Suggested Unit for Grenadines Islands simple caching

[+mh88]

Hi I am researching which GPS units I should consider for a kids treasure hunt game in the Grenadines Islands. The island is a popular tourist destination for the wealthy and difficult to get to for the general public. I want to create a kind of Intra- island series of caches meant to draw more people, including a lot of kids, out onto the many lovely hiking trails that already exist. I would hide 5-10 caches and program the coordinates into some affordable units that would be given pre- loaded to the hikers with all the caches that they may find on island. To be clear, this would all exist OUTSIDE of global geocache programs, it would just be for those on the island. The units should be very simple to use, waterproof, and accurate in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I am an avid cacher but use only my iPhone, so I have little knowledge of these machines. FYI the island has had Real geocaches that tend to get archived do to lack of care an lack of finds. I requested to the local admin to hide a real one on island, was discouraged, and chose not too. The Island's management loves the idea of this series of Intra- island caches as an activity for those on holiday there. Pls advise. thanks-M

[+ecanderson]

For a passably current unit, the Dakota 20 might fit the bill as a 'rental' unit. It has a good display, uses a touch screen, has an electronic compass (so it keeps pointing the right way if you stop moving), and is as waterproof as any of this type. Add a screen protector film to it, and you've got a rugged little unit with just a power button. You can get them factory refurbished by Garmin with 1 year warranty for as little as $125 >>> http://g.factoryoutl...ategory_id=1672

 

There are some good tools like GSAK out there for creation of and maintenance of 'cache' (waypoint) databases that you could use to maintain your list of custom caches and waypoints and easily load these units.

Edited April 4, 2014 by ecanderson

[+mh88]

thanks

[+coshida]

The cheaper models from Garmin and Magellan are all easy to use and have reasonably simple interfaces.

 

The cheapest are the Garmin Etrex 10 in yellow. Monochrome screen, no (usable) mapping, quite a tough unit for kids.

 

The Magellan GC is also easy to use and about the same price. At the moment the slighter better featured Magellan 110 (with worldwide street maps is also about the same price as the Etrex 10, as the 110 is about to be axed by Magellan. Any of those will fit the bill.

 

If you're putting waypoints into multiple units, the PC software (BaseCamp for Garmin and VantagePoint for Magellan) will enable you to set waypoints on the PC screen and download them to the handheld(s).

 

Of the two choices, the Magellan PC software is easier to use and the cheapest handsets have colour screens. The Etrex Units have GLONASS +GPS and give faster initial fixes and arguably have better sensitivity in tree cover

 

The Etrex (and Dakota) units support 'Profiles' so you can remove any pages or icons from the handset screens to tailor the units to your needs or simplify them.

 

The touch-screen models (Dakota/Oregon) and the upmarket Magellans are slightly easier to use, but for 'kids and treasure hunts' the basic Etrexs or Magellans might well be enough.

 

Out of the two, the Profiles on the Etrex 10, and the better sensitivity might be useful, at the expense of learning the slightly horrible PC application 'Basecamp'.

 

Whatever you get, allow for a lot of rechargeable AA batteries in the budget.

Edited April 7, 2014 by coshida