Repeat GPS buyers

[dave and jaime]

wondering why those of us that have had several gps units bought the most recent. in particular those people who have switched manufactures and why?

 

me, my old 2000 took a long swim in the drink while fishing offshore, but stuck with magellan.

[MACpa]

I still have my Magellan Pioneer that I bought 7 years ago and it did everything it was supposed to do. This past winter when I decided to upgrade I looked at the features side by side and asked a few questions. (not here) I was already satisfied by Magellan once and the memory card feature of the Meridian Platinum sold me.

[+Rubberhead]

I'm a Garmin Guy. Started with a GPS 38 when they first came out. Put a 128 on my cabin boat used for offshore fishing. Added a Garmin Mariner last year but upgraded to a Legend because of the mapping capabilities.

 

I do PDA's and electronic gadgets for a living and would switch brands in a second if I wasn't happy. But so far I haven't had a reason to switch.

[+Searching_ut]

It’s like everything else involved with the sport, kind of an addiction.

 

My first unit, the Magellan 2000, purchased 1995 as I recall. I got rid of it once 12 channel units came out because the two channel unit had so many reception problems, and wouldn’t work well in hot climates. Screen would go black and it would shut down.

 

G12. Great unit, but it got stolen from my vehicle when left in the truck at a trailhead. It was the upgrade from the Mag 2000

 

Basic eTrex, purchased 3 or 4 years ago when they first came out. I still have and often use it. Great for hiking, caching, but doesn’t have map capability.

 

eMap. I was in Moab Utah on a 4 Wheel drive outing for the weekend. One of the group who was going to be down there for the week fell so much in love with it he had to have it. Paid me more for it than it cost me when I didn’t want to loan it to him. There were no stores that had one for miles.

 

GIII+, purchased a couple years ago because it was available at a discontinued by store deal for $100. It was the replacement for my eMap, and is the receiver I use in my boat. It sometimes has heat related display problems at Lake Powell in the summer, as do my eTrex’s, but not as bad as my Magellan unit. I also often use it with a mighty mouse II antenna to record hiking tracks to map out later for friends.

 

Legend. My primary hiking, tracklog recording, and caching receiver. It’s the receiver I use the most and like the most.

 

SporTrak map. I bought it because of the great reviews. It’s great for recording waypoints, but I much prefer the Legend for basic handheld use. Once I get through playing with it I intend to give it to my daughter to use for caching, and basic car navigation when needed.

 

I’ve also bought 2 yellow eTrex’s as a birthday, and Christmas gift, and a Vista as a birthday present.

 

Now I’m looking hard at the G-V and streetpilot III. I’m thinking I’ll probably skip this generation, and wait and see what the net generation is……

 

For what it’s worth

 

Jeff

[umc]

If I wasn't so impatient I would have waited for the next generation for the V also. Hopefully it comes with more memory along with being able to use cards Garmins or otherwise. I started out with a Lowrance GM100 four years ago and it has done me well. I just liked all of the features of the V and thats why I went with it. The support I have received from Garmin has been incredible so that is an added bonus. I was between three units before I bought. The V, Plat and an iFINDER but went with the V. I love my GM100 and would have no problem spending the money on the iFINDER but the autorouting of the V can't be beat. Like was mentioned above I would not have a problem and have not had a problem with going with a different manufacturer than I started with.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

Confused New Owner Of a Garmin GPS V Received on 10-03-02

[+Gliderguy]

I started out with an Eagle Accunav Sport, which was HUGE. It ate 6 AA batteries in about 4 hours. I had a keypad failure on this one once the warranty was up. Then I bought an Eagle Explorer, which was much better. I tried a Garmin 38 but returned it. The 5 and 8 channel Eagles beat the socks of the early single channel Garmin. Then a few years went by and I bought a Garmin III, because I liked the concept of the horizontal/vertical screens.

 

I recieved a Magellian Blazer 12 as a promotion with a set of Bridgestone tires. It was neat for such a simple unit, and the battery life was good. Once SA was turned off, its value depreciated in my eyes as it only allowed lat/long inputs of hundredths of a minute, and only registered distance to a waypoint to the nearest hundredth of a mile or km.

 

I have since sold all the above to own my current units - the III+ that I have had for 2 years and the V I have had for a few months.

[+trippy1976]

I have to constantly fight the urge to upgrade my GPS. For me, my obsession with gadgets borders on OCD. Maybe it IS OCD. I dunno. But when something new comes out I get all itchy and have to go hold it. Then it takes a couple of weeks of talking myself into the fact that I don't really need it I got a Venture when I started out and so far it's been very sufficient for geocaching, but I can't help be attracted to the new features of other GPSrs... even if I know I don't really need them

 

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

[+Rubberhead]

trippy1976,

I had a eTrex Mariner which is basically a Venture with a white case sold exclusively by West Marine. Anyway, I sold the Mariner for $120 and paid $210 to upgrade to a Legend which also has a $50 rebate. That makes the total upgrade cost $40. Well worth the price for mapping, and 7 MB more memory.

 

Don't fight the itch.

[katmom]

Re-searched for a cache that I had tried with a yellow a while back. I knew it was somewhere over there --> but on the Yellow couldn't tell what side of the river or what side of the highway that crosses the river. Legend map gave me the visual clues I needed.

[+ZachNLiam]

Back in 1994 I saw a gps unit for the first time. It was some kind of Magellan unit - I don't remember the model. Anyway, my friend and I went to buy one at the only place that seemed to carry gps units, West Marine.

 

When we got there we were blown away by the ultra-modern GPS45 by Garmin. It blew the Magellan away. Soon after I bought a GPS38, because it had a few new features the 45 didn't.

 

I didn't do much with gps units again until recently when I discovered geocaching and bought a Legend. Then I couldn't stand it and bought a GPSV and sold the Legend.

 

Then I wanted another handheld unit and bought a GPSMAP76. About this time I got a yellow eTrex for my 9 year old's birthday. Soon after he got a Legend as a combined bday present and his yellow went to his 6 year old brother.

 

Having the GPSMAP76 for "out of the car" use and being just a little disappointed with the 19MB of map memory in the V, I sold the V and bought a Street Pilot III.

 

I was happy with every Garmin purchase and will probably buy their products for good.

 

[DrDr]

I wanted a more portable GPS than my GPS III+ from Garmin (which is already small but you have to hold on to it) I bought the 2nd generation casio gps watch. it looks cool but it can almost never get a fix, and you have to recharge the batteries every few hours. might be good on a boat where there are no obstructions and you only needed occasional readings.

[mtnsteve]

I started with a Magellan Tracker years ago for SAR, I just got a Meridian Platinum a couple weeks ago. When I got my first, Magellan was the hot unit...it lasted through a lot of beatings and worked as well as I could ask for...I got the Platinum for Geocaching and work in the mountains (you can change tracking to lay one down every .01mi) , if I was going to get one for the road, it would be a Garmin.

 

Most of my friends use Garmin....but we still talk to each other ...........

 

____________________________________________________________

It's not about the mistakes we make, it's about what we learn from them....

[+PI Joe]

My first modern GPS is a Yellow eTrex that I got on eBay for $75 used once (by a little old lady...). My second unit is a Yellow eTrex that I saw at Fry's electronics on sale for $80. It is used as a backup and as a model rocket tracking tool when hooked up to my APRS radio gear.

 

Lou Catozzi

KD5BLR