Voice Road Navigation & Geocaching... What To Buy?

[mrgreggyp]

I just bought a tomtom GO 700 and realized it was not as the salesman described. I was told it could give voice prompted road navigational as well as geocache. As it comes, it is set up only to be used for road navigation. I am considering taking it back for a refund...IF I can find a unit serves both as an excellent voice-prompted road navigation system AND a good geocaching gps unit. Does anyone know of such a hybrid? I am looking to spend in the neighborhood of $1000. Thanks to anyone who can help!

[+miles58]

I just bought a tomtom GO 700 and realized it was not as the salesman described. I was told it could give voice prompted road navigational as well as geocache. As it comes, it is set up only to be used for road navigation. I am considering taking it back for a refund...IF I can find a unit serves both as an excellent voice-prompted road navigation system AND a good geocaching gps unit. Does anyone know of such a hybrid? I am looking to spend in the neighborhood of $1000. Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

There's only one really, and it's been discontinued. The iWay 100m.

 

Look for it and you can still find one and probably under $150 at that.

[+Alan2]

I'm using Mapopolis voice and visual auto navigation program. It also can be used off road as it will display the compass rose, bearing arrow, altitude, current coordinates, distance to cache etc. What I like about Mapopolis is you can overlay the caches over their street maps using gpxtomaplet program. So you can see where the caches are as you drive around doing other things. Also, Mapopolis will use my Microsoft Outlook contact list when I want to route to an address that's already in the contact list. You can try Mapopolis free for 9 days. To buy figure $100.

Edited February 28, 2006 by Alan2

[+briansnat]

Most of the voice prompted units are made for the auto and not suitable for geocaching. There are some very good geocaching handhelds that also work well in the auto, but do not have voice prompts. One that does have voice prompts and will work well for geocaching is the Garmin Quest II. And its considerably less than $1,000 (a quick Froogle search shows it as low as $560).

 

The Quest II comes with City Select NA pre loaded and also has an extra 140 megs for other mapping software, so you can load Mapsource Topo for your off road geocaching.

 

Personally, I'd take the TomTom back simply because the salesperson either lied, or was incompetent. For what you're looking for, it would be hard to do better than the Quest II.

 

The orignial Quest is a more cost effective option if you don't travel widely. Its often found for under $300 these days and that price includes the detailed mapping software. Its 115 megs of map storage will give you enough memory for a full day of driving in any region and you can load new maps quickly when traveling out of your coverage area.

 

But since you have $1,000 to spend you can get the Quest II, Mapsource Topo and have a few hundred bucks left over for gas.

Edited February 28, 2006 by briansnat

[+sarhound]

I have to second the ability of Mapopolis on a handheld, with a Bluetooth GPSr. I gave mine a test run yesterday going to some little bitty burgs in Oklahoma. It routed us from North Texas to the cache sites WAAAY out in the country. We named him "Hal."

 

The voice prompts were a little soft, so I've got to find some way to amplify the sound. "Hal" would get frantic when we overshot or deliberately ignored his directions, but then he would refigure the route and give us a pleasant little "BING" to let us know we were on course. He had no problem finding the little county roads that we were looking for. The only problem I had was in trying to figure out which of my points I wanted to navigate to, since the GPXtoMaplet conversion doesn't give you a default label that appears on the screen. You have to tap the point to get the label to show up. After you figure out which point you want, it's not too bad to get the navigation to work.

 

When we hadn't heard from him in awhile, Deputyhound asked me if we were coming up to any turnoffs. I told him that "Hal" had stepped out to get a cold beer, but he'd get back to us before we had to make any major decisions.

 

All in all, the package deal was excellent-- BT receiver and mapping software for $209.

 

"Hal" and I are going to give it another try in a couple of days. I'm waiting for a windshield mount with a power cable to arrive. Should free up a hand to be able to work the gearshift in the Jeep.

