hardycreek1 Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 (edited) Howdy Geocachers - I'm brand new to the sport & am cautious about buying a handhled GPS unit - $150 seems like a lot of money to spend on something I don't know much about. What is the best value for a beginner? What are your recommendations? Edited March 15, 2007 by hardycreek1 Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Ford, Chevy, Dodge...... Quite personal choice really. Quote Link to comment
+Whittling Fisher Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Most people I have met geocaching use a Garmin or Magellan. I personally prefer Garmin, but like I said that is just me. Both seem to work very well. Another thing you need to consider is what you want the GPS to be able to do. A simple Garmin etrex with a black and white screen will get you to a cache, but won't have any detailed maps. If you go up to a Etrex Venture Cx, then you will have a color screen and expandable memory to add maps (this is important if you want a GPS unit to cache with and use in the car for navigation). There are better units (Garmin 60Cx), but that is probably more than you want to spend since your budget is in the 100-200 range. I am not sure about Magellan's lineup of GPS units, but they seem to have similar counterparts to what I described for Garmin. Quote Link to comment
+egami Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Ford, Chevy, Dodge...... Quite personal choice really. Yeah, it's more of a model by model decision...making sure you get the basic features you want. I started concentrating more on what features I wanted then zeroed in on a make/model that fit the build. Quote Link to comment
+Jedi Cacher Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Howdy Geocachers - I'm brand new to the sport & am cautious about buying a handhled GPS unit - $150 seems like a lot of money to spend on something I don't know much about. What is the best value for a beginner? What are your recommendations? Depends on what your budget is. From the looks of it it looks like you are wanting to spend around $150. I am a begginer and have only been caching for a week. I settled for the standard Garmin Vista and it has worked well for me and easy to operate. My buddy said this is the unit he used over in Iraq. It has the non colored screen but does have 24MB of internal memory for added mapping. Sure you can spend more cash for more bells and whistles and a colored screen, but for me I just wanted something to get me started and with some memory for some additional mapping. Also the Vista has the compass and the altimeter features which I was wanting. For now I am happy with my purchase and will upgrade in a couple of years and maybe sell mine on Ebay or something. You can get the Vista for $167 on walmart.com or the unit and cigarette adapter and case for $204. Hope this helps and maybe make it up your way this summer. Quote Link to comment
+Dernel Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 I have now had a magellan colour, magellan meridian and explorist 600....and recently purchased a garmin 60Csx unit and appropriate mapping software for Australia. Trust me..although people say a personal choice etc...i have found the garmin unit much more robust, many more maps available, and tons more features in the standard software....... I should have bought this unit in the first place..... Your choice..most folks stick with a brand..i have used both..and i must say from my early Wow factor with the Garmin compared with top of the range Magellan unit...i would go garmin. I am sure many mfolks would disagree, however i have an explorist 600 sitting next to me that now refuses to turn on.... cheers, Derek Quote Link to comment
+Fuzzywhip Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 When I started just over a year ago, I was in the same place. I wasn't sure if I should spend a lot of money on a GPSr when I didn't know if I would get hooked (I did :-) I bought an eXplorist 100 on sale at a big box drug store and found the unit easy to use and very accurate. With over 140 finds with this unit, I still like the unit. I am considering upgrading to a 210 (for the PC connectivity and maps) but I'm not sure as my 100 is still very functional. Loading coords by hand is not a big handicap unless you live in an area with a HUGE number of caches to work. Still, manual coord entry is not a difficult thing. I tried a Garmin eTrex Legend and it seemed to be an excellent unit. I just found the screen too small (actually, I found the numbers displayed on the screen too small). My Magellan has larger numbers. Well, that's my two cents! Quote Link to comment
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