Which GPS for a Newbie?

[britcom]

Ive recently come back to Geocaching after a break from it for a couple of years. I used to go with a friend of mine and we used his GPS to search for the caches. Ive since lost contact with him, but want to start up the hobby again. I was wondering if anyone had an advice on which is the best GPS unit to buy for a beginner. There are so many on the market and so many people have good and bad things to say about all of them. Im just looking for something to plug into my laptop, upload for co-ordinates and go searching.

 

Any advice would be gratefully recieved.

 

Thank you in advance, John

[+The Blorenges]

As you appear to be UK-based, you might like to read this:

 

"Follow the Arrow - Which GPS?"

 

I hope it'll be a helpful starting point.

 

MrsB

[+briansnat]

Many novices think a starter unit is the best way to go because they don't want to spend too much. However most people who get even halfway serious about geocaching soon find their starter units to be limiting and look to upgrade. For those of significant financial means this isn't an issue, but for the rest of us, purchasing 2 units in a short time can be a budget buster.

 

So rather than looking for a starter unit, I always advise buying the best GPS that you can afford. Even if it turns out that you lose interest in geocaching, a higher end unit will have other applications that will not make it a waste if you aren't geocaching. They can perform automotive sat nav duties, be useful for hiking or walking around cities and be used as a cyclometer among other things.

[+burtsbodgers]

Many novices think a starter unit is the best way to go because they don't want to spend too much. However most people who get even halfway serious about geocaching soon find their starter units to be limiting and look to upgrade. For those of significant financial means this isn't an issue, but for the rest of us, purchasing 2 units in a short time can be a budget buster.

 

So rather than looking for a starter unit, I always advise buying the best GPS that you can afford. Even if it turns out that you lose interest in geocaching, a higher end unit will have other applications that will not make it a waste if you aren't geocaching. They can perform automotive sat nav duties, be useful for hiking or walking around cities and be used as a cyclometer among other things.

I totally agree, however check out the auction sites what ever you get can always go back on and apart from the commission you probably wont loose out.

Just to add the more you spend the easier to use can apply, which seems to be wrong, but its right.

[+dfx]

Many novices think a starter unit is the best way to go because they don't want to spend too much. However most people who get even halfway serious about geocaching soon find their starter units to be limiting and look to upgrade. For those of significant financial means this isn't an issue, but for the rest of us, purchasing 2 units in a short time can be a budget buster.

 

I don't know how soon someone can get "serious" about caching though. Depends on circumstances I guess, but personally it took me over a year to even upgrade to PM and about three years to upgrade to a proper GPSr from the PDA I used to use. I'm sure there's exceptions, but on average I don't think a newbie would want to upgrade in what I consider to be a "short time".

[+PathfinderMark]

IMHO, I wasted $90 on my starter unit -- A Lowrence GoFinder2. It was a horribly slow unit with BAD maps and TERRIBLE accuracy. If it read "50 feet" at the find location I felt fortunate! In fact, I was all excited about geocaching in 2007 when I bought it (had gone out on two occasions with my brother who was really into it). However, my poor choice of a unit actually kept me from getting into the hobby until 2009, when I used a CSx, found that it WAS actually easy and accurate to use a nice GPS, then went and bought myself a Colorado 400T. The starter unit actually KEPT me (figuratively speaking) from geocaching because of its limitations. On a side note, the Lowrence line are inexpensive and advertised on the gc.com website banners, but my experience was terrible as was a friend of mine who bought their "nice" color screen one -- both were SO inaccurate (and unable to be calibrated) that it made caching nearly impossible.

[+PathfinderMark]

If you have access to an iphone or similar technology, you could simply buy the app from geocaching, use that for awhile (my wife uses it on her iphone/ipad when she's out without my gps). It is pretty accurate, at least here in the USA. The one downside is that you must have ATT cell signal for it to work. I'm guessing the phones are even better and cell coverage MUCH better there in GB.

