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advice on what to buy?


annamc

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hello! i was wondering if you guys could give me a suggestion for what gps receiver to buy. I am currently geocaching with my iphone 3g and my kids are using the geomate jrs (nifty!). I want something a little more accurate than my iphone.

 

Here are the requirements:

1) Super awesome for geocaching. I basically would love the same experience as you get with the iPhone, just more accurate. I realize that probably such a thing doesn't exist, but I'm just telling you what I would LIKE. :D I assume I will use a combo of iphone (for looking stuff up while you're out and about) + gps receiver.

 

2) Road maps for Europe. My husband's family is all in Scotland and we go over often. We want a GPS receiver that we can use for the car, and which has European maps. This will not be for our cars at home (we both have built in nav systems) - just for rental cars, and mostly in Europe.

 

My husband (who is not particularly interested in geocaching) wants to buy the Nuvi 775. Would this also work for geocaching? If not, is there a different alternative that would meet both our needs? We had an older Nuvi, but it was lost or stolen on our travels, and we need to replace it. I'd like to replace it with something that can also work for geocaching.

 

Am I going to find something that will work for both my requirements? Or am I better off buyin two cheap separate units? I'd like to spend $400ish or less.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks so much!

Anna

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The nuvi won't be that great for geocaching. I think it's going to be hard to get everything you want for $400. Otherwise, you might consider a Garmin Oregon + City Navigator Europe maps. Other options would be an x7x nuvi (those will have European maps) with less bells and whistles than the 775T. That would leave you some $ for a handheld as well. Here is a post I wrote about the challenges of getting a dual-use GPS, which my prove helpful.

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Garmin Oregon - You can load Garmin City Navigator maps to get road routing.

 

Touchscreen interface is definately iPhone-inspired.

 

Standard cables, standard memory interface. Loading caches from a Pocket Query is a matter of dragging and dropping the GPX file onto internal memory. The Garmin stores all internal data (waypoints, tracklogs) as GPX files, so you can access tracklogs just by copying them from internal memory.

 

Pretty good receiver, although IMO the STM Cartesio is not as good as the old SiRF III, but better than the iPhone's GPS by all accounts I've read. Garmin issued a press release that they'll be going with the MTK2 chipset in new devices (not yet released) - the MTK2 chipset is incredible.

 

A nuvi is sort of usable for geocaching but tends not to be very usable for the task due to on-road locking, static navigation, not being ruggedized, etc.

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Heheh, I was suspecting that things are either really great for the car or really great for hiking/geocaching, but not for both. Giggle, *I* am the one who wants it for geocaching, and we only need it for driving in Europe for 3-4 weeks/year. Heh, so I guess I'd like to find something that's GREAT for geocaching and passible for European driving. Laugh. My husband would like the opposite, but then, he doesn't have to entertain kids all summer. I have the world's nerdiest son, so geocaching is my great plan to drag him away from the computer this summer (and I think it appeals to him on account of the technology involved! laugh).

 

Thanks a ton!!

Anna

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Heheh, I was suspecting that things are either really great for the car or really great for hiking/geocaching, but not for both. Giggle, *I* am the one who wants it for geocaching, and we only need it for driving in Europe for 3-4 weeks/year. Heh, so I guess I'd like to find something that's GREAT for geocaching and passible for European driving. Laugh. My husband would like the opposite, but then, he doesn't have to entertain kids all summer. I have the world's nerdiest son, so geocaching is my great plan to drag him away from the computer this summer (and I think it appeals to him on account of the technology involved! laugh).

 

Thanks a ton!!

Anna

An Oregon with City Navigator Europe maps should be very close to what you want.

 

In tems of dual use devices, the Oregon is the closest I've seen so far. For caching it's amazing, and for road routing one of the few thing it's missing is voice prompts. Widescreen landscape mode might be nice too, but I've gotten used to TomTom Navigator on an AT&T Tilt so i'm accustomed to portrait mode in the Oregon's approximate screen size.

