Newbie looking for dual-purpose GPS.

[jodster71]

Hi Gang,

 

I've been an occasional lurker on here for a while but now I think it's time to bite the bullet and buy a GPS. I'm a total newbie when it comes to the various manufacturers and receiver models so hopefully some of you will volunteer to impart some of your wisdom to me.

 

I'm ideally looking for a portable hand-held I can use while guiding or hunting in the Canadian wilderness. I've heard some of the garmin units come loaded with topo maps at 1:20,000 and 1:50,000. These would be excellent.

 

Secondly, I would like the same unit to be mounted on my motorcycle and possibly have an earplug out for voice directions. This is a "want" more than a "need".

 

Hopefuly the unit would be semi-weatherproof.

 

A salesman at the local hiking shop mentioned that Garmin CX or CSX series would suit me well. Any other recommendations?

 

Thank you for your responses!

 

Jody

[donc30]

While making your decisions you might want to consider two separate units. One for street finding and road travel with voice commands and another for the trail.

I use a Nuvi 200 ($160) and a Venture HC ($140). On my motorcycle I put the Nuvi in my jacket pocket and listen to the voice. The Nuvi has a strong voice output.

The Venture HC is adequate for my purposes but you might want something better.

 

You will get more and maybe better suggestions but for $300 this package is pretty functional.

[+FulThrotl]

Hi Gang,

 

I've been an occasional lurker on here for a while but now I think it's time to bite the bullet and buy a GPS. I'm a total newbie when it comes to the various manufacturers and receiver models so hopefully some of you will volunteer to impart some of your wisdom to me.

 

I'm ideally looking for a portable hand-held I can use while guiding or hunting in the Canadian wilderness. I've heard some of the garmin units come loaded with topo maps at 1:20,000 and 1:50,000. These would be excellent.

 

Secondly, I would like the same unit to be mounted on my motorcycle and possibly have an earplug out for voice directions. This is a "want" more than a "need".

 

Hopefuly the unit would be semi-weatherproof.

 

A salesman at the local hiking shop mentioned that Garmin CX or CSX series would suit me well. Any other recommendations?

 

Thank you for your responses!

 

Jody

 

i'm assuming you want to go caching as well... it's pricy, but the garmin colorado with the NT mapset

loaded additionally works pretty well... it doesn't have voice output, but it's pretty good all around...

it'll do turn by turn's excellently, and if you are caching, it'll give you turn by turns to the cache, at

least until you run out of roads..... the US mapset is excellent for POI's.

 

garmin makes some higher end units specifically for motorcycling, but they get a bit pricy....

 

the gps accessory that i'm having trouble justifiying is a 1 liter KTM gps mobility device :-).......

 

 

FulThrotl

[+Chuy!]

Topo Canada is "Based on digital 1:50,000 or 1:250,000 scale NTS map data".

 

Garmin don't clarify any more than that.

 

Topo U.S. is all 1:100,000 .

 

Checkout Ibycus Topo for 3rd party vendors.

 

I used to ride a motorcycle; the best all around Garmin for the bike is going to be the 60CS/60CSx. The bottons on the front make it easier to use with gloves on than the Etrex models.

[+Hrethgir]

I have a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx mounted on my motorcycle, just used the Garmin hadlebar mount, and it works pretty well. I don't have maps on it yet, so can't tell you how easy it is to use for turn-by-turn nav with no voice prompts (the eTrex line has no audio output capabilities that I knwo of). Here's a pic of it mounted:

 

 

I usually have it set to a screen showing odometer, spedometer, and time, since there's no clock on the bike, and the speedo is "optomistic", so this way I know how fast I am actually going and won't hold up traffic thinking I'm doing 55 when I'm actually not quite to 50. Buying maps very soon, hope the nav part works well enough with just the visual promps.

[BuckyBuck]

I use the Legend HCx also, but with a RAM mount on the clutch fluid reservoir. Reasons I used to justify that model was the dual-use you mention, as well as wanting a unit that uses plain old AA batteries. Nuvis are nice, but I can't stand the idea of paying that much for something I can't really protect from a determined thief. Also, I'm not interested in turn-by-turn voice navigation when I'm riding my bike; I generally meander all over the place when I ride and really just want to know where I am and where I might be some time later on, rather than having a machine tell me how to get there.

[jodster71]

Thanks so much so far for your replies. I think I'm quickly getting an addiction on for Topo Canada. WOW! . what great software. Anybody had experiences with it so far?

The suggestion to get two different GPS units is now making more sense.

 

Lets stick with the hiking/hunting GPS so far. Any specific Garmin recommendations? Are most hermetically sealed to make them "weatherproof"?and is there any specific issues I should know about battery life, durability, etc?

 

Thanks again and nice shot of the motorcycle mount. I had a Magna myself some years ago! ;-)

 

cheers.

[jodster71]

Thanks so much so far for your replies. I think I'm quickly getting an addiction on for Topo Canada. WOW! . what great software. Anybody had experiences with it so far?

The suggestion to get two different GPS units is now making more sense.

 

Lets stick with the hiking/hunting GPS so far. Any specific Garmin recommendations? Are most hermetically sealed to make them "weatherproof"?and is there any specific issues I should know about battery life, durability, etc?

 

Thanks again and nice shot of the motorcycle mount. I had a Magna myself some years ago! ;-)

 

cheers.

[+Hrethgir]

Double post, sorry!

Edited June 16, 2008 by HondaH8er

[+Hrethgir]

Thanks so much so far for your replies. I think I'm quickly getting an addiction on for Topo Canada. WOW! . what great software. Anybody had experiences with it so far?

The suggestion to get two different GPS units is now making more sense.

 

Lets stick with the hiking/hunting GPS so far. Any specific Garmin recommendations? Are most hermetically sealed to make them "weatherproof"?and is there any specific issues I should know about battery life, durability, etc?

 

Thanks again and nice shot of the motorcycle mount. I had a Magna myself some years ago! ;-)

 

cheers.

 

I believe all the eTrex versions are waterproof, as are any of their other On The Trail stuff, so you should be golden there. I can't speak to any other models, but the Legend HCx is supposed to have a 24 hour battery life on 2 AAs, and I can believe it. I've used it several times on the bike (nice that you picked up on it being a Magna!), plus on my bicycle, and just getting my geek on with it in the living room, then one night I left it on in my living room for about 12 hours just to see what kind of wandering it would show over night, especially being indoors, and it was still on the next day, although the batteries where just about done. Great battery life! For a long road trip, not going to need to bring many spare batteries.

 

P.S. Which Magna did you have? Mine is a 1984 Magna V65, it's a freaking monster! Gets 35-40 MPG, costs $23/mo for insurance, and if I could ride it to it's full potential, I think I could take out 99% of the cars being made today in a straight line, it's crazy fast! Not many street cars can do the 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds or 0-60 in under 3, after all, and this bike is capable of that! I'm not, but the machine is!

[+SparkyInCali]

I would say just to get one of the handheld hiking units.I have logged about 50,000 miles on my Kawasaki with a Garmin 60CSX mounted in the Garmin Handebar mount.The unit is very readable in the sunlight.It is also more waterproof than any of my waterproof rain gear as it has done 8 hour days in very heavy rain with no issues.The 60CSX was great because of the high sensitivity reciever being able to keep a sattelite lock in the heavy woods or in the urban canyons of San Francisco skyscrapers.It is also very easy to use with the buttons all on the top.I did have mine wired to a 12v adapter but that was just so I could run the backlight at full blast in the dark or heavy rain.I was lusting after the motorcycle specific Zumo when they came out but realized that for all that money spent there wouldnt be any major improvements for me.