Troop 246 Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 I Have a Garmin Road GPS and now i am just getting into geocaching and i am looking for a Handheld GPS just for Geocaching and hiking. i do not want to pay extra money for somthing i already have. any ideas are greatfull Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 What is your budget and What features do you want Just about any hand held GPS is going to work just fine from Magellan, Garmin or Lowrance. Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 (edited) Double post Edited July 31, 2007 by JohnnyVegas Quote Link to comment
Troop 246 Posted July 31, 2007 Author Share Posted July 31, 2007 What is your budget and What features do you want Just about any hand held GPS is going to work just fine from Magellan, Garmin or Lowrance. Sorry, around 200 or 300 dollars would be good. Quote Link to comment
+TrailGators Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 What is your budget and What features do you want Just about any hand held GPS is going to work just fine from Magellan, Garmin or Lowrance. Sorry, around 200 or 300 dollars would be good. I would look at the new Garmin HCX series. They have superior reception and expandable memory. Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 In the price Range there is the magellan explorist 500LE. These have a very good reciever, I have been using my Explorist 500 for over two years and the reception under tree cover is very good. It also uses expandable with an SD memory card. You can also store mutliple file the the Explorist 500. I cache in several geographic areas. On the SD card I have a cache file for each area that I travel to. Depending on were I am I just activate the file. The Explorist 500 sells for about $200.00 and the optional software can be found on line for about $85.00, This would be on the upper end of your price range, I do not know what the prices are for the new Garmin HXC versions, you might try TigerGPS.com, I have always seen good prices from them. Quote Link to comment
+Hynr Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 If you have Garmin maps already, and have not used all your unlock codes, then buying a Garmin would make the most sense. If you look around at geocaching events, you will note that a lot of geocachers have something out of the GPSmap 60 line. There are generally also a lot of eTrex units in use. You can find a number of threads in this forum comparing these. The only Magellan GPSr that has ever intrigued me has been the one that JohnnyVegas mentions and the 600. At the time I was making my purchasing decision, I found a lot of threads about flimsy joy sticks and buttons and other crappy things, and that Magellan's service sucks (looks like not much has changed). I don't recall what the price difference was, but I remember it not being worth the potential aggravation. Quote Link to comment
+Thrak Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 I Have a Garmin Road GPS and now i am just getting into geocaching and i am looking for a Handheld GPS just for Geocaching and hiking. i do not want to pay extra money for somthing i already have. any ideas are greatfull A routing handheld isn't the same as "something you already have". I can put the coordinates of a cache into my 76CSx and have the unit route me there. I was under the impression that most automotive units won't allow you to enter coordinates. It's not like I can enter an address for a geocache......... Quote Link to comment
risslerp Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 A routing handheld isn't the same as "something you already have". I can put the coordinates of a cache into my 76CSx and have the unit route me there. I was under the impression that most automotive units won't allow you to enter coordinates. It's not like I can enter an address for a geocache......... At least on my StreetPilot 2610, I can mark a waypoint then edit the location by changing the coordinates. Quote Link to comment
+Thrak Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 A routing handheld isn't the same as "something you already have". I can put the coordinates of a cache into my 76CSx and have the unit route me there. I was under the impression that most automotive units won't allow you to enter coordinates. It's not like I can enter an address for a geocache......... At least on my StreetPilot 2610, I can mark a waypoint then edit the location by changing the coordinates. Cool. I wasn't aware that you could do that with automotive units. I'll still stick with sending the nearest 300 caches to my unit from GSAK. Quote Link to comment
+PIERRE46 Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 I would go with the Garmin H series because of the reception sensitivity. They weren't available when I bought my Magellan Explorist 500. I like it alot but Magellan doesn't do well with customer support. They are currently upgrading their computer system. If you need to download anything or an unlock code from their web site, they can't help you until their done supposedly on 8-15-07. Welcome to geocaching. Quote Link to comment
+Marky Posted August 2, 2007 Share Posted August 2, 2007 A routing handheld isn't the same as "something you already have". I can put the coordinates of a cache into my 76CSx and have the unit route me there. I was under the impression that most automotive units won't allow you to enter coordinates. It's not like I can enter an address for a geocache......... At least on my StreetPilot 2610, I can mark a waypoint then edit the location by changing the coordinates. Cool. I wasn't aware that you could do that with automotive units. I'll still stick with sending the nearest 300 caches to my unit from GSAK. GSAK and GPSBabel will download directly to Tomtom POI format. I have over 9000 geocache POIs downloaded to my Tomtom 910. I also download my caches that need maintenance to a different POI category. I can set a proximity alarm that will go off if I drive within 1 mile of any of my caches that need maintenance. That is very handy. Having the ability to download unlimited geocache POIs is nice too. --Marky Quote Link to comment