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OK, quick other thought - if I just let my husband buy the Nuvi for the car, and I get my OWN one for geocaching, what should I get? I will probably mostly do urban (Seattle) caching, or easy hikes (easy on account of the kids I'm hauling around with me at all times!).

 

I would like to be able to do geocaching when we are in Scotland (3-4 weeks/year), as well.

 

Thanks so much!

Anna

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Where is the best place to BUY an Oregon? REI? Amazon? Should I get the 400t or the 550? I don't care about the camera feature, but I noticed that the 550 says it has WORLDWIDE basemaps - is that what I want? Sorry I'm so uninformed - I really appreciate you guys' advice!

 

Thanks again!

Anna

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The Oregon 300 is priced at $250 right now at Dell, which is pretty dang low. The downside is that it is out of stock with a July'ish ship date. Grrr! I'm in your position too, need a GPS with a dual usage for car driving, but need it before July 4th when I take a long vacation.

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The Oregon 300 is priced at $250 right now at Dell, which is pretty dang low. The downside is that it is out of stock with a July'ish ship date. Grrr! I'm in your position too, need a GPS with a dual usage for car driving, but need it before July 4th when I take a long vacation.

Dell:

The order is on a back order and the estimated ship date for the order is the 30th June 2009.

 

No promises, though. Just remember that the $150 off ends tomorrow. Probably doesn't help those in Europe.

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Amazon is probably your best bet except for when vendors have "special sales" (careful about those, but Dell is reputable). REI is reccommended on the Garmin Oregon wiki.

 

Amazon was, as of a few days ago, offering a 30% discount on maps when bought with a GPS.

 

Edit: As to 300 vs. 400i/c/t vs. 550:

 

The only difference between the 300 and 400i/c/t is extra internal memory and preloaded maps in the 400. You may wind up perfectly satisfied with the 300, a large MicroSDHC card, and freely available maps from www.gpsfiledepot.com. I was able to fit a wide area of City Navigator coverage on the free internal memory of the 300. My topo data is on the SDHC card.

 

The main thing the 550 adds is an internal camera, and (I think) a three-axis magnetic sensor (i.e. can get compass readings when the unit is not held level), not sure about the second item.

Edited by Entropy512
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OK, quick other thought - if I just let my husband buy the Nuvi for the car, and I get my OWN one for geocaching, what should I get? I will probably mostly do urban (Seattle) caching, or easy hikes (easy on account of the kids I'm hauling around with me at all times!).

 

I would like to be able to do geocaching when we are in Scotland (3-4 weeks/year), as well.

 

Thanks so much!

Anna

 

You can pick up an inexpensive hand held like the Garmin Venture HC or Legend HCX for geocaching and keep the Nuvi in the car. I saw refurb Venture HCs on Ebay not long ago for $89, not a bad deal at all if still available.

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Anna,

 

FWIW, I can confirm what Zelanzy, then FierceDeityLink1 said. I'm only here in the forum because I'm seeking the same info you seek. A fellow geocacher told me yesterday about the Oregon 300 sale presently on Dell.com, and I've looked around the last couple days and have found nothing that is priced close to what they offer at*this*moment. $249 This moment could very well end *tonight* though. Confirm also the ten day lead time due to being out of stock, however you have the option to cancel the order during that 10 days, if you do so before it ships. With that option I placed the order, then went to REI where they let me play with one (wasn't sure about the touch-screen) and I saw enough road maps to know it could be used (out of the box) in-car even though my main use will be geocaching. REI carries the Oregon 300 but not the 400t - nor the Colorado. I saw enough and have read enough to decide to go ahead with the order. The price is just too good right there right now. This should be an upgrade from the Etrex H the kiddos and I have been caching with through our newbie stage.