[+Sorarse]

I don't know how soon someone can get "serious" about caching though. Depends on circumstances I guess, but personally it took me over a year to even upgrade to PM and about three years to upgrade to a proper GPSr from the PDA I used to use. I'm sure there's exceptions, but on average I don't think a newbie would want to upgrade in what I consider to be a "short time".

 

Oh I don't know. I started off with a really old unit that I already owned - no maps, basic compass, a readout of current lat long and a bearing and distance to waypoint, that had to be entered manually. I upgraded within two weeks. That's how long it took for me to realise that I was really going to enjoy this hobby/sport.

[+mlkluther]

I am thankful for the discussion. I am still curious about what the best GPS is for a beginner. Amazon has a Tomtom 340s on sale for 91 bucks Canadian. However I am told that though it is great for driving instructions it may not be great for geocaching. I have been told that the best way to go for geocaching is with a decent handheld. So - are there any handhelds that will also to address find and road trip routes? Can you enter an address into a handheld gps and will it give you the driving directions? I am looking at a Garmin eTrex HC that is on sale for 119 CDN. I can't tell if it will also be useful while driving but the reviews show that it is a pretty good starter unit for geocaching. I woudl appreciate any help. Thanks!

[+popokiiti]

We just picked up the Explorist GC by Magellan for $159 at Mal-Wart. I can use it and it is paperless. I am lucky in that Popoki Nui loads the caches for me - or should I say spoilt? Would you be able to meet up with local cachers and try their units with them? That way you could try before you buy...

[+burtsbodgers]

I am thankful for the discussion. I am still curious about what the best GPS is for a beginner. Amazon has a Tomtom 340s on sale for 91 bucks Canadian. However I am told that though it is great for driving instructions it may not be great for geocaching. I have been told that the best way to go for geocaching is with a decent handheld. So - are there any handhelds that will also to address find and road trip routes? Can you enter an address into a handheld gps and will it give you the driving directions? I am looking at a Garmin eTrex HC that is on sale for 119 CDN. I can't tell if it will also be useful while driving but the reviews show that it is a pretty good starter unit for geocaching. I woudl appreciate any help. Thanks!

The Etrex Venture HC is a good unit for caching but very limited on map capabilities, you may be able to get local maps on it but it has only 22mb of memory so they will be small and probably not have routing capabilities. See GPSfile depot of free maps.

The TomTom is predominantly a satnav and there for not ideally suited to the out door environment, although some do use them for caching.

In order to get something that does both you need to be looking high end.

[+burtsbodgers]

Meant to say you can get some cheap PDA's which can work well the MIO's seem to be favoured by a lot of cachers.

However these are still quite fragile compared to dedicated handhelds and a bit more techy to use and set up.

[+Chief301]

If you have access to an iphone or similar technology, you could simply buy the app from geocaching, use that for awhile (my wife uses it on her iphone/ipad when she's out without my gps). It is pretty accurate, at least here in the USA. The one downside is that you must have ATT cell signal for it to work. I'm guessing the phones are even better and cell coverage MUCH better there in GB.

 

Not entirely correct. True with the older iphones but the iphone 4 (and I think possibly the 3GS as well) actually have a GPS chip. I have tried mine turning off the cell data and the GPS functions still work fine by themselves. HOWEVER, you wouldn't be able to find cache listings on the fly without data. But, if you do a little planning before you go out, you can save the caches you'd like to go after to "favorites" while you still have data, then if you get in an area with no data you can still select one out of the "favorites" list and navigate to it.

 

At least that's how it works on my iphone 4. I don't know about Droids or any of the other newer smartphones.

[+Reno8]

Although not paperless the Garmin 60Csx works great. Garmin recently upgraded this unit so finding a 60Csx for a good price is getting easier. I own one and love it but if you want a good paperless unit try and save up some money for an Oregon. Amazon has the 60Csx for $199 with free shipping and that's a great price for that unit. IMHO its all personal preference so if you can try them each out and see which one you like.

 

There is a Csx for sale on here for $140.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Reno8