rjhollan Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 I've got a Garmin 76CSx we recently purchased primarily for Geocaching. I've got 3 kids (ages 5-8) and we've been taking turns carrying the unit and acting as the "guide".... but I thought it would be neat to get them each their own units, so we can all track the cache independently. Does anyone have a good recommendation for a sub-$200 (under $100 is great, but probably lacking features) unit for the kids to use? Something that's easy to navigate (not too many pages/buttons), but that would let me interface with the PC to pre-load the GCxxxxx waypoints like I do with my 76CSx? Thanks! Rich Quote Link to comment
+Chuy! Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 If you have a serial connection on your computer, try the Geko 201. With three children, I'd look at eBay. Maybe get the grandparents to buy one or two on birthdays and Xmas, etc... Quote Link to comment
+Miller Family Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Not sure what features your kids need but my daughter (11) bought a Garmin Yellow for $40.00 on ebay (thought her purchasing the unit would help her take better care of it) , and my son (9) a Garmin III that I traded with another cacher for a police scanner. Both gpsr's are not fancy but they do the kids just fine. And if they bust it, I am not out much $. Good Luck, I know my kids really enjoy having their own units, and so does dad. The Miller Family Quote Link to comment
+Timpat Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Right now you can buy a Garmin Legend 8MB mapping unit on Amazon.com for under $125! Both my kids, who are now 8 and 11, started using our Legend at 5 yrs old, and it is still in our GPSr stable serving us well. Quote Link to comment
+Knight2000 Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 My son is saving his money to get his own. There are some cheaper units out there but i think if he didn't have a WAAS unit he would get discouraged. Quote Link to comment
rjhollan Posted July 16, 2007 Author Share Posted July 16, 2007 Right now you can buy a Garmin Legend 8MB mapping unit on Amazon.com for under $125! Both my kids, who are now 8 and 11, started using our Legend at 5 yrs old, and it is still in our GPSr stable serving us well. That looks like a great unit; is there a serial to USB converter for it? I don't have any free serial ports, and connect my 76CSx via USB to transfer waypoints now... Quote Link to comment
+ByrnedFish Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Right now you can buy a Garmin Legend 8MB mapping unit on Amazon.com for under $125! Both my kids, who are now 8 and 11, started using our Legend at 5 yrs old, and it is still in our GPSr stable serving us well. That looks like a great unit; is there a serial to USB converter for it? I don't have any free serial ports, and connect my 76CSx via USB to transfer waypoints now... you can get a serial to usb converter at best buy or comp usa... thats what i did Quote Link to comment
rjhollan Posted July 17, 2007 Author Share Posted July 17, 2007 My son is saving his money to get his own. There are some cheaper units out there but i think if he didn't have a WAAS unit he would get discouraged. When I look at the specs on the Garmin site, does "High-sensitivity receiver" yes/no mean it has WAAS? Or do I need to check somewhere else? Thanks, Rich Quote Link to comment
Rapt0r9 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 (edited) My son is saving his money to get his own. There are some cheaper units out there but i think if he didn't have a WAAS unit he would get discouraged. When I look at the specs on the Garmin site, does "High-sensitivity receiver" yes/no mean it has WAAS? Or do I need to check somewhere else? Thanks, Rich High-Sensitivity receiver means that the GPS has the SiRFstar III chipset which is able to use weaker radio signals from the satelites. If it has the SiRFstar III chipset, it has WAAS capabilities. The SiRFstar III chipset can support 20 GPS satelites or 12 GPS satelites and 4 WAAS satelites. Seeing as how there are rarely more than 12 satelites visible in one location, using WAAS just makes sense with SiRFstar III. Edited July 18, 2007 by Rapt0r9 Quote Link to comment
+Knight2000 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 My son is saving his money to get his own. There are some cheaper units out there but i think if he didn't have a WAAS unit he would get discouraged. When I look at the specs on the Garmin site, does "High-sensitivity receiver" yes/no mean it has WAAS? Or do I need to check somewhere else? Thanks, Rich I may be wrong but i assume that all newer units are WAAS units. Its those older units (Like 10+ years old) that are on eBay for $20 that arent WAAS units. They would work fine for hunting or trails or fishing i suppose, but more more difficult to use for pinpointing that cache. Quote Link to comment
+Team_Wilson Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 I bought several Foretrex 101 units a couple of months ago. Paid $50.00 each at Aldi's. They work great and strap to the Kids arm so they don't drop them. Quote Link to comment
+trooperdjb Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 I bought several Foretrex 101 units a couple of months ago. Paid $50.00 each at Aldi's. They work great and strap to the Kids arm so they don't drop them. I'll second the Foretrex 101 from Aldi's. I got the same one for my son. It generally works really well, the only drawback is that it doesn't lock onto satellites as well as my 60 CSx so sometimes when we're driving or under heavy cover he loses signal. Make sure you get a USB to serial adapter for downloading caches. I saw on Garmin's site that the basic eTrex now has the high sensetivity receiver. Might be time to upgrade Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.