(1) Do you prefer touchscreen or toggle pad and why? (2) Least expensive paperless GPS

[+PennyPA]

Which do you prefer...touch screen or toggle button and why? Tried a Magellan with that little toggle button in the center and did not like it at all. The Garmins seem to have a nicer toggle pad at the center of their handheld. The Magellan also didn't show a flag at cache (we've been using our Garmin 650 with lousy battery life!) so we didn't know which way we were headed and even after reading 26 pages of instructions, could not get the hang of it.

 

Soooo, we DID like the paperless part of it and have been looking at the Garmin 62s but that's a bit out of our Social Security price range. If anyone has a Garmin good working paperless GPS but is upgrading to a newer GPS, we'd be interested in talking price with you. Would also like suggestions on inexpensive yet reliable paperless GPS.

[+mainsheet]

Which do you prefer...touch screen or toggle button and why? Tried a Magellan with that little toggle button in the center and did not like it at all. The Garmins seem to have a nicer toggle pad at the center of their handheld. The Magellan also didn't show a flag at cache (we've been using our Garmin 650 with lousy battery life!) so we didn't know which way we were headed and even after reading 26 pages of instructions, could not get the hang of it.

 

Soooo, we DID like the paperless part of it and have been looking at the Garmin 62s but that's a bit out of our Social Security price range. If anyone has a Garmin good working paperless GPS but is upgrading to a newer GPS, we'd be interested in talking price with you. Would also like suggestions on inexpensive yet reliable paperless GPS.

Once you narrow it down to a few units, the garage sale section might be the place to search around for used units people are offering up for sale:

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showforum=13

[+randco]

The Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx is a workhorse GPS'r. It can be had for around $200. Wanna be paperless? Buy an inexpensive PDA (I bought mine from Used Handhelds for $35) and Cachemate software $8 from smittyware.com Battery life of the 60CSx is 18 hours.

 

You know you can't go wrong with a Garmin.

[+Prime Suspect]

You're going to lose 10% to 20% of screen brightness when touchscreens are used. I'm looking at the screen a lot more than I'm inputting something, so personally I don't think the touchscreen trade-off is worth it.

[+simplyred]

Personally like the push buttons. Get used to button positions and can work it with out looking. Handy in the dark or walking in thick woods, riding bike, quad, vehicle or boat. Sometimes you cant be watching and placing a finger on different parts of the screen. Push button can be done like braille.

[+myotis]

I loved the rock n roller on my CO. I figured I was going to miss the hard buttons on the CO when I got an OR 550T. I have not missed my CO, I like the OR touch screen MUCH better.

[+Pax42]

The Delorme PN-40 is $218 at Amazon.com.

[+Druce_n_Eulla]

Look into the Lowrance Endura Out&Back $200 but can be found for a little less. Paperless and touchscreen, in fact it is the cheapest GPS-r that offers this in one unit. I prefer touchscreen due to the easy of inputting and navigating. If you will only use it for geocaching there is no need for the more expensive units. Works great too.

Edited August 13, 2010 by Druce_n_Eulla

[+dfx]

i like the touchscreen because i like being able to pick caches/waypoints/locations off the map just like that, and it saves in overall unit size too. the readability could be better, but having used a PDA with touchscreen before, i'm already used to it.

[+Team_Searchgeo]

I think it is personal preference more than anything. I have a nuvi which is touch screen and PN-40 which is not. The touch screen is great for going down the road but when on the trail I like the push button because I can hold the unit in one and operate the buttons. I guess you can do that with a touch screen but it is a little harder.

 

As far as a great GPSr at the right price I will go with the PN-40. Pros of the unit are it is rugged, has great options and with the new Topo 9.0 and 2.8 F/W it is a geocaching machine. Cons of the unit are smallish screen and battery life. The battery life I solve by buying the delorme carrying case and having extra batteries on hand. I tend to get 8 hrs out of 2300 NiMH rechargable batteries. For my purposes this is all I need. The small screen is not real bad because it is really clear so I don't have a big issue reading it.

 

My self personally I am staying away from the new 62's from garmin just because of the issues that people are having with them. In 6 months I am then going to look at the 62 and PN-60 and decide which one I will upgrade to.