[+Alan2]

You can increase the volume in two places : in the PPC and in Mapopolis. On the other hand it could be your Jeep

 

In order to help identify icons, I use GSAK to create the special labels so that when gpxtomaplet creates the icons, when you tap them on the PPC screen of Mapopolis, I get info like cache smartname, D/T, container type, miles from my home, cache placer, cache type, etc.

[+naviguesser74]

I like carrying only one device. For the kind of money you are willing to spend, look at a Palm Treo or any Palm with bluetooth. TomTom Navigator is outstanding. You can put the geocache sites into TomTom and navigate to them. GeoNiche is great Palm software to keep track of the geocaches and it has many other uses. See:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/bruce.mckenzie/blo...0547/index.html

[+Sputnik 57]

Just get a good handheld unit (like the Garmin 60C or Legend C), load City Select map software and NRoute on your laptop, hook up the GPS, and Nroute will voice prompt through your laptop (as well as giving you a laptop sized screen for your maps).

[+Adventure.AS]

I use a Garmin 376C, which was primarily purchased for use on a boat on the Great Lakes (with Bluecharts). As a bonus it also does autorouting and voice prompts (with the optional auto kit and City Select NA.)

 

It is great for geocaching too as it has a battery, external antenna capablities and will fit in my coat pocket. As an added bonus it will receive XM radio and XM weather. It is certainly in your price range.

[+Team Lost N Found]

In all honesty, the Quest or Quest II is really your best option. It does great at both a Voice-Driven vehicle nav unit and a handheld cahcing unit. The difference in price is ridiculous though. If it were me, id find a Quest I. Can be had for less than $400.

[+ozymandiasism]

I have the same question as well. Looking for a good GPS auto navi unit is just not easy, especially one that gives longitude and latitude. I much rather only carry one unit around. The NuVi seems like a GREAT unit for mobile navi but it's not suitable for geocaching... This is rather frustrating...

 

Also, how realiable is PDA GPS? I found minimal info on how good that works out. Suggestions from anyone in terms of choices, cost, capabiility and usability?

 

Thanks in advanced from a newbie

[+briansnat]

Also, how realiable is PDA GPS? I found minimal info on how good that works out.

 

The problem with using a PDA/GPS is that though they work great in the car, they are not designed for the abuse they will receive while geocaching. In the course of geocaching your unit will get dropped, rained on, snowed on, dunked in streams (often with you attached), banged on rocks and dragged through brush. Dedicated handheld GPS units are built to take it. PDAs are built for the office.

 

Some people here have offered options using Mapopolis, or a laptop/GPS in the car but those setups really have no major advangates over a GPS like a Quest, or Garmin 376C (which someone else mentioned). The latter are simple. You use the unit's voice prompted instructions to get you to the area of the cache then remove it from its mount, change a setting and let it guide you to the cache. No cables to play with, no need for a second unit for geocaching, no having to cart around a laptop, no worrying about your laptop or PDA getting stolen from your vehicle while you're out on your cache hunt.

[restie]

I have the same question as well. Looking for a good GPS auto navi unit is just not easy, especially one that gives longitude and latitude. I much rather only carry one unit around. The NuVi seems like a GREAT unit for mobile navi but it's not suitable for geocaching... This is rather frustrating...

 

Also, how realiable is PDA GPS? I found minimal info on how good that works out. Suggestions from anyone in terms of choices, cost, capabiility and usability?

 

Thanks in advanced from a newbie

 

I have a Nuvi, and I use it for Geocaching. I have to first input the geocache coordinates on my PC then load on to the NUVI. You then just follow the waypoint. The cool thing is it will tell you how to drive to the location. You can also see the lat & long coordinates on the NUVI when you press on the signal bars.

 

It's awesome for the road too.

 

Restie

[+ozymandiasism]

Yeah I know the nuvi looks pretty awesome, but I don;t think it is made for off-road usage. however, Nuvi 360 is coming out in July... with bluetooth and wireless capabilities.... pretty sweet

 

I have the same question as well. Looking for a good GPS auto navi unit is just not easy, especially one that gives longitude and latitude. I much rather only carry one unit around. The NuVi seems like a GREAT unit for mobile navi but it's not suitable for geocaching... This is rather frustrating...

