GPS recommendations.

[+van_n_out]

My girlfriend and I have been geocaching for about a year now and have had a lot of success using only my iphone 5 and now my iphone 6. We are looking to get a GPS unit for use in rural/secluded areas while probably still using smartphones for any urban caching.

 

We are both students so money is tight. I've read good things about the Garmin eTrex, is it really worth the extra money to get the 30 or is the 20 sufficient do you think? Or do you have a different recommendation for a unit I should look into.

 

Thanks.

[39_Steps]

If rural areas to be visited by the OP include mountainous view sites with no space to pace back and forth, a properly functioning built in magnetic compass display with Topo maps can be very useful. Whether a typical Etrex 30 provides this capability, with or without extra cost maps, I do not know.

[fujitsu]

Hi,

 

I'm not a professional geocacher but I suggest a GPS with electronic compass.

 

My suggestions are (all at the same size):

1. Etrex 35 (new model. I do not know if it is already at stores - touch one )

2. Etrex 30x

3. Etrex 30

4. Dakota 20 (Touch one)

 

If you do not want the most update one the Etrex 30 or Dakota 20 is a good choice.

 

Good caches

[+MartyBartfast]

Depends what you're going to do with it. When I got the '30 the price difference was only £15-20 so it was worth the extra.

 

The main time I use the electronic compass is when I've come to a junction of several paths and I need to choose which one to take and at this point I'm usually standing still contemplating so a GPS compass would be useless.

 

The '30 also does CHIRP caches, though there are so few of them around that I wouldn't let that sway me.

 

I think (though not 100% sure) that the '30 takes more geocaches (5000), which is handy when going away for a time as it allows you to download a larger area.

 

Whether the features are worth it or not depend on the best price difference you can find and what that ammount of money means to you, a quick search I did showed the '30 was about £50 more, and it wouldn't be worth that to me.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

The main time I use the electronic compass is when I've come to a junction of several paths and I need to choose which one to take and at this point I'm usually standing still contemplating so a GPS compass would be useless.

 

Yes, I can see the value then but even though I walk thousands of miles a year I only hit the odd junction where the map isn't clear enough to guide me. I know which track I've come down so just like a paper map you just orientate the screen so the tracks line up, don't even need any compass

 

I have very rarely used my units compass as a " compass " but I use it only when geocaching so the pointer will point to the cache when I'm moving slowly. They are nice on offset caches where you have to " proceed NE for 20 yards " , etc.