Need a quick GPS reccomendation for bike touring

[+Bent Nerds]

Hi there, doing some research on GPS, was about to buy the 76CSx but I see it may not be what I want exactly for paperless geocaching. Up till now I use a Garmin Nuvi 760 which is fantastic for car trips and casual 'caching (with the paperless help I got here heh) but now I need something with long battery life.

 

I spent the last 5 hours and afew days before this comparing features of various offerings and honestly it seems like there is very little difference between them. Accuracy is important to me, but screen size is no big deal. My main concerns are 1) Paperless 2) Battery Life (AA batteries preferred) 3) Ability to hold a lot of caches in the memory 4) Accuracy.

 

Thanks for any help, cheers.

Edited July 18, 2009 by Bent Nerds

[+burtsbodgers]

Hi there, doing some research on GPS, was about to buy the 76CSx but I see it may not be what I want exactly for paperless geocaching. Up till now I use a Garmin Nuvi 760 which is fantastic for car trips and casual 'caching (with the paperless help I got here heh) but now I need something with long battery life.

 

I spent the last 5 hours and afew days before this comparing features of various offerings and honestly it seems like there is very little difference between them. Accuracy is important to me, but screen size is no big deal. My main concerns are 1) Paperless 2) Battery Life (AA batteries preferred) 3) Ability to hold a lot of caches in the memory 4) Accuracy.

 

Thanks for any help, cheers.

 

Hi What you need is:

The Garmin Oregon!

Does paperless very well

Battery life 10-15 hours (use rechargables and take a spare set) AAs x2

I down load pocket queries and load 500 caches at a time total capacity over 2000(do this regularly to keep up to date on logs)

Accuracy pretty good once you have set it up properly (setting it takes a while depending on how you use it)

Also has a nice Big screen and once you get used to it you wont have to many brightness issues, good maps are available to make the hunt easier.

Easy to use for every aspect of caching.

I took my time to decide on which GPSr to use and have worked through a few on the way, having brought and used Garmin Etrex, Venture HC, Legend HCX, Colorado and now the oregon.

The colorado is also a good unit but the oregon is a lot more user friendly and quicker to use in the field.The price difference is negligible.

There have been a lot of improvements to the Firmware recently which have made this unit a lot better, but it will take you a while to get use to it.

Mapping can be expensive unless you go for the 400t or the new 550t, I am in the UK and use the garmin topo GB sd card which i brought with the legend, this is pretty good but not as good as the garmin discoverer maps

but you need to check for coverage in your area!. Or use open street maps, once again depending on coverage BUT THESE ARE FREE!!!!

So far since i have had the oregon i have a successful hunt and apart from muggled caches,i have found all that i have looked for.

Hope this helps

[+Rockin Roddy]

Hi there, doing some research on GPS, was about to buy the 76CSx but I see it may not be what I want exactly for paperless geocaching. Up till now I use a Garmin Nuvi 760 which is fantastic for car trips and casual 'caching (with the paperless help I got here heh) but now I need something with long battery life.

 

I spent the last 5 hours and afew days before this comparing features of various offerings and honestly it seems like there is very little difference between them. Accuracy is important to me, but screen size is no big deal. My main concerns are 1) Paperless 2) Battery Life (AA batteries preferred) 3) Ability to hold a lot of caches in the memory 4) Accuracy.

 

Thanks for any help, cheers.

 

You could check out the PN-40 as well. Accurate, holds 1000 caches, fully paperless and, with the power kit, you can plug it into a cigarrette lighter outlet and never worry about dead batteries (if your bike is like mine and doesn't have the outlet, you can buy a good all-weather one at most auto parts stores and hook it up easily). Battery life (without being plugged in) is about 11 hours on Duracell H-D rechargeables, but the battery pack you get with the kit will really be pretty much all you need unless you leave the bike for a long time (around 8 hours battery life for the power kit battery).

 

Maps come with the purchase, but I believe there's no TOPO in Canada...it will route though!

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

When you say biking, do you mean bicycle (road or mtn?) or motorcycle?

[+BetaMan]

When you say biking, do you mean bicycle (road or mtn?) or motorcycle?

 

Kinda what I was wondering...

[+Bent Nerds]

When you say biking, do you mean bicycle (road or mtn?) or motorcycle?

 

Oops, I mean bicycling. I think the Oregon is probably what I am after, though Im on my own power mostly, there will be places to recharge.

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

I'm not a big fan of the Oregon for fixed mount use, due to poor visibility, which is really bad if you wear shades. In a few days we should know if the Dakota is any brighter.

[kchunks]

Are you on a bent bike? If so, what do you ride and how do you like it? If you're not in too much of a rush the new Lowrance might be out any day now and you might be able to look one of those over.

[+Chuy!]

I use a Vista HCx for my mtn bike and paperless functions. It doesn't make an ideal paperless unit, but it serves my needs. I use the 60CSXPOI macro for GSAK. It creates as many customized POIs as needed to download a cache's web page. You don't get pics but you get just about everything else, including recent log entries.

 

You can always use your Nuvi as a backup PDA also. JJred has a macro for them that works well. http://jjreds01.googlepages.com/download

 

The screen light on the current Etrex line is the brightest I've seen among the handheld units - from personal observation, it is brighter than the 60's and Oregons.

[+Bent Nerds]

Are you on a bent bike? If so, what do you ride and how do you like it? If you're not in too much of a rush the new Lowrance might be out any day now and you might be able to look one of those over.

 

yea I was looking at those (Lowrance), they look pretty interesting... any word about them?

 

As for bents, LOVE EM! Bloody addicting though. Currently Riding a Rans V-rex, actually currently selling my Sun EZ-1 and Rans Wave 20/20 and the spouse got a Catrike Road.

 

I dont think Ill ever go back to an upright bike.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Bent Nerds

[kchunks]

I live about an hour north of Lightfoot Cycles. Last summer I test rode one of these and loved it. My current piggy bank savings are for one of these. For the time being I am on an upright.

 

Sorry, off topic, I just saw your user name and wanted to ask.