In-car GPS units

[helenhelent]

Hi, I'm new to geocaching, and looking to buy a GPS unit.... but I'd like to invest in one that I can use as in-car navigation as well as walking. Does anyone know if this is possible, have any advice, or can let me know if it is even possible to enter the coordinates in an in-car sat-nav?

 

thanks all! looking forward to joining you with geocaching soon!

Helen

[+sbell111]

Many of us use Garmin Quests or Quest 2s with great success. Many also still use GPS Vs. The V was ideally suited for both vehicle navigation and walking because you could switch the display from horizontal, for mounting on a bike or a vehicle dash, to vertical for handheld use.

 

Garmin discontinued the GPS V, but it can still be picked up pretty easily. I certainly wish that they would come out with a new model in that form factor. The unit would be awesome with more memory and a color screen.

[+evelbug]

The Quest series does a decent job for both aspects. I have a Q2. If I had the money, I'd get a good handheld and a good car only unit.

 

The one thing I would change on the Quest is the fact that it rounds distance to the nearest 10 or 100 feet. I'd love to be able to turn the distance rounding off.

[+Adventure.AS]

Hi, I'm new to geocaching, and looking to buy a GPS unit.... but I'd like to invest in one that I can use as in-car navigation as well as walking. Does anyone know if this is possible, have any advice, or can let me know if it is even possible to enter the coordinates in an in-car sat-nav?

 

thanks all! looking forward to joining you with geocaching soon!

Helen

 

 

As I wanted a GPSr for boat, car and geocaching I ended up getting a Garmin 376C and then purchasing the optional car kit (which includes a dash mount and NA maps). This unit has a rechargeable, lithium-ion battery which is great when you take it out of the car. It last for about ten hours.

 

The 376C unit also includes an XM radio antenna for weather and/or music. I find the XM weather very useful, particularily when sailing on Lake Ontario, but I also find it great when I am travelling on business. The music quality is suprisingly good from the speaker that is part of the car kit.

 

I would not be without the turn-by-turn autorouting with voice. It is a huge safety factor and stress reducer now that I no longer have to be trying to read a map and drive to a destination. It save a huge amount of time and the GPS tells me exactly when I will arrive at my destination. It is also very handy when heading out geocaching.

 

The screen is quite large and clear with a 320 x 480 display.

 

edit: battery info.

Edited October 3, 2006 by Maxima

[+Chuy!]

For both auto navigation and walking/hiking, I wouldn't give up my 60cs for anything else currently on the market. It compromises on the auto side but it still does very good in the car. The biggest compromise is it lacks voice command, but I have gotten used to the the turning tones, of which you have several to choose from. Next compromise is screen size; again, I have gotten used to it. Glare is just a tad bit more prevalent than my wife's 2610 or the 2720 I use at work.

On the plus side, it uses two of the ubiquitous AA batteries and has outstanding battery life. It uses the same navigation software as the dash models; so, POI's and auto-routing will be the same. It holds 1000 waypoints. And the unit is rugged; it has survived several bike crashes.

The 60cs have been replaced by the 60csx which has a fancy chip that supposedly tracks sats in tunnels and thick treelines.

Edited October 3, 2006 by Chuy!

[+briansnat]

I use my 60CS in my car and it works great. The newer version, the 60CSX is undoubtedly even better because of the additional map memory.

 

Another good choice would be one of the Garmin Quest models (Quest and Quest 2).

 

The Quest units are chiefly designed for the automobile, but work well as handhelds, while the 60CSX (and similar 76CSX) is mainly designed as a handheld, but works well in the car.

 

Moving to appropriate forum

[+naviguesser74]

TomTom is an excellant street navigator. Its GPSr is Sirf III. I have it on a Palm and wouldn't be without it. I put the geocache locations on it, too. Then, for out of the car, I use GeoNiche and GPS Pilot's Tracker program. Scan my own maps for obscure places. It all works great and the Palm does many other things, e.g., Planetarium for stars in addition to all the PDA stuff. One device is nice.

[+yyzdnl]

You could also use a PDA with built-in GPS. I love mine, the advantage is you can use any combination of car navigation or off road software. You are not restricted to say Tom Tom or Garmin software. You can add memory and other devices through the SD port. Paperless caching with a single device.

 

I have an Asus Mypal A632 with 2gig mini SD card. Running Destinator for car navigation and Beeline for off road and geocaching.

 

Here is a link to a thread about available units at gpspassion a great site devoted to all things gps. http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59747

[+briansnat]

You could also use a PDA with built-in GPS. I love mine, the advantage is you can use any combination of car navigation or off road software. You are not restricted to say Tom Tom or Garmin software. You can add memory and other devices through the SD port. Paperless caching with a single device.

