GPS advice - something good under $200 for caching only

[+JL_HSTRE]

I've been geocaching with a Motorola Droid for over a year with great success. I have real good cell coverage with Verizon and the phone has a pretty accurate GPS. I run PQs, fine tune with GSAK, and use offline files with the GeoHunter app which gives me about 6 hours battery life while caching. I've been very happy with this most of the time.

 

So why do I want a a GPS?

 

1) I have a kayak and want to get caches via my kayak, but don't want to risk my smartphone.

2) I've been on some hikes which take longer than my Droid's 6 hour battery life. Even a day of park hopping using a car charger as I drive between short hikes can drain the battery faster than I can recharge it.

3) While my Droid has a good GPS and I can and have accurately hidden caches with it, it can't handle tree cover as well as a good GPSr like the Garmin 60 CSx could.

4) I've had no caching accidents with my smartphone yet, but with so much non-urban caching I know the risk is higher for something bad to happen.

 

Since I have a smartphone, I wont be using this GPSr for anything except navigating to geocaches so many fancy perks are worthless to me. Three must-have criteria:

1) paperless caching

2) waterproof

3) accuracy

 

Since I have a smartphone, I'd like to keep the cost of a GPS under $200.

 

For awhile I had been thinking about getting a Magellan Explorist GC because it was one of the less expensive GPS units. But a little hands-on experience at the local Best Buy had be doubting the user-friendliness of it and the thumbstick seems like something bound to break.

 

I borrowed a Garmin 60CSx recently. I found it user-friendly and amazingly accurate even when standing under tree cover - on the FT in the Ocala National Forest and under a group of cypress trees at a local park. A fellow cacher last month pointed out to me why they still have a 60CSx: we were standing inside a concrete building and he still had great signal. Unfortunately, the 60CSx just isn't going to cut it for paperless caching. Still, the experience was big points in Garmin's favor in my eyes.

 

I've been intrigued by the new Garmin eTrex series; the eTrex 20 in particular. Does that sound like the best GPS for what I'm looking for? Are there other units I should be considering?

Edited November 15, 2011 by Joshism

[+ShaunEM]

I've been geocaching with a Motorola Droid for over a year with great success. I have real good cell coverage with Verizon and the phone has a pretty accurate GPS. I run PQs, fine tune with GSAK, and use offline files with the GeoHunter app which gives me about 6 hours battery life while caching. I've been very happy with this most of the time.

 

So why do I want a a GPS?

 

1) I have a kayak and want to get caches via my kayak, but don't want to risk my smartphone.

2) I've been on some hikes which take longer than my Droid's 6 hour battery life. Even a day of park hopping using a car charger as I drive between short hikes can drain the battery faster than I can recharge it.

3) While my Droid has a good GPS and I can and have accurately hidden caches with it, it can't handle tree cover as well as a good GPSr like the Garmin 60 CSx could.

4) I've had no caching accidents with my smartphone yet, but with so much non-urban caching I know the risk is higher for something bad to happen.

 

Since I have a smartphone, I wont be using this GPSr for anything except navigating to geocaches so many fancy perks are worthless to me. Three must-have criteria:

1) paperless caching

2) waterproof

3) accuracy

 

Since I have a smartphone, I'd like to keep the cost of a GPS under $200.

 

For awhile I had been thinking about getting a Magellan Explorist GC because it was one of the less expensive GPS units. But a little hands-on experience at the local Best Buy had be doubting the user-friendliness of it and the thumbstick seems like something bound to break.

 

I borrowed a Garmin 60CSx recently. I found it user-friendly and amazingly accurate even when standing under tree cover - on the FT in the Ocala National Forest and under a group of cypress trees at a local park. A fellow cacher last month pointed out to me why they still have a 60CSx: we were standing inside a concrete building and he still had great signal. Unfortunately, the 60CSx just isn't going to cut it for paperless caching. Still, the experience was big points in Garmin's favor in my eyes.

