+eusty Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I'm new to caching, and I have to admit it's very addictive!! I've posted this in the UK section rather than the GPS hardware one just to get a UK perspective of things Anyway it all started when someone mentioned caching and as I have a Galaxy S it was easy to give it a try. Now although the phone has a bad reputation for GPS it's not totally bad, but when I got the chance of a second hand CoPilot BTGPS3 it's a lot better than using the phone (not just on battery usage!). The problem is the CoPilot often doesn't get a fix, even though it sees 4 or 5 satellites with a good signal. I know some will say "get a proper GPSR" but I like paperless caching and a decent set is pretty expensive. So another BT GPS...but which? EMTAC MINI S3, which I believe is the same as the CoPilot GLOBALSAT BT359C Holux GPSlim 236 NAVICORE SIRF THREE All are SiRF III, so are any better than the others or are they much the same? Quote Link to comment
+Munkeh Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 simple get a yellow etrex £30 second hand and have the cache details on your phone Quote Link to comment
+eusty Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 I see your reasoning But what advantage would that give me over using the BT receiver connected to my phone? Although I'm technically competent (control & automation is my job!) my experience with GPS is very limited!! I would have thought the etrex would have had the same (or very similar) hardware to the BT receiver? Quote Link to comment
+Graculus Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I think for the way we use the GPS, under trees and in urban canyons the sensitivity isn't really an issue. They are all much of a muchness. OK the later ones are more sensitive and will get a satellite lock quicker and under poorer conditions but they are all going to get you to within 20 to 30 feet of the cache. The 'yellow' eTrex is used by an awful lot of geocachers very succesfully! The Garmin Dakota 10(full paperless, color screen, enough memory for the free maps, compass etc etc) is currently available for £140 if your budget stretches that far. Chris Graculus Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk Geocaching.com Knowledge Books Quote Link to comment
+PeakFault Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Just to back up what Graculus and Munkeh are saying. I've an iPhone that I've used for 6 months without too many issues but decided I needed a 'proper' GPS unit - mainly so I could do multis and puzzles etc as it's virtually impossible to do on the iPhone. Anyway I bought the eTrex H about 3-4 weeks ago and have to say it is excellent, cheap to buy, pretty easy to use and it's not an issue using both the iPhone and GPS. Basically just get the coords 'in the field' tap them into the gps and away you go. Then I still log my finds on location as well. A brand new one cost me just under £60. It's worth considering. Quote Link to comment
+eusty Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 I've looked at the eTrex second-hand on ebay, one thing though, do you know what the difference is between the 'H' and non-H versions, the H is the newer but the specs seem identical?? The Dakota 10 looks very good, if I went for a dedicated unit it seems to have everything you'd need at a decent price But the question is why do I need one rather than the phone/BT GPS? I can see both advantages and disadvantages with no real killer reason!! If I was hiking across Dartmoor looking for caches then I could see a reason, but I doubt we'd travel more than a couple of miles from the car.... Quote Link to comment
+Graculus Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 The 'H' version of the yellow eTrex has a more sensitive receiver than the original plain yellow one. One thing I would say about the eTrex, you will need a special cable (serial) to connect it to your PC. These are not difficult to obtain. The Dakota connects with a straightforward USB cable. This does make transferring your PQ's very easy. If you want to see how to get PQ's onto the Dakota have a look at my resource website, the page on paperless caching. You'll also find into there about GPS's in general. Link under my signature. Chris Graculus Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk Geocaching.com Knowledge Books Quote Link to comment
+Grizzly Pair Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I Have been using the same Globalsat 338 (presumably more recent devices are now available) for over 5 years with various Palm devices ,it has many advantages over a Garmin type device because of the other useful applications you can also carry. We also find it uesful that Celia carries her Garmin Oregon 300 while I use the Globalsat/Palm combination. The only reason I wnt that way is because I already had Palm devices, adding the Globalsat enabled us to go paperless as our Garmin at that time was an etrex. If I was buying new kit now I'm not sure we would go the PDA route. Glen & Celia Grizzly Pair Quote Link to comment
+Hampk Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I started out using a Garmin Legend, which was a nice piece of kit, but took the decision to go paperless when the Oregon arrived on the market . I have also acquired various smartphones over the years, and standard kit for me is now the Oregon (300) without any mapping (which I find pretty useless) and an O2 XDA Orbit 2 with Memorymap. That came with road-based satnav, but I prefer using NavFree on my iPhone in the car. So yes I use three bits of kit in total, but the perfection of each device for it's job makes it all worth while! Hampk Quote Link to comment
+drdick&vick Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I started out using a Garmin Legend, which was a nice piece of kit, but took the decision to go paperless when the Oregon arrived on the market . I have also acquired various smartphones over the years, and standard kit for me is now the Oregon (300) without any mapping (which I find pretty useless) and an O2 XDA Orbit 2 with Memorymap. That came with road-based satnav, but I prefer using NavFree on my iPhone in the car. So yes I use three bits of kit in total, but the perfection of each device for it's job makes it all worth while! Hampk Do a Google search for Mobile Atlas Creator, this allows you to create 1;25000 OS mapping as a Custom Map for use on the Oregon (I have the 300 and have a nice little collection of them) it takes 5 minutes to load the file. It took a few experiments to find the max size but I think the largest I use is one that covers from Littlehampton across to Shoreham on Sea and up to Broadbridge Heath down in Sussex. Worth the effort? Oh yes and they are FREE Quote Link to comment
+Hampk Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I started out using a Garmin Legend, which was a nice piece of kit, but took the decision to go paperless when the Oregon arrived on the market . I have also acquired various smartphones over the years, and standard kit for me is now the Oregon (300) without any mapping (which I find pretty useless) and an O2 XDA Orbit 2 with Memorymap. That came with road-based satnav, but I prefer using NavFree on my iPhone in the car. So yes I use three bits of kit in total, but the perfection of each device for it's job makes it all worth while! Hampk Do a Google search for Mobile Atlas Creator, this allows you to create 1;25000 OS mapping as a Custom Map for use on the Oregon (I have the 300 and have a nice little collection of them) it takes 5 minutes to load the file. It took a few experiments to find the max size but I think the largest I use is one that covers from Littlehampton across to Shoreham on Sea and up to Broadbridge Heath down in Sussex. Worth the effort? Oh yes and they are FREE I'll take a look at that, but as I can carry the entire UK 1:25000 mapping on 2 8Gb micro-SD cards for the XDA, I still like my solution Quote Link to comment
+eusty Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 (edited) I got the Holux in the end, and I have to say it's been a good buy, it seems accurate and gets a quick fix.... ...but I've just bought a cheap Colorado 300.... Edited March 28, 2011 by eusty Quote Link to comment
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