wanting to upgrade GPS but still keep it simple

[+Deuce & Spark]

Hello everyone! Spark here (of deuce & spark).

 

This is my first post to the forum. I am currently using a Garmin Etrex H along with an older iPhone with no service provider (meaning I can only get internet at my house, coffee shops, motels, etc.). I’ve been doing a rather low-tech means of caching:

 

1) I select the caches I want to try to find, using the map at geocaching.com.

2) I look those caches up on my iPhone while I am still at home.

3) I save the caches on the iPhone for offline use.

4) I load the coordinates by hand into the GPS.

5) I get out pencil and paper and draw maps/write out directions so that I won’t end up driving down a bunch of dead-end roads. Otherwise, once I leave the house, I have nothing to go on but the coordinates.

6) I take the papers, the iPhone, and the GPS with me and go caching.

 

It works pretty well, but obviously my method is a lot of work. Therefore, I am looking to buy a GPS that will do a bunch of this stuff for me. It would be nice to have a GPS that would work as a navigation device in the car, and then be able to be detached from the dashboard to work as a hand-held unit for when I’m on foot. By “work,” I mean be able to actually show maps where I’m a blue dot or something and I can see myself moving toward the destination (like my smartphone would do if I had it hooked up). I’d also like to be able to plug the GPS into my computer and just download all the cache info from geocaching.com. That’s really all I need; the fewer bells and whistles, the better (in fact, the reason my iPhone is “disconnected” is that I chose to go back to using a regular flip phone).

 

In case this matters: I don’t do much traveling; perhaps once a year I will be more than 200 miles from home. I’m almost always within 50 miles of home (eastern Iowa). And I’m never outside the continental U.S.

 

I apologize for submitting yet another “which GPS should I buy” thread, but I’ve read so much material on this subject that it’s making my head spin. Much of it I don’t even really understand. Can someone please give me some suggestions for an appropriate GPS? Thank you so much!--Spark

Edited January 16, 2012 by Deuce & Spark

[+mcoppel]

etrex 20. you'll need whatever maps you want, but it can pretty much do all the above and is very simple.

[+Deuce & Spark]

Thanks to both of you. I looked up the ETrex 20 and it seems like an excellent choice except for two major things I never previously considered. First, I briefly had a cellphone once with a mini-joystick like that, and I found it extremely hard to manipulate (far too touch-sensitive). Second, I read in the reviews that there's no key-lock, so if you have it bouncing around in a fannypack (as I almost always do), you could discover it in all kinds of weird configurations when you pull it out and try to use it again.

 

Other than that, it looks like it would be just about perfect for my needs. Is there perhaps a GPS just like an ETrex 20 that doesn't have a joystick and that won't accidentally push wrong buttons when bumped around?

[+BAMBOOZLE]

If you want a new unit that does everything I recommend the Garmin 62s....I've never been fond of joysticks or touchscreens.

[+Team Hildy]

The Magellan Explorist 510 has a touchscreen (no joystick), and it does paperless geocaching. There will be a short learning time required, but using the GPSr with the free Vantage Point software is really pretty easy.

 

The unit comes with a very nice roadmap, but the one that comes on it won't give you turn by turn directions. It just shows a straight line pointing to your destination, so you have to read the map and figure out the turns on your own. This CAN be upgraded by downloading the city series maps from Magellan. That's about a $100.00 upgrade. The Explorist 510 is around $250 on Amazon. I got mine used for well under $200 on ebay.

[TheCattleman]

I briefly had a cellphone once with a mini-joystick like that, and I found it extremely hard to manipulate (far too touch-sensitive).

Other than that, it looks like it would be just about perfect for my needs. Is there perhaps a GPS just like an ETrex 20 that doesn't have a joystick and that won't accidentally push wrong buttons when bumped around?

 

After owning a Garmin eTrex series with a joystick, and now owning a Magellan with a joystick, I will say the joysticks on Garmin's eTrex are FAR better and easier to use, you shouldn't have an issue at all with it. It's the right amount of functionality; not too sensitive to where anything that hits it it will respond, but it also is not ridiculously stiff like the Magellan's where you're dang near breaking your finger trying to press it, and when you try to use it it just clicks down instead of moves directionally. Of course consider all other things about it, but the joystick will be the least of your worries.

[+Genoist]

I second the vote for the eTrex 20. It is easy to use and full featured.

[+mcoppel]

I second the vote for the eTrex 20. It is easy to use and full featured.

 

On the etrex 20 the menu's aren't so deep you would end up on weird screens. If it moves someplace you were not at, 1 back and it's usually right on the main page. The joystick is also not really much of an issue, I never would dream that I would have liked it, but it is basically, just right to use. I personally have more issues with my phone and the touchscreen then I do on my gps.