 

Also, how realiable is PDA GPS? I found minimal info on how good that works out. Suggestions from anyone in terms of choices, cost, capabiility and usability?

 

Thanks in advanced from a newbie

 

I have a Nuvi, and I use it for Geocaching. I have to first input the geocache coordinates on my PC then load on to the NUVI. You then just follow the waypoint. The cool thing is it will tell you how to drive to the location. You can also see the lat & long coordinates on the NUVI when you press on the signal bars.

 

It's awesome for the road too.

 

Restie

[restie]

On the NUVI, you are able to change the setting from auto/motorcycle mode to pedestrian mode.

 

Restie

Yeah I know the nuvi looks pretty awesome, but I don;t think it is made for off-road usage. however, Nuvi 360 is coming out in July... with bluetooth and wireless capabilities.... pretty sweet

 

I have the same question as well. Looking for a good GPS auto navi unit is just not easy, especially one that gives longitude and latitude. I much rather only carry one unit around. The NuVi seems like a GREAT unit for mobile navi but it's not suitable for geocaching... This is rather frustrating...

 

Also, how realiable is PDA GPS? I found minimal info on how good that works out. Suggestions from anyone in terms of choices, cost, capabiility and usability?

 

Thanks in advanced from a newbie

 

I have a Nuvi, and I use it for Geocaching. I have to first input the geocache coordinates on my PC then load on to the NUVI. You then just follow the waypoint. The cool thing is it will tell you how to drive to the location. You can also see the lat & long coordinates on the NUVI when you press on the signal bars.

 

It's awesome for the road too.

 

Restie

[+ozymandiasism]

On the NUVI, you are able to change the setting from auto/motorcycle mode to pedestrian mode.

 

You're absolutely right, but it does not exactly have a rugged design. Imagine... going offroad looking for a cache.... your drop your Nuvi and crack the touch screen.... hmm... no thanks

[robertlipe]

I have a Nuvi, and I use it for Geocaching. I have to first input the geocache coordinates on my PC then load on to the NUVI.

Nuvi will use GPX files given to it. You can either copy your PQs to it or use GPSBabel to convert .loc downloads to GPX and write them straight to Nuvi.

 

Nuvi 360 is coming out in July... with bluetooth and wireless capabilities.... pretty sweet

The BT is for cell fone headset connectivity only. NMEA and PVT data do not travel over that link.

 

On the NUVI, you are able to change the setting from auto/motorcycle mode to pedestrian mode.

Pedestrian mode allows the unit to route you over "pedestrian only" bridges and go the "wrong way" down one-way roads. It doesn't give you familiar point-to-point compass "follow the arrow" mode that most geocachers are accustomed to.

 

In short, I have to go with most of the above recommendations for Quest. The things that make a dashtop great make a handheld terrible. Quest is a pretty decent compromise as the screen/battery is reasonable for both modes and the speaker is in the power cord - the very piece you want to leave in the car anyway.

 

I find the combination of a handheld _and_ a dashtop quite satisfying - given the OP's budget of $1000, you don't have to make many compromises to get a nice pair.

 

For example, SP2610's are now going for about $450. (Hint: it includes a second unlock code to use on the handheld if you want it there, too...) You can buy a big memory card and a nice handheld with the rest. 2610 gets you a touch screen and a remote, neither of which a Quest will have.

[+YuccaPatrol]

I had a StreetPilot III for a couple years. It had voice prompt which was amusing for about a week and then annoying after that. I preferred just a couple simple beeps.

 

If I had your budget, I would buy two units: A Garmin STreetpilotc340 which has the voice prompts you desire and a Garmin 60csx that you would use geocaching. That way you would have a top notch outdoors handheld and the automobile unit with voice prompts.

 

I did some geocaching with my streetpilotIII. It took some fiddling with the settings and was truly not ideal, but I did find some caches before getting a dedicated geocaching unit.