Buying Multiple Units

[dinovagsd]

Good morning. I have a family of 5, me, hubby, 3 kids, ages 10, 12, and 14. My husband has Garmin Street Pilot 2500-series, which of course won't be coming geocaching with us, but my Nuvi will. (It has already proven that it can find my car at Bloomsburg fairground. That was really fun!!! Boy did I have the foresight making that waypoint.)

 

Searching for my car at the fair that evening, I saw how into it my kids were. Son had his face "buried" in the GPS and off he went. We were all practically running to keep up with him. I think he really didn't want anyone to say, "let me see," and have to share.

 

So, 5 people 1 Nuvi. I'm fine using the Nuvi, don't want a "geocaching" unit (just because of the $, really). But I would like to be able to buy one for each kid. Maybe one for husband depending on opinions I get here.

 

After reading posts and reviews, I am finally leaning toward Legend, but then I see they are $200+. So I'm wondering how I should go about this. Buy one higher-end one then 2 other lower end. Would it be worth it to save around $200 by buying two $100 ones and one $200. Would one kid be so astray with the cheaper one (LOL). Doubt it with a Garmin

 

What about waypoints, maps, all that techy stuff? I guess I wouldn't necessarily need that on all 3 units, or would I? Hmm. I don't want it to be follow-the-leader.

 

We live in mountains in NE Pennsylvania but travel to dog shows, as far down as Virginia, up north, NY state.

 

I really hope there is a reasonably-priced way to do this and make it fair for everyone. As another gift idea, which might interest some, I'm getting them a metal detector, too. I look forward to your answers.

[+Miragee]

If you want to download the waypoints to the GPS units, I recommend getting a unit that connects to your computer with USB instead of with the Serial Port. Many newer laptop computers don't have Serial Ports and the Serial to USB adapters can be difficult to configure. Plus they can be expensive . . .

 

There are several newer Garmin units that connect with USB. The discontinued Legend C is also an option if you find a used one in good condition in the "Garage Sale Forum" or on eBay or Craiglist.

 

Garmin Topo maps can be installed to all the "Mapping" units you purchase. The City Navigator auto-routing maps have "Unlock Codes" and can only be installed to one of the handheld units you purchase.

[dinovagsd]

As a followup -- the end result:

 

Called Garmin: Go with Legend HCx or Venture Hc.

 

She pointed out that you don't want your kids in the woods and not be able to get satellite reception, so get something with "H" for high sensitivity.

 

Considering that a kid might indeed wander into woods now that he has a GPS, imagine that! And not so much here, but they have friends that live on 30+ wooded acres, so when they go over there . . .

 

Thanks to this board, I saw post this morning about Rei sale, so ended up buying Vista HCx, which is step up from two noted above.

 

Longer battery, POIs, router, compass, card, more saved tracks -- all at basically same price as Legend HCx.

 

Of interesting note, when I called Garmin, she entered my state, PA, and told me that my entire state takes 77 mb of memory. Venture I think had 24 mb capacity, so that's a lot of fiddling on computer adding and removing maps, as we travel out of state.

 

Again, thanks for the help.

[BelchFire]

You won't be sorry. And you won't have to upgrade for a long, long time.