 

I've been intrigued by the new Garmin eTrex series; the eTrex 20 in particular. Does that sound like the best GPS for what I'm looking for? Are there other units I should be considering?

 

I have an Explorist and I am really fighting the urge to get the etrex 20. I probably will next year.

 

You can download and update maps (free ones!!!)

I had a garmin before this GC and the software on the PC is WAY better (trust me.. way better)

The garmin interface is much better IMO. Magellan just does not seem to give the same effort into it's design.

 

Commonly used options always seem to be at the bottom of a LONG list. I don't remember feeling that on my old Garmin.

 

The thumbstick is fine and you do get used to the interface.

 

Now, I use GSAK and that takes away some of the cons.. but as an owner of a GC, get the eTrex.

Edited November 15, 2011 by ShaunEM

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

The eTrex 20 sounds like a good unit for you. And it can display BirdsEye aerial imagery, which might come in handy for kayaking.

[+JL_HSTRE]

The eTrex 20 sounds like a good unit for you. And it can display BirdsEye aerial imagery, which might come in handy for kayaking.

 

Or just finding trails; I just the Google Maps Satellite images on GeoHunter alot.

[+t4e]

for $50 more i would get the Oregon 450

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=285127&st=0&p=4889010&hl=friday&fromsearch=1entry4889010

[+Styk]

The eTrex display is a bit smaller but also brighter then the Oregon but if your a touch screen kinda person, the Oregon is the way to go.

 

The Oregon has a few extra features compared to the eTrex 20 too;

 

5000 caches instead of 2000

wireless transfer, good to share tracks and waypoints with other wireless transfer capable units and also usable with Chirp modules

custom maps

3D compass

Altimeter

supports Wherigo caches

 

and one big advantage, the Oregon has been around a couple of years so the firmware bugs are mostly worked out where the new eTrex is still in the debugging phase.

Edited November 15, 2011 by Styk

[Wintertime]

Surely the 20 is much less than $200?

List price is $199, and that's what many brick-and-mortar stores sell it for. REI sells it for $189. I haven't been following the "Black Friday" thread to see whether anyone has found a post-Thanksgiving special on the eTrex 20.

[+JL_HSTRE]

I can Wherigo on my Droid, but being able to do Chirp caches would be real nice. Touchscreen and extra cache capacity sound good too.

 

Unless there is a sweet deal on the eTrex 20 I may go for that Oregon black Friday deal.

[+JL_HSTRE]

Figured I'd share a few things that came up in my online searching.

 

Here's a review I came across for the Etrex 20, in particular the apparent superior accuracy (presumably due to the GLONASS):

http://gpstracklog.com/2011/10/garmin-etrex-20-review.html (scroll down to the "Geocaching" section of the review)

 

Oregon 450 review from the same site:

http://gpstracklog.com/2010/04/garmin-oregon-450-review.html

 

Of note, the Etrex has better battery life and accuracy which may tilt me back toward it over the Oregon.

[+GrateBear]

TheGPSstore is selling the Dakota 20 for $180 w/free shipping starting on the 24th. That's $20 cheaper than last year.

[+Bird Watcher 8]

It looks like it has bee previously mentioned but Cabela's has the Oregon 450 on sale for $450. and I think it is fully paperless like my 60csx

[+Bird Watcher 8]

I meant to say my 60csx is not paperless

[+LadyBee4T]

I just upgraded from a Lowrance h20c to the Lowrance Endura safari. It fits all your 3 criteria. You can buy new ones on ebay for around $135 shipped. It has both a touchscreen and buttons. Best Buy carries the Out & Back which is the lower end unit of the Endura line so I went there to try it out. There were some issues with the firmware when these units were first introduced two years ago. If you read reviews of those with the latest firmware 1.5 pretty much everyone raves about them.

 

There were some great buys this weekend on the Oregon, Dakota and the DeLorme.