Buying a GPS - please advise!

[alquinn]

Hello,

I'm new to geocaching and would like some advice on buying a GPS please!

I was wondering if such a device exists that will work as an in car sat nav (with maps of europe as well as UK) and is suitable for geocaching?

Thanks!

Alison

[team tisri]

Hello,

I'm new to geocaching and would like some advice on buying a GPS please!

I was wondering if such a device exists that will work as an in car sat nav (with maps of europe as well as UK) and is suitable for geocaching?

Thanks!

Alison

 

Most units will involve some form of compromise - my handheld GPS can navigate me to the car park but doesn't have any concept of rerouting around an obstacle (e.g. a closed road). Then it shows me contours and paths to help navigate on foot/bike to the cache location. I've used it in torrential rain, dropped it from waist height onto concrete and it still works just fine. I've got a belt clip for it, a handlebar mount, and a dashboard mount.

 

I think it's safe to say most car-based GPS have a much better concept of avoiding blocked roads, downloading traffic and rerouting etc, but are less likely to be waterproof or solid enough to sustain great shocks. They'll be better at navigating on the road but not as good at navigating off the road.

 

It would also help to know what sort of budget you've got and whether you'd rather compromise on navigating from home to the car park, or from the car park to the cache.

[+Pharisee]

Most units designed to be primarily car navigation systems aren't ideal for 'car-to-cache' use. Few are waterproof and they tend not to be particularly rugged. Some have a short battery life when not connected to a car and some don't understand the concept of 'off-road' too well. Having said all that, they can be used and some folks use them all the time.

 

Any of the hand held GPS receivers will get you from the car to the cache and to be truthful, there's not a lot to choose between them in that respect. A £60 unit will get you there just as well as one costing £200+. The more you pay, the more 'bells and whistles' you'll get. The higher end Garmin units (the only ones I have first hand knowledge of) will also give you 'turn by turn' in-car navigation if used in conjunction with one of their quite expensive MapSource mapping packages. Topo Ver. 2 is probably the best for UK use but if you want full European coverage, then it will have to be City Navigator Europe Ver.8. They won't talk to you and give you voice instructions but they will give you audible warning of the next turn and you'll get a pretty picture of the junction on the screen showing you which way to go.

 

In my opinion, the best of the bunch are the GPSmap 60 series. They are very rugged, fully waterproof (they'll take full submersion, but they don't float) and they have excellent battery life. I use one with Topo maps and have often used it in the car to get from one cache parking place to another. It's easier if you have a partner holding it (the GPSr, that is) and relaying the instructions to you but if you can put it somewhere where you can see it easily, you can use it on your own.

 

Then there are the various high spec. mobile phone options but as mine is only ever used as a mobile telephone, someone else will have to give you the pros and cons for them.

[+burtsbodgers]

Most units designed to be primarily car navigation systems aren't ideal for 'car-to-cache' use. Few are waterproof and they tend not to be particularly rugged. Some have a short battery life when not connected to a car and some don't understand the concept of 'off-road' too well. Having said all that, they can be used and some folks use them all the time.

 

Any of the hand held GPS receivers will get you from the car to the cache and to be truthful, there's not a lot to choose between them in that respect. A £60 unit will get you there just as well as one costing £200+. The more you pay, the more 'bells and whistles' you'll get. The higher end Garmin units (the only ones I have first hand knowledge of) will also give you 'turn by turn' in-car navigation if used in conjunction with one of their quite expensive MapSource mapping packages. Topo Ver. 2 is probably the best for UK use but if you want full European coverage, then it will have to be City Navigator Europe Ver.8. They won't talk to you and give you voice instructions but they will give you audible warning of the next turn and you'll get a pretty picture of the junction on the screen showing you which way to go.

 

In my opinion, the best of the bunch are the GPSmap 60 series. They are very rugged, fully waterproof (they'll take full submersion, but they don't float) and they have excellent battery life. I use one with Topo maps and have often used it in the car to get from one cache parking place to another. It's easier if you have a partner holding it (the GPSr, that is) and relaying the instructions to you but if you can put it somewhere where you can see it easily, you can use it on your own.

 

Then there are the various high spec. mobile phone options but as mine is only ever used as a mobile telephone, someone else will have to give you the pros and cons for them.

I would agree with the above

The more you pay the more you get,

for sat nav the bigger the screen the better. however if you have good sight or co-pilot you can get away with an etrex model from garmin as long as it has an "X" in the model this way you can add the map cards mentioned above.

these start at around £150

if you need a bigger screen i would recomend the colorado (i have ) or the oregon, these have bigger screens which make them easier while driving. However these do not support post code searches, you need to use the full address and this is sometimes easier said than done.

Using the Gpsr as a satnav also can be a pain as the routing is not as good, i have mine set to the TRUCK setting and it still takes me and my caravan down tiny lanes when there is a perfectly decent road a few hundred yards further down.

So the best thing would be to get one of each but that costs more

not sure whether this will help much.

[+Lendu]

As I've said in a previous thread, I would consider Garmin Zumo 550. This GPSr is designed for motorcycle use and is therefore somewhat more robust (and fully waterproof) than those units that are designed for in-car use. However, it does come with a windscreen mount and power cable for in-car use. Unlike the hand-helds, it will talk to you, tell you street names and covers most of Western and Northern Europe.

 

It works pretty well outside the car too - it has a "compass view" in off-road mode that shows the direction and distance to the destination. Using some GSAK and some excellent macros enable pretty much completely paperless caching.

 

The unit is somewhat bigger than the handhelds and the battery lasts for about 4 hours - these were the two reasons why I got myself an Oregon - but only after finding over 500 caches with the Zumo.