Nuvi 500?

[+appalachiancachin]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to geocaching and I am in the market for a GPS. The only one I own is a Blackberry Curve 8330. I am looking for one that is made for the car but works well for geocaching. I am leaning towards the Garmin Nuvi 500 because it is durable and waterproof, has a decent pedestrian mode and topographical maps for North America, where I'll be doing the majority of my caching. I love going after the caches that are off the beaten path so I think the topos will be very useful to me.

 

So my main requirements...

1- Made for the car, so a standard square shape that is dash-mountable. Nothing with the handheld shape.

2- Rugged enough to take in the woods.

3- Accuracy, even under trees, Garmin claims it is high sensitivity but I'm not sure if that's fluff

4- Pedestrian mode, routing to a point, compass mode would be great but not a requirement

5- Topographical basemaps would be nice

 

Does anyone have any other recommendations, or is the Nuvi 500 my best bet?

 

Thanks all!

[+W7WT]

I have the Nuvi 550 and it is great for routing and paperless geocaching. I have the 550 because we are close to Canada and also go to Alaska. The 500 is cheaper but the map doesn't include Canada and Alaska. We use the Garmin 76CSx and the 78 s handhelds to actually find the cache. Have never used it for hiking to the cache. Some indicate that it works well.

[+TXHooligans]

I love my nuvi 500.. it's great.. not the perfect unit but it's great. does the paperless caching thing via pocket queries and .gpx files as good as any as far as i can tell. it has geocaching built in it. i can select a cache in driving mode.. drive there with turn by turn directions, switch to walking mode and then follow the rubber band line to GZ. they all have some trouble under trees. not sure if this unit is the worst, but i bet it is as good as most of them. waterproof, shock resistant (i dropped it on an asphalt parking lot and it tumbled and skidded quite a ways). it has some scratches on it, but still works great.

 

only thing it is really missing is a place to connect a lanyard. i took some heavy string and made a loop with a knot in it.. slipped the knot in the battery door and shut it. hooks on my neck strap just fine. that way i don't leave it at a cache. i did not have to modify the gps at all. being a ruggedized, unit, the battery door and the part of the case it attaches too is very sturdy. does not affect the water tight gasket either.. i can take pics if you need them..

 

you won't regret the purchase for the price.. i got mine used on ebay for 200 i think.

 

i'm now mainly using my droid, but the nuvi is always in the car when we go caching..

[+appalachiancachin]

Thanks for the info both of you. It's looking like the best bet for what I'm looking for. I was looking at refurbs on ebay and they're going for 180 with a hard case, shipped. I'm pretty sure Garmin gives a free map update even if you're buying a refurb GPS, so I'm seriously considering going that route.

[+TXHooligans]

doublecheck that update on a refurb unit.. may not happen..

 

get educated and don't be sorry..

[+appalachiancachin]

doublecheck that update on a refurb unit.. may not happen..

 

get educated and don't be sorry..

 

Yeah I'd hate to order it and be hung out to dry. What I'm referring to is garmin's nuMaps guarantee for Nuvis and Zumos, I pasted the link below. It says refurbs are eligible, but who knows if I'll order this thing and it will say the serial number has already been used or something. I did see a case where that happened and the user was directed to customer support, so it looks like if I can prove my purchase date and complain loud enough they'll give me a free update on it. Has anyone out there gone this route before?

 

nuMaps Description