w_zurell Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 In the price Range there is the magellan explorist 500LE. These have a very good reciever, I have been using my Explorist 500 for over two years and the reception under tree cover is very good. It also uses expandable with an SD memory card. You can also store mutliple file the the Explorist 500. I cache in several geographic areas. On the SD card I have a cache file for each area that I travel to. Depending on were I am I just activate the file. The Explorist 500 sells for about $200.00 and the optional software can be found on line for about $85.00, This would be on the upper end of your price range, I do not know what the prices are for the new Garmin HXC versions, you might try TigerGPS.com, I have always seen good prices from them. Is there a compass feature on the Explorist 500LE? Quote Link to comment
+gpsblake Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 Is there a compass feature on the Explorist 500LE? Only a GPS based compass, not a magnetic compass. The Explorist 300 and 600 are the one Magellan units to have a magnetic compass. And the 300 can't communicate with your computer nor accept maps. If the unit is going to be used for geocaching, really any unit that will connect to your computer will be good enough. The Garmin H series is probably the best in your budget range but a few little bugs have come up with them. Garmin does have a history of fixing bugs pretty fast though. But nearly everyone is raving about them (of course, every new unit that comes on the market, geocachers rave about them). Legend HCx would be my choice and a Vista HCx if you really need a magnetic compass and barometric altimeter. However, finding a geocache depends more on the finder's skill rather than accuracy of the unit. Quote Link to comment
+casey97 Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 I know people with an Etrex they got from e-bay with 400+ finds and I know people with the top of the line equipment with less than 50. One person recently started with a borrowed plain yellow Etrex and finds about 15 a month. A friend bought everything top of the line last month and has found 2. So it really does not matter how good your equipment is, if you do not get out there. Like any hobby start off cheap, and upgrade later. This way you will appreciate what you have. Save as much money as you can on equipment, to pay for Poison Ivy shots. Quote Link to comment
rjhollan Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 A routing handheld isn't the same as "something you already have". I can put the coordinates of a cache into my 76CSx and have the unit route me there. I was under the impression that most automotive units won't allow you to enter coordinates. It's not like I can enter an address for a geocache......... I have a 76CSx... how do I have it route me to the cache via roads? I've been just guessing all this time, or printing hard copy maps to get me "close"..... Thanks! Rich Quote Link to comment
Keith Arnold Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 I guess Garman is a good GPS from what everyone is saying, but I like my Lowrance iFinder. It was cheap, does what it needs to do and since I have started using it there was only 1 cach I could not find. And many of the posts for that cache that didn't find it (trees overhead, HEAVY), said they were GARMAN users. So... Quote Link to comment
+Bushlight Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 A routing handheld isn't the same as "something you already have". I can put the coordinates of a cache into my 76CSx and have the unit route me there. I was under the impression that most automotive units won't allow you to enter coordinates. It's not like I can enter an address for a geocache......... I have a 76CSx... how do I have it route me to the cache via roads? I've been just guessing all this time, or printing hard copy maps to get me "close"..... Thanks! Rich I dont' know about the 76.But on the 60.When you go to the cache page and press goto on the cache you want.It'll ask if you want to follow road or off road. Quote Link to comment
+NinjaCacher! Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I dont' know about the 76.But on the 60.When you go to the cache page and press goto on the cache you want.It'll ask if you want to follow road or off road. That only seems to work if you have loaded a map that supports that, ie. City Navigator. I've got MetroGuide and it doesn't allow you to do it. Quite annoying actually, I thought it would allow it. (obviously the base map doesn't either..) Quote Link to comment
+nohocache Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Stay away from the Magellan explorist 500LE, it is a total piece of garbage. Won't recognize data on SD card, door does not seal tight and lets water in, drops signals in an open field with no cloud cover. Tech support is like a Saturday Night Live spoof skit, only it is for real. Battery clip will last one month with regular use. You need to pry out LIon Battery with a knife to get it out. Software is not Vista compatible. Absolute disaster in every way. Quote Link to comment
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