programs? I saw elsewhere that the 6 million POIs in City Select-NA v7 only amount to 10% of the memory but that also gave no source. Consideration of the data required per POI led me to a back-of-envelope estimate of about 20% but it depends on how much compression is used. Mr. Eagle, Keep in mind that maps, like the MetroGuide ones shown by NeoGeo, will add about $80 to the price, so the total for the Rino 120 would be about $270. OTOH, a GPS V with twice as much memory can be bought for about $200 which includes City Select maps plus the auto-routing feature. My inclination would be to go with the V and buy a separate radio for about $50 *unless* you have friends who will also have Rinos and you want to use the feature that lets you see the location of the other people on your screen. I've got a GPS-V that I use for driving. When I use the GPS-V for caching (off-road goto), I find that the GPS-V takes a long time to refresh the navigation screen. I keep walking 20-30 feet past the waypoint before the navigation screen updates and tells me the cache is behind me. It's done this since I bought it and is very frustrating. For driving it's OK. For caching, it's getting ready to be thrown in a lake... Cache on!!!!! Quote Link to comment
+av8ndv8 Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 (edited) ok, for the GPS V whats the price for refurb. and new? are there any packages that contains everything, like mount for car, wrist strap, software etc. Google is your friend.... Edited September 25, 2005 by av8ndv8 Quote Link to comment
rontr Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 If there is a Sportsman's Warehouse around you, they have the refurb GPS V with software for $200. Ron Quote Link to comment
+Rubberhead Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 Save the little bit of extra money and go for a unit with color and a USB port. Quote Link to comment
+CSI:CacheSceneInvestigators Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 Here's something I posted on another thread. Ok, where to start. I lean towards Garmin, but there are a few other good gpsr mfg. on the market. I believe every gpsr on the market will work for geocaching. Some will make your experience easier than others. I started with a Cobra DLX1000. Very basic unit with expandible memory. I learned very quick that having a ability to download caches directly to the unit is very important as the Corbra is not recognized by all geocaching software on the market. With that said, it still works fine, just have to manually load the coords. After about five caches I purchased a Garmin GPSmap 60cs (More expensive @ $419.00) for me and a Garmin Legend (Less expensive @ $199.00 as a package including car adapter and Mapsource Topo software) for my wife. These are at both ends of the spectrum, but both have been very successful @ finding caches. Heck, there are times under heavy tree cover I've had to use the Legend due to my 60cs loosing a signal. With that said, just this past week, I went out an purchased a Garmin Legend C (Middle of the road price @ $284.00). Keep this a secret, my wife hasn't found out yet. This GPSR is in the middle of the 60cs and the Legend. I've cached with it one time and was successful with it the first time. Long story short, every gpsr will work. Question is how fancy do you want and how much money you willing to spend. They all have their pros and cons. If your willing to spend the $, I would think you would like the Garmin 60cs or the 60c (no electronic compass with 60c, but a compass that only works while moving) as both will do almost everything you would like. At about half the price, you have the Vista C (has electronic compass and usually $50.00 more then the Legend C) or the Legend C (has no electronic compass, but a compass that only works while moving). Any of these you would probably be happy with. Of course there is always the Lowrance iFinder H20, which I've heard a lot about on this forum, but I know nothing about. Good Luck Quote Link to comment
92T0Jackal Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Save the little bit of extra money and go for a unit with color and a USB port. Im new to this, but cant you buy a USB cable for a lot of these units? No color wont stop me but a serial connection will slow me down (im clever). I keep going back and forth between units... I just need something basic and simple for hiking/camping but I would love to have a gps/r in the car with me. Quote Link to comment
+GOT GPS? Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Save the little bit of extra money and go for a unit with color and a USB port. Im new to this, but cant you buy a USB cable for a lot of these units? No color wont stop me but a serial connection will slow me down (im clever). I keep going back and forth between units... I just need something basic and simple for hiking/camping but I would love to have a gps/r in the car with me. The USB cable is now standard, and the serial/power cable is optional. Quote Link to comment
peter Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Im new to this, but cant you buy a USB cable for a lot of these units? No color wont stop me but a serial connection will slow me down (im clever). Most of the older models (various B&W eTrexi, GPS V, Meridians, etc.) only have RS-232 compatible ports. You can buy USB/RS-232 adapter cables to make them compatible with laptops that only have USB, but that can't speed up the data transfer since it's still limited by the slowest link in the communications chain, i.e. the RS-232 port at the GPS. Usually this is only of significance for transferring maps. With units that have removable SD or other cards the map transfer can be made fast by using an external card read/writer. For other units you need to plan ahead a little before a trip to allow time for map transfers (takes about 45 minutes to an hour for a GPS V or Vista). Can't say I've ever really been inconvenienced by that - I normally have at least a few hours notice before leaving on a trip that's long enough to take me out of the local area that I keep mapped. OTOH, many of the newer units now only have USB which can be a real problem when trying to interface to other equipment that needs RS-232 compatible signals such as chartplotters, radar, auto-pilots, fishfinders, VHF radios, EPIRBs, etc. Quote Link to comment
92T0Jackal Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Thanks to everyone! There is a lot of knowledge to be gained in these forums. Thanks again Quote Link to comment
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