Friend who is new to geocaching looking for a GPS unit, need recommendations

[Benz145]

Hello everyone. I was hoping I could get some advice on a new GPS unit to purchase. A friend is looking for one because she'd like to get into geocaching. I'm a novice cacher as well and I only have experience with one GPS unit - the one I own. Its a Nokia N810, and its basically a web browser first, and a GPS unit second, its not that great for GPS but it gets the job done. Anyway... I was hoping some of you might have recommendations for a new GPS unit for her to buy. There are only a few requirements -

• Around $250 or less
  
• Capable of everything required for caching
  
• Voice announced turn by turn driving instructions
  
• Decent battery life
  
• Car mountable
  
• User friendly (she is not tech savvy at all...)
  

I'm sure most GPS units fit the car and driving requirements, but without being able to handle the units myself and look through their software, I can't determine how well they work for caching. So please share your experience and make some recommendations! Thanks for any help.

[Source_GPS]

Hello everyone. I was hoping I could get some advice on a new GPS unit to purchase. A friend is looking for one because she'd like to get into geocaching. I'm a novice cacher as well and I only have experience with one GPS unit - the one I own. Its a Nokia N810, and its basically a web browser first, and a GPS unit second, its not that great for GPS but it gets the job done. Anyway... I was hoping some of you might have recommendations for a new GPS unit for her to buy. There are only a few requirements -

• Around $250 or less
  
• Capable of everything required for caching
  
• Voice announced turn by turn driving instructions
  
• Decent battery life
  
• Car mountable
  
• User friendly (she is not tech savvy at all...)
  

I'm sure most GPS units fit the car and driving requirements, but without being able to handle the units myself and look through their software, I can't determine how well they work for caching. So please share your experience and make some recommendations! Thanks for any help.

 

I would reccommend a Vista Hcx - it has all of the above except voice announced turn-by-turn directions (although it does turn-by-turn with beeps). Voice guided turn-by-turn directions are typically reserved for units intended to for automotive use and not geocaching. If geocaching is the primary use, then it would be reasonable to assume she may have to forfeit this option.

Edited February 8, 2008 by Source_GPS

[+Red90]

Garmin Legend HCX, around $200 plus accessories.

 

BUT, it won't have voice guidance. Voice guidance is mainly limitted to car units which are not really suitable for caching do to durability and water resistance limitations.

 

Then you need maps...... For $250 you won't get a GPS and maps.

[+StarBrand]

You sound like you would be happier with a good in-car unit with all the maps and voice directions. Some of those can be had for as low as $180.

 

Then I would add a small inexpensive handheld like the yellow Garmin etrex "H" model ($85 or so) to get out of the car and go Geocaching.

 

Car units with maps and voice and all just are not suitable for trail use Geocaching. The only rugged trail use unit with maps and voice would be something like the Garmin Quest II at around $500.

[+Team CowboyPapa]

I agree with all the above these are really two different genres of GPSr/NAV devices. I have both, a handheld DeLorme PN-20 GPSr for outdoor use, including geocaching, and an OEM, in-dash GPSr/NAV unit, with turn-by-turn voice guidance in my Jeep. There is very little overlap in the functional capabilities between the two.

 

Realize that I really couldn't pluck the factory equipped GPSr out of my dash and use it for geocaching, but it would still be almost useless for that if the cache were on a tree limb hanging out into the street.

 

Another issue is that altough my handheld can do Road Routing and give turn-by-turn "beep" warnings, I don't want to look at that little screen at freeway speeds. My in-dash in far safer with a 3" x 5" screen.

 

The $250 target is a real constraint here with the goal providing those two disparate sets of functionalities. I'd suggest looking at used handhelds and used windshield mounted, Tom Tom types at the Garage Sale fourm herein and on EBay.

 

Good luck!

[ao318]

Along with the voice vs the beep, another big difference between the car GPS and the hand help GPS that offers mapping for turn by turn driving is that the vehicle GPS can get auto updates for traffic and road hazards and make recommendations for an alternate route prior to reaching the hazard. The hand held cannot get auto updates, it will only recalculate a route if you decide to take an alternate route once you see the traffic or hazard.

