Finally getting a gps

[ryangrouse]

Not sure if anyone can help me here but its worth a shot. I recently got a gps, a ifinder hunter c from lowrance and I am not sure if this is what I want. I had been looking for a while at a garmin and just recently I had heard about delorme. I am brand new to this and have never used a gps so I will be learning as I go.

 

Here is what I would be using it for:

1. Mostly hunting and fishing, so I want to have topo maps and any other type of maps that would be helpful. Mainly I want to find features when hunting as well as older roads, such as logging roads and things like that. With fishing I would like to find depths and if possible various structures.

2. I would be using it in my truck for navigating on trips but this isn't a huge deal.

 

I have read that you have to buy map chips for your gps separate, so what is the best brand of topo maps as well as navigation maps?

 

Since this is my first gps and I will not be buying one for a while, I would like to get the best buy for my money. The ones I have considered are the Garmin Legend HCX or the Delorme pn-20 or should I stick withe the ifinder Hunter C.

 

Any tips or info anyone can give would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Ryan

Edited December 30, 2007 by ryangrouse

[Mag Magician]

I have never used a Lowrance GPSr, but love the fishfinders. Looking at Cabela's listing on this one, it seems very powerful and comes with topo maps included, which is good. You should be aware that the contours for underwater are not included on most topo maps, so you will have to mark your own (submerged log, big rock, etc.) waypoints as you find them. Personally, I would have a problem spending 500 bucks on anything other than a good Garmin and the related mapping programs.

JMHO

[+Miragee]

Welcome to the Forums!

 

I know someone who got the DeLorme PN-20 for Christmas who is going to send it back . . . Lowrance GPS units come highly-recommended by the people who have them. There just aren't as many people on these boards who have that model compared to those of us who have Garmin units. The Legend HCx, or the Vista HCx, are good choices if you decide to return the Lowrannce unit.

[phern47]

I have an IFinder Pro. It's very similar to your unit but your unit has colour and is more recent.

 

Your unit already has a basemap of the whole world. However, the basemap of the U.S. has more detail and many people don't even buy additional maps.

 

However, for hunting and fishing, having more detailed maps is almost a must.

 

You can buy Mapcreate or you can buy Freedom Maps on SD cards. I have Freedom maps of my area (Quebec) and it's great. Every little stream, pond, marsh and lake shows up on the screen. My older version of Freedom maps does not have the contour lines but this is not much of a problem since Quebec is not very mountainous anyway. The highest mountains are around 4000 feet. I use paper maps when I want to see the contour lines.

 

Anyway, these mapping programs add mucho detail to the basemap. You add the maps via an SD card. The slot is in the battery compartment. You can use up to 1G SD cards....maybe even larger than that. You can even modify the view of the maps on the IFinder by removing or adding info on the SD card. Meaning, you can remove all the roads or railways or county lines etc. So far, my older version of Freedom maps is very accurate. There are a few tiny backwoods roads or small city streets that are not exactly in the right place. They are sometimes off by 10 to 30 feet or so.

 

Buy a card reader if you do not already have one and buy an SD card. This way, when you you are saving a lot of waypoints, tracks, track points, trips, you can download them to the empty SD card and then empty your GPS's memory in order to add more waypoints, tracks etc. Great for those long camping/hiking/canoeing expeditions. When you get home, you can then download everything to a program on your PC. You can then reload that information back to the GPS anytime in the future if you want to.

Edited December 31, 2007 by phern47

[+Team DeLorme]

The PN-20 is all about the maps... keep in mind that I work for DeLorme but am an active upland hunter and fly fisherman too. The aerial imagery is great for seeing old logging paths in the back woods of Maine... the USGS maps are also great for seeing footprints of old homes and camps. Topo USA comes with the PN-20 giving you Topographic maps for the entire US and 100 dollars toward downloads of many other datasets like USGS quads, color aerial imagery and NOAA nautical charts. The beauty of the map topic is that you don't have to take my word for it, there are lots of screen shots on our website for you to check out. My guess is you've already seen some of them. Check out forum.delorme.com for more info too...

 

Don't forget about the 30-day money back guarantee either... Let me know if you have any questions and good luck with your research.

 

Chip Noble

Team DeLorme

[+Hoss1010]

Although new to the gps cult I did quite a bit of research and settled on either Magellan or Garmin. I eventually decided a Garmin 76CSx was most suitable. It even receives sat. signals inside buildings very well and is excellent in heavy foliage cover. I was told by the sales person it is the same as the 60CSx except the '76' is waterproof (resistant?) for the first 1/2 hour if dropped in water which might help for fishing. It also has tides, sun, moon scheds.

The one downside is the flap that covers the USB port - if your not careful removing the cable the flap will come with it.

 

I guess everyone has their 'druthers'.

 

Good luck with the search.

[+Hoss1010]

Although new to the gps cult I did quite a bit of research and settled on either Magellan or Garmin. I eventually decided a Garmin 76CSx was most suitable. It even receives sat. signals inside buildings very well and is excellent in heavy foliage cover. I was told by the sales person it is the same as the 60CSx except the '76' is waterproof (resistant?) for the first 1/2 hour if dropped in water which might help for fishing. It also has tides, sun, moon scheds.

The one downside is the flap that covers the USB port - if your not careful removing the cable the flap will come with it.

 

I guess everyone has their 'druthers'.

 

Good luck with the search.

[Tahosa and Sons]

I've just upgraded to a Legend HCX and its just an awesome little tool. The maps are good and battery life is just excellent.