 

I have an Asus Mypal A632 with 2gig mini SD card. Running Destinator for car navigation and Beeline for off road and geocaching.

 

Here is a link to a thread about available units at gpspassion a great site devoted to all things gps. http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59747

 

The chief issue with PDA units is that they are designed for the desktop and not for the rigors of the outdoors. Take a tumble into a stream while on a cache hunt and you have an expensive paperweight. Geocaching exposes your unit to snow, sudden rainstorms, cold temps, getting dragged through brush, dropped on rocks, etc... and the handheld, dedicated units are built to take this. PDAs are not. Also the PDA battery life is not sufficient when being used as GPS.

Edited October 3, 2006 by briansnat

[+storm180]

I personally use a Magellan 600 and a Garmin 60CSx for geocaching. I have in one car a Magellan Roadmate 760 and for the other I just got a Magellan Roadmate 6000T for the other car. I can program my geocaches into either of the Roadmates and they will route me closest by road to the geocache as possible. Really nice feature I can keep my eyes on the road and listen.

 

Storm180

Edited October 3, 2006 by storm180

[+oldsoldier]

I have a Garmin Iqueue 3600 that I use. It does great voice routing, if you pick up the car kit (otherwise it can be a little hard to hear). I also use it for paperless caching, as well as my work PDA. Out of the jeep I put it in a bobmproof case; waterproof & shock resistant. Granted, I cant use the GPS while in the case; but, I have my 60Cx for that

[ossumguywill]

I would use a garmin with SirfIII or a magellan explorist 600. The explorist is much more accurate than the garmin. This is good for geocaching or hiking. However, a SirfIII chip gets a very strong signal, so it is good for the car.

[+Scoobmaster]

Hi Helen.

 

I am a "newbie" here too and just like you are looking for a handheld GPSr for geocaching that I can also use in the car for navigation. My other requirement is to keep it affordable (I.E. around $200 or less). After *MUCH* research and searching through these forum posts (a big THANK YOU to all members who have posted opinions and reviews of the various GPSr units - I have read a LOT of them!) I am about to purchase a Lowrance iWay 100M. It is a black and white screen model that Lowrance discontinued, but you still can find available at a VERY economical price (I found it for $139 with FREE shipping!). Do a search in these forums for "Lowrance iWay 100M" for a great wealth of information and experiences posted about this model.

 

For me, it seems a good fit. It is not "THE BEST" in any one category, but it seems to perform VERY WELL all around and offer probably the most "bang for the buck". It is also, to my limited knowledge, the ONLY waterproof handheld GPSr rugged enough for trail/geocaching use that does autorouting AND voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions. This plus the Lowrance Mapcreate software is included in the package (many other models & manufacturets do NOT include the mapping software and make you buy it seperately for $70 - $120)

 

Don't just take the word of a fellow forum newb though (LOL) - do what I did. Spend some time searching through and reading opinions in these forums. I'm sure a helpful forum veteran can provide more information or correct me if I made any errors in my post.

 

-Scoobmaster

Edited October 4, 2006 by Scoobmaster

[appletree]

Another vote for the Garmin Quest. I share the opinion that voice prompts are a minimum requirement for car navigation. You can live without it, but you shouldn't, at least not until after you have tried it for yourself and decided you do not need it. If you do want voice prompts, the Quest and Quest 2 are your only choices if you want a GPSR that also works as a hand-held unit. Yes, it is designed primarily for in-car use but it works fine for caching or other trail use. The addition of an external antenna greatly improves its reception and convenience, allowing it to stay in a pocket until it is needed. As for price, when you consider the maps and mounting and power accessories that are included in the package, the Quest is down right cheap.

[+Night Stalker]

I have used my 60CS extensively for auto navigation and for geocaching. It has worked well, but I decided to get the newer 60CX for the better satellite connections. I can also verify that it will do things that a PDA cannot since last week while geocaching it came loose from my belt clip hit several trees while on its downward course and landed in about 1 foot of water. It survived. Try that with a PDA or many of the GPS's that are really intended for use in your auto.

[+Alan2]

I use a Pocket PC (PPC) with Mapopolis for voice and visual prompted auto navigation in my car. It's color screen is much larger and easier to read than any hsnd-held, a real safety point as well as the voice promts that hand helds don't have. It stays charged with the cable to the car lighter. I also overlay onto the PPC street maps all the caches so I can drive from cache to cache (well, the nearest street location anyway) or tap on the icon to get info about the cache. Once out of the car, I switch the PPC to the GPS page for navigation in the woods.

