Newbie Needs GPS Recommendation

[WaffleStomper]

Greetings!

 

I'm new, and I need your opinions and tips on what GPS to buy that fulfills the following:

 

-around the $300.00 range (USD)

-able to hook up to my PC which uses Win XP

-at least semi-waterproof

-compass that works when I stand still

 

In addition to hiking, I like to fish and canoe and it'd be nice to have an all-around unit that I could use on these varied trips.

 

Also, I've got the following questions:

 

-How usable and handy are the units that come with barometer and altimeter functions? Are those features worth the extra cost in your opinion?

-Do most units have "reverse tracking" so that I can reverse my path and return home easily?

-Is a screen that displays color a handy thing or not worth the extra cost in your opinion?

 

Thanks in advance for helping out a newbie!

 

Waffle Stomper

[+azmark]

Magellan Green/Gold. $99.00 at outpost, meets all your requirements. There is no electronic compass but with the sun/moon icons on the screen you can always find true north. (unless you can't see the sun or moon.)

 

For all but serious climbers, the altitude provided by GPS is enough.

 

For the extra money you could get Mapsend CD, case, boat mounts, SD memory card.

 

AZMark

[shrekTBA]

I love my Vista. The compass is something I thought was no biggie...until I used it. Really nice for the unit to work without moving. Also, it has features that allow you to use the compass to set a course, and will keep you very close to the original course without having to input coordinates. My only complaint with the compass on the Vista is that I haven't figured out how to get it to show the direction in degrees yet, just gives a heading. As for the altimiter, I have only played with it, as in finding out how tall a hill is for sledding and same with driving up a mountain. I firmly believe I excede the maximum allowable size to use the jumpmaster program, but it looks really cool. With the glide calculator built in, I can see a lot of uses for hang gliding/flying as well. the color screen is not an issue to me, at least not as much as having a much smaller unit. I have mine hooked up to a PC, and use Roads and Rec, but am getting metroguide for it as well. Only thing that I have noticed with a comp hook up is that new laptops are leaving off the serial port. Oh, with the software interface and mapping, the Vista will do street level adress lookup with metroguide as long as the map needed is loaded, won't auto route like a V, but the smaller unit is wort the trade off. I use mine in my car, boat, truck, 4 wheelers and bike. I have handle bar mounts, as well as the windshield mount and have very little trouble with the mounts. This is my 3rd in the etrex line, and all have been rugged and reliable, but I love the Vista out of all of them! There are a few things I don't like about it though. I don't like the flimsy cover over the interface port, it is a rubber flap (I have had no trouble with it, just see it as a weak spot). I wish you could put on an external antenna. I also see the click stick as a weak point, very handy, and no trouble yet, just see a potential there. Oh, some trash the reception, but I get a 16 ft accuracy with 9 sats in my house sitting on my computer desk!! Hope this helps. Oh, the rebate is back!!!

 

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

[+Desert_Warrior]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Waffle Stomper:

Greetings!

 

I'm new, and I need your opinions and tips on what GPS to buy that fulfills the following:

 

-around the $300.00 range (USD)

-able to hook up to my PC which uses Win XP

-at least semi-waterproof

-compass that works when I stand still

---

 

This is Well under $300.

 

I use it with ExpertGPS under Win-XP almost daily.

 

Definately semi-water proof.

 

But, no magnetic compass. I have not found I needed it yet.....

 

Garmin E-Trex Venture is the best bang for the buck.

 

There are other units that seem to excel in specialized situations, but for everything I, and 4 other cachers in the area do, the Venture is all we need. And it has many advantages over the others.

 

If you are considering the Basic Yellow E-Trex, I strongly recommend you get the Venture. By the time you add the computer cable (which you WILL want) to the basic yellow, you save very little cache (cash), . OTOH, the Venture allows longer Waypoint names, twice as many legs in a track, longer track names, and has a much nicer display over the basic yellow, plus has some memory on-board.

 

Take a look at it, it might do it for you and save you some $$$ for other accessories.

 

Good luck in your choice.

 

Mike. Desert_Warrior (aka KD9KC).

El Paso, Texas.

 

Citizens of this land may own guns. Not to threaten their neighbors, but to ensure themselves of liberty and freedom.

 

They are not assault weapons anymore... they are HOMELAND DEFENSE WEAPONS!

[+embra]

...here's another opinion!

