Legend HCx vs Venture HC vs PN-20 vs ?

[brendaisbored]

I've started geocaching and am hooked! Right now my friend and I are using his Nuvi 360 and, needless to say, I'm looking to get something a little more geocaching friendly.

 

I've been reading the forums, checking out reviews and looking at prices. I'm hoping you guys can help with some remaining questions and offer advice.

 

I don't have a lot of money to spend, but I don't also want to be regretting my decision six months down the road. I'm hoping to keep the price under $300 (after whatever accessories/maps I need).

 

It seems that the Venture HC has gotten some pretty good reviews and people enjoy it. But I noticed it's lacking the SD card slot and battery life of the Legend HCx. Are there any other major differences? Are those two things important enough to justify an increase of almost $80 (according to the prices listed on the Garmin website)?

 

I've also seen the PN-20 thrown around a lot. Especially when discussing costs of maps vs Garmin. I haven't been able to find much info on that situation. Do you have to buy maps to get the Garmin gps to work? How many? What makes the PN-20 better/worse than Garmin?

 

Are there any other gps that I'm overlooking? I'm not looking to do any super intensive geocaching, so I won't need many of the bells and whistles. I probably won't tackle any hikes that would take me far off trail or up huge mountains. I don't see myself going outside of the US anytime soon (maybe next year), traveling to any really remote locations or doing more than 10 geocaches in a day.

 

Ideally, I'd also like to have the option of using it in the car on the rare occasion that I'm completely turned around.

 

I'd love to hear any thoughts or suggestions on what my first gps should be. I've tried to do most of the research myself (so I wouldn't have to clutter the forum with redundant newbie questions) but there were somethings I just wanted to clarify before I made a purchase.

 

Thanks!

[+kawal]

I wonder if this thread may help you:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=194570

[+JohnTee]

Hi brendaisbored!

 

Welcome to the game/addiction/sport/hobby/affliction!

 

Any of those will probably do for you and each has it strong and weak points. Some of it depends on your needs and some lies in the elusive anticipation of what your needs will be on down the road.

 

If, you are in need of maps, street and/or topo, the PN-20 would be a good way to go. You should be able to find it for around $300, after possible rebates, and it comes with maps. It WILL do auto-routing, like your Nuvi, but it does not do it anywhere near as good. Not a good reason to buy it. It also seems to slow down quite a bit when auto-routing. It does have some features that Garmin could learn from. I thought some of the menus were a little 'clunky'; one place where Garmin seems to have thought things through a little better. I think their processors seem to be faster, although, I have not tried a Garmin with Garmin maps and tried auto-routing. That could slow a Garmin down also. Garmin could also learn from DeLorme for coordinate entry/editing.

 

You don't need maps to geocache or to make any GPS 'work'. That said, I did hook my Legend to my laptop and used M$ Streets and Trips to turn it into a moving map. It IS really nice to have maps available. Otherwise, you can always print out cache descriptions and the associated maps to get you in the general area of the cache. If you do find that you need maps on a Garmin unit, you can always download the free ones that ibycus is setting up. I just put them on my Vista and am very pleased.

 

I got my Vista HCx from REI for $219, on sale. That was a pretty good price. They recently had it for something like $250, bundled with Topo maps.

 

You don't really need the electronic compass or the barometer; on the other hand, toys are fun and "you can tell the men from the boys by the price of their toys!" . I don''t find the compass to work as good as a handheld, which if you have a serious need for (extended hikes in the woods, mapping, etc.) you should be carrying a good handheld model anyway. It's often inconvenient to get the local barometric pressure or accurate altitude to calibrate the barometer. I often just don't, or use the GPS altitude for calibration.

 

As far as anticipating needs goes . . . having an SD/microSD card slot is very handy. I've got five or six thousand geocaches loaded on my Vista as POI's (I travel often and might have occasion to get stuck in another town, and oh, look, there's a geocache!).

 

After owning a Lowrance iFinderGo2 (B&W), an eTrex Legend (B&W) a DeLorme PN-20 (color) and now the Vista (color), I really like a color unit and I'm really partial to Garmins. I've been satisfied with the battery life of my Vista and have recently started using Sanyo Eneloop rechargables in it, which seems to be going quite well.

 

I recently got a Nuvi 360 and really enjoy using it for routing to get to the cache area, then hop out with my handheld. Of course, you have to watch how it routes you to a cache. I recently had it sending me down the closest street to the cache, which was on the west side of the cache AND on the far side of the creek you couldn't easily cross after you would have crossed somebody's backyard. Knowing the area, I chose a street to the east of the cache, and on the same side of the creek as the cache. I do like using either 'Send to GPS' to send caches to both my Garmin Vista and Nuvi, or using the Custom POI loader to load caches to both.

 

So, after further muddying the waters . . .

 

Cache On!

[+SWE_Bridgeman]

Hey there!

 

I just wanted to share my thoughts regarding different gpsr's. I started geocaching in October last year and soon after that I bought a Garmin Venture Cx. Sure, it's a good unit but I quickly found out that when caching in "not-that-dense" forests, near mountain walls, in canyons or in the city it can be quite inaccurate since it doesn't have the SirfStar chipset and compass feature. After about 3 months I bought a Garmin GPSMap 60 CSx and I absolutely love it, I hardly ever leave home without it! I almost never use the altimeter but the compass makes things so much easier when searching for caches. When using the Venture Cx that lacks the compass you always have to move around to make the gpsr change directions while the GPSMap 60's compass needle point towards the target at all times. I paid around $200 for my GPSMap 60 CSx on amazon.com but I guess it was on some kind of sell-out by then. So, to finalize, depending on how addicted you are (or expect to become) the Venture Cx, works just fine but the GPSMap 60CSx is so much better as a geocaching tool that it in my eyes justifies the additional 2.5x or so cost compared to it's smaller siblings.

 

Best regards,

 

Viktor, Husqvarna, Sweden

[+MacFlash]

Hey there!

 

I just wanted to share my thoughts regarding different gpsr's. I started geocaching in October last year and soon after that I bought a Garmin Venture Cx. Sure, it's a good unit but I quickly found out that when caching in "not-that-dense" forests, near mountain walls, in canyons or in the city it can be quite inaccurate since it doesn't have the SirfStar chipset and compass feature. After about 3 months I bought a Garmin GPSMap 60 CSx and I absolutely love it, I hardly ever leave home without it! I almost never use the altimeter but the compass makes things so much easier when searching for caches. When using the Venture Cx that lacks the compass you always have to move around to make the gpsr change directions while the GPSMap 60's compass needle point towards the target at all times. I paid around $200 for my GPSMap 60 CSx on amazon.com but I guess it was on some kind of sell-out by then. So, to finalize, depending on how addicted you are (or expect to become) the Venture Cx, works just fine but the GPSMap 60CSx is so much better as a geocaching tool that it in my eyes justifies the additional 2.5x or so cost compared to it's smaller siblings.

 

Best regards,

 

Viktor, Husqvarna, Sweden

 

Yes, but if you bought the one of the HCx models you would find perfomance on par with your 60CSx with a price not much different than your Venture Cx. Pay your money and take your choice.