 

What this means is that if you were going to drive 10 miles on the freeway and hit traffic the vehicle GPS would have recognized that and advised you to get off the freeway and take surface streets to avoid the delay. With the hand held you would have gotten stuck in traffic, decided to get off at the next exit and then the GPS would recalculate a new route to get you to your destination. Usually trying to get you back onto the freeway as soon as possible because it cannot get the information of where the actuall hazard may be.

 

If this feature is not important to you than I think the Legend HCX would be a great choice. If you want this feature than I would go down to a model that has an "H" in its name for the high sensitive receiver. The The Garmin eTrex H lists for just under $100.00, the eTrex Venture HC for under $140.00, or the eTrex Summit HC for under $185.00 all listed on Amzon.com.

 

Just for information only, I have the 60CSX and am very happy with it. I purchased it for the tide tables because I like to fish alot. I also did not need an actual car GPS. But I would have really liked the auto updating for traffic conditions the car GPS offers.

[cowboyshootist]

Once again I'll throw out the Magellan Crossover as the best choice for an all-in-one unit. It's not the best in class but it does have 3 separate nav modes. Vehicle, Outdoor and Marine. The Vehicle nave will do all the things you asked for. The Outdoor mode can be used for Geocaching but you will need paper (or PDA or something) to bring along the notes and hints you can get off the Geocaching site.

 

If you get a chance to look at one in the store keep in mind that there is a firmware update that makes the Vehicle nav more similar to the current Maestro units so you may want to look at one of those to get a better feel for the Vehicle portion. The Outdoor and Marine sections have not been updated yet but I have been told that there is an update coming in March.

 

PS - you can get one from Costco for $229 and they have a 90 day return policy.

Edited February 9, 2008 by cowboyshootist

[Parsa]

Costco has the eXplorist 500 on sale for $120. That's about the cost of an eXplorist 100.

 

Add maps (MapSend Topo 3D USA for instance) and the price will be about $180-200.

 

There are cradles for your car such as RAM mounts that are custom fit to the eXplorist series.

 

Parsa

[+rickydoodle37110]

i got a lowrance xog,reallly like it as it is road and trail freindly,cost 270 at basspro and love it ,great on road directions and point to point in caching,use it gets the cord right to the number and can load it directly from anywhere,hit go to then as i get there switch over to trail mode and go step by step toward a cache,its only drawback is at full lite on screen 2 hrs max on battery like,but in car rechargable recovers quickly.

[appletree]

The Quest original by Garmin will fit all of your requirements and works great both on the trail and in a car. The price for a new unit, including new maps for all of the US and Canada might be a little more than $300, but you might get a refurbished one for that figure and it should work equally well. There are no other models on the market that have voice prompts and the features necessary for caching. An old model, the GPS V, was designed as a dual-use device and you can get one really cheap but it doesn't do voice and is much less feature rich than the Quest.

[Benz145]

I'm kind of confused about this... I expected GPS units to come with maps built in, but nearly everyone is saying I'll need to get the in addition to the unit, what gives?

[phern47]

I'm kind of confused about this... I expected GPS units to come with maps built in, but nearly everyone is saying I'll need to get the in addition to the unit, what gives?

 

Most mapping GPS units have a basemap covering all of the U.S. The basemap is ok if you want to travel the main roads. Lots of the city streets are included in the basemap...especially the larger cities.

 

I live in Canada (Quebec) but my Lowrance IFinder Pro has a pretty good basemap of the U.S. Luckily, my used IFinder came with a topographical map on a locked SD card of most of Quebec, a bit of Ontario and New Brunswick. I do a lot of hunting and fishing and without the added topographical map, my unit would be a lot less fun to use.

 

However, if you want more detail, you will have to buy maps. The added detail is quite amazing. Expect to pay about 100 dollars per map system. Some users prefer topographical maps. Others prefer marine charts while others want more street detail. It's up to you to decide what you want.

[+briansnat]

I'm kind of confused about this... I expected GPS units to come with maps built in, but nearly everyone is saying I'll need to get the in addition to the unit, what gives?

 

Most handhelds require that you purchase the maps separately. One exception that I know of is the Garmin Quest, which fits all of your listed criteria (except for price).

[+rickydoodle37110]

my lowrance xog shows the roads in our area that are only 300 ft long and have no residence on them, i have been so very pleased with its operation, dont rule it out before looking ,there is no reason that i see to need anymore detail than it has on it now, when i can see a driveway ,,,thats good 'nough fer me.