+Fryguys5 Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Alright, here I go again. My head is about to explode but am still needing more advice. We are new to geocaching and have been doing it for awhile using an android app on our phone. We are doing this as a family, two little ones and my 12 year old. I'm wanting to buy my 12 year old a gps for his birthday and have been researching and researching. the more research I do the more confused I get. I'm now down to considering the dakota 20 or the explorist 310. Don't want to spend too much but dont' want to cheap out either. I'm guessing my questions are since we are mainly doing this for geocaching should I go with the simplier explorist or spend a little extra and get the dakota. I like the option of having the compass but wondering if the dakota is a bit much for us. How about the maps, I'm not sure if topo mapas are available for either or if that is something we need?? Will I be spending more adding maps in the end? I love that they both have paperless caching but is there anything else I need to know?? Any advice would be appreciated. I'm just lost in this endless supply of reviews on all the gps's out there, I"m overloaded. Help! and thank you:) Quote Link to comment
+splashy Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Consider the Etrex 20 or 30, coming out soon. Free maps @ Topo's (off the road) http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ road http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ Map programs, also free Garmin Mapsource Basecamp Quote Link to comment
+yellow-bird Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 HI,You know everyone has their favorite gps.Mine is an trimble Ranger3L.I seldom get to use it because my grandchildren hike in Yellowstone National Park,alot.There ,you need an no nonsense gps that you can trust with your life.Geocaching really does not require anything much.I would say,any Delorme or Garmin and they don't need all the bells and whistles.Remember, geocaching is for the hunting fun and would be no fun for anyone to just walk right up on top of an cache.If you have little children get them an geomate jr.The older one an Delorme or Garmin etrex model. Quote Link to comment
+eusty Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 The Dakota 20 is a good choice, worth paying the extra over the 10 to get an SD card slot which opens up better mapping possibilities Or as has been mentioned the new etrex range. Quote Link to comment
+BAMBOOZLE Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Are these Dakota units considered better units than the Oregon 450 ? The sale mentioned in these forums has the 450 at $199. Quote Link to comment
+coggins Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Are these Dakota units considered better units than the Oregon 450 ? The sale mentioned in these forums has the 450 at $199. No, the Dakota 20 is a scaled down Oregon 450 with a smaller feature set. The Oregon 450 deal for $199 would be the way to go. Quote Link to comment
+splashy Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 If they still hve that sale get the 450 Quote Link to comment
+Fryguys5 Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 (edited) Thank you so much for the info, its been a great help. I just found the deal you mentioned on the oregon 450 and ordered it!!! I've been so overwhelmed with info and this one seemed perfect price and quality. I was pushing toward a Garmin rather than the Magellan. We've had basic road gps's for the cars and I"m just not crazy about magellan. Thank you again so much, cannot wait to give it to my son on his birthday. I'm looking forward to many, many geocaching adventures:) Edited August 31, 2011 by Fryguys5 Quote Link to comment
+BAMBOOZLE Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Thank you so much for the info, its been a great help. I just found the deal you mentioned on the oregon 450 and ordered it!!! I've been so overwhelmed with info and this one seemed perfect price and quality. I was pushing toward a Garmin rather than the Magellan. We've had basic road gps's for the cars and I"m just not crazy about magellan. Thank you again so much, cannot wait to give it to my son on his birthday. I'm looking forward to many, many geocaching adventures:) Its a VERY nice unit and you'll be happy with it. I recommend you get the Garmin City Nan. maps for it on a micro SD card....snaps right in the unit and you're good to go with detail maps of the whole U.S. ( this unit has about the highest resolution out there and the maps look great) The unit can be set to accept NiMH Batteries....I've used MAHA PowerX batteries and MAHA chargers for years on all my units and they work well on the 450.....on a long caching day expect to change batteries once ( only takes about a minute including calibration of the electronic compass ) ENJOY ! Quote Link to comment
+Fryguys5 Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 thanks Bamboozle! I took your advice and I ordered the Garmin City Nav North America NT and it loaded perfectly. that made it much easier for us, thank you so much for your recommendation. wondering if you are familiar with the 3d view option on the garmin. It that the same thing as a topo map? When I try to access the 3d view it tells me that the maps do not contain suffiecient elevation information to display the 3d view. Is there something that I'm missing or am I just not in the right geographical area for the 3d view? We had fun over the weekend finding a few cache's testing out the new oregon. Thanks again everyone for your advice:) Quote Link to comment
+eusty Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Not sure if it's the same with the Oregon, but 3D view on my Colorado is similar to when you navigate with a satnav. It only really works in automotive mode and to be honest isn't something I use. Quote Link to comment
gitarmac Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I just got the 450 myself. Stepping up from the vista hcx. Actually stepping up isn't the right word, both units have their pros and cons. It took me awhile to get used to the oregon interface, after having gotten used to the vista. Now that I am used to it all it good. I spurged for the birdseye maps, which are pretty cool but not really that useful. Probably more useful in the city. I'm still working with it. I have the free SE usa from gpsfilesdepot, it's great but you can't navigate. I have a separte nav unit so it's not that important to me. I set the map preferances to turn the shading off and I get a nice bright colorful map! I really really hate basecamp. I can't figure out what it's purpose is, aside from installing birds eye maps. YOu can't sort your waypoints as easy as mapquest. I like easygps for backing up and adding files. I finally got it to work with my oregon. I had to tell teh program I had an oregon 550 but it seems to work. I save separate waypoint and track groups depending on where I'm going to go. Basecamp makes duplicate files making it so you can have more than one waypoint with slightly differant names. Why would someone want that?!?!? I would suggest looking into GSAK for caching, works great on my oregon, and easy gps for other stull. Quote Link to comment
+the hermit crabs Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I just got the 450 myself. Stepping up from the vista hcx. Actually stepping up isn't the right word, both units have their pros and cons. It took me awhile to get used to the oregon interface, after having gotten used to the vista. Now that I am used to it all it good. After being happy with our vista hcx for years, I recently dropped it pretty hard and now it shuts off every time I try to connect it to the computer with the download cable. I guess there's a short or something somewhere. In any case, I am far too lazy to be plugging coordinates in by hand, so I'm looking for a new unit. I haven't been paying attention at all to the new models that have come out in the past few years. I'd like to stick with Garmin, but am just now trying to decide whether I should go for the Oregon, Colorado, Dakota, or some other state (if there are any). Since you went from the vista hcx to the oregon 450: - are there any features from the hcx that the 450 doesn't have, and that you really miss? - are you happy with the choice, or do you wish you had gone for a different model instead? - how is the reception of the 450 compared to the hcx? thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment
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