+etriley4 Posted May 6, 2006 Posted May 6, 2006 What do people recommend for new people too buy as far as the GPS system is cincerened? Quote
+Lasagna Posted May 6, 2006 Posted May 6, 2006 (edited) That may largely depend on the budget you have in mind ... Personally, I'd recommend a Garmin eTrex (Yellow) or Legend for someone just starting out. The Legend being preferred if you're going to attach it to a computer to load waypoints. Not too expensive, but a reasonable mix of features. There's an equivalent set of models on the Magellan side as well, but I'm not familiar with that product line. Either of these manufactures are prevalent in the US and easy to find in stores. If you're thinking about using auto navigation (for following roads, etc.), then the price goes up substantially and I would recommend different models since you really need some additional features like auto-routing, etc. Edited May 6, 2006 by Lasagna Quote
+mudsneaker Posted May 6, 2006 Posted May 6, 2006 (edited) I found this topic somewhat helpful to narrow down whats most popular. what do you own? theres a tally of the totals somewhere in the middle of the page. Edited May 6, 2006 by mudsneaker Quote
+briansnat Posted May 6, 2006 Posted May 6, 2006 It all depends on the features you want and how much you want to spend. One of the most popular "beginner units" is the eTrex Legend. It has enough features that you can use it well past the beginner stage, but sells for under $120 if you shop around. Quote
+InHope Posted May 6, 2006 Posted May 6, 2006 It all depends on the features you want and how much you want to spend. One of the most popular "beginner units" is the eTrex Legend. It has enough features that you can use it well past the beginner stage, but sells for under $120 if you shop around. I was at a store and I saw a package deal for the Legend, the cables, and Topo for $200. Is that a good deal? I was thinking that with the maps provided on geocaching.com couldn't I just get the basic eTrex? It seems like out of anything a hardcopy map would be more helpful than a little GPSr screen. Am I wrong on that? I'm a very new guy, and maybe I'm not understanding some of this. ~Matthew Quote
+crodad Posted May 6, 2006 Posted May 6, 2006 It all depends on the features you want and how much you want to spend. One of the most popular "beginner units" is the eTrex Legend. It has enough features that you can use it well past the beginner stage, but sells for under $120 if you shop around. I was at a store and I saw a package deal for the Legend, the cables, and Topo for $200. Is that a good deal? I was thinking that with the maps provided on geocaching.com couldn't I just get the basic eTrex? It seems like out of anything a hardcopy map would be more helpful than a little GPSr screen. Am I wrong on that? I'm a very new guy, and maybe I'm not understanding some of this. ~Matthew After you do this for a while you will not want to carry any paper. So, yes the etex and a map would work. But the little map on a GPSR works better than you think. If you found an etrex legend with topo for $200 I would make the investment. Later on you will want to get a PDA and do paperless caching. Quote
+InHope Posted May 6, 2006 Posted May 6, 2006 This package I found at a Gander Mountain 199.00 eTrex Legend Mapsource Topo US PC Connector Training video 12v. Adapter Quote
+InHope Posted May 6, 2006 Posted May 6, 2006 This package I found at a Gander Mountain 199.00 eTrex Legend Mapsource Topo US PC Connector Training video 12v. Adapter although I just found it on another site for 150 Quote
theactofseeing Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 What do people recommend for new people too buy as far as the GPS system is cincerened? I'm new at this but think the eTrex Vista Cx looks like a good unit. Flexible and easy to read. Has a built in compass. Not cheap, about $ 400 for the gps and software. Quote
+norsehawk Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 My first gps was/is a Magellan eXplorist 210, great gps, seems to have better accuracy under cover than my newer Garmin 60cs (I also like the way you manually enter coords better on magellan tho garmin is far from bad) One thing that I consider a must and makes it a lot easier... make sure the GPS you buy has a USB port so you can easily upload waypoints into the device instead of having to manually enter them all (not fun at all) Quote
+gof1 Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 Dicks sporting goods. Etrex legend Topo computer cable 12v addapter car mount holster Under $200 If you don't have a serial port on your computer you will need an addapter, under $20. What ever unit you decide to get you are definately going to want to be able to load waypoints from your computer to the GPSr. Just to give you an idea why, the Legend will hold 500 waypoints. You do not want to load those all by hand. "Why would I want 500 waypoints on my GPSr?" you ask. Because you can go for a ride and decide to cache at some point along the way. Just take out your GPSr and search for the nearest waypoints. You don't have to preplan every cache hunt. Also it elliminates the errors of hand loading. Welcome to the adventure that is geocaching. Quote
+InHope Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 Dicks sporting goods. Etrex legend Topo computer cable 12v addapter car mount holster Under $200 If you don't have a serial port on your computer you will need an addapter, under $20. What ever unit you decide to get you are definately going to want to be able to load waypoints from your computer to the GPSr. Just to give you an idea why, the Legend will hold 500 waypoints. You do not want to load those all by hand. "Why would I want 500 waypoints on my GPSr?" you ask. Because you can go for a ride and decide to cache at some point along the way. Just take out your GPSr and search for the nearest waypoints. You don't have to preplan every cache hunt. Also it elliminates the errors of hand loading. Welcome to the adventure that is geocaching. I was talking to my wife about this because we live in IN and go home to IA all the time, and I thought it'd be neat to pick up a cache around peoria or something. In this example, I would just search for waypoints in the areas I'd be traveling through and download a bunch? Quote
+gof1 Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 Yes, exactly. And if you become a premium member you can run pocket queries and search by a number of criteria as well. Such as cache type, hide date, difficulty rating etc. Quote
+briansnat Posted May 8, 2006 Posted May 8, 2006 Just to give you an idea why, the Legend will hold 500 waypoints Actually the Legend holds 1,000 waypoints. Quote
+gof1 Posted May 9, 2006 Posted May 9, 2006 Actually, mine holds only 500. The one that the add people had must have been different, they claim 1000. In the owners manual it says 500. I never noticed till I started paperless caching. Up till then I always loaded manually. Quote
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