[+user13371]

Y'know Spark, it kinda seems to me that most of what you want -- including simplicity -- could be done with the gear you have in hand. Buying an eTrex 20 would be a slick upgrade over the older eTrex H you already have, but it's not going to be any simpler to use.

 

And some of the things you mentioned you want could already be done with your iPhone, without even turning the data service back on. and if you DID re-activate the contract, it'd be even more useful (though maybe more expensive than your flip-phone).

 

I'm assuming you DO have a computer at home, even if you don't have WiFi service?

 

- Buy Geosphere for the iPhone.

- Set up a pocket query on GC.com to bulk download the geocaches in your area to your home computer.

- Use iTunes to copy the pocket queries into Geosphere on the iPhone (cabled, not wireless)

- Use Garmin Basecamp to copy waypoints to eTrex H (or complete geocache infor if you get a newer model)

 

Your workflow is gonna be the same whether or not you have a new GPS, isn't it? It seems to me you're making it more complicated than it has to be now but going to the cafe for free WiFi to download your caches and then hand copying them to the eTrex.

[+Deuce & Spark]

To sussamb and The Cattleman: Thanks for the reassurances about the Etrex 20's joystick. That does make me feel a lot better about it. I am also seeing all over this forum how much other cachers seem to like their 20s, too.

 

To Team Hildy and BAMBOOZLE: I will definitely check out the GPSrs you suggested as well.

 

To everyone in general: Thanks for all the help!

 

To Portland Cyclist:

 

Yes, I do have a computer and wifi at home. The iPhone picks up the home wifi signal, and in that way I can download caches 30 at a time via a search, or I can download them individually. I did not know that I could DL pocket queries via iTunes--thanks for the tip! I also did not realize that my old Etrex could even be connected to the computer. The owner's manual almost seems to downplay that fact, plus the place to connect the cord to the GPSr doesn't look like a "regular" connection port. I'll have to see about getting a cord and playing with that.

 

I guess your post helped me to narrow down my #1 issue, which is lack of an interactive map. Even when I'm caching with Deuce, his smartphone's map sometimes becomes so slow to load that it is useless, since in rural Iowa and even in some of the small towns, we can't get 3G, much less 4G. It's tough to have to drive around and around running into dead-ends and T-intersections while trying to get near the cache. My current technology tells me how to get to it "as the crow flies," but I'm not a crow!

 

Not having to pre-plan my route and draw/print maps ahead of time would definitely decrease my workload. It would also increase my spontaneity; I'd be able to suddenly decide to seek a cache that had been downloaded to my iPhone but that hadn't been drawn into my map before I left home.

 

Thanks again!

[+user13371]

Spark, you may have misunderstood what I was saying about using iTunes (or why I said it). You can use iTunes to transfer pocket queries to the Geosphere app on the iPhone. But the only reason I mentioned it was I misunderstood you originally, wasn't sure if you had a WiFi connection at home. If you've got a wireless connection it's really easier and fewer steps to download to the iPhone "over the air."

 

As for the eTrex H, yes you would need a serial cable -- an older type of connection that many new computers don't have any more -- and GArmin sells the cable separately -- and they're kinda expensive: ... https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=654 ...

 

So now your "entering coord by hand" problem is clearer to me. All the more reason to upgrade to a newer model. Something like the eTrex 10/20/30 would be simplest and would include a USB connection cable.

[+Deuce & Spark]

Yes, true about the direct downloading to the iPhone. However, the iTunes/PQ info is still good to know. One never knows what odd situation may arise...

 

Re: the cable: Ouch! Think I'd rather put the money toward an upgrade.

 

Everyone's posts have helped tremendously to give me a good starting point to look for a new GPS. Trying to sift through all the already-provided material on selecting a unit is overwhelming when one has no idea where to even begin. I sure appreciate the assistance.

 

So far the Etrex 20 is leading the pack. However, now that I am actually doing comparison shopping, I wonder if maybe the best way to go is to just hold on to my old Etrex and get a dedicated car unit for street navigation. I probably ought to start a new thread for that and leave this one to the handheld discussion. Thanks again.

 

[Edited to add: Or maybe I could get a car unit for myself and an Etrex 20 for Deuce, and then I can "borrow" it...hehe...]

Edited January 26, 2012 by Deuce & Spark

[+Deuce & Spark]

Just FYI: I finally got my hands on an Etrex 20 demo model in an actual physical store, and I discovered the joystick to be quite well-behaved, just as the previous posters had said.

[+Deuce & Spark]

Well, I'm going to try a dual-purpose (vehicle/on-foot) approach with the Nuvi 500 I just bought, but an Etrex 20 is still not out of the question. I want to see how the Nuvi performs as a handheld GPSr first.