Which one?

[+The_Rabas']

I bought my daughter the geo jr. It's a pretty neat little toy. But after looking on Geocaching.com I noticed it doesn't show a quarter of the ones that are right near our house. I know you can buy updates for the jr., but I want a gps of my own. I've looked till I'm blue in the face and come up with three below.

 

Which one would you choose?

 

Garmin, eTrex Vista HCx (Reviews are great)

Magellan Triton 500 (So So reviews, some people love them, some don't)

Lowrance Endura Out&Back (Same as the Triton as far as reviews)

 

I've looked at the specs and each one has something I like. First time buyer and these units are in my price range, under $200.

 

Thanks in advance

[tav]

i just bought a garmin etrex legand hcx it's just fine for geoing and it has a port for a micro card for maps (those are extra $80 $100.00), i bought it for $180.00 on line from wallmart, nothing fancy , it will get you to those caches.

Edited November 18, 2009 by tav

[+OldA'sFan]

I bought my daughter the geo jr. It's a pretty neat little toy. But after looking on Geocaching.com I noticed it doesn't show a quarter of the ones that are right near our house. I know you can buy updates for the jr., but I want a gps of my own. I've looked till I'm blue in the face and come up with three below.

 

Which one would you choose?

 

Garmin, eTrex Vista HCx (Reviews are great)

Magellan Triton 500 (So So reviews, some people love them, some don't)

Lowrance Endura Out&Back (Same as the Triton as far as reviews)

 

I've looked at the specs and each one has something I like. First time buyer and these units are in my price range, under $200.

 

Thanks in advance

I had a Vista HCx and loved it. Unfortunatley, it met an untimely death underneat the wheel of my car (a long sad story). Anyway, I purchased an Oregon 300 about 2 weeks ago, and I love it even more than the Vista. The touch screen, ease of use, and paperless caching make it a real winner. Best of all REI has it on sale for $249 starting Nov. 20th.

 

OldA'sFan

[+Cowboy Camper]

To get into the game, I got a cheaper Magellan eXplorist 210 for about 150 bucks. It's not the Best, but it has worked for me so far.

 

I did the same when I wanted to buy a Road Version of a GPS. I went with what I could afford, and found to be the most User Friendly while playing with the display models in the store. Happens to be that I bought another Magellan unit, the Road Mate 1200.

 

I hear that the Garmins are better on both versions but I never had the opportunity to try one Live. That said, I'm pretty happy with the results of both of the Magellan units that I bought.

 

I'd say go with the cheaper model to start off with. That's what I did.

 

JMHO, of course...

[+StarBrand]

The etrex Vista HCx is a great and solid unit - the only thing it really lacks is true paperless caching. Very cabable and nice unit.

 

I have an Out&Back and I do use it and it does help find caches and has very nice paperless features but I just cannot recommend it right now. There are still a few glitches and issues that need sorted out but it does show a lot of promise for Geocaching. (some screen freezes and slow startup) I love the in-unit cache filters and the interface though!!

 

Stay away from the Triton. Magellin has a horrible reputation should you ever need support.

 

Allow me to throw in another 2 choices.

The Delorme PN30 ($199 from Amazon) has a full suite of maps included as well as paperless caching. It does have a few drawbacks including short battery life, a tendancy to lose signal in some conditions and a propritary interface cable but I must admit it does work well for caching and has some very nice features.

 

The other choice for just a bit more is the Garmin Oregon 200 (around $240 online). True easy to learn paperless caching, a wonderful touchscreen interface and lots of free maps available online.

[+Wild Thing 73]

Garmin Map 60CSx.....PDA....GSAK....CacheMate......Have fun and stay safe

[namiboy]

i'm very happy with my vista hcx. i don't care about the paperless caching, so if that is important to you then maybe buy a different unit.

[+The_Rabas']

The etrex Vista HCx is a great and solid unit - the only thing it really lacks is true paperless caching. Very cabable and nice unit.

 

I have an Out&Back and I do use it and it does help find caches and has very nice paperless features but I just cannot recommend it right now. There are still a few glitches and issues that need sorted out but it does show a lot of promise for Geocaching. (some screen freezes and slow startup) I love the in-unit cache filters and the interface though!!

 

Stay away from the Triton. Magellin has a horrible reputation should you ever need support.

 

Allow me to throw in another 2 choices.

The Delorme PN30 ($199 from Amazon) has a full suite of maps included as well as paperless caching. It does have a few drawbacks including short battery life, a tendancy to lose signal in some conditions and a propritary interface cable but I must admit it does work well for caching and has some very nice features.

 

The other choice for just a bit more is the Garmin Oregon 200 (around $240 online). True easy to learn paperless caching, a wonderful touchscreen interface and lots of free maps available online.

[+The_Rabas']

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Magellan sounds like it's out.

 

StarBrand.......I can't find the PN30 for under $200 (even on Amazon). Does it have better maps loaded out of the box than the Endura & Vista?

[+TomToad]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Magellan sounds like it's out.

 

StarBrand.......I can't find the PN30 for under $200 (even on Amazon). Does it have better maps loaded out of the box than the Endura & Vista?

I have a PN20 which is basically a PN30 with a slower chip and less memory. The PN series of GPSrs come with routable street level maps for the entire USA. Also, when I bought mine, I got $120 worth of free maps as well. For $30 per year, you can get a subscription to download all the maps you want.

It was the maps that made the final decision for me to buy the PN20, and I don't regret it.

 

As for batteries, they do go through a lot. My PN20 gets about 16 hours from AA, and apparently the PN30 and PN40 get even less out of them. The batteries are still good, you could use them in your remotes and cameras, but the GPSr won't work with them once they drop below 1.3 volts.

 

One other problem mentioned with the Delorme GPSrs is that it hasn't been around as long as the others. The company still has some growing up to do as well as a lack of 3rd party support for it.

 

My own personal recommendations would be to go with the Delorme PN series for the maps and precision if you can tolerate the speed, extra battery use, and proprietary software; otherwise go with the Garmin.

[+flask]

 

Garmin, eTrex Vista HCx (Reviews are great)

Magellan Triton 500 (So So reviews, some people love them, some don't)

Lowrance Endura Out&Back (Same as the Triton as far as reviews)

 

 

i think you have answered your own question.

[+StarBrand]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Magellan sounds like it's out.

 

StarBrand.......I can't find the PN30 for under $200 (even on Amazon). Does it have better maps loaded out of the box than the Endura & Vista?

Wait a week or 2 - they go on sale frequently. I got mine for $199. Even at $239 - it is a good value. Maps are not loaded per se but they come as part of the package and can be loaded quite easily.

[+mdpenney]

I have a Triton 1500. I love it. It did have some problems when I first got it but the firmware updates fix them.

I found it at wal mart for $199.00 a great buy. I came with maps and a case. The unit by itself was 499.00.

I Love it. The only thing I don't like about it is no way to mark a found geocache. I also got a base map on ebay that works great. Hope this helps.

[+The_Rabas']

Just found out my Dad has an eTrex Venture CX (I think that's what it is) he is sending me. I know it's an older model, but I will try it out and see where to go from there. The price was right, FREE!

 

Thanks to all who replied.

Edited November 19, 2009 by The_Rabas'