Vista vs. explorist 210

[+IAOhana]

Hey all,

 

I'm new to the boards and new to geocaching, but I absolutely love it! I'm looking to purchase my first unit (I borrowed one until I knew I'd like it) and for my budget and features, I'm leaning towards the explorist 210. The nearest model from Garmin is the Vista, but it is a bit more for nothing significant (in my eyes).

 

Is this a good move? My budget is $150 or so, should I consider other units?

 

Thanks!

[GreatCanadian]

Hey all,

 

I'm new to the boards and new to geocaching, but I absolutely love it! I'm looking to purchase my first unit (I borrowed one until I knew I'd like it) and for my budget and features, I'm leaning towards the explorist 210. The nearest model from Garmin is the Vista, but it is a bit more for nothing significant (in my eyes).

 

Is this a good move? My budget is $150 or so, should I consider other units?

 

Thanks!

 

In my opinion for $150 you should check ebay for an Etrex Legend C....they are a recently discontinued model that you can get for a reasonable price....i'm sure there are lots of options, but if you are willing to spend $150 there are a few choices out there that are better than both of those you mentioned...also, check the garage sale forum here...there are some great deals there at times...

[+Lumpy_The_Great]

I have the 210, it has been an excellent first GPS for me. The only two things I would fault it for is that it cuts off the hint at 50 characters which is no big deal. However, the second thing is that it doesn't do projection. This is a HUGE deal for geocaching. Look at the Explorist 400. I am planning to by one later in the month simply for the projection.

[+gpsblake]

Is this a good move? My budget is $150 or so, should I consider other units?

 

Thanks!

 

If your main purpose is geocaching and with a budget of $150, the Explorist 210 will make a fine unit for you.

 

You can get a color Garmin Venture Cx unit for $150 if you include their rebate into the price. (around $200 before the rebate).

 

Now if you can stretch 50 more dollars into your budget, like the other poster said, the Explorist 400 is a better choice. Magellan is running a special now if you buy the 400, you can get the Topo software for $9.99 which makes it a really good deal. The 400 has waypoint projection plus the ability to use micro SD cards to store countless amounts of information.

 

But regardless of what unit you do get, it will do fine for geocaching.

[+IAOhana]

I have the 210, it has been an excellent first GPS for me. The only two things I would fault it for is that it cuts off the hint at 50 characters which is no big deal. However, the second thing is that it doesn't do projection. This is a HUGE deal for geocaching. Look at the Explorist 400. I am planning to by one later in the month simply for the projection.

 

Color me ignorant...could you point me to more information on 'projection' and why I might want it? I just haven't heard that term before! Thanks!

Edited October 12, 2006 by IA Ohana

[+gpsblake]

Color me ignorant...could you point me to more information on 'projection' and why I might want it? I just haven't heard that term before! Thanks!

 

A handful of geocaches require you project a waypoint. Here is one example of a cache that uses them. I say about 1-2 percent of geocaches involved projecting a waypoint.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCHRQ7

 

An example of projecting a waypoint is if you want to find a spot that is 400 feet NE from where you are standing. To do this, you project a waypoint to 45 degrees at 400 feet then go to that waypoint.

 

A little bit more complicated but this works also. You can still do these geocaches without projecting a waypoint. Using my example, simply walk 400 feet NE from the waypoint using your GPS compass and when you're arrow points SW 400 feet to the waypoint, you've just did the same thing and will arrive at the same spot as projecting a waypoint.

[+IAOhana]

I see, so basically projecting is not terribly unlike the old orienteering courses I did when is Scouts (I enjoyed those as well). Yes, slightly different, but still very similar.

 

Thanks for the responses and the information!

[carpetking]

We have had a Explorist 210 for about 3 months now. I first got hooked using my sisters Explorist XL. I actually like the 210 better because it is just the right size for me. We find that it handles an area of about 100 miles by 150 miles in it's built in memory. Plenty of room for the area I cache in. It is very easy though to upload new maps when I need to. If you could project when you were a scout, then you can project just like in the good old days. But I will admit, for those that don't know how to do projection, not having that function is a bit of a drag I guess (though I've yet to have needed it). We find the 210 rock solid in the trees and such, so we love the unit. Happy caching!

[+geognerd]

Is this a good move? My budget is $150 or so, should I consider other units?

 

Thanks!

 

If your main purpose is geocaching and with a budget of $150, the Explorist 210 will make a fine unit for you.

 

You can get a color Garmin Venture Cx unit for $150 if you include their rebate into the price. (around $200 before the rebate).

 

Now if you can stretch 50 more dollars into your budget, like the other poster said, the Explorist 400 is a better choice. Magellan is running a special now if you buy the 400, you can get the Topo software for $9.99 which makes it a really good deal. The 400 has waypoint projection plus the ability to use micro SD cards to store countless amounts of information.

 

But regardless of what unit you do get, it will do fine for geocaching.

gpsblake raised good points, but I would like to add a correction and my two cents.

 

The eXplorist 400 uses a regular SD card and the Venture Cx uses a microSD card. While microSD cards can be put into an SD adapter, I don't recommend it for the eXplorists because a forum user here had some reception problems when using the microSD card and adapter.

 

If I were the OP, I would definitely consider the Venture Cx because it has a color screen and Garmins are better at autorouting. The Venture Cx also has expandable memory whereas the 210 is fixed at 22MB.

 

I have an eXplorist 210 and 400, and they are fine receivers. I like their file system, and they have an edge over the Venture Cx in terms of signal reception.

 

The Venture Cx and eXplorist 210 are two of the better deals among GPS receivers at the moment.

[+Lumpy_The_Great]

Just wanted to let you all know. Amazon has the Explorist 500 for about $165. I just picked one up. I suspect, however, that this price drop is a prelude to either a discontinuation of the line or, hopefully, the release of next years models.

[+IAOhana]

Thanks for all the input. We ended up going with the Venture CX with the rebate from Amazon. After your input, I started debating between this one and the Explorist 400/500. What tipped it for me was the fact the Garmin took regular batteries over the 500. I like being able to grab batteries from any source if something happens while out in the sticks.

 

Thanks again, everyone. Can't wait to find my first cache with it!