62 S or 62ST

[Herodta]

Looking for a first unit specifically for Geocaching. Had an E-Trex Legend that we used on the motorcycle/mountain bike and kayaks just for basic info, but it's starting to malfunction after a lot of use/abuse! From the reviews on here, we feel comforatable that a Garmin 62 series will meet our needs (waterproof for on the kayaks, rugged for on the mountain bikes, geocache features etc) but am a bit confused as to the difference between a 62 S and a 62ST...what's the major differences? Thanks for your help, we're new at this!

 

TRH

[+Unobtainium]

The only difference is that the ST has built in Topo maps. The concensus of opinion appears to be to go for the S version and download maps from other sources for free.

 

If you search the forums for 'maps' or 'mapping', I'm sure you'll find plenty of threads on it.

[snowfleurys]

The built-in topo data is Garmin's 100k topo.

[Herodta]

Terrific, thanks! Where can I download those free topos, I thought adding maps to a GPS was fairly expensive ($100+)?

[yogazoo]

Terrific, thanks! Where can I download those free topos, I thought adding maps to a GPS was fairly expensive ($100+)?

 

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/

 

In many casaes the free maps load into MapSource. so you're gonna need to load it. You will need to do the following:

 

1) Download and install Garmins "Training Center" software.

 

2) After Training Center is installed download Garmins MapSource and install it.

 

Why do you need to install Training Center? MapSource won't install without this program being installed first.

 

Then you can go and download the Free and in many cases better maps from GPSfiledepot.com. The installer packages will install the maps into MapSource where you will be able to select the tiles you want and send them to your unit.

[snowfleurys]

Or download BaseCamp from Garmin's website. With BC you can use raster image maps and aerial photo data on you 62s or 62st.