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$78 GPS


bodolad

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Doesn't this low price affect the accuracy and the features of this GPS ?

 

We bought a Gecko for a friend and it works fine for caching. It is quite small and has a smaller screen, which is why I think it is slightly cheaper.

 

The Yellow Etrex is perfectly good for caching and used by many.

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Just bought one of those 79.99 Etrex ( Yellow ) from Target this morning,

The line was very very long all the way to the end of the building.

 

Price was right at 79.99 and they also had the cases for the lil yellow etrex unit for 11.99 as well.

 

How good is this little unit when close to final target? I see that the map scale goes down about as far as 200ft, does this scale get any closer? 10ft? 25ft? 50ft? 100ft?

 

Primarily I use an Ipaq 3955 with an Ambicom CF-GPS Card, it has worked VERY well espically when close to target. Although Im very concerned about the Ipaq

and the cold weather here in Nebraska and the screen cracking over the winter months.

 

Additionally, Im also considering a Rhino 110 unit or 120 as I am looking to get involved with storm / tornado spotting in the future.

 

Thank you for all your opinions

Lnk3d.

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The Etrex's are not as accurate as Magellan's due to their antenna design. The Etrex can get the job done if you hold it flat which exposes its antenna best. It is a much better deal to use a purpose-built GPS in the winter than a PDA model. My Visor GPS worked great, but was so fragile that I was always hesitant to do any brush crawling caches. The GPS's are much more rigorous.

 

We got to play with some Rhino's at the last cache bash. Be sure to get the most powerful units (I believe they are the 120's) as the range on the weaker units isn't very good when considering hills and trees. We were in NP Dodge Park and once in the woods, it was easy to miss calls or get bad reception even when calling to other units in the park.

 

If you haven't run across us yet, check out the Yahoo Group, "Nebraskache".

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How good is this little unit when close to final target? I see that the map scale goes down about as far as 200ft, does this scale get any closer? 10ft? 25ft? 50ft? 100ft?

 

Thats as low as the map scale goes, but if you use the goto function for a waypoint it will take down to 0ft if you find it. However getting to 0ft doesn't mean the cahe is there. The accuracy of the two units (yours and the hiders) and the terrain conditions (trees, rocks, etc), can all have an effect on how close the waypoint will actually be from the cache. I usually figure 30or less is good, if you get that close you can stop looking at the gps its done whats its going to do. Sometimes its better to even just use a compass from like 80-100ft out, that way your actually looking at possiable hiding spots, not following the gps in circles ;)

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Thanks for the note on the Walmart Legend sale. Most of my shopping for Dad is now done. ;)

 

As far as accuracy goes, I'm using a Geko (cheapest of them all) and it hasn't failed me yet. (Ok. I've missed a few, but that was never the Geko's fault. Second hunts showed me the Geko was right on, but that I was blind as a bat.)

 

I also use a Belkin Compass so that I know which way is north. It really comes in handy for that last 20-40 feet.

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I picked up an eTrex Yellow for the $80 also. By the time I got there (around 10:30) there was no line. The shelf was empty, but they had more in the back.

 

I also noticed that Wally World didnt have the Legend marked at $168, though it may have rung up at that. And that they had a Geko 101 in the counter for $75.

 

As welch said, the GoTo will take you closer than the map does. Once Ive found the parking area, I rarely use the map screen on my Legend.

 

Happy Caching....

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Just my two cents about the "accuracy" of the Garmin eTrex... I think the eTrex receivers are just as "accurate" as the Magellan's I've used when in open areas. It's when you get into heavy overhead cover that it's a problem. Of course, in Central Iowa, the vast majority of caches are located in places that have heavy overhead cover for at least the warmer months of the year. I've done caching out in the San Jose, CA area and, go figure, the caches are generally in places where overhead cover isn't a problem. So your mileage may vary. I'll say that for ~$80, the eTrex is a good value.

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After working with the etrex I found it to be rather difficult to manage, not a lot of options, etc....

 

So I took the lil etrex back to target for a refund, maybe ill upgrade to a higher end etrex I thought, so I take a look at whats on the shelf....( whats left anyway )

 

Low and behold! Rino 110 for 118.50!!! Substatution item

 

Am now a very proud owner of a Rino 110 and loving it!

 

Btw Scheels here in town does carry alot of the data cables for the garmin / magellen product lines ( it was well worth the 30 bux for the cable! )

 

Lnk3d

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