Garmin Etrex 25 Touch??? Advice please

[+Addycache]

Hi, sorry if this has been asked before but I cannot find any info relating to adequate GPS units.

We are relatively new to Geocaching and are looking to buy a GPS unit. The one that stands out is the Garmin Etrex 25 Touch but the staff in all the shops that stock these units nearby our area (South Yorkshire) have little / no knowledge of what they are selling.

Here are a few questions that we have:

1. Are the Etrex 25s' preloaded maps at 1:50k scale adequate for Geocaching?

2. Do the preloaded Garmin TopoActive Europe Maps include Cyprus (as we spend a lot of time there)? As it appears that some versions have only 20+ European countries that don't include Cyprus and TopoActive v4 maps which have 46 European countries (which do have Cyprus).

3. Any users of this GPS, is this unit suitable for Geocaching?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Addycache

[+londontavern]

Maybe not much help as I've never used any Garmin map products other than car satnav. For many years I have used the free 'openstreetmaps'  http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ never found them wanting and used them in many European countries. On the download site you can select the continent that you wan't (very/very large file) or (my personal preference) individual countries of your choice. You can also download specific map tiles covering the area of your choice. For example I have southern UK, Spain and Portugal. Cyprus is well covered. By the way there is a lage active geocaching community in Cyprus.

 

[+colleda]

We prefer the Etrex 20x (or 30) as it use buttons and a toggle stick. I'd imagine the screen is a bit small for touch and, in your climate, would be even trickier if wearing gloves. The maps supplied are usually very basic. As mentioned. OSM maps can be downloaded or, if you want to shell out cash, you can buy Garmin map chips. We've used both.  The Etrex range, not so much the Etrex 10, is a very good starter for paperless geocaching. We've been using our Etrex 20s for the last 4 years and see no need to upgrade.

[+LinkAylomen]

Not the same GPS but we have a GPSmap 62s and it was barely useable with garmin maps, downloaded maps from Openstreetmaps and they are -so- much better (and free!) I can't comment on the device itself, but if it's loaded with the same 1:50 maps ours was, it's not great.

Thankfully, downloading and installing new maps is easy and fairly quick.

EDIT: A quick search shows the device can be loaded with geocache locations, so it's suitable for geocaching!

Edited May 9, 2018 by LinkAylomen