GPS

[Hawk-eye & Rocky]

Good day:

 

I was introduced to geocaching by my brother-in-law from Newfoundland and both my wife and I really enjoy it. The big question is what GPS system do we purchase for geocaching??? I have done some research on the internet, however would like to heard from you folks who actually do geocaching as to what is a good system. Thanks for any replies.

Hawk-eye & Rocky

[+briansnat]

There are many great units for geocaching. The answer depends on your budget and the kinds of features you would like. For instance do you want...

 

...a color screen?

...mapping?

...autorouting (turn by turn driving instructions to your destination)?

...magnetic compass and barometric altimeter?

...a compact, lightweight unit?

...a larger unit with a large screen?

...expandible map memory?

...USB interface?

...outstanding reception under trees?

...easy to use?

[Donald, Daisy and Kids]

There are many great units for geocaching. The answer depends on your budget and the kinds of features you would like. For instance do you want...

 

...a color screen?

...mapping?

...autorouting (turn by turn driving instructions to your destination)?

...magnetic compass and barometric altimeter?

...a compact, lightweight unit?

...a larger unit with a large screen?

...expandible map memory?

...USB interface?

...outstanding reception under trees?

...easy to use?

 

agreed!

 

I personally decided upon the Garmin Vista CX.

[+oprystar]

I live in a very woodsy part of the country. Heavy tree coverage is common. the new HirF recievers are excellant in staying locked in heavy tree coverage so I opted for that. I also wanted a unit I could download waypoints to - instead of entering them one by one by hand. I decided on the Garmin GPSmap60Cx, with it came all the other bells and whistles.

[+DaveA]

Agree with the others. Any handheld GPSr on the market will work, it all comes down to your budget and what features you desire.

 

If you really don't know what features you want (and how would a person who has little to no experience using a GPSr know?) you might wish to stick with the sub $100 (US) models to start with. If you stick with Garmin or Magellan then you will likely have no trouble finding someone to sell that unit to in the event you later decide to purchase a unit with more bells and whistles.

 

All you really need for caching is a unit that has a compass screen and as far as I know they all do. This is what is usually used when zeroing in on the cache location.

 

Beyond that if you believe you will want to load a hundred or so cache locations into the GPSr then choose a unit with a USB cable that attaches to your PC/laptop. If you will only be loading one or two caches at a time then manual entry works fine.

[+alittletotheleft]

Garmin Legend C for me. I have found that Garmin has great customer service.

[+DiS02]

While people will always disagree on what manufacturer to get, that one is better than the other, basically they are all the same when it boils down.

 

As someone else told me make sure whatever one you get has WAAS, my old garmin V doesnt seem to & its a pain sometimes. But I didnt buy it for caching originally anyways so its serving dual purposes currently.

 

Cost is always a big factor, some stuff is just bells & whistles that you may find you can live just fine without.

 

If you can get hands on usage with it, thats always a good thing, even if its just playing with it in the store. Also, check return policies, if they have restrictions then you may be better off looking elsewhere.

 

Currently I'm looking at the Garmin ETrex series as my dad has used Garmin for many years for personal & professional usage & I happen to like Garmin. But it just boils down to personal preference.

 

Good luck.

[Hawk-eye & Rocky]

There are many great units for geocaching. The answer depends on your budget and the kinds of features you would like. For instance do you want...

 

...a color screen?

...mapping?

...autorouting (turn by turn driving instructions to your destination)?

...magnetic compass and barometric altimeter?

...a compact, lightweight unit?

...a larger unit with a large screen?

...expandible map memory?

...USB interface?

...outstanding reception under trees?

...easy to use?

 

Thanks very much for the info.

 

What would you consider the BASIC functions requires? I know that WAAS is required - what else? Also after the basics what would be the "nice to have".

 

Thanks so much

 

Hawk-eye & Rocky

Edited October 1, 2006 by Hawk-eye & Rocky

[+briansnat]

There are many great units for geocaching. The answer depends on your budget and the kinds of features you would like. For instance do you want...

 

...a color screen?

...mapping?

...autorouting (turn by turn driving instructions to your destination)?

...magnetic compass and barometric altimeter?

...a compact, lightweight unit?

...a larger unit with a large screen?

...expandible map memory?

...USB interface?

...outstanding reception under trees?

...easy to use?

 

Thanks very much for the info.

 

What would you consider the BASIC functions requires? I know that WAAS is required - what else? Also after the basics what would be the "nice to have".

 

Thanks so much

 

Hawk-eye & Rocky

 

Most of the features above are "nice to haves". A basic unit just has a compass screen and an arrrow to point you your destination. Some good basic units are the Garmin Geko 201, Garmin yellow eTrex, Garmin GPS 60 and Garmin GPS 72. I find mapping to be nearly essential, but many geocachers find caches without mapping units. Autorouting is another great feature. Having your unit give you turn by turn driving instructions to a destination makes it very useful for things other than geocaching. A color screen is a very nice feature, but far from essential. A data port is pretty essential so you can dowload cache waypoints and maps directly to your unit and a USB data port is good because its a lot faster than a serial port.

 

The usefulness of a barometric altimeter and magnetic compass are debatable. Some people swear by them (particularly the compass) and others prefer units without them.

[Donald, Daisy and Kids]

I know that WAAS is required - what else?

 

Well I wouldnt personally consider WAAS as essential, we here in the land down under dont have the WAAS system available to us and we manage to geocache just fine without it!

[+gof1]

waas is no big deal.

For basic caching you want any hand held outdoors gps unit that will interface with your computer.

If you can't load the caches directly from the computer to the unit you will quickly outgrow it.

Although the rest are "Bells and whistles" you don't want to outgrow your unit too fast.

My personal experience went like this... I purchased a Garmin Etrex Legend, used it for a year and was very happy with it. When it had a fatal accident I spent the bucks and upgraded to the Garmin 60cx. The new unit is great. We have never lost the sat. lock with it. I am sure that we have fewer DNFs because we always have good reception.

This is my experience with geocaching and GPS units, nothing else.

As they say "Your mileage may very"