 

I suggest you look closely at the Meridian Platinum. For just around your price guideline you get the stand-still electronic compass (a useful feature for me), the barometer (not a useful feature for me), expandable memory and detail maps. Waterproof, too.

 

I'm not sure if these are the lowest prices, but these are where I got mine from a few months ago with current pricing:

 

MeriPlat $257

www.shopharmony.com

 

MapSend Topo $80

SanDisk SD card 64MB $34

www.amazon.com

 

Meridian/MapSend rebate -$50

 

WIth free shipping from both Harmony and Amazon, you're in at $321. An SD card reader would be a nice addition, but you could do that down the road.

 

I started with a Venture (and I liked it, Mike), but I was one who was frustrated by satellite lock difficulty under tree leaves. The Plat is better on this, IMHO. The SD card was an unexpected boon to me, I can swap sets of waypoints (e.g., caches, benchmarks, routes) in and out without having unwanted waypoints on the display. It helps keep things the way I like 'em.

 

All should have backtrack feature. At the present time I regard color screens as battery hogs...but I haven't viewed one yet, so I could be persuaded it's worth the drain. Definetly kicks the price up.

 

Max

Often wrong but seldom in doubt

[madapple]

Do yourself a favor and keep a couple hundred

for gas money and buy one of the Meridians for

$99.00 on Outpost.com......you will find that

the compass won't be used that much,,as well as

some of the other features of the more expensive

models, and you have memory expantion capabilities.

 

Exploring the world,,,one Cache at a time !!!!!

[+Desert_Warrior]

quote:

---

Originally posted by embra:

 

I started with a Venture (and I liked it, Mike), but I was one who was frustrated by satellite lock difficulty under tree leaves. The Plat is better on this, IMHO.

---

 

Do you still have the venture? If so, and you have the chance, try something.

 

The general consensus seems to be that the Garmin just reports loss of signal immediately, where-as the Magellan tries to fake it a while it hopes to regain signal.

 

Hike into trees with both units. As soon as the venture reports LOS, stop and observe the magellan. Then start and stop a few times under the trees. It would be interesting to know what it does.

 

I almost got a Magellan Sport-track Pro for Christmas. But after comparing it to the venture, I discovered the Venture had a better display, is lighter, is smaller, and has longer battery life. Since I have NEVER experienced LOS under trees (we don't have many trees in the desert) I didn't buy it. But I really WOULD like to know. I have an open mind, and I can change it if if I have to, I guess. Hope you still have the venture.

 

Looking forward (really) to hearing your results.

 

Mike. Desert_Warrior (aka KD9KC).

El Paso, Texas.

 

Citizens of this land may own guns. Not to threaten their neighbors, but to ensure themselves of liberty and freedom.

 

They are not assault weapons anymore... they are HOMELAND DEFENSE WEAPONS!

[+awskoa]

this is the one you want I use it daily and live on the oregon coast with lots of tree cover and bad weather and it works great I located the ship wreck that not to many people know about inculding the locals. Called the Cairnsmore landind on the clatsop beach in 1883 hidden in the trees the more common one that people know about is the Peter Iredale which hit the beach 22years and 11 months later in 1906. This is one of the best units to own

 

Wise man says man who plays golf in rain has wet balls

[lhuff]

quote:

---

My only complaint with the compass on the Vista is that I haven't figured out how to get it to show the direction in degrees yet, just gives a heading.

---

 

You can get numbers - sort of.

 

First go to the Navigation page and make sure one of the data fields at the bottom is Heading.

 

Next go to the Main Menu page and choose Setup. From Setup choose Heading. On the heading page the top option is for what gets displayed. It defaults to Cardinal Letters, but can be changed to Degrees or Mils. Choose Degrees.

 

Now go back to the Navigation page. The compass dial will look the same but the Heading data field at the bottom will now show degrees instead of Cardinal Letters.

 

HTH

 

[This message was edited by WA4CQZ on February 21, 2003 at 11:25 AM.]

[+Renegade Knight]

Here is my take. Those who have the electronic compass get used to it and like it. Those who don't have it, don't miss it.

 

Having said that the Vista is the ticket. If you can swing it the GPSMAP 76S.

 

If you can live without the compass there are alot of other good reccomendations here.

 

I know when I'm explaining how to use my GPS people take a little time to get used to "The compass is only accurate if you are moving" thing. They walk in circles every time they stop.

 

Wherever you go there you are.

[+embra]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Desert_Warrior:

Hike into trees with both units. As soon as the venture reports LOS, stop and observe the magellan. Then start and stop a few times under the trees. It would be interesting to know what it does.

