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Android Phone vs Magellan GC vs PN-40


TCsquared

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My Wife and I have been doing some weekend caching and caching on vacations between Disc Golfing and Hiking (which Ironically can be done in the same places 80% of the time). We are up to about 50 finds and have been mainly using our two Android Phones(double the caching time, when one phone dies we start the other). We have noticed that a few time the phones GPS has put us way off sometimes an entire parking lot off and we don't realize it until we bring the other phone online to compare. Then a few times with Rural caches once we get off the main road we lose the map if we switch to the description. This as got us looking into getting a dedicated solution. I have done a lot of reading and I keep flip flopping between the Magellan Explorist GC and the Delorne PN-40 and then just deciding to keep using the phone(which honestly is helping use build our GeoSense)

 

Has anyone done a direct comparison between the PN-40 and the GC? (couldn't find one)

 

Is the GC really that bad?

I am looking for something I can starting loading pocket queries to and give me a warm fuzzy that I am atleast close to the GZ without having to wonder if I am way off. I don't need Turn by Turn directions have a car gps for that.

 

Is anything more then a Basemap really necessary? I dont quite understand all this talk about maps. Is the basemap just a blank screen with a dot on it where your waypoint is?

 

Does anyone have any Pros or Cons for those 3.

 

Honestly most of the Neg reviews for the Magellan sound like shipped DOA products which make the review meaningless for me? I deal with ordering stuff all the time and even good companies will have a DOA every now and then.

 

This is alot to read and I appreciate anyone that has made it to this line and any input is greatly appreciated.

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i say skip the GC. we are on #4. the 3 were not DOA. used briefly and then they stopped working. either after firmware update or just on their own.

price was good when they were first released, that is why we bought it, and now with them being cheaper it is definitely a draw.

there is the 310 that is due soon. similar, but better i hear.

 

i know you say no need for turn by turn. but that is not the only thing that the better gps's bring to the table. a real compass is another thing they bring. with the GC you have to be moving to get a direction on screen. some others are like that as well. i like my 62s as it will give you that as you stand still due to the compass it has in it. it also has ability to add better maps. the GC cannot do that. i hear the 310 will have that option.

 

my first thoughts on this

 

Monty

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You've kind of left out the top brand in Geocaching GPSr. As mentioned above have a look at Garmin's 62 series or any Garmin for that matter.

 

I have a Garmin NuVi for the car and love it. I assume Musthavemuzk is talking about the garmin gpsmap 62 then right? What brand makes the 310?

 

Does the 62 have a decent enough ?basemap? for just getting to a cache or will I need to purchase maps? I am in the US btw.

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the 310 i refer to is magellan. http://www.magellangps.com/Products/Outdoor-Navigation it is in their explorist line and new. idk if they gave a release date yet or not. it was announced at CES early january.

msrp is planned to be 200. the GC was that til recently when it was changed to 150

 

i forget the other site to get open source maps at offhand. but gpsfiledepot is popular. the one i am thinking about is for garmin units

 

depending on the gps, as well as what you want, the maps that ship with the gps might be sufficient. or might not be. might want topo if you are goingoff into the woods on some long hikes or mountanous areas. might want better street maps if you are gonna me in town. might want good maps if you are going to be riding or walking in town. hard to carry car gps and mobile gps at same time.

 

some like touch screens. some do not.

general consensus is touch screens are not as easy to read in sunlight.

as well as tougher to use with gloves if you live in an area that is cold and you plan on caching in the winter.

 

some are better on batteries then others.

 

iirc the delorme's have the option of getting rechargeables that will charge in the unit when its plugged in.

 

so many choices.

 

someone recently brought a good point up that if you are not sure you are going to stick with this then do not go crazy on money for a gps. unless you could use it for other things. such as hiking. as the GC is pretty much only for geocaching.

 

Monty

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general consensus is touch screens are not as easy to read in sunlight.

as well as tougher to use with gloves if you live in an area that is cold and you plan on caching in the winter.

 

do not agree with the second part here. In fact I'd say it's the other way around. Unless you're talking smartphone touchscreen, in which case I fully agree. With those you can use a sausage as stylus though :lol:

Edited by dfx
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