New Garmin.

[+Centex Trekker]

My first GPSr was a Magellan SporTrak Map. I got tired of the "Bumble bee" behavior when I near a cache. 2 years ago, I got a Garmin 60CS. Never touched the Maggie again. I just ordered a Garmin 76CSx even though I don't have a boat. Never know, just might get one someday. I do plan to buy a kayak or a canoe; just can't decide on which one.

[+The Fixer]

Not only do you have the Man Overboard feature you might not use, read your manual a little further, it will also tell you when to jump out of a plane with a glide slope. I don't plan on ever using that feature.

[+Centex Trekker]

Not only do you have the Man Overboard feature you might not use, read your manual a little further, it will also tell you when to jump out of a plane with a glide slope. I don't plan on ever using that feature.

 

Well, thanks for the one comment.

[FLcowboy]

My first GPSr was a Magellan SporTrak Map. I got tired of the "Bumble bee" behavior when I near a cache. 2 years ago, I got a Garmin 60CS. Never touched the Maggie again. I just ordered a Garmin 76CSx even though I don't have a boat. Never know, just might get one someday. I do plan to buy a kayak or a canoe; just can't decide on which one.

 

Just interested in your logic in choosing Germin. My wife bought me a MaGellan Meridian Gold to replace my ten year old GPS unit. While I was sometimes suspicous that my unit was not very accurate, I was never certain because I was never sure of the source I was referencing to. Yesterday, my son-in-law took me geo-caching for the first time, and we discovered my unit was off significantly. We could not "re-program" it either, so I referenced the user manual, and found out there was nothing to do about it except send it in. since it is no longer in production, I deciced against spending good money after bad, and I'll just pitch it.

 

What next to buy? I'm looking at the eTrex Venture Cx on the web. Is that a good unit? What should I look for?

[+Lasagna]

My first GPSr was a Magellan SporTrak Map. I got tired of the "Bumble bee" behavior when I near a cache. 2 years ago, I got a Garmin 60CS. Never touched the Maggie again. I just ordered a Garmin 76CSx even though I don't have a boat. Never know, just might get one someday. I do plan to buy a kayak or a canoe; just can't decide on which one.

 

Just interested in your logic in choosing Germin. My wife bought me a MaGellan Meridian Gold to replace my ten year old GPS unit. While I was sometimes suspicous that my unit was not very accurate, I was never certain because I was never sure of the source I was referencing to. Yesterday, my son-in-law took me geo-caching for the first time, and we discovered my unit was off significantly. We could not "re-program" it either, so I referenced the user manual, and found out there was nothing to do about it except send it in. since it is no longer in production, I deciced against spending good money after bad, and I'll just pitch it.

 

What next to buy? I'm looking at the eTrex Venture Cx on the web. Is that a good unit? What should I look for?

 

This is a common problem with "Magellans" ... however, it's not really a problem but a feature. The Garmin's report your exact position at each sampling while the Magellan use an averaging feature. This makes them hold lock better and estimate based on previous direction and speed where you are located whereas Garmin's will suffer more quickly from degraded reception conditions. However, if you are aware of this feature, you can compensate for it without much difficulty (and I actually do the same with my Garmin as well).

 

When approaching a cache, stop short and get a fix on the bearing and approximate distance to the cache. Proceed to that location and then sit the GPSr down and walk away. You can start looking awhile, but leave the GPSr alone. As the unit settles in and gets a good fix on satellites and discovers your not moving, it will lock in on the direction and distance where it thinks ground zero is located. Work with this information to form your search pattern.

[+Olar]

I do plan to buy a kayak or a canoe; just can't decide on which one.

I'd go with the canoe!

 

Olar