What's The Best Gps...?

[Hobo Joe]

Under $200 and good for geocaching

[+Miragee]

Right now, since the new 'x' versions have come out, some excellent Garmin units are discounted.

 

You can probably get a Legend C for around $200.00 and it has a "Geocaching Mode."

 

If you want detailed maps for it, that will cost more. It has a decent basemap that is adequate for Geocaching, and that GPSr is capable of auto-routing, should you want that feature later on.

[Hobo Joe]

It's $135 at Amazon.com. But it dosn't have a compass. Is it worth it to upgrade to the Vista? ($200 at Amazon.com)

[+briansnat]

It's $135 at Amazon.com. But it dosn't have a compass. Is it worth it to upgrade to the Vista? ($200 at Amazon.com)

 

Make sure that is the Legend C and not just the Legend. There is a big difference. If it is the C for $135, buy it now! In fact buy several, because you can make some bucks selling them on Ebay.

 

The compass is niced to have, but not a necessity. A $10 handheld will work as well.

 

Anyway, whether its $135 or $200 the Legend C is a fine GPS and great for geocaching. You might have to shop around because many stores are closing them out in favor of the newer Legend CX. Because of that the the C units are being discounted.

 

If you can spend a few extra bucks, the Legend CX is selling for $239 right now at www.offroute.com. It is basically the Legend C with expandible memory.

Edited April 17, 2006 by briansnat

[Hobo Joe]

It's this one.

 

Legend

[+briansnat]

That's not the Legend C. Its the old Legend. It is a good unit in its own right. A very popular starter unit. But it has much less map memory than the Legend C, black and white screen instead of color and the reception is not as good. You can probably find this unit for under $120 if you shop around. $135 is on the high side.

[+Chuy!]

Sorry to say, that's the regular Legend. The Legend C has 24mb memory; color screen, and is capable of auto-routing with the optional mapping software from MapSource.

One easy way to tell them apart is the regular Legend is translucent blue as in the Amazon pic; the Legend C is gray and has a more square'ish screen. They average $200 at offroute; so, $239 (actually $239.95) is worth the extra $39.95. I've always felt the Legend C, and now Cx are the best valued Garmin handheld units.

[+Cool Librarian]

I'm sure that you'll get many replies from people "in the know" about GPS units, (and I'm not one of them), but I'll throw my 2 cents in with a question worth answering (in my humble opinion):

 

Do you think you will LOVE geocaching? And, if you get tired of it after the summer (and MANY people do drop out once the "novelty" has worn off), will you have a use for your new toy?

 

Because I have a history of starting hobbies and then abandoning them after buying all the gear to play, I was a bit more sensible about geocaching - mostly because I work for peanuts. I did my first few caches without a GPS (just maps, the hints, and local knowledge) and LOVED it. But, I still bought a Garmin Etrex "Yellow" (the low-end unit) for under $100, because I am poor. No maps, no expandable memory, no color screen, no joystick... But you know what? Nearly 3 years and 1200 finds later, I am STILL using a Yellow (my second one, in fact - I "dropped" the first one and broke it). Oh, yeah, that's another point - it's cheap enough to replace without feeling REALLY bummed.

 

I'm certainly not telling you what to buy, and I am definitely not saying that a Yellow is the "best" GPS - just keep in mind that most any brand name GPS will get you to the cache area - the bells and whistles might be nice (I don't know, never needed any), but they're not "necessary."

[+AuntieWeasel]

Because I have a history of starting hobbies and then abandoning them after buying all the gear to play[...]

 

I call that being a "serial obsessive." For some reason, people seem to think I should be embarrassed for approaching hobbies this way: like you're supposed to take up a recreational activity and then painfully spend the rest of your life becoming a Jedi Master at it.

 

Pff! As if! I figure my way, I know a little bit about hundreds of things. How is that worse than knowing a whole lot about one thing? Especially when it comes to the things we do for fun.

[+JohnnyVegas]

When compared to the old blue legend

Another option in the under 200 range is the magellan explorist 210,

22 Mb of memory Vs. 8 Mb for the Legend

USB data interface Vs. Std Serial port for the Legend

Auto routing with direct route software, Legend has not auto routing feature

The Explorist tends to have a better reciever than the legend

The Explorist can store your cache data in seperate files that you can base in cache type, difficulty, terrain, geographic location etc. with the garmin you can not.

 

The Explorist 210 will cost about 40 more than the Legend in you shop around, but Magellen is starting a rebate in April 18th which will save you an Extra $30.00 on the price in the Explorist 210, this will bring the price of the 210 to whithin a few dollars on the legend.

[+Slainte]

I borrowed a Garmin Legend C last summer, and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, because of the extra cost of the map sets, I returned it, and am now searching for a Garmin V. This is an older unit, w/ monochrome display and 19mb of non-expandable memory. However, it comes with a code number to unlock and install a complete set of maps off the net at no extra cost. The unit will run a bit more than $200, but you won't have to pop for the extra maps, which seem to run around $100. And you'll end up with a unit that will double as a street map set, too. I'm pretty cheap, and this seems like a reasonable direction to go.

[+James & Isabelle]

Garmin GPS

[+ganlet]

my 2 cents, i own a explorist 210(primary), a yellow etrex, an etrex vista, and an etrex legend. im a firm believer that the yellow etrex which i got on ebay for 57 dollars is as capable as any of my other units. the others have features that i enjoy for instance the ebay 90 dollar legend has a lil nicer screen which i perfer. unless your going for bells and wistles the basic yellow etrex which sells on ebay for 57 dollars will get you close enough to any cache for eye balls to take over.

 

having had a chance to own most of the sub 200 gps units if you have any questions let me know.

 

i personally suggest a used etrex legend (the old bw one) its simple like the yellow yet for the extra 30 bucks major screen improvement. i tend to buy gps units used because they are very durable and you can get a drastic price reduction.

[+limp and saw mill]

I have used a GPS 12 for years for hunting and fishing and have just upgraded to a GPS 60 which gives you the ease of downloading waypoints. The GPS 60 was only $150 from tigergps.com and shipping was very fast as well.

[Bible reader]

What are some of the pro's and cons of buying used, especially off of ebay? Is water damage ever a problem?

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the advantage of having a vista with a compass that it will point me directly to the cache, vs. having to align the unit north-south with another compass. And instead of having to be moving to get a heading (or whatever it is called, I'm very new) that you can stand still? Will this help in close range? Without one (A built in compass) Can I change the settings (On, say, a legend) and the arrow just point to where I'm going, as long as I'm moving? Will it turn exactly as I turn, like a real compass pointing north, instead of the arrow only changing every once in a while.

[+Adrenalynn]

What are some of the pro's and cons of buying used, especially off of ebay? Is water damage ever a problem?

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the advantage of having a vista with a compass that it will point me directly to the cache, vs. having to align the unit north-south with another compass. And instead of having to be moving to get a heading (or whatever it is called, I'm very new) that you can stand still? Will this help in close range? Without one (A built in compass) Can I change the settings (On, say, a legend) and the arrow just point to where I'm going, as long as I'm moving? Will it turn exactly as I turn, like a real compass pointing north, instead of the arrow only changing every once in a while.

 

The arrow always points at the waypoint - ie. where you're trying to end-up. You never have to "align the unit" - that's what the government spent billions of dollars to do for you.

 

The unit will always give you a heading to the waypoint. It goes hand-in-hand with the arrow. When you stop, all it gives you is the heading. You can try using a compass to match that heading, but in truth, just keep moving the direction the arrow was pointing in...