Recommendations for Hunting Backpacking

[+instructor]

I need recommendations for a GPS unit for use while hunting and backpacking in remote areas. I have a Garmin StreetPilot i2 for in the car, so I don't need anything with those features. My main goal is to return to my vehicle at the end of a long day (or weekend) in the woods. I also want to be able to save a route to a favorite spot so I can return later using the same route. Also want to be able to dump the route to my PC so I can see where I've been. Are there other features I should be looking for? Maybe something with topo maps? Also would like to spend under $200.00. I can live without color. Any suggestions? TIA.

[+NightPilot]

I have a Garmin Legend that works fine for that. You can get maps for it, but the maps are expensive. The basemap on the Legend has major roads, but no topo info. That's plenty for me, though. I keep a waypoint named Truck, and I update it just before I leave the parking area, so I can retrace my track if I need to. You can save tracks and routes, and either backtrack or retrace from the beginning. There are more expensive models, with color, altimeter, electronic compass, more memory, etc, but for me they're overkill. I like my basic Legend, especially the battery life without all the extra stuff. Color screens eat electrons quickly, as do the other functions.

[+benjamin921]

Not quite in your price range but might be worth saving a little. DeLorme's hand held is almost here.

[+miles58]

This is a no brainer. iFinder -Go.

 

48 hour battery life. Small. Light. Waterproof. 16 channel + WAAS Sirf III. Durable. Cheap (<$75) new.

 

You can get some of the above in different units, but nothing else can give you all of it.

[Reth]

Sams Club has the Magellan Explorist 400 Wilderness Bundle (in store only) for $119.95. Can't beat that deal and it has everything you need.

[+briansnat]

One of the best bargains around now is the Garmin eTrex Venture CX which you can get for around $150 with the current rebate (good until Dec 31st). The eTrex line is compact and light weight, which is great for backpacking.

 

It only costs about $30 more than the previously mentioned Legend, but is a lot more GPS, with expandible memory, color screen, USB connection and autorouting.

 

Another good choice would be the Lowrance iFinder H20. Good unit and if you get the plus package you have topo maps, memory card and GPS for around $220. The GPS alone will run you around $135. Its bigger and bulkier than the Garmin, but is a very good all around unit.

 

I would avoid the iFinder Go that Miles58 recommended. It doesn't have an easy way to connect with the PC to dowload routes or save them to your PC.

Edited December 5, 2006 by briansnat

[Alphawolf]

I carry the Foretrex 101, loaded with Energizer Lithium batteries. It is the smallest, lightest GPS available (I even removed the goofy wrist strap to save more weight.) I have carried it for over 100 miles of backpacking the last two summers, and there isn't a single feature on any other single receiver, that would be worth carrying the extra weight as far as I am concerned. I don't like internal compasses (I think it is "backwards engineering" to design a compass that requires batteries, when one of the beauties of a compass is that it requires no batteries! Go figure!)

The 1:100,000 scale maps that are generally available on a GPS are next to worthless for off road trekking. You need 1:24,000 quads. So why bother with a mapping unit? Altimeter? What for? No use at all for an altimeter in hunting, backpacking. My paper 1:24,000 maps show me the altitude very effectively.

But...On the other hand, if you don't mind the extra weight, and don't care if you spend the extra money, then get one with all the bells and whistles. It won't help you navigate any better than the Foretrex 101, a paper map and a "real" magnetic compass. But...It will impress some people.

Edited December 5, 2006 by Alphawolf

[+miles58]

 

I would avoid the iFinder Go that Miles58 recommended. It doesn't have an easy way to connect with the PC to dowload routes or save them to your PC.

 

Unless you're too lazy or too dumb to go looking for it you can buy both cig lighter cables and PC cables for the Go now if you want them.

[GreatCanadian]

I carry the Foretrex 101, loaded with Energizer Lithium batteries. It is the smallest, lightest GPS available (I even removed the goofy wrist strap to save more weight.) I have carried it for over 100 miles of backpacking the last two summers, and there isn't a single feature on any other single receiver, that would be worth carrying the extra weight as far as I am concerned. I don't like internal compasses (I think it is "backwards engineering" to design a compass that requires batteries, when one of the beauties of a compass is that it requires no batteries! Go figure!)

The 1:100,000 scale maps that are generally available on a GPS are next to worthless for off road trekking. You need 1:24,000 quads. So why bother with a mapping unit? Altimeter? What for? No use at all for an altimeter in hunting, backpacking. My paper 1:24,000 maps show me the altitude very effectively.