 

Hope it helps. Good luck with your decision,

JB

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Anna,

 

FWIW, I can confirm what Zelanzy, then FierceDeityLink1 said. I'm only here in the forum because I'm seeking the same info you seek. A fellow geocacher told me yesterday about the Oregon 300 sale presently on Dell.com, and I've looked around the last couple days and have found nothing that is priced close to what they offer at*this*moment. $249 This moment could very well end *tonight* though. Confirm also the ten day lead time due to being out of stock, however you have the option to cancel the order during that 10 days, if you do so before it ships. With that option I placed the order, then went to REI where they let me play with one (wasn't sure about the touch-screen) and I saw enough road maps to know it could be used (out of the box) in-car even though my main use will be geocaching. REI carries the Oregon 300 but not the 400t - nor the Colorado. I saw enough and have read enough to decide to go ahead with the order. The price is just too good right there right now. This should be an upgrade from the Etrex H the kiddos and I have been caching with through our newbie stage.

 

Hope it helps. Good luck with your decision,

JB

 

I could be wrong, but I believe you'll need to buy City Navigator for road routing?

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P.S. - btw, Anna, if you are (as we were) new to geoC-ing, the Etrex (H) I mentioned has served us quite well on a low budget while we experimented with this new sport to see if we would like it (which we do, hence the new toy now on order). It cost (one dollar) less than 100 bux at a local sports-n-outdoors store (Academy), and it has never let us down. You might consider that, too, at least in the interim. It's plain, basic and simple but it is also inexpensive and effective enough. I did just notice it at REI for ~$109.

fwiw

-jb-

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Anna,

 

FWIW, I can confirm what Zelanzy, then FierceDeityLink1 said. I'm only here in the forum because I'm seeking the same info you seek. A fellow geocacher told me yesterday about the Oregon 300 sale presently on Dell.com, and I've looked around the last couple days and have found nothing that is priced close to what they offer at*this*moment. $249 This moment could very well end *tonight* though. Confirm also the ten day lead time due to being out of stock, however you have the option to cancel the order during that 10 days, if you do so before it ships. With that option I placed the order, then went to REI where they let me play with one (wasn't sure about the touch-screen) and I saw enough road maps to know it could be used (out of the box) in-car even though my main use will be geocaching. REI carries the Oregon 300 but not the 400t - nor the Colorado. I saw enough and have read enough to decide to go ahead with the order. The price is just too good right there right now. This should be an upgrade from the Etrex H the kiddos and I have been caching with through our newbie stage.

 

Hope it helps. Good luck with your decision,

JB

 

I could be wrong, but I believe you'll need to buy City Navigator for road routing?

 

Ah, but you could be right, too. That could be a good point! I'm afraid I cannot say either way. I see now I should have explained my perspective. I would, if in a car, use the maps but probably not the navigation. My wife, on the other hand, likes the box to tell her when to turn. I would just use the map for reference, so I honestly didn't sample its street navigation in that much detail. (I don't think the clerk wanted to go beyond the front door of the store where we went to get a good signal) ;-) And, also depending on your perspective, the add-ons sounded anything but cheap - it sounded far more cost effective to buy up rather than adding-on if you want that functionality.

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Just to throw another choice into the mix...the DeLorme PN-40 is now about $250, it's a completely paperless unit meaning you see the cache page on your PN-40 (minus pictures). As well, you can log your finds on the unit and upload your finds via field notes, meaning no need to take a single note....ever! The PN routes here in the USA, but not overseas without the addition of XMap ($100)...but if you're going to buy a car unit anyways, why not have the great caching experience?

 

If cheaper is your choice, the PN-20 (PN-40's little brother) is around $130 and does everything the 40 does save road routing (it does, not as well though because of slow screen redraws)!

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You guys are GREAT. Thanks so much.

 

The deal with having a GPS in Scotland - I want it more for the estimated travel times and where to turn, because many roads in rural Scotland are horrendous - um - or rather "quaint". Lots of tiny one lane roads, or very very wiggly roads (former cart tracks, I assume) and it's super helpful to know how twisty or slow a road is, because I keep being fooled because a location LOOKS really close (as the crow flies) but turns out to be incredibly hard to get to, because it's up some tiny, wiggly, one lane road.

