I need a GPS that will work for travelling and Geocaching

[BrendaK2000]

I want to buy my dad a GPS however it seems like they're all broken down into two different catagories, those that are best for navigational while driving and portable ones that are best for geocaching. Trouble is my dad would really like both. What GPS would you recommend that can do both well? (I'm sticking with Garmin unless there's something wayyy more recommended out there)

[+Neos 1]

I use a 60 CSx for both caching and nav purposes. I drive a truck for a living and have City Navigator loaded onto my GPSr. You can buy a sand bag type dash mount for the 60 which is what I use in my semi along with a 12v power cable. The biggest issues I have with this setup are 1.) Sometimes the position of the sun makes the unit hard to see. That can usually be remedied by moving the unit around on the dash a bit. 2.) If you aren't connected to the cable, the back light doesn't work all the time also making the unit hard to see. 3.) If I'm using this set up in my car while caching, it's a pain in the rear to disconnect the cable and remove the unit from the mount, go run the cache down, then put everything back together. If I'm in an area where the caches are close together, I usually don't put the unit back in it's holder. If I have a bit of a drive to the next cache, I'll hook everything back up again. On the plus side, the 60 is a rock solid unit. I can pull down 5 satellites in my living room. The sand bag mount rides well in my semi on all but the worst roads and in my car it pretty much stays where I put it. The 12v power cord actually trickle charges the batteries in the GPSr extending battery life and when the unit is plugged in, the back light is on making the display easier to see. On a 2GB mini SD card you can put everything from the Rio Grande to the Arctic Circle as far as maps go. One other negative on the dash mount. It requires a bit of room. It's adjustable but some vehicles don't have a lot of room between the dash and the windshield. The wife and I travel a bit and usually rent a vehicle for long road trips. I think we've had one car that didn't have enough room for the dash mount to display the GPSr upright so I turned it sideways. It took a little getting used to but we made it work. That's my two cents worth. I hope it helps.

[+Me N My Munchkins]

Pilotsnipes has written an application for the Garmin Nuvi series. I have used this on several trips and love it!

 

http://pilotsnipes.googlepages.com/index.html

 

Good luck

[NordicMan]

Actually it's quite easy to use one of the "best for Geocaching" GPSr's to navigate your car with. If you're not hung up on the fact that they don't "talk" turn to you, the beeping and screen indicators are quite good at getting you to your destination, just like Neos described in his post.

 

I use a Garmin Vista Cx for road navigation and Geocaching. Personally I just let the unit sit in a cup holder and check it once in a while for upcoming turns it works quite well, and it's reception ability is so good that you don't HAVE to have it up on the dash to get a good view of the satellites.

 

But if you DO want a "talker" GPSr, then a Nuvi 500 or 550 would be the best choice. They're quite a bit more fragile than an outdoor rated model but as long as you're CAREFUL with it while out Geocaching then you should be OK

[+StarBrand]

The Nuvi 500 series is somewhat ruggedized for trail use plus has built-in paperless Geocaching features. Also makes a great in-car Nav unit. However, my best advice is to get a low end Nuvi for the car and something like a Garmin Venture HC for trail use. That sort of gives you the best of both worlds.

[matthewpaulster]

The Nuvi 500 series is somewhat ruggedized for trail use plus has built-in paperless Geocaching features. Also makes a great in-car Nav unit. However, my best advice is to get a low end Nuvi for the car and something like a Garmin Venture HC for trail use. That sort of gives you the best of both worlds.

I agree. my dad has a Nuvi 205, which he loves, but isnt rugged or waterproof. The nuvi 500 will work a lot better for both.

[+Arrow42]

I want to buy my dad a GPS however it seems like they're all broken down into two different catagories, those that are best for navigational while driving and portable ones that are best for geocaching. Trouble is my dad would really like both. What GPS would you recommend that can do both well? (I'm sticking with Garmin unless there's something wayyy more recommended out there)

 

You could consider a smart-phone. The navigation and geocaching tools are getting better and better and many smart phones how include GPS receivers.

 

I think separate GPSrs are going to fade away like the PDA, pager, and e-mail device in maybe... 10 years, tops. I think eventually the only stand-alone GPS units you'll see will be "extreme environment", "construction/Survey" and "marine".

[+webscouter.]

I have successfully used the 60CSx and the Colorado for both caching and navigating.

 

If he is going to primarily cache then the Colorado/Oregon/Dakota would be best.

 

If he is going to primarily drive then the 60CSx would be best.

 

All units will need City Navigator NT installed.

[FourQ]

I started off (many) years ago with a USB GPS for the laptop. It was functional enough but not practical when I sold the car and got a bike.

 

I progressed to a Bluetooth GPS for my old Nokia 6600 by which I navigated manually until the 6260 was available whereupon I bought TomTom Navigator.

 

The vocal instructions were great but being hard of hearing I needed something either louder or larger and bought an iPaq HX2410 which was placed in the map pocket of the tankbag.

 

Since my son was born I thought about giving up the bikes but after several car drivers ran me off the road and into hospital I bit the bullet and sold them.

 

Nowadays I still use the HX2410 but also use a Nokia N70 and N95, each with several GPS apps including TomTom.

 

Personally I'd recommend either a Nokia smartphone or a PDA. While they only have eight channels I've never found myself connected to eight satellites so it's been well worth it. Especially on my budget.

