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You need to qualify your question a little more.

 

1.) What kind of audible alerts do you want? Are beeps for turns ok or do you want a voice to say "turn right on elm street"?

2.) does it need to be waterproof?

3.) Price range

4.) Primary use Auto routing or Hiking/Geocaching?

5.) What size screen (handleds usually have small 2-3 inch screens while the autounits have screens 4 inches and up.

 

Unforunatelly there isn't a perfect device out there yet that does both autorouting with voice prompt and a really good job for geocaching. Most people recomend buying 2 devices one for the car and a handheld for caching.

Edited by sanramonhunter
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You need to qualify your question a little more.

 

1.) What kind of audible alerts do you want? Are beeps for turns ok or do you want a voice to say "turn right on elm street"?

2.) does it need to be waterproof?

3.) Price range

4.) Primary use Auto routing or Hiking/Geocaching?

5.) What size screen (handleds usually have small 2-3 inch screens while the autounits have screens 4 inches and up.

 

Beeps are okay. It doesn't have to be waterproof. Price range is not an issue. Primary use will probably be geocaching. Screen size doesn't matter either. I'm open to nearly anything.

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Beeps are okay. It doesn't have to be waterproof. Price range is not an issue. Primary use will probably be geocaching. Screen size doesn't matter either. I'm open to nearly anything.

Then what you need is City Navigator 2008 (although if you wait a month or so City Navigator 2009 will be out). That will get autorouting for any of the Garmin units. The three Garmin units you should look for (in no particular order) at are.

 

1.) 60csx- larger unit that has some "hard" buttons on it that people seem to like for autorouting. Buttons like goto, esc, ect..

 

2.) Etrex Vista HCx - Smaller, lighter and less expensive than the 60csx. Screen is dimensionally smaller, but has higher resolution.

 

3.) Colorado 300 or 400t - Latest and greatest handheld from Garmin. The Autorouting will probably look best on this unit due to the larger screen and 3D graphics it will allow. It is not a tried and true as the other two. Most of the bugs have been worked out and Garmin is pretty good about firmware updates, so the rest of the bugs should be worked out in the next few months.

 

I think most people would agree that as far as autorouting is concerned Garmin is the best one right now for handhelds. You'll also want to buy an auto mounting kit and an SD card. You should really go out and put your hands on these three units to see which one you like as far as ergonomics. Everyone has their own preference as to which one of these 3 they like, but most agree that they are all pretty good units.

Edited by sanramonhunter
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Beeps are okay. It doesn't have to be waterproof. Price range is not an issue. Primary use will probably be geocaching. Screen size doesn't matter either. I'm open to nearly anything.

Then what you need is City Navigator 2008 (although if you wait a month or so City Navigator 2009 will be out). That will get autorouting for any of the Garmin units. The three Garmin units you should look for (in no particular order) at are.

 

1.) 60csx- larger unit that has some "hard" buttons on it that people seem to like for autorouting. Buttons like goto, esc, ect..

 

2.) Etrex Vista HCx - Smaller, lighter and less expensive than the 60csx. Screen is dimensionally smaller, but has higher resolution.

 

3.) Colorado 300 or 400t - Latest and greatest handheld from Garmin. The Autorouting will probably look best on this unit due to the larger screen and 3D graphics it will allow. It is not a tried and true as the other two. Most of the bugs have been worked out and Garmin is pretty good about firmware updates, so the rest of the bugs should be worked out in the next few months.

 

I think most people would agree that as far as autorouting is concerned Garmin is the best one right now for handhelds. You'll also want to buy an auto mounting kit and an SD card. You should really go out and put your hands on these three units to see which one you like as far as ergonomics. Everyone has their own preference as to which one of these 3 they like, but most agree that they are all pretty good units.

I'd also like to mention the Quest series. The Quest & Quest II are great little units if you want to combine turn by turn directions with geocaching. I have a Colorado 400t, a GPSMAP 60CSx and a Quest. I love the Quest for the driving directions and it's easy to pop out and drop in your pocket for those QP&G's. I think its usefulness outweighs its limitations. And you don't have any batteries to change...

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<snip>

I'd also like to mention the Quest series. The Quest & Quest II are great little units if you want to combine turn by turn directions with geocaching. I have a Colorado 400t, a GPSMAP 60CSx and a Quest. I love the Quest for the driving directions and it's easy to pop out and drop in your pocket for those QP&G's. I think its usefulness outweighs its limitations. And you don't have any batteries to change...

The Quest is a good choice if you don't go for long hikes. However, the Vista HCx batteries will work for hours if that is how long I am away from my vehicle. A spare set of rechargeable Hybrid NiMH batteries insures my GPSr will get me back, should the batteries lose power while I'm on my "Geocaching Adventure." :(

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Don't discount the Explorist 210 or 500 with DirectRoute. I got a 210 with the 2.0f software for $76 on ebay the other day, and the 210 is a solid basic unit for geocaching and the turn by turn works pretty well. The 500LE with the software would probably be about $150-200.

 

TT

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