 

The PPC also is loaded for paperless caching (using gpxsonar) so that all the cache pages are loaded, something you cannot do with a hand-held.

 

Another advantage of a PPC is you can load 24K topo maps for real-time tracking in the woods. Hand held come with 100K scale maps except for certain national park areas.

 

While it is true that a PPC is more susceptible to damaage than a hand-held GPS, I've been using mine for 2 1/2 years without damage. There are also protector cases if you choose too. However, I use mine in park areas. When I'm in hiking in more challenging areas, I use my regular hand-held GPS, a Vista, and keep the PPC in my pocket for the paperless cache info.

 

Frankly it's a tough trade-off. For car navigation and some of the other features I mentioned, a PPC cannot be beat. For off road in the woods navigation, a hand held probably has the advantage. Get both if you can afford it.

Edited October 4, 2006 by Alan2

[andman]

I'm selling a Garmin Quest relatively cheap if you're interested. I had a problem with the antenna so I sent it back to Garmin and they sent me a brand new unit. I have purchased another model so I would like to sell this new Quest.

The only thing about it is that I took the power adapter apart and ran two wires out of it so it could be hardwired to the car, it no longer will go into a cig lighter plug, it's ready to be hardwired to a car again.

[rbrugman]

I highly recommend the quest. Last Christmas I was considering the Quest, Quest2, as well as a couple Magellan units. I got the Quest, because I never travel more than a couple states away without taking my laptop and I read that the Quest2 wasn't as fast at calculating. I couldn't have picked a better GPS for the money. At under $350 shipped from Amazon it does an amazing job and is very accurate. I got the optional roof-mount antenna, and I am locked in at between 7-10 feet wherever I drive.

 

I also have satellite radio, so it's a little odd having 13 birds looking at your vehicle at once. Imagine what the government may be doing ;-).

 

Robert

[+starbox189]

Currently, I own a Garmin 60CSx and a Street Pilot C330. I have a 2GB chip in the 60CSx and have downloaded all of the continential US and the eastern half of Canada from CN V8, the northeastern region of TOPO, the northeast region of Topo 24K and the northeast region of BlueChart. I have a windshield mount and use it for driving, geocashing and marine navigation. It is one heck of a GPS.

 

I also love the C330. It is better suited for driving mainly because of the voice commands. It's also much faster to enter information via the touch screen. The larger screen is a big plus too. Also, the windshield mount is much stiffer and it doesn't vibrate the way the 60CSx does if you're not on a smooth road.

 

I just recieved CN V8 NT for the C330. Since I don't absolutely need both units, I'm debating whether to pay the $75 and download CN V8 NT or sell the unit on e-may for perhaps around $300.

 

If I was starting from scratch again, I'd just get the 60CSx, but I hate to part with the C330.

Edited October 7, 2006 by starbox189

[+Chuy!]

I have used my 60CS extensively for auto navigation and for geocaching. It has worked well, but I decided to get the newer 60CX for the better satellite connections. I can also verify that it will do things that a PDA cannot since last week while geocaching it came loose from my belt clip hit several trees while on its downward course and landed in about 1 foot of water. It survived. Try that with a PDA or many of the GPS's that are really intended for use in your auto.

I agree, a handheld unit is much more rugged. My 60cs has survived several drops from my bike adapter. However, the last time it hit pavement hard after going over a speedbump, and I then ran over it with my mtn bike. Amazingly the only damage was the clip button collapsed into the body. Good news: Garmin said they will repair/replace it, and the GPS is a year out of warranty! It never hurts to ask. I complained the housing bracket did not do a good job of holding the GPS, and it didn't.

[+kb7sei]

I didn't go integrated. I got a Lowrance H2O because it was cheap and capable for caching, and a Garmin C320 for car use. The C320 is great for car navigation, but you would have a hard time using it for caching. It seems to me, that the two areas have enough differences that using one for both would be non-ideal. There would be some pretty big tradeoffs. For example, the C320 is easy to use in the car, where you don't want to be distracted pushing a lot of little buttons. The H2O is much more capable. The C320 can be had pretty cheaply from costco.com right now. I think it was about $270 and included the software. You might want a bigger SD card, but there a a lot of pretty cheap ones out there right now.

 

I found that the POI loader works for the C320, so I can upload caches into it from GSAK and have it route me close to the cache on the roads. Then I can get out the H2O and go find it. It's a big timesaver. If you really want one for both, the 60CX with the City Navigator software is probably about as good as it gets.