[+Puppy Dawg]

I know it isn't Garmin, but Delorme just came out with a new one, the PN-30. Wait till the price goes down, then go for it. It comes with free mapping software and has long battery life. It won't talk to you, but it does the job. Though it dosen't have a barometric altimiter or an electronic compass. It will tell you altitude and direction tho. If you want those, try the PN-40. But either way, the '30 just came out, and the prices are high. Give it a few months and the '40 will be under $300, and the '30 under $200. These are the best GPSrs for geocaching because they do paperless, are more accurate than any Garmin, and cost less than Garmin's latest three duds: The Colorado, Oregon, and Dakota. Just my $.02.

[+Puppy Dawg]

Oops. Double post.

Edited July 15, 2009 by GeoBigDawg

[+StarBrand]

... are more accurate than any Garmin, ...

I'll put my Garmin Colorado 300 up againist any unit out there when it comes to accuracy.

[+Puppy Dawg]

I was using my buddies CO to get to a cache. It was three miles away. My PN agreed, to. Then we burst under tree cover. The CO went crazy and said it was only one mile away, while the '40 still said three. You hear about this all the time, too.

 

This here is a real-life screenshot of my PN-40 in tree cover, NOT something Delorme advertises:

 

Edited July 15, 2009 by GeoBigDawg

[NordicMan]

I was using my buddies CO to get to a cache. It was three miles away. My PN agreed, to. Then we burst under tree cover. The CO went crazy and said it was only one mile away, while the '40 still said three. You hear about this all the time, too.

 

And honestly, I also hear the exact opposite being said just as much.. PN's go haywire while Garmins hold their footing

 

It's crazy how much variety can come off the exact same assembly line, building identical GPS models. I don't know what it is, in either the alignment of the circuitry or the product materials thickness, or maybe it matters what phase the moon is in during final assembly

 

I hear it with ALL brands.. one guy has brand XXX and it works awesome, yet some other guy has the exact same unit and is totally frustrated with it.. usually nowadays electronic devices are more consistent.. I dunno

Edited July 16, 2009 by NordicMan

[+Zelanzy]

I'd just go with Oregon 300 with City Navigator on card and topo on internal. It switches very easily from "Automotive" to "Geocaching". The 2d digital compass is pretty horrible though...

[+solo63137]

 

And honestly, I also hear the exact opposite being said just as much.. PN's go haywire while Garmins hold their footing

 

I hear it with ALL brands.. one guy has brand XXX and it works awesome, yet some other guy has the exact same unit and is totally frustrated with it.. usually nowadays electronic devices are more consistent.. I dunno

 

Agreed....

 

I've had the same exp several times when a a few friends with Geomate Jr.s and i were out looking for the same cache...

 

Several time they were like, Mine says it 1.3 miles this way... When my 400t said it was a different amount of distance to spot and a different direction...

 

Most of the time say another 100 yards or so, they all lined up...

[+burtsbodgers]

I'd just go with Oregon 300 with City Navigator on card and topo on internal. It switches very easily from "Automotive" to "Geocaching". The 2d digital compass is pretty horrible though...

i couldnt agree more

super way to travel

[+Team Pluto]

My wife bought me a Garmin Rino 530hcx for Christmas last year, and this unit excels at geocaching and outdoor navigation. I bought City Navigator 2009 to run on the unit, and I now use it in the car as well. It doesn't tell you the street name coming up that you have to turn on, but it beeps at you as you approach your turn and beeps more incessantly when you need to make your turn. It does everything I need and then some!

[+OlderNDirt49]

Having only owned the Nuvi 500, I can't address comparisons to other units, auto navigation or geocaching. As for the Nuvi 500:

 

I, too was looking for one unit that presumable would do auto navigation and geocaching reasoanbly well, just in case geocaching didn't pan out as a hobby, a very wrong assumption as it turned out. For my use, there is little more I would want a unit to do for auto navigation. While the combined navigation ane topo map is nice, I do wonder about the frequency of updated maps.

 

For geocaching, I really like the ease of navigating to the area and then changing to walking mode (off road and a good idea to mute audio voice, especially if one downloads and installs the Dr. Nightmare voice..lol) for the actual hunt. In either mode, the cache descriiption, hint (if any), and last 5 log entries are a couple touch screen presses away, as well as the option to log the hunt on the spot (I am sure that is available on most all paperles units). For an older cacher, I also like the larger screen making it easier for my limited eyesight. I find it to be quite accurate, but have wondered if at times, a better hand held would be a fair amount more accurate. The biggest problem with it is the limit on the number of characters in a chache name (I have been told between 13 and 20 characters, but I have had it work just fine with far more then 20), if too long, would totally shut down the unit. With a little work and research, I have figured out how to use GSAK so the names are all abbreviated automatically and have had no problems since.

 

As for durability, I can only say that I did accidently drop it from about four feet onto concrete. Other then a tiny knick on one corner, there has been no problem with its operation (knock on wood)! However, I hope not to make a habit of doing that.

 

Now, having said all that, I will admit I have found myself checking out better auto navigation units and hand held geocaching units. But at a cost of two to three times the price of the Nuvi 500 for the additional benefits I would get, I think it is going to work just fine for me for quite a while.