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Recommeded GPS that is for the car and can be handheld


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I had a Lowrance XOG (the only kind that I have had) and enjoyed it. BUT, it was stolen out of my car. ;) (My fault) Now I need to get a new one. I want one that can be put in the car and can also be used as a handheld. Also to be pretty accurate. Can anyone recommend one? Is there another type that could be better?

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Was there anything you didn't like about the Lowrance XOG, you don't want another one?

 

Alternatives would be either a Garmin Nuvi 500/550 because they are the only "weather resistant" Nuvi's available,, all the other Nuvi's are really "car only" units.

 

Magellan makes a Crossover GPSr as well. But personally I think the XOG is a better product with better support.

Edited by NordicMan
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There wasn't anything about it that I didn't like. I just thought that I would ask to see if anyone had a different recommendation. I wanted to get another one, but if there was a better one than I thought that I would look into them. I appreciate your input. Thanks.

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At this time I'm using my new Oregon 400t as a dual unit. I already had Metroguide 6 North America, so I used Metrowizzz to make my map grids routable.

 

Now I have paperless geocaching, high sensitivity receiver, good routing (without annoying voice prompts - a benefit for me, maybe a drawback for you).

 

I'm happy with this as my all in one solution.

 

Now - if Garmin will add landscape mode for the display it will be perfect in my opinion.

 

The Oregon screen is a 3" screen so if you don't have good vision that might be a consideration. The there's also the price. . . ;)

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I had a Lowrance XOG (the only kind that I have had) and enjoyed it. BUT, it was stolen out of my car. :sad: (My fault) Now I need to get a new one. I want one that can be put in the car and can also be used as a handheld. Also to be pretty accurate. Can anyone recommend one? Is there another type that could be better?

 

I started with a Garmin QuestII - it's water resistant and has an off-road mode. The only problem is that Garmin has discontinued the model, but it can probably still be found on eBay.

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I find my Garmin 60CSx handy in the car, sometimes its routing defies (my) logic, not always taking the shortest route. It does get me there in the end, also it does not do Postcodes, you have to enter the Address manually through a tedious system. Also no voice commands - Those talking ones irritate me something dreadful

 

An excellent GPSr unit, fantastic for geocaching (albeit not paperless) which is a competent Sat Nav

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The Garmin NUVI 500 -- not the 200 series, the 500.

 

It looks like the the other Nuvis, but is slightly larger in size. It is waterproof, has paperless GPX, allows use of "field notes", and switches between walking/biking/driving/scooter at the change of a screen. It also has a removable battery (rechargeable) so you can pop another out of your pocket and keep on caching in the field. Backlight is adjustable to improve caching time. Recent updates allow it to speak street names in car mode. It also has a micro-sd slot behind the battery.

 

If you are "unsure" about popping down the price for an Oregon 400, this is a good substitute at about half the price. Its chip is not as sensitive and the compass is not electronic - satellite dependent.

 

Once I started using this it became REALLY easy to get from cache to cache! Load them in, drive to cache, switch to walking, find cache, log field note, switch back to car mode, drive to next cache... and so forth until you get home and upload the field notes as you post the caches.

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I have used both the Colorado and the Legend HCx for driving duties and for Geocaching. I think I like the Colorado more, because of the profile feature. I don't want to track log where I have driven, but I do want to track log my hiking, and remembering to turn it off and on again on the Legend was difficult. Not to mention the lack of a paperless mode. Switching between a driving profile, with the Street maps, different view, magnetic compass off, etc, and then a geocaching mode, with the compass back on, topo maps from Ibycus, etc. To be much simpler. I have an old mount for the car for a Palm Pilot which works to hold the Colorado, and I find the routing is adequate. My only complaint would be that it doesn't update the route quickly enough when you make a wrong turn or miss a turn. Keeping it plugged in in the car increases the available backlight considerably, and I haven't had any problems with visibility.

 

On the other hand, the Colorado doesn't seem to be supported very well by Garmin, and while I find that it is good enough for what I need, an Oregon might be the better choice going forward.

 

Adam

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