New and need help buying a GPS device

[+joykinz]

Hello!

 

I just discovered Geocaching and am extremely excited to get started, but I don't have a GPS device. I have a good job so I can buy a nice device, but I don't want a bunch of bells and whistles that I'll never use. So far I have discovered the Magellan eXplorist GC and the GPS devices that come in the geocaching store. I want the device to be paperless and able to hold and store a lot of geocaches at a time. I'm not sure what else I should be looking for in a device. What do you find most helpful when you are geocaching? Which devices are the most reliable when on the ground? Thanks for your help!

 

Joykinz

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Probably any upper-end Garmin, Delorme or even the newer Magellan(s) will fill your bill nicely.

 

Currently Garmin and Delorme are directly supported by GC.com, but I suspect Magellan will be before too long.

 

As far as bells/whistles go, it is six of one, half-dozen of another. Personally, I think a camera should be a stand-alone device (it is awfully hard to take a pic of your GPSr when it is the camera). Electronic (3-axis) compass is nice, but I still carry the fail-safe "real" magnetic compass.

 

Probably your biggest choice will be touch-screen or no. Larger not-so-bright screen or smaller very bright screen.

 

You can even base it upon color -- the bright orange Delorme PN-40 is pretty easy to notice laying on the ground where you forgot you placed it!

[+SkellyCA]

Currently Garmin and Delorme are directly supported by GC.com, but I suspect Magellan will be before too long.

 

Megellan support was just added in the last couple weeks!

 

I have a Triton 400 and can now download right from the site.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Megellan support was just added in the last couple weeks!

That was real soon, now wasn't it?

Edited April 21, 2010 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+joykinz]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I probably don't want something that is touch screen. They tend to frustrate me. I'll check out the other two that you suggested though!

[NordicMan]

Another really handy but not necessarily required feature I find in a good GPSr is the ability to auto-route navigate you car while on the road. Most mid-higher end devices offer this feature but some do it much better than others.

 

There are some here who would suggest you should give the car navigation chores to a second device (like a Nuvi) but I personally prefer to have only one machine do all the work so long as it is able to.

[+joykinz]

Another really handy but not necessarily required feature I find in a good GPSr is the ability to auto-route navigate you car while on the road. Most mid-higher end devices offer this feature but some do it much better than others.

 

There are some here who would suggest you should give the car navigation chores to a second device (like a Nuvi) but I personally prefer to have only one machine do all the work so long as it is able to.

 

That actually sounds really nice. I just assumed that a GPS device would work in your car, but is that not the case? I've been researching GPS devices for a few days now, and I am extremely confused. Some of them say you need to buy the maps to download into the device? Isn't that what you're purchasing when you buy the device?

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I am pretty sure that all current hand-held devices will route you while driving (assuming they have the mapping). Not likely though will they have voice directions.

 

Our PN-40 "beeps" at 1/10 mile turn approach, double "beeps" at about 100 ft turn approach. Comes with Topo-8 mapping. The unit is switchable to road navigation/hiking (as the crow flies) at any time.

[+briansnat]

Another really handy but not necessarily required feature I find in a good GPSr is the ability to auto-route navigate you car while on the road. Most mid-higher end devices offer this feature but some do it much better than others.

 

There are some here who would suggest you should give the car navigation chores to a second device (like a Nuvi) but I personally prefer to have only one machine do all the work so long as it is able to.

 

That actually sounds really nice. I just assumed that a GPS device would work in your car, but is that not the case? I've been researching GPS devices for a few days now, and I am extremely confused. Some of them say you need to buy the maps to download into the device? Isn't that what you're purchasing when you buy the device?

 

All mapping units come with a base map that shows major roads. They are essentially useless for vehicle navigation. Garmin offers enhanced maps such as 24K Topo 100K topo and City Navigator. They'll run you about $100 - $120. There are also many free maps out there for Garmin units that users seem to be happy with.

 

Delorme units come with detailed Topo 8 imaps included. If you want to use the unit for vehicle navigation I do not suggest getting a Delorme. Their automotive navigation software is just plain lousy.

 

The Lowrance Endura series does a good job of road navigation but you need to buy their road routing software to use it. The Endura units have some of the best on unit geocaching features that I've seen and they hold 4000 caches. They are hybrid with both a touch screen and buttons so that may or may not suit you. The touch screen is also very difficult to read in sunlight

 

From Garmin's line it seems like the Colorado might suit you since the other top of the line units with paperless geocaching have touch screens.

 

I personally wouldn't consider a Magellan because their reputation for customer service ranges from poor to abysmal. Just go to the GPS and Technology forum and search on Magellan Customer or Magellan Service and you'll read horror story after horror story of people trying to deal with them. But you may get a problem free unit and never have to deal with them so it's a crap shoot.

[+jd350az]

I like this thread, in the next few months I would love to upgrade my GPS and some of the things I am looking at are no touch screen, I prefer buttons to smudging up the screen, I see how dirty my GPSr gets while hiking in sweaty hands. Battery life and ease of changing them, for instance I have a Magellan explorist 500 and the rechargable pack is nice but I have forgotten the extra battery carrier it needs to use AAA batteries as backup and have been dead in the water so to speak. The Delorme with maps included is really nice, ebay is a cheap alternative to paying retail for detail maps for the other units as well as free maps you can find with a little searching. Definitely want more cache capibility, my 500 can only hold 200:( Paperless is a big plus, I carry a PDA to go paperless but it would be much easier all in one unit. One thing I would also like is larger scale or being able to zoom in further, right now I can only zoom in to 100ft scale(I believe its about 1/4") but so far I can't complain too much, I prefer the caches in remote areas with larger boxes(easier to find and more SWAG to keep the kids interested) and my old 500 usually gets me within 10 feet of the cache and pointed in the right direction. We haven't had as much luck with micro caches but I think a lot of that is we don't do them much and kinda get ammo cans on the brain when looking lol.

[+OldBenC]

I started with the Colorado 400T, from there to the PN-40 and now along with the PN-40 I have a Oregon 550T. I initially did not want to use a touch screen for the same basic reasons you stated; however, now that I have the 550T, I have no desire to go to a non-touch screen device. Today my kids and I did a hike in the Pali Lookout area. We looked for 4 caches and found 3. The 500T got us within a couple of feet each time; the one we did not find just did not match anything we saw.