 

So GPS assistance is terribly helpful. Also really REALLY cuts down of marital problems (ie me getting mad at my husband when he takes some alternate route and it has no gas stations). Somehow, having grown up in the US, I just assume there will be a McDonald's and a gas station every mile or so, but this is NOT THE CASE in rural Scotland. Heh.

 

Anyway, so maybe the right thing to do is for me to just get some cheap-o GPS with a good signal but not a lot of extra frills. I have my iPhone for getting the coordinates and the descriptions, I just don't trust how good the GPS part of it is. So if I can just enter the coordinates in and use the proper GPS for actually finding the thing, that would probably be just fine. Shall I get an Etrex? Are they good as far as a signal?

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At $250, the Oregon 300 is a steal. (Edit: Ooops, didn't see that it was the Colorado Costco had, not the Oregon.) I wound up paying full MSRP for mine due to a PN-40 failing at an inopportune time, and even with the Oregon at MSRP vs. the PN-40 at Amazon price, the Oregon was worth every penny and more.

 

As to the PN-40, I would not reccommend it for European travel.

You will have to effectively "DIY" your maps in XMap as DeLorme does not provide maps outside of the US. Not sure why the PN-40 crowd says it's $100 - It currently lists as $199.95 for a version without data. Then you have to find a European datasource, which is pretty hard (European countries don't have the rules we do about public access to government data.) Anything you do with XMap in Europe isn't going to autoroute either.

 

Also, it uses nonstandard data transfer cables so if you lose or damage it during travel, you cannot replace it without international shipment (Since the PN-40 is so US-centric, no one is going to sell a cable for it in Europe. It's hard enough to find cables for it in local stores in the United States.) The Oregons use a bog standard Mini-USB cable.

 

The PN-40 currently has some pretty nasty quality control issues. While people rave about DeLorme's warranty service, they do not have an international presence and you shouldn't NEED a manufacturer's warranty service.

 

I did not have a chance to test the PN-40's road routing functions as mine failed quite soon after I received it, but I haven't seen any reports that it was a significant improvement over its predecessor, the PN-20. I HAVE used the PN-20's road routing functions and DeLorme Street Atlas Handheld 2006 and 2009, and DeLorme would have had to advance the PN-40's road routing functions by lightyears compared to its predecessors to come even close to what the Oregon + City Navigator offer. About the only thing Oregon + CN is missing compared to a Nuvi is voice prompting. As far as I can tell, DeLorme didn't make any significant algorithmic improvements to the PN-40 software compared to the PN-20, they just threw more hardware at the problem rather than fix their software.

Edited by Entropy512
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Confirm also the ten day lead time due to being out of stock, however you have the option to cancel the order during that 10 days, if you do so before it ships. With that option I placed the order, then went to REI where they let me play with one (wasn't sure about the touch-screen) and I saw enough road maps to know it could be used (out of the box) in-car even though my main use will be geocaching.

It's funny because I did the same thing regarding REI. I knew they wouldn't price match so I felt bad, but not "paying twice as much" bad.

 

Dell didn't want to let me cancel when it said it was "in production" and given me that spiel many times before. It's probably since it went from "3-5 weeks" to officially backordered that they now allow cancellation. And Dell recently canceled a ton of users' purchases of the Garmin Nuvi 885T for $304, so maybe they're doing it for their best interest. Hopefully they won't cancel our Oregon 300s, but it's happened many times before (speaking from personal experience).

 

I wanted to cancel and reorder since I forgot to apply EPP, and I went through a dozen CSRs who all said "yes you can cancel, let me transfer". Eventually I got to a guy in India "the Modification Department" who said it was impossible. Called back later to complain and got a $20 credit which may or may not show up once it has shipped. Would have rather had the $25 I would have saved with EPP, but, oh well, it's Dell. :)

 

Oh, and the guy in the modification department said I'd have to order another one with EPP separately then return the other unit as the only way to avoid paying a restocking fee. Also that it was impossible to cancel while "in production" and impossible to just credit my account the difference. In retrospect, I probably could have sold the spare unit for a few hundred more than I paid on eBay/Craigslist. Oh well x2. ;)

Edited by FierceDeityLink1
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