GPS For Us

[+SurvivorKids]

I know this question has probably been asked a thousand times and I've read through a bunch of message threads and GPS reviews and I'm still a bit confused.

 

I go Geocaching with my two daughters (age 10) and occasionally some friends. Right now I have an Android phone and the girls use one of the Geomate Jr. devices. I'm pretty disappointed with my Android phone as a GPS; my Nokia e71 running Symbian worked MUCH better. But that's another thread. The Geomate Jr. works ok, but seems to suffer from accuracy problems -- one second the cache is 30 feet west and the next second it's 20 feet east.

 

From what I've read, base maps seem to be an important feature (or, at least, a feature not to pay extra for) but I'm not sure how much I need them given I already have a phone that can get me to the general area.

 

I guess what I need is an ACCURATE GPS that the girls can use. They're pretty bright and figured out the Geomate two years ago without a bit of adult assistance. How about getting caches into the GPS? I presume they could enter coordinates based on information from my phone? Or is there a better way?

 

Money is always an issue and I'd like to stay in the $200 range, although I would certainly consider spending more if there is a decent return on investment.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Mike (SurvivorKids)

[+BAMBOOZLE]

You should try to get one of the newer units ( I like Garmin ) that is paperless and has a 3-Axis electronic compass.

Base maps are just about worthless......you will need detail maps. I buy the City Nav. Garmin maps on a mini SD card.....just pop it in your unit ( and you can move it unit to unit )and you're good to go...the card cost about $70. Folks on this forum can tell you how to get free maps for the Garmins.

I have a Garmin Oregon 450 and 62S and both are really nice. The 62S is the more expensive of the two but I got it on cybor Monday for $268........its worth waiting for a sale to get a better unit

[+DazeDnFamily]

And, there are lots of good quality free maps available for Garmin units. Even routable ones. www.gpsfiledepot.com for topos, etc. and www.openstreetmap.org for the routable ones, which were all we used on out Oregon 200, until I broke it.

 

Later!

[+mcoppel]

my 8 yr old uses my etrex 20 with no difficulty, and is very accurate. You may still sometimes get a bouncy compass but not if your moving around.

 

I got mine as a kit that included the 100K topo sd card also.

[+Bear and Ragged]

One option is a Blue Tooth GPS/sat tracker for the phone...

Gives better accuracy than cell phone coverage for positioning, and doesn't use as much battery power.

 

Usually if the GPS jumps about like you say it does, you're fairly close to the cache, and need to put it away and start looking with your eyes.

 

No GPS system will get you ON to the cache precisely.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I am not a big fan of having a compass in a GPS, it is not a feature that I would insist on. Of all my finds I think only one cache required a compass and that was before the you could by a GPS with a compass to find that cache requires a base plate compass.

As far as maps it depends on what type of caching you do. Once again I started out without a map on my GPS and in most cases a map would not have helped me find the cache. The GPS I now use has a topo map and street map buily in. I never use the Compass and the map I once in a while but the problem with a map on a GPS is that they are too small. When you zoom out you lose detail, when you zoom in you do not see what is in the distance. I can zoom out to see in what direction the next cache I want to find is in, but having a map is not required for that.

Now I am sure that many cachers will not disagrea with me, keep in mind in the early days of geocaching most GPS'r did not have built in maps or a compass. Sure they had a compass screen but you had to be moving for it to work. Yet many thousands of cacher were find thousands of caches every day without out a map or compass in their GPS. When caching in the back country a cacher wouold take a Topo map with the caches marked on the map.

 

As far as using a smart phone GPS, I have never used one and I do think I ever will because I do not want a smart phone. But I have talked to cachers that have both an they use their real GPS'rs. Sure you might be able to log your caches in the field as long as you are by a cell site. Myself, I just wait till I get home or I use the Free WiFi at Starbucks with my Ipod touch

Edited December 26, 2011 by JohnnyVegas