Which GPS to buy for caching, but also for auto?

[sswany]

I'm looking to buy a GPS, but I want something that is featured enough to use in a car for motoring. Address-to-address, would be nice, but by the looks of the Garmin ~$450 price tag for the V, that may be too much. Are the eTrex such as the Vista good when you download the routes to them for this sort of thing? I'm lured by the eTrex's size and lack of external antenna, but is that a good thing? I've used GPS systems in cars before (built in) and they're amazing. I want that sort of thing from something small like that. Is this possible?

 

Thanks guys.

[Alphawolf]

By time you buy the Vista, add a dash mount for your car, a 12v. adaptr cord, and some software to go in it, you might as well of bought the V! It comes with all that.

 

"Never take a sunset for granted. Stop what you are doing and enjoy it. You never know when it may be your last"

[+RB_Nielsen]

A little looking should net a better price on the Garmin V. Previous posts have reported pricing closer to $400.

[targetdrone]

If you have a laptop, just get any Etrex and a cable. You can use MS streets and trips with that. Set the output to NMEA in/out.

 

"I can't find the longitude for the North Pole"

[+Centaur]

quote:

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Originally posted by sswany:

.. I've used GPS systems in cars before (built in) and they're amazing. I want that sort of thing from something small like that. Is this possible?

 

Thanks guys.

---

 

That would be the V. Check this out for my Vacation Report with a GPSV.

 

One of the things you need to remember if you are going to be using it alot in the car is it does do on the fly re-routing. The others would be static routes you upload to them. Drift off a static route, or run into a detour and you have to fake it the old fashion way. The V will simply note you have gone off the route, and then recalculate a new route to the destination.

 

I have yet to have the V fail to get me to a Cache. (I have failed to find one or 2, but only because I didnt search in a big enough error circle, but that's me, not the V.)

 

All comments are biased of course, because Im a satisfied V owner.

 

[jneff]

I haved owned my Garmin V for one week and love it

I live in S.C. and have not had any trouble with the auto routing. I bought mine for 398.00 from PC Mall. Found my first cache this weekend and I was in dense tree cover and never lost lock. You have to use common sense to use the auto routing. I suggest that you use it in an area you are familiar with first. Great unit buy one today

[threx]

if you get really lucky,

 

I got mine for $299 on close-out from the local store. It was originally at $399.99. There were only two left. The sales associate told me that he would talk to his manager. A minute later, he came back and told me that if I bought the last two in the store, he would be willing to take another hundred dollars off. So here I am, with a 3 month old GPS V and several caches found to my credit. I sold the other through eBay. Well, good luck then.

[chuxtuff]

I agree with everything said about the Garmin GPS V. My girlfriend brought one home a few weeks ago and gave it to me to "check it out, figure it out, then tell me how to do it". I made the mistake of getting into the manual BEFORE turning the unit on for the first time and seriously thought that for a woman who hates maps, this ain't no piece of cake either. But after turning on the unit and driving around...wow!! The first time I saw the unit start spitting out the street names before you got there, along with the direction, speed of travel and all of that I knew this was a true "magic box". Anyway, the point here is that it is a QUALITY unit that works great for the car or, take it out, go from Landscape to the Portrait mode and use the thing as a hand held. With it's external antenna and large backlit screen even us guys that wear glasses had no problems seeing this one. But most importantly, it's a BREEZE to learn and use. Just use the quick start guide and leave that manual closed for awhile, then just play around with with your new unit. While some say they have an adequet manual, I find the training video a better way to start. In closing, I've seen the unit on Ebay for $410 so if you shop around you'll save yourself some dough. While it may be a tad bit steep, STILL for a quality dual use unit (that you can see), there isn't anything better imho. Good luck!! Chux

[shrekTBA]

I have a Vista and love it. I also purchased a window mount, 12v cable and Roads and Rec (wish I woulda went metroguide) and with the rebate and sale prices on all, I have about $375 in the whole set up. I love it. The largest glaring difference is auto routing. The vista does address lookup, but no auto routing. I have also had a legend, and still have a yellow. The vista is a pretty good upgrade from the legend, and I got the vista over the V because of the size as well as price. Still love the vista!!

 

It's not a sport unless there is something dead in the back of the truck when you get home.

[+st_richardson]

I use my Vista in my car, also. I imagine my Rino would work as well but it doesn't have as much memory. You should get a GPS that you can load maps. It really makes a difference on the road.

[+Renegade Knight]

For what you want and for the price you said, it's the GPS V hands down. The Vista is nice but it doesn't rout, doesn't tell you directions and isnt' an 'auto' GPS. Not unless you hook it up to a Laptop but that's a whole different ball of wax.

 

Wherever you go there you are.

[appletree]

I use my vista in the car almost daily. I use a suction cup, goose-neck cell phone mount from Radio Shack ($19) and mount it on my side window near the mirror. The MetroGuide software is a must. It gives you the ability to look up addresses and POI's without a computer, and to auto route with one. The routes can be downloaded to the Vista, and they work fine. I rarely use the auto routing, but I regularly use the address and POI look-up and do a Go To. I have but don't use the power cable - batteries last a long time, and I carry a spare pair in the $10 cell phone belt clip case that holds the vista when I am out of the car. The Vista does so many things, I find that I must use it often to stay fresh regarding its features. Because it is so small and light, it is easy to take with me wherever I go.