Edited August 13, 2010 by Team_Searchgeo

[+CACHE KRAWLER]

This is one of those Ford/Chevy or Stick/Automatic when offroading questions, but i will tell you in my expierence and this is just my expierence...I absolutely with a heated passion HATED the touchscreen of the Oregon 400T that I used for a couple months. I had lost my 60CSX in a cave in WA, I loved that GPS with my whole heart, it was the International of trucks man. So after losing my GPS I borrowed my friends Oregon, ugh!, my caching stats went through the floor. I then found out that he had an old Etrex, I was a happy cacher again! I bought a Colorado 6 months ago mostly for the paperless function and have grown very use to it. So my answer is to stay away from the touchscreen, BUT, like I said, this is just my association with the touchscreen.

[+Druce_n_Eulla]

Forgot to mention the Endura Out&Back has both touchscreen and buttons. Guess it works for everyone. Choose what you like. You get both in one unit.

[+myotis]

I think it is personal preference more than anything. I have a nuvi which is touch screen and PN-40 which is not. The touch screen is great for going down the road but when on the trail I like the push button because I can hold the unit in one and operate the buttons. I guess you can do that with a touch screen but it is a little harder.

 

 

Taking 2 hands to operate the touch screen on the Nuvi may be the case. But on my OR 550T, I do almost everything with one hand. I figured it was going to be harder to operate it with one hand than my CO. It was not. I was rather suprised when I quickly aquired the ability to even click the right places without looking.

[+gelfling6]

I might as well put my 2-cents worth in on this question.

 

Having dealt with both, I still prefer the toggle-pad type over the touch screen, mainly because it is less error prone. I've had the touch-screen fail a few times on a Palm PDA, and a Pocket-PC, to say nothing of the vulnerability of the large LCD screen, of which I've even cracked a small 1.5" square one on a small MP3/MP4 player, because it was inadequately protected.

 

As someone else said, operating a NuVI needs 2 hands, unless it's already mounted on a steady point. (one to hold the device, the other top operate the screen.) with the Garmin eTrexs I have, I only need hold it in one hand, and the controls are within reach of the top & sides of the device. 1 hand operation, like a 'Smart-Mouse' facing upwards. (some company made a mouse, with it's own numeric keyboard.. It really WAS moving a brick around because of its size.) the side buttons, and the top joy-button are all within reach of a normal adult hand. (Okay, given, kids need 2 hands.)

 

The Magellan Explorist line was the same way. Side controls, and the top keypads were all 1-hand accessible. quick and simple.

 

Many, many years ago (2-3) when I started an old discussion of a fantasy GPSr, (which I see the Explorist-GC is still missing the MP3-Player, Bluetooth/IR communication parts. Nice device, though!) I suggested the garmin style joy-button, because of vulnerability I saw of the touch-screen ones. Some didn't like the idea, But I imagine after needing to replace crushed/cracked screens, they may've changed their view.

 

Though, it is all in the owner's view. I look for ruggedness (let's face it.. those 3 to 5 star terrains are brutal!), something that is waterproof (or resistant.. Ever try reading a touch screen through raindrops, wipe them off only to find you hit the "Delete' button within 50 feet of the cache?), and easy to use. Accuracy comes in close to the end of that list, but it's more fun using the basic sight & intuition parts to see the cache.

[Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hide]

Which do you prefer...touch screen or toggle button and why?

 

I've been wondering the same, and I have both so I'm going to do a little test... I made a bracket so I can compare old and new tech under the same conditions...

 

I made up a little plexiglass plate to have my Legend HCx and Oregon 550 together on the bike. When I sent my Oregon back in to have the USB connection repaired, I got used to the old Legend and I like it a lot... so now I'm not sure which to use: the Legend's screen is more visible most of the time but the Oregon's higher res screen is beautiful, when you can see it...

 

 

So I'm going to try both for a while.

[Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hide]

Which do you prefer...touch screen or toggle button and why?

 

I've been wondering the same, and I have both so I'm going to do a little test... I made a bracket so I can compare old and new tech under the same conditions...

 

I made up a little plexiglass plate to have my Legend HCx and Oregon 550 together on the bike. When I sent my Oregon back in to have the USB connection repaired, I got used to the old Legend and I like it a lot... so now I'm not sure which to use: the Legend's screen is more visible most of the time but the Oregon's higher res screen is beautiful, when you can see it...

 

 

So I'm going to try both for a while.