dual purpose gps

[r0ses]

I am new to geocaching - we had a little dabble last summer but now want to start properly. I don't know which gps device to buy (used hubbie's Tom Tom One before but battery didnt last and wasnt accurate enough).

I want one that I can also use as a satnav in the car. I don't want to spend an absolute fortune - any recommendations anyone?

 

thanks

[+drdick&vick]

One option is Garmin Nuvi 550

[+*mouse*]

Tough one. What ever you pick will be a compromise. You can cache with some car satnavs but there not as good as a handheld gps. You can route with a handheld gps in the car, but wont get features such as vocal directions (just beeps and a written message).

Maybe you should consider a PDA and load it with tomtom and some caching software. Again it's a compromise as it's not as robust as a GPS, but it might be the more adaptable solution.

[GerritS]

Tough one. What ever you pick will be a compromise. You can cache with some car satnavs but there not as good as a handheld gps. You can route with a handheld gps in the car, but wont get features such as vocal directions (just beeps and a written message).

Maybe you should consider a PDA and load it with tomtom and some caching software. Again it's a compromise as it's not as robust as a GPS, but it might be the more adaptable solution.

 

Culd agree there, the only other consideration is Battery life. Having moved from a mobile phone to a Oregon, the 2 biggest advantages battery life and robustness... The phone could do everything else..

 

I have even found it harder to find caches, I trust my GPS to be correct! where as before with a phone you knew it was some where NEAR here LOL.

[+Border Caz]

I started off by using my sat nav - Garmin Nuvi 250 - and wanted to get a handheld GPS when funds permitted. Unfortunately I lost my trusty Garmin one day whilst out caching, and as I need a sat nav for work I had to go and buy another - a Garmin Nuvi 205. Almost the same as my last one except no Europe mapping (that's the 255 now) and it draws a line where I've been so I can follow it back again, also I can have a pair of boots instead of the car or arrow.

 

Most of the time it's pretty accurate, I've set 3 caches with it and the the finders have said the co-ords are good, although it can lose the plot quickly under tree cover.

 

Main disadvantages are that it's got nothing to hold on to, and it's not waterproof so needs to be in a plastic bag if weather is wet - but then I don't do caching in the rain if I can help it.

 

I haven't found the battery life to be a problem - it runs easily for 4 - 5 hours, I'm never that far from the car or the end of the route. I suppose it would be a problem if you're into climbing mountains for caches - but you can turn it off once you're heading in the right direction and then switch it back on when you're getting nearer. I'm not one of these that walks along studying the GPS, I like to look around me as I walk!

[+maxkim]

In our opinion you need two.... One to get you into the area and someyhing like a Garmin Etrwx to get you to GZ. Maps always help. I have them on my PDA Mio 550, but it is no good on the fine scale which is when we use the Garmin... Still usless under trees.. LOL... Cheers MaxKim.

[+drsolly]

In our opinion you need two.... One to get you into the area and someyhing like a Garmin Etrwx to get you to GZ. Maps always help. I have them on my PDA Mio 550, but it is no good on the fine scale which is when we use the Garmin... Still usless under trees.. LOL... Cheers MaxKim.

 

I use a Mio 550 running TomTom, so it's just like any other car satnav. I also have MemoryMap loaded on it, with OS maps 1:25000 and 1:50000, so it give me excellent mapping. I diagree with maxkim about the fine scale; I doubt if there's any devide will give you better than the 1:25000

 

But I only use the Memorymap on the Mio as a backup for my main GPS PDA, which is a Fujitsu Loox - there's a definite plus to using two devices, one for each function.

 

But the Mio550 (or 350) will happily do both.

[+Sue and Bernie]

We use a Garmin Vista Cx for driving to and then finding caches using Topo UK. We also have City Navigator software for use on the continent.

 

As stated above, you do only get bleeps and a notice for guidance from the Vista but it does save a lot of messing about. Once we park the car, we just get the Vista to recalculate the route "off-road".

 

We have Tomtom on Ipaq PPC and car Garmin GPS but they've fallen into disuse for caching simply because of the nausea of putting them up, taking them down out the window, re-finding and re-calculation, swapping units etc etc. We ended up not bothering with the more sophisticated kit and just use the one unit, the Vista, for all the jobs!

 

The initial outlay is not cheap but once you've got it, you're sorted.

 

Edited December 30, 2009 by Sue and Bernie

[+mcwomble]

I use my Satmap for both driving and caching.

 

I run straight off the 12V socket so no battery worries and either use my local Essex 15K map, or for longer journeys the full UK 50K map.

 

It doesn't tell me which way to go, but then I've always preferred map-reading myself anyhow.

If I'm going to somewhere I've not been before the "Go To" line indicator is useful too.

[+Maingray]

Oregon + City Navigator.

 

Large touchscreen goodness; you lose a handful of driving unit features (I turn vocal guides off on dedicated car units anyway... annoying esp with guests) but with the geocaching features and off road features, it's the best comprimise IMO.

[+sTeamTraen]

Don't go geocaching with something that you aren't prepared to drop from 18 inches (out of your jacket front pocket as you lean forward) onto a rock, because this will happen some time in your first 100 caches. (When the phone people at work try to get me to switch to a new model, I always drop it from one metre onto the lino-covered corridor floor. Universal result: Nokia: 1, Rest of the World: 0, or rather, phone caught by diving, sprawling phone person because they know it will shatter otherwise.)

 

If you can find something that fits that requirement and you can live with it in the car, go for it. A Colorado or Oregon is good enough for a "going caching SatNav", when you will typically either have two people in the car, or be stopping to look at the GPS when a couple of miles away. (But for long drives to your holiday destination, arriving in the dark, vocal guidance is awfully handy.)

Edited January 4, 2010 by sTeamTraen

[+pklong]

I recommend a Y shaped twig.

[+Birdman-of-liskatraz]

I recommend a Y shaped twig.

Dowsing for caches I can understand and could be worth a go....

 

But how do you use a hazel twig as an in car Sat Nav?