More than one GPS?

August 10, 2007

I was just curious about how many geocachers own more than one GPS receiver, and what is their reasoning behind it? I'm under the impression that if you purchase more than one GPS, you're really just wasting your money on an extra unit.

22k · August 10, 2007

Try being a geojunkie and then lose your gps. You'll know why.

I have four. (Two is enough but I happen to have four). I have a 76cs with mapping that I use to drive me to the area and a Legend (basic) to get me down the trail. As a back up I have a GPS V, (a fantastic gps by the way) and a crappy old Vista. (Kind of like taking Grandpa out caching. An extra effort but still fun)

Edited August 10, 2007 by BlueDeuce

11.3k · August 10, 2007

I have two. I needed to get one as a "spare" when one was being repaired and a trip was rescheduled for an earlier date. I have rarely used that "spare" unit, but I've got it, should I need it again.

14.3k · August 10, 2007

I have two because I upgraded my original Legend to a 60CS.

August 10, 2007

I have three: one for geocaching (Vista HVx) and two on the saiboat: one fixed mounted Garmin 162 and one hand held GPSMAP76. All three have map capabilities. All three are heavily used for different purposes. Hard to take the fixed mounted inside the cabin of the sailboat . . . yet while sailing there is little use for a hand held.

The handheld on the sailboat becomes my back up should my gps unit have problems.

Edited August 10, 2007 by Dakota Jim

August 10, 2007

I have two gps units, actually four if you count our two cell phones.

The Garmin Legend was bought off ebay and is used for geocaching.

My Garmin c330 was a Father's Day gift this past June, we use it in our

car.

Regards,

Zwei

24.7k · August 10, 2007

Personally I can't use two at once. If I needed a spare I'd just buy another and then junk the worse of the two when my other GPS turned up.

I'm talking hand helds. If I had a Car based GPS I'd probably leave it in the rig or if I was really rich get one for every rig and then just leave it.

Edited August 10, 2007 by Renegade Knight

1.6k · August 10, 2007

Have two now, each has pros & cons:

- Magellan Meridian Platinum: almost unlimited number of waypoints. I have over 28,000 benchmarks & geocaches on it. Electronic Compass - love it.

- Delorme PN-20: Awsome mapping capabilities (see my post 4th down). Hands down 20X better than anything Garmin or Magellan makes (at present). Excellent Transflective color display. Great power flexibility.

I'm evolving toward taking one or the other, depending on what I'm doing: Maggy for benchmark hunting, Delorme for serious hiking / biking / geocaching.

1.3k · August 10, 2007

I own three.

Etrex yellow - when it first came out, bought it for hiking, discovered geocaching. No WAAS. Still works great.

Etrex Legend - because I discovered geocaching, wanted a cable, and mapping. At the time, 8MB was considered enough memory for mapping. Still works great, been dropped a dozen times, strached up, rubber came off, rode from SC to TX on my bike trip.

Etrex Legend-C - because I wanted to load up on maps for bicycle touring and out of town trips. Plus the cool colors and much improved night viewing and with dozens of bells and whistles.

Now considering a new Etrex yellow H or one of the new Triton 400 when it hits the street. If I get the yellow H, it will be a geocaching and benchmark hunting only unit. If I get the 400, it's to test it out and see how it handles bike riding.

August 10, 2007

Currently stting on four, but it's all come about as sort of an evolution:

Compact Flash GPSR currently in my Compaq Ipaq - this was my first and it used to be in the car running TT. I have replaced the card for a SIRFIII one after the original died.

Garmin 60CSX - this is my main handheld for geocaching etc. I did part with my Vista when I got this.

TomTom 510 - used for in car nowadays, also it's my hands free phone, and traffic advisor

Garmin Forerunner 301 - I use this running and sometimes other sports

The only one I could live without is the CF / Ipaq combination - the others fit specific roles better than any combined unit could.

August 10, 2007

We have three standalone GPSrs that we use. Admittedly, one is the primary, and the others are relegated to backup duty.

-Lowrance iFinder Expedition C: Color screen, SD card slot, barometric altimeter, magnetic compass, yadda yadda yadda. This one is the easiest to get caches onto, so we use it most frequently. It is also the only one that came with a cigarette lighter adapter, so any time we're in the car for more than a few minutes, we take that one (if we need a GPS, that is).

-Magellan MAP 330: Calvin's backup. $12 thrift store find. Lots of little features that are nice, but not required. Sun/Moon position indicators on the compass page, altitude profile, etc. This one is the best GPS we have ever used under tree cover.

-Garmin eTrex Legend (blue): Chamberlyn's backup. Sort of a staple of contemporary civilian GPSrs. Our first GPSr, we bought it because Calvin's parents had two, and it was familiar. Sucks under tree cover.