---

 

That's a good test to do, Mike. The Venture is in my brother's care now, but our caching paths will cross again, and we'll check it out. I'd like to see that, too. I have to confess that my ratings of the Meridian and the Venture's lock holding abilities are subjective impressions rather than side-by-side comparisons.

 

Waffle Stomper...one thing to note here is that it seems most owners are happy with their units enough to recommend them to others. Whatever you choose, you'll probably be happy with it.

 

Max

Often wrong but seldom in doubt

[3fros]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Desert_Warrior:

The general consensus seems to be that the Garmin just reports loss of signal immediately, where-as the Magellan tries to fake it a while it hopes to regain signal.

---

 

That's just the general consensus in the Garmin camp. I have had my Platinum lose lock, but it is a VERY rare occurance compared to the Etrex yellow I borrowed once. One time I was in a steep valley with heavy trees on both sides of the road and have had the Plat lose lock while I was in the car. It didn't guess where I was. It just waited until it got a lock again. If it does have a lock it will keep track of where I am even if I turn.

 

The better way to test it is to turn. The stop and go method is more of a way to measure overshoot because it takes a GPS a second to catch up to the change with all of the calculations it has to do. My Platinum is more prone to overshoot than my 315 because it has a 20MB topo map of Washington to toss around while doing all of its other calculations.

 

By the way. Go for the Platinum.

[+Searching_ut]

Owning both the sportrak map, and eTrex Legend, my recommendation would be the Vista. (Most of the modern magellan units from the 330 on behave pretty much the same, while most of the units in the Garmin eTrex line behave like their siblings as well)

 

Reasons to recommend the Vista:

 

With the rebate, you'll easily be under your $300 goal

 

Electronic compass

 

Small, great for hiking/backpacking, works great one handed once you get used to the buttons

 

Records tracks great, which allows you to return to your starting place with precision. Rather than using the trackback mode, I set mine to the most detailed auto setting, then use the map page to position myself on my old track for the return trip. I find this works much more accurately than trackback when I'm working my way back through rocks, or heavy deadfall filled forests. My sportrak doesn't record tracks accurately or detailed enough to guide me back exactly the way I came. It will get you back though, you just end up doing a little more new route finding.

 

I can't comment first hand on color. As for the barometer, since SA has been turned off I don't really see much advantage to having it. My altimeter watch seems to have more difficulty with accuracy over time than my gps units do.

 

Finally regarding the "lock" issue Having a couple hundred miles of Sportrak/eTrex side by side time now while hiking and caching, I feel the eTrex loss of sensitivity issue, and Magellan great sensitivity issue are both way over rated. (The sportrak is far more forgiving of positioning however and easier to use in many ways as a result) There are certain conditions in which one may do somewhat better than the other, but if you use them in a wide variaty of different conditions I think you'll find them pretty comperable. (Example: the Magellans may be slightly better in flat land heavy tree cover wheras the eTrex does better in mountinous areas, canyons, and combinations of trees and canyons. It varies widely with conditions though) For the record, for Geocaching my Legend is generally easier to use at finding caches most of the time, but I haven't encountered a cache yet where I wouldn't have found it using either unit on it's own. The main reason I prefer the Legend is that you don't have to wait a few minutes for it to settle down prior to finding your starting point. Using the Legend I've useually already found the cache prior to my Sportrak getting over the filter issue.

 

Regarding maps etc. For TOPO I very much prefer Garmins product. I've been working on adding many more pages comparing the different maps, and receivers to my webpage. Hopefully I'll have them posted prior to the end of the weekend.

 

For what it's worth

 

Jeff

[3fros]

Found this on the GARMIN web site when looking at the GPSMap 76 "This unit features a built-in quad helix antenna for superior reception..." Even they admit that the quad helix antenna is better.

 

Now in most cases I agree that the patch antenna of the Etrex series is probably fine, but I live in Western Washington where the tree cover is a lot more dense than most of the rest of the United States so to me it matters more. I probably wouldn't be such a quad-helix nut if I lived anywhere else.

 

Think about what you're going to do with it, and then buy whatever fits your needs

[WaffleStomper]

Wow, thanks for the great info on units.

 

I've done some more online research/shopping and I'm leaning towards the Magellan Meridian Platinum.

 

Thanks again for the opinions and helpful, timely information for this newbie!

 

Waffle Stomper

"Stomping across the planet, one waffle at a time."