GPS/Garmin Features

[+HopsMaltYeast]

Help in pulling the trigger on a new Garmin – features vs price – usefulness of features.

 

I have a 10-year-old Garmin GPS12 – no maps, no cables, plain jane. It works fine. It generally puts me within 1 to 3 steps of caches that are in the open. My only complaints and reasons to upgrade: it is big and heavy, takes 4 batteries for about 8 to 10 hours use, it is slow to acquire sats and readings, under trees it can be verrrrrry slooooow and inaccurate.

 

All the new Garmins use only 2 batteries and deliver from 75 to 250% more run time than my GPS12 on 4 batts.

 

How useful are the features and whistles and bells as you move up the purchase price?

 

I am pretty much narrowed down to:

 

eTrex H ($100) pretty much the same as my old unit except, 17 hr batts, High antenna and has serial cable.

Venture HC ($155) 14hr batts, USB

Legend HCx ($195) 25hr batts, USB, auto route turns, micro-slot

Vista HCx ($250) 25hr batts, USB, auto route turns, micro-slot, compass/baro,

 

I think I do not need or care about the electronic compass or barometric altimeter features.

I have never come close to using all the memory in my old unit, waypoints, tracks or routes.

 

How worthwhile is the map feature? It looks cool and fun; is it useful as a practical matter?

 

Auto route Turns? What is this?

 

Memory vs data cards? Venture has 24MB built in and no slot for data card, the Legend and Vista have slot and no memory? Do cards normally come with the unit and do you need to buy them if they don’t?

 

Well, I guess writing this out has helped me organize my thinking and I am leaning towards the Legend for the maps and battery life issue. But I am unclear about built-in memory vs a card? It looks like all would gain with the Vista HCx is the compass and baro alt. That I doubt I would need. If I walk 5 or10 feet with my old Garmin the compass works. I live in Florida where the altitude in most of the state varies only from 0 to about 30 feet. If I hike in No. GA or NC I always have a topo map with me and know the altitude from that.

[+StarBrand]

I like the Legend HCx the best from your list above.

 

As far as Geocaching, none of the whistles and bells are ncessary for finding caches but they do make it a bit easier. The Autoroute ability is the ability to have the unit guide you on roads to a spot close to a cache (or any address). It will tell you when to turn. If you miss a turn it will automatically re-route you where you want to go. However you need to spend another $100 or so to buy the City Navigator maps from Garmin.

 

Extra memory is only useful for loading more map data.

 

The legend HCx is rugged, reliable, fast locking, holds lock nder trees, color screen, USB transfers, long battery life, expandable memory, auto routing, small, east to hold.

 

If you really don't need the maps go with the Venture HC.

[+Zolgar]

I would personally say one that's got USB capability at least.

 

The micro SD slot and driving directions can be useful. Especially if you intend to get the street maps for it (which legally, are expensive as hell. But we're in the age of pirates.) But for geocaching neither of those is a must.

 

But with a Garmin unit a PC interface is really nice. Two clicks and you have the cache as a waypoint

 

Personally I have a Vista HCx. For your uses though, the Legend or Venture would probably work just fine too.

And, check Amazon on the prices. might be able to get 'em cheaper.

Edited February 23, 2008 by Zolgar

[Mag Magician]

I started geocaching with a Magellan GPS310, which had no mapping capabilities, no PC connect, and only read off two digits on the decimal. When I upgraded to the E-trex Legend, that seemed to be the ultimate in GPSrs at that point, and I'm still using it. It's accurate, reliable, and functional.

[+Zolgar]

How worthwhile is the map feature? It looks cool and fun; is it useful as a practical matter?

 

Auto route Turns? What is this?

 

Memory vs data cards? Venture has 24MB built in and no slot for data card, the Legend and Vista have slot and no memory? Do cards normally come with the unit and do you need to buy them if they don’t?

 

Sorry for the double reply, but I noticed these questions.. so it's time to be a tech nerd. >.>

 

The map feature/auto route. Well, it's useful if you use the GPSr for more than geocaching. Or if you don't tend to have the best navigational skills to get TO the cache.

you will need to purchase (or otherwise obtain) maps for your area to use this feature though. And they will run over $100 normally. Once you HAVE the maps though, the features are useful.

The maps are quite detailed, and even have pretty much every business on them, too. Visiting another city, need to find a Wal-Mart? The map software can help.

The auto-route, gives you specific directions to get to any designated point. It's useful for getting to the area of a cache, if you're not that great of a navigator. Also useful for getting to that bloody Wal-Mart

 

Memory vs. SD cards:

You will have to buy a Micro SD card if you get a unit without built in memory. But they're fairly cheap. (Don't waste your money buying the Garmin one, it's a joke. Go to Bust Buy, or any other like store. A 1 gig will usually run ya under 20 bucks.)

The advantages of expandable memory vs. built in:

1: It's expandable. you can not only have a 1 gig in the unit. But you can have 5 more 1 gig cards with other information on the,.

2: If the SD card gets corrupted. you replace it, costs you $20, vs. the service charge of getting your unit repaired if its internal memory get corrupted?

3: the sheer amount of storage. 24 meg? you can't even buy a micro SD card that small anymore.

4: Flexibility. One nice little feature. You can also use the MicroSD card to store important documents. you can put pretty much anything you feel like on your SD card and store it in your GPSr, to retrieve whenever you need it (as long as you're near a computer)

5: Transferable. Let's say, just for the sake of saying, your GPSr gets damaged. Like say the screen shattered. you go buy a new one (or warranty replacement), all you do is pull the SD card out of the borked one and put it in the new one, you're done.