In addition, we have a Magellan GPS companion for Handspring Visor, which is more of a novelty than a serious GPS unit, but we've used it for geocaching plenty of times.

Mostly we're just pack rats. We get a new GPS somehow, and we just can't bring ourselves to get rid of the old ones. It also is particularly cool to have more than one for caches like GPS Accuracy Checker.

August 10, 2007

I have four. Garmin 38 my first, 12xl, LegendC, 60cxs. All working. Upgraded as I went along. And Delorme Earthmate for my laptop.

Edited August 10, 2007 by S.A.R 29

2.2k · August 10, 2007

Magellan eXplorist 200..............first gps. got it as a birthday present. Good backup and demo model

eXplorist 300...........................present. still in box.

eXplorist 500...........................main unit. use with directroute mapping. Love it!

etrex legend (blue)..................purchased when my Sportrak map got stolen. It sucks.

another eXplorist 500...............bought when I thought I had lost my first 500, which I later found.

So that makes 5!

August 10, 2007

Hey Boardslider.

I also have TomTom 510 & Garmin 60CSx.

We must have the same taste & thinking.

Won't update unless I have to. If the Garmin breaks, I will replace with one of the new 'H' series or the Triton. If the TomTom breaks , I will live with the Garmin for as long as it lasts.

August 10, 2007

We have 6 in our house :laughing: one Garmin GPS V, two Garmin 60CSx, two Garmin c320, and one Garmin Nuvi 360

all working great... Why, because they're fun :wub:

1.7k · August 10, 2007

To head off the possibility this goes off-topic: If you wish to simply enumerate the GPS receivers you have, feel free to contribute to the Inventory Time topic.

As for the OP's question, I have two right now and used to have three. The reason I have two is that I occasionally use GPS in my work. I don't use it enough at work to have the office buy one, but GPS can be awfully useful at times. I also do occasional workshops about GPS for teachers and use my personal equipment (eX400 & eX210) in addition to the old GPS 315s the office bought a few years before I started working there.

I'd hate to need my GPSr for work and not have one available because I broke or lost it while caching.

Edited August 10, 2007 by geognerd

1.6k · August 10, 2007

MagPlat - to route me to the cache

MageXp600 - to hike with me to the container.

1.7k · August 10, 2007

I have had a lot of GPSs. Now we hsve three on at the same time on the dash. Use a Quest 2 for autorouting, 76C on and set to off road. Helps me judge where the cache is and if the Quest is routing correctly. My wife uses a 76S and we also have it set to the compass page. She keeps an eye on it and it keeps it alive until we stop to look for the cache. We use the 76C and 76S for the actual hunt. Dick

August 10, 2007

I'm not actually a geocacher, but I currently own six hand-held GPS receivers, in addition to the ones in my cars. Why? Because there's always something new coming out, with features that I want. And I'm really bad about selling my old ones.

The current line-up is:

Garmin Vista (the original one) -- This was my first mapping unit

Magellan SporTrack Color -- My first color unit

Garmin 60C -- I liked the form factor, and preferred the Garmin map sets

Garmin 60CSx -- I wanted the high-sensitivity receiver, and the built-in compass and barometer (Still in use)

Garmin Vista Cx -- The 60CSx handlebar mount proved not secure enough on my bicycles, so I got this one for use on the bike. (Still in use)

Garmin Vista HCx -- I wanted the high-sensitivity receiver, and it will be replacing the Cx on my bike, but I didn't realize I couldn't transfer my Garmin City Navigator maps from the old unit to the new one. The stand-alone 2008 maps aren't availabe yet, and I'm not going to purchase another v8 license AND have to purchase another copy of the upgrade, so the new HCX is currently as useful as a small rock, while I wait for City Navigator 2008 to go on sale.

Garmin's "map license permanently wedded to a single physical unit" policy is problematic for someone like me, who likes to buy their latest products. I'd like to use my existing license, and disable the product on the old unit. This is how Adobe lets the user manage licenses. You can "deactivate" the product on one computer, and enable it on another.

1.4k · August 11, 2007

We have two.

The first is a Lowrance iFinder GO. Very compact and inexpensive, superb WAAS reception in tree cover; though someone who caches enough to download waypoints all the time (not us, but most serious cachers out there) will hate this unit. We love it though and this is our main "caching" GPS.

The second is a Lowrance iWay 100M. We use this in our car, but it is unique in that in is shaped like a large handheld and can mostly be used for caching (lacks compass rose and a few other things, though you can download waypoitns). If we're going on a cache hunt that is a decent hike (like more than about 1/5 mile into woods), I'll bring this as well because it has decent maps (and topo capability) which the iFinder GO doesn't (though it's reception is a lot worse and in deep tree cover I usually need to use the external antenna).

