Looking to Upgrade....your advice welcome....

[Ellery]

Hi all, getting back into geocaching after some time away from it. I'm looking to upgrade my current GPS (Magellan Meridan Color) and have narrowed down to 3 choices:

 

Delorme PN-20: Pluses....the included maps would be awesome, not having to pay extra for them, tho if I got the unit, I would likely use the included credit for either the color sat photos of my state or the 7.5 quads for my state.

 

Garmin Vista HCX: small, lightweight, seems to do all I would need.

 

Garmin 60CSX: a step up but is it really that better for the money than the Vista.

 

Using it for the highway is not a concern as I am using a Garmin Nuvi 200 for that.

 

What are your experiences: pros and cons about the 3 units? I'm planning on getting 2 of my nephews interested in geocaching and they seem exited about it. The way I have the three listed is the current order of preferablity for me, but depending on what I find out, any of the three may be the one.

 

Other concerns:

Battery life...the Magellan I use is a battery hog, would like something with more reasonable.

Electronic compass-Altimeter...options I really do want in my unit

Ease of transfering maps, info from the computer to the unit

 

Thanks for any information you can offer

 

Ellery

[+DoubleBogie6]

Hi all, getting back into geocaching after some time away from it. I'm looking to upgrade my current GPS (Magellan Meridan Color) and have narrowed down to 3 choices:

 

Delorme PN-20: Pluses....the included maps would be awesome, not having to pay extra for them, tho if I got the unit, I would likely use the included credit for either the color sat photos of my state or the 7.5 quads for my state.

 

Garmin Vista HCX: small, lightweight, seems to do all I would need.

 

Garmin 60CSX: a step up but is it really that better for the money than the Vista.

 

Using it for the highway is not a concern as I am using a Garmin Nuvi 200 for that.

 

What are your experiences: pros and cons about the 3 units? I'm planning on getting 2 of my nephews interested in geocaching and they seem exited about it. The way I have the three listed is the current order of preferablity for me, but depending on what I find out, any of the three may be the one.

 

Other concerns:

Battery life...the Magellan I use is a battery hog, would like something with more reasonable.

Electronic compass-Altimeter...options I really do want in my unit

Ease of transfering maps, info from the computer to the unit

 

Thanks for any information you can offer

 

Ellery

[+briansnat]

I don't know enough about the Delorme to provide an opinion. There was one complaint I saw here about them being really slow to draw screens.

 

As a far as the other two, both are excellent units. Being that you don't need it for vehicle use, I'd go with the Vista HCX because of its compact size. It would be hard to do better.

[+DoubleBogie6]

I have been using the Delorme PN-20 for about a year after going through several garmins and magellans. There is no comparison, really. It's all in the quality of the maps. The Delorme PN-20 is an excellent unit. Two AA rechargeable NiMH batteries will last for 12-14 hours of caching. Altitude is presented on the topo 7 maps. One deficiency is that there is no direct waypoint projection capability. Caching waypoints are easily managed via Topo 7. Topo 7 will also communicate with Garmin or Magellan units via Nema. Get the

Delorme, or better yet, find someone who owns one and spend a few minutes with it. Garmin makes good units but their topo maps (which are essential for caching and general and outdoor use) truly stink, and Magellan's are even worse.

[+The Cached Potatoes]

Hi all, getting back into geocaching after some time away from it. I'm looking to upgrade my current GPS (Magellan Meridan Color) and have narrowed down to 3 choices:

 

 

Unless you want your unit before Christmas, I'd hold off making a purchase decision until the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that's held in mid-January in Las Vegas.

 

That's when any about-to-be-released GPS units will be announced by the various manufacturers. For example, Garmin is about to release its new Colorado line of GPS units. They're almost certain to be shown off with lots of details at CES.

 

I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion on this forum about the new units that are on display at the CES.

 

Good luck.

[+Haffy]

Hi all, getting back into geocaching after some time away from it. I'm looking to upgrade my current GPS (Magellan Meridan Color) and have narrowed down to 3 choices:

 

 

Unless you want your unit before Christmas, I'd hold off making a purchase decision until the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that's held in mid-January in Las Vegas.

 

That's when any about-to-be-released GPS units will be announced by the various manufacturers. For example, Garmin is about to release its new Colorado line of GPS units. They're almost certain to be shown off with lots of details at CES.

 

I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion on this forum about the new units that are on display at the CES.

 

Good luck.

 

Colorado line? Hmmm where did you hear about that series?

[+The Cached Potatoes]

 

Colorado line? Hmmm where did you hear about that series?

 

Right here in this forum.

 

Click here to see the Garmin Colorado thread (first of many, no doubt).

[+embra]

I use and like the PN-20 (and don't find the screen redraws to be too slow). However, it does not have an electronic compass.