Help buying my first GPS

[+Morka2k]

Hey!

Today i was out walking around in my home city, Stavanger in Norway. I had a list over some caches i wa s hoping to find, and i used my celluar phone with a GPS bluetooth attachment, a nokia e51 with the LD-3W. Its a great phone, but it did'nt quite do as a GPS-reciever. It, quite literally, made we walk all over the place trying to find the exact location.

 

So now im looking into buying a new GPS, wich hopefully will do a better job

I think i found one which will do the job, but to be honest, i dont know much about GPS', so i don't want to buy something wich wont do.

I've been searching for a bit, and I've come over the Garmin eTrex H GPS. (Most of you probally don't know norwegian, but at least there is a picture of it here: http://www.mpx.no/aspx/produkt/prdinfovnet.aspx?plid=84154) Will this do as my first GPS used for geocaching, or do i need to find something else? The price is only 890 norwegian kroners, wich norwegian customs calculate to be about 160 american dollars.

[+randyrucker]

Get the Garmin 60csx.

[+Morka2k]

It's three times the price of the eTrex. Are'nt there any cheaper models wich will do the trick?

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Look at the eTrex Legend HCx or the Vista HCx.

[+Colonial Cats]

It all depends on how serious you will be in geocaching and what features appeal to you. Myself, I am willing to pay the $100 (USA) extra for a color screen. Also, do you want more detailed maps? It might be better to pay a little more to get the options you want. On the other hand, you can start out with something basic and then keep it as a back-up or loaner GPSr when you upgrade. I can almost guarantee that you will want to upgrade if you stick with geocaching. Was that clear as mud ?

[+ventura_kids]

Sure.

That one will work fine.

 

The more expensive ones add maps, point of interest spots, color, and turn by turn directions.

If you end up loving the hobby, then you can upgrade later.

 

You will still have to search around near zero to find the cache.

[+Miragee]

Check Garmin's comparison page to see the features of the new models with 'H' in the name. The best of these is the Garmin Vista HCx, but some of the models with the High Sensitivity receiver cost quite a bit less. I would suggest getting one that connects to your computer with USB. Getting one that can accept maps would be nice, although you don't need maps for Geocaching.

[Jantaculum]

We have found over 250 caches with the eTrex (old version) so yes, it's fine for caching, a good starter GPS.

 

We haven't needed to upgrade yet, although there are definitely times when the mapping facility would be useful, it's never been essential.

 

If we'd known, at the start, how much fun we would have from caching, we probably should have bought something more advanced - but we will continue to use the eTrex until it breaks (which doesn't seem likely as it's so tough, it's more likely that we'll lose it first )

[+Morka2k]

Thanks for all the help

 

After reading this, ill think I'll go up one price-level to the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx GPS, wich seems like it got mapping ability and its possible to connect it to a PC.

 

Thanks again

[+briansnat]

It's three times the price of the eTrex. Are'nt there any cheaper models wich will do the trick?

 

The eTrex H is a basic unit that will do the job quite well. No bells and whistles like mapping, turn by turn driving directions and the like, but if you just want to find geocaches, it's all you really need.

[+briansnat]

Thanks for all the help

 

After reading this, ill think I'll go up one price-level to the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx GPS, wich seems like it got mapping ability and its possible to connect it to a PC.

 

Thanks again

 

One jump up from the eTrex H is the Venture HC. It has mapping and a color display, but doesn't do autorouting and only has 24 megs of map memory (compared to up to 2 gigs with the Legend HCX.

 

If you aren't concerned about autorouting (turn by turn driving directions) and don't travel far and frequently the Venture HC might be a cost effective alternative.

[+Morka2k]

One jump up from the eTrex H is the Venture HC. It has mapping and a color display, but doesn't do autorouting and only has 24 megs of map memory (compared to up to 2 gigs with the Legend HCX.

 

I cant find it anywhere for price comparing :/

[+Super_Nate]

START RANT:

 

well, if you want to be able to find every cache out there, then you might as well get a Garmin Colorado.

 

END RANT

[+Morka2k]

START RANT:

 

well, if you want to be able to find every cache out there, then you might as well get a Garmin Colorado.

 

END RANT

 

A tad to expensive

 

Another question: If i buy the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx GPS do i need to buy maps as well, or are they inlucluded? The shop says that (i hope im translating this right) it got "Turn by turn på basemap / CN Europe CD with detailmap", but i dont know what they mean by that.

[+Haffy]

The base map is pretty basic and if you want accurate turn by turn directions you will need to buy the extra maps which will cost around another extra 100$ or so.

[+Morka2k]

Thanks for the answer

[+Night Stalker]

The nice thing about buying a unit with turn by turn capability is that you can use the unit without the mapping software for a while until you can get the cash flow necessary to buy the software. Once I purchased the mapping software I could not believe the difference it made in my caching. Before I spent a great deal of time just trying to get to the parking area before I could hunt for the cache. Now I just do a go to and follow the road. Once parked I have it recalculate and tell it to go off road. It not only saves time, but it saves a lot of gas. These days that is becoming a big thing.

[+Morka2k]

The nice thing about buying a unit with turn by turn capability is that you can use the unit without the mapping software for a while until you can get the cash flow necessary to buy the software. Once I purchased the mapping software I could not believe the difference it made in my caching. Before I spent a great deal of time just trying to get to the parking area before I could hunt for the cache. Now I just do a go to and follow the road. Once parked I have it recalculate and tell it to go off road. It not only saves time, but it saves a lot of gas. These days that is becoming a big thing.

 

I dont have a car, or even the driving licence But i do have a bike.