2.6k · August 11, 2007

I have seven. 5 Magellan Platinums ( 3 bought on ebay), an Etrex ( we started with this), and a Foretrex( jogging, biking).

We now use the platinums only. My wife and I always cache together and have our own units........we take long road trips and I feel at least one spare is necessary ( I bring two ) as the units get dropped on occasion, etc.( no failures to date however.) I guess you only need 2 SD cards but I carry a spare one as well.

Bottom line, I would not leave home ( unless you're caching locally) without a spare GPS and a spare PDA ( if you're paperless).......these are not as hardy as a GPS and are more prone to field failure)

5.3k · August 11, 2007

At this time I own the folloeing, Magellan Meridian gold, Magellan Sport trak color, Magellan explorist 500, and a Garmin street pilot C320.

Well this is easy Technology changes over time, While my Magellan Meridian gold and sport track color still work and both offer turn by turn navigation, they do not offer audio directions, I bought the Garmin street pilot on sale at fry's for $150.00, the street pilot replaced my maridian gold. My explorist 500 replaced my sport track color. The sport track color was one of the first GPSrs to offer a color screen but is not a very good screen as far as brightness. My next GPS will be one of the New Magellan Tritons

If you are buying two GPSrs in the same catagory at the same time this may be the case. But if you area buying a handheld GPS you might also find yourself wanting a GPS the includes voice navigation while driving, If you buy a GPS that is desinged to use in a car, in most cases it is going to be larger and it will not be water proof.

2.5k · August 11, 2007

We've got five between the two of us:

2 Garmin eTrex Legends. I bought him one to use for work (he drives a truck) and he bought me my own so I wouldn't use his when we went geocaching.

1 Garmin Map60CS- I bought him for Christmas so he'd have autorouting.

1 Garmin Map76CS- He bought me for Christmas so I'd have autorouting.

1 Garmin Map60CSX - we bought for a great price from a friend who stopped geocaching.

We kept the eTrex Legends so we can lend them to the kids or to friends when they geocache with us.

2.4k · August 11, 2007

There are two of us, and we currently have two (both of them are Vista C units). We have had up to four in the past, usually due to keeping our old units for a while after upgrading to new ones. It's always nice to have a backup in case one breaks or gets temporarily lost (amid all the junk that piles up in the house because you don't have time to do any housecleaning because you're always out caching :cry: ), or to lend to a friend/relative who wants to see what this "geo-thing" is all about. Eventually we end up selling the spare ones.

When we upgrade again (hopefully soon -- that Vista HCx is looking very appealing!), we will keep our current units permanently this time. They're not in good enough shape to sell -- the rubber gaskets are loose, and we've dropped them so many times that they look pretty battered. (Also, I'm a letter carrier, and I want to keep one in my big bag o' postal stuff in case they ever send me out to do a route I've never been on before.)

1.4k · August 12, 2007

I have three, a Garmin 2610 for trips, an iFinder Hunt for caching, and a Fortrex 101 that I use as a pedometer to keep track of how far we walk while spending a day caching.

August 12, 2007

Myself, I have several, all kept around because they serve different uses.

My most used units are my forerunners. The more I age, the more I found I have to log a lot of aerobic miles to keep things running smoothly with the tired old body. My 305 helps me get the most of my outdoor workouts through heartrate, speed, distance inputs.

I use my Vista C for hiking/backpacking which I try to do quite often. I also use it for geocaching which although it's something I quite enjoy, I don't seem to get around to doing very often.

In my cars, I have an I3 and C320, which work wonderfully for vehicle navigation. Myself I can't see being without the voice when I'm using GPS in the car.

My old GIII+ is the unit I still use in my boat. I have it set up with an external antenna. While it's an older unit, the maps and capability still work great for what I need with the inland lakes I boat on.

In the end, they really don't make a single unit that does everything well. The vehicle units are great, but not really suitable for hiking. The small wrist units are great for jogging, short hikes etc. but really limited in navigation and geocaching type features. The rugged handheld units while almost perfect on the trail, are somewhat lacking when it comes to vehicle navigation.

August 12, 2007

I have four, although I really only use two:

- Garmin 76CSx - Use for driving, rafting, kayaking

- Garmin Legend Cx - Use for biking, hiking and caching

- Garmin 60CS - My backup for whenever I need it

- Garmin Legend - My first GPS, it has traveled the world with me so I still have it

I really could do with just two but what the heck, never know when the kids will want to use one.

5.3k · August 12, 2007

This thread is indeed heading in that direction and if it continues, it will be closed. Please use that thread to list what you have or find out what others have. Please limit this thread to the topic raised by the OP.

More than one GPS?

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