Advice on GPS units.

[Greysquirrel34]

I was looking for a GPS for hiking and kept see some were good for Geocaching, not knowing what it was I did some research and found this great site which wet my appetite to find out more about it and found out it seem like a great hobby.

Now I am not going to ask what is the best GPS as I know that will open up a can of worms as everyone thinks theirs is the best.

What I am asking is am I on the right track, I have narrowed it down to two units in my price range under $200.

My first choice is the Venture HC for $121 which seems to have most of what I think I will use, but I don't know that much about this stuff to make an intelligent decision. The other is the Legend HCx for around $65 more, both off Amazon. Now is the ability to use a SD card slot worth the extra money, or there more advantages to owning the Legend?

I am also open to any suggestions anyone may make.

I also see a lot of units on eBay refurbished, are these worth looking into, also Garmin says the refurbished units carry a 30 day warranty and the dealers on eBay are saying they have a 1yr warranty, Are these dealers just plain lying about the warranty or do some refurb units have a 1 year warranty?

Edited October 17, 2009 by Greysquirrel34

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Either/or. Both are entirely suitable.

 

I think the latter has an SD card slot for expanded memory. If so, I would go with that one (Legend).

It would give you a little more "play around with" options.

 

Just my opinion, you know what opinions are like.

[NordicMan]

Hi & welcome to Geocaching

 

Yep I agree with Gitchee, the Legend HCx is probably a better choice if the few extra $'s isn't a huge burden. You probably won't need the expandable memory feature right away, but,,, if you get really hooked on Geocaching (and LOTS of other uses for GPSr's!) then that expandable memory option is worth it's weight in gold!

[Greysquirrel34]

Hi & welcome to Geocaching

 

Yep I agree with Gitchee, the Legend HCx is probably a better choice if the few extra $'s isn't a huge burden. You probably won't need the expandable memory feature right away, but,,, if you get really hooked on Geocaching (and LOTS of other uses for GPSr's!) then that expandable memory option is worth it's weight in gold!

I notice that all the x units have the card slot, thus the x, but have no memory installed, does this mean that all new maps have to be on SD cards that you have to purchase for $99 or are you still able to download free maps from web sites?

I can see that being able to have a card that has city streets on in may be useful as this unit says it does turn by turn capabilities.

How important is it to have an electronic compass? Neither of these two or many others have this feature along with an altitude indicator?

[aniyn]

You can get free maps online, but you'll probably need to get a blank micro sd card (cost maybe $20). The altimeter isn't really needed, since any gps can tell you your altitude anyways. As for the electronic compass - well, that subject has its own thread. Short answer - not needed, but can be handy.

 

As for refurbished units (i can only speak from personal experiance here), I don't recommend going that route. I've had just a few too many refurb products that just plain never worked properly, and/or seem to have rather short lifespans.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

A remark about the compass feature..........

 

It's OK and some people love them BUT, the "old" style magnetics never run out of batteries.

 

Besides, too many bells and whistles mean you have to carry many, many more batteries. If you already have a magnetic (and you probably do), don't worry about it.

 

Just keep it with you. You never know when you might need it.

Edited October 18, 2009 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+keehotee]

If you can get one with a compass, go for it.

I don't know anybody with a gps with compass that actually uses the compass to get a bearing. What the compass will do for you though, is point to the next waypoint - whether that's a cache or a marker on a route - whether you are stationary or moving. A non compassed gps will require you to be moving to get a fix....

 

For the sake of carrying a couple of extra batteries in your pack, it's well worth the extra.

[namiboy]

i don't see much of a difference in battery drain between my two garmins, one with electronic compass, one without. never understood what the big deal was.

[+Tatooed Lady]

FWIW, I own a Legend HCx, and have found the ability to add a memory card invaluable. It lets me download maps from Garmin's site (equestrian) for about $10, there are also some downloadable city maps for about the same price. They go onto the computer, get saved onto a micro SD card and are useable whenever that particular card is installed. This way I can either use a road map (which I bought on micro SD card for about $100) of the ENTIRE US, or I can use the trail map...

I've used it for geocaching and for general directions when travelling to a specific address 60 miles away. I bought it last Christmas on eBay, as a refurbished unit. I've had NO issues with it or the other electronics I've purchased refurbished, and I would do it again. BUT...check WalMart and your local stores, as the price has just gone down a bit on NEW units.

As to the warranties...I don't know, I haven't had to explore that yet.

 

I'm currently looking to upgrade to something I can do paperless geocaching with...probably a Colorado 400t, but that's just me.

 

Good luck!!

[Greysquirrel34]

FWIW, I own a Legend HCx, and have found the ability to add a memory card invaluable. It lets me download maps from Garmin's site (equestrian) for about $10, there are also some downloadable city maps for about the same price. They go onto the computer, get saved onto a micro SD card and are useable whenever that particular card is installed. This way I can either use a road map (which I bought on micro SD card for about $100) of the ENTIRE US, or I can use the trail map...

I've used it for geocaching and for general directions when travelling to a specific address 60 miles away. I bought it last Christmas on eBay, as a refurbished unit. I've had NO issues with it or the other electronics I've purchased refurbished, and I would do it again. BUT...check WalMart and your local stores, as the price has just gone down a bit on NEW units.

As to the warranties...I don't know, I haven't had to explore that yet.

 

I'm currently looking to upgrade to something I can do paperless geocaching with...probably a Colorado 400t, but that's just me.

 

Good luck!!

j Thanks for all the replies, I ended up buying the Vista HCx bundle from Cabelas for $200 shchedule to arrive on Wed. I then have to learn how to use it, I have downloaded the owners manual and have read through it and it does not seem too complicated , I also keep a good stock of all size batteries and have a number of rechargeable so I don't think I will have a problem there.

I don't travel very much so paying $100 for the city map module seem a lot to me, besides you can buy a GPS for your car for a little more these days, at least one that would fill my needs.

I don't really know how I got to $200, I saw an add for a GPS for $85, did some reasearch and realized that was not for me, found what I thought I wanted for $121, then moved up to another for 185 and then saw this package deal for $200, hope I did the right thing.