The only con to expandable memory? It costs more.

[+HopsMaltYeast]

Thanks all for the responses and especially the detailed one. Very helpful.

[+briansnat]

How worthwhile is the map feature? It looks cool and fun; is it useful as a practical matter?

Auto route Turns? What is this?

 

I wouldn't buy a unit without maps. I have both Topo and City Navigator maps on my unit. Topo is useful for showing you what terrain features are between you and your destination. Ever start out on the wrong side of a river only to find that the cache is on the other side? I have, before I installed Topo. Want to know if there is a hill, mountain, swamp, ravine or cliff between you and your destination? Topo will tell you.

 

As far as City Navigator maps, they provide detailed road maps, but don't show most terrain features like Topo does. City Navigator will route you to your destination by providing turn by turn driving directions. It also has a database of millions of services and business. If you want to know where the nearest gas station, restaurant, campground, marina, hotel, church, post office, museum, school, shopping mall, pharmacy, grocery store, newspaper stand, etc... is, City Navigator will tell you and give you driving directions there.

 

Memory vs data cards? Venture has 24MB built in and no slot for data card, the Legend and Vista have slot and no memory? Do cards normally come with e unit and do you need to buy them if they don’t?

 

You don't need the cards, but if you want to install maps you do. If you install maps, you'll find the 24 megs in the Venture limiting. 24 megs of map memory may cover one town in a built up area, or an entire state if you live somewhere like Montana. With the cards you can install up to 2 gigs of maps and have coverage for pretty much the entire US. You can also load thousands of waypoints on the cards as points of interest, instead of the 500 waypoint limit in some of the other units.

[+HopsMaltYeast]

How worthwhile is the map feature? It looks cool and fun; is it useful as a practical matter?

Auto route Turns? What is this?

 

I wouldn't buy a unit without maps. I have both Topo and City Navigator maps on my unit. Topo is useful for showing you what terrain features are between you and your destination. Ever start out on the wrong side of a river only to find that the cache is on the other side? I have, before I installed Topo. Want to know if there is a hill, mountain, swamp, ravine or cliff between you and your destination? Topo will tell you.

 

As far as City Navigator maps, they provide detailed road maps, but don't show most terrain features like Topo does. City Navigator will route you to your destination by providing turn by turn driving directions. It also has a database of millions of services and business. If you want to know where the nearest gas station, restaurant, campground, marina, hotel, church, post office, museum, school, shopping mall, pharmacy, grocery store, newspaper stand, etc... is, City Navigator will tell you and give you driving directions there.

 

Memory vs data cards? Venture has 24MB built in and no slot for data card, the Legend and Vista have slot and no memory? Do cards normally come with e unit and do you need to buy them if they don’t?

 

You don't need the cards, but if you want to install maps you do. If you install maps, you'll find the 24 megs in the Venture limiting. 24 megs of map memory may cover one town in a built up area, or an entire state if you live somewhere like Montana. With the cards you can install up to 2 gigs of maps and have coverage for pretty much the entire US. You can also load thousands of waypoints on the cards as points of interest, instead of the 500 waypoint limit in some of the other units.

Thanks again for the input and opinions. I know it is hard to recommend features for someone that barely knows what they want. Probably the only way to know for sure is to use the dang thing.

 

I think I will pull the trigger on the Legend HCx, for all the reasons above, plus the practical input from Brian. Yes, I have been thwarted by a river, pond or other barrier by approaching a destination from the “wrong side”. Once I chose poorly twice before lucking onto the right side.

 

So, after a bit I will likely add the topo maps pretty soon. We do a lot of kayaking in the salt flats and marshes – one tidal marsh creek looks exactly like the next – but one leads a mile to a dead end and the other takes you home.

 

Plus, I am starting 2 businesses that will have me traveling to new locations where I will probably like being able to add city maps and find restaurants and hotels.

[+briansnat]

I think I will pull the trigger on the Legend HCx,

 

It's a good choice. You can use it right out of the box for geocaching, then as you want to add features like memory card, topo and road maps you can do that later.

 

Just keep the thing out of your hot car in the summer. It kills the glue on the rubber gasket and it will come lose eventually. It's small enough that you can put it in your pocket when you leave the car.

[+Team Black-Cat]

If you don't have another option for mapping, then the mapping function is very necessary, especially when you start caching farther away from your "home circle".

A compass isn't necessary, but it will allow your GPSr to point to GZ when you aren't moving, or are moving too slow for the unit to figure out your direction of travel. Some cache spots don't allow you to move far enough in one direction, so the arrow starts bouncing around. It also seems to add about another $100 to the price.

I think you have made a good choice with the HCx.

[+clevek]

www.gpslodge.com had a review last june

Edited February 27, 2008 by clevek

[+HopsMaltYeast]

Legend HCx arrived yesterday.

 

My gosh, what a night and day difference to my old 1991 Garmin GPS12 (which I loved and still love - the whole GPSr thing amazes this old map and compass guy).

 

Haven't compared accuracy yet, but the speed and features are off the chart. The Legend's ability to acquire signals under trees or in a building is head and shoulders above the GPS12. (Plus, if I only compare the GPS12 to the Legend HCx I will have no idea which one is more accurate, only how close they agree with each other.)

 

[edit] The above is not meant as an advertisement or endorsement for Garmin, just an expression of admiration to how far the technology has come. I have not tested other brands, so I assume they are just as good. I stuck with Garmin because my 10+ year old plain unit has worked flawlessly. [/edit]

Edited February 28, 2008 by HopsMaltYeast