But...On the other hand, if you don't mind the extra weight, and don't care if you spend the extra money, then get one with all the bells and whistles. It won't help you navigate any better than the Foretrex 101, a paper map and a "real" magnetic compass. But...It will impress some people.

 

I totally have to disagree with the comment on the mapping software being next to worthless. I have used both Topo for Canada and the US on my Legend CX and found it most worthwhile. I use it for hiking and for ATVing. I don't have the Legend so I can impress people with the color screen. I find the color screen much easier to read when the map gets cluttered. As for paper maps, yes I carry them. But have rarely taken them out. I have them in case the GPS dies, along with a regular magnetic compass. If your budget is $200, you can get the Legend CX for about $240, and then a $50 rebate. Some of the other choices mentioned are worthwhile as well. Someone mentioned the Venture CX as a great buy. And it certainly is. Just remember that you don't get the card or cable. If you have a digital camera, that cable would probably fit.

If you only want the gps to get you back to your truck, pick up a yello etrex on ebay for 30 or 40 bucks. Or an older Magellan 315 or 320. The lowend explorists can also be had for less than a hundred bucks. Or the Foretrex, as mentioned above. It's a fine gps, but to say that all the others have unnecessary junk is innacurate. When backpacking and in particular, hunting, I quite often am looking at contour lines and waterways to determine the layout of the surrounding area. I don't have to be taking out my paper maps all the time. My hunting track isn't planned, I go where my nose takes me (or where my dogs take me). Unless my gps indicates a lake in the way or a cliff. Can't do that on the Foretrex 101

Good luck in your search.

Edited December 6, 2006 by GreatCanadian

[+briansnat]

 

I would avoid the iFinder Go that Miles58 recommended. It doesn't have an easy way to connect with the PC to dowload routes or save them to your PC.

 

Unless you're too lazy or too dumb to go looking for it you can buy both cig lighter cables and PC cables for the Go now if you want them.

 

Unless there has been a major upgrade to the product, that cable is designed for NMEA output only. I understand that some people have been able to use it to load waypoints to the unit using NMEA commands, but its an undocumented (by Lowrance) process and not what I would call easy PC connectivity. The Go is not listed as a GDM6 compatible device by Lowrance. So I stand by my statement that it doesn't have an easy way to connect to a PC to dowload routes or save them to the PC. If the product has indeed been upgraded since I last used it, then I'd be happy to be corrected.

[+instructor]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to offer advice. I will check out all the units and make my decision, and send my request to Santa. Have a great Christmas everyone!

[+miles58]

 

Unless there has been a major upgrade to the product, that cable is designed for NMEA output only. I understand that some people have been able to use it to load waypoints to the unit using NMEA commands, but its an undocumented (by Lowrance) process and not what I would call easy PC connectivity. The Go is not listed as a GDM6 compatible device by Lowrance. So I stand by my statement that it doesn't have an easy way to connect to a PC to dowload routes or save them to the PC. If the product has indeed been upgraded since I last used it, then I'd be happy to be corrected.

 

It has the same connections and uses the same cable as the IFinder and iFinder pro.

 

It's not plug and play like on a USB, but it's not all that much trouble either.

 

I have a number of units to choose from, and when I go hunting, to Go is the one that I take in my pocket. The battery life alone is reason enough, let alone that it's a SIRF III and is as good as any unit made under the trees.

 

The only place the Go gives anything up to an H2O or any other full size Lowrance is the screen and maps, and that is a problem you have to live with if you want small. Frankly, even putting the base map on a screen that small actually makes the unit less useful rather than more.

[+briansnat]

It has the same connections and uses the same cable as the IFinder and iFinder pro.

 

So does it allow you to easily upload and download waypoints and routes now or doesn't it? If it does that is great news.

Edited December 6, 2006 by briansnat

[+miles58]

It has the same connections and uses the same cable as the IFinder and iFinder pro.

 

So does it allow you to easily upload and download waypoints and routes now or doesn't it? If it does that is great news.

 

I don't know about easy. Like I said it's not a USB connection, but it can do it. For hunting/backpacking with the number of routes the thing can store it seems a little foolish to worry about when you sure as bleep won't be toting the laptop out doing either.

 

If you're going to save a route you will either use it to come back out, or to go there again. In either case you need the route in the unit. The whole point of the GO is to have a small light unit with double the battery live of it's nearest competition. It will get you where you want to go, tell you where you are in relation to any other known point, and get you back out. With better sensitivity than anything close in size and weight, and SIRF III even if the prices were comparable why would you not get those features which you need for hunting/backpacking when you have a car/caching unit? Especially at the price.