Guest Lanier Posted March 27, 2001 Share Posted March 27, 2001 I'm looking to buy an GPS receiver and am looking at the either a Garmin Summit, Vista, or Legend or either a Magellan 410. Does anyone have any experience with either of these units or would you recommend one over another. It will be used for geocaching and general navigation/hiking for fun, etc. Quote Link to comment
Guest Eubi Posted April 2, 2001 Share Posted April 2, 2001 I don't mean to trash any brand, but I'll tell you what I experienced. I purchased a Garmin eTrex and found it to have some difficulties finding its way over an out and back course. It was typically 75 to 100 ft off. I tested the unit in three different locations and the error was always there. Even worse, the error was not necessarily in the same direction! I bought a Magellan 315 and ran it over the same courses. So far it has given me accuracies of about 3 ft. I took the eTrex back to the store! Quote Link to comment
Guest Moun10Bike Posted April 2, 2001 Share Posted April 2, 2001 quote:Originally posted by Eubi:I don't mean to trash any brand, but I'll tell you what I experienced. I purchased a Garmin eTrex and found it to have some difficulties finding its way over an out and back course. It was typically 75 to 100 ft off. I tested the unit in three different locations and the error was always there. Even worse, the error was not necessarily in the same direction! I bought a Magellan 315 and ran it over the same courses. So far it has given me accuracies of about 3 ft. I took the eTrex back to the store! You have to be careful about making comparisons like this with so few data points and without additional information. While I don't own an eTrex, I have owned several models of Garmin (GPS 40, 12XL, GPS III, GPS III+) and have found them all to be much more accurate on out-and-backs than you have experienced (at least since SA was turned off). You also have to consider what satellite geometry was like when you ran each test -- it sounds to me like you were experiencing low DOP each time with the eTrex, which is not the receiver's fault. As for 3 foot accuracy with the Magellan, that is not typical of ANY consumer-grade receiver. It is more like 15 meters (49 feet). Quote Link to comment
Guest Cape Cod Cache Posted April 2, 2001 Share Posted April 2, 2001 Ah, the old G vs M question, plenty of old posts if you look far back enough. It's basically Ford vs GM. Go to a couple different dealers at a slow business time and spend some time with a sales person. I used to bring customers out to the parking lot to show the how the like-priced units compared. Figure out your needs and shop is my advice. ( I prefer Garmin, but haven't played with the eTrex units yet, the other Garmins fit the hand like a good remote control though) Quote Link to comment
Guest Anton Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Greetings, Don't forget that Brunton has a nice, new GPS reciever with lots of extra features: Magnetic compass, barometer/altimeter, and even a bubble-level on the face. Bruton GPS Receiver http://www.gps4fun.com/brn_mns.html Another consideration is to look at the map software from each company...the maps that come on CDs and which can be downloaded into the GPS unit. Which ever GPS you buy, you will be locked into that companies map software, so you should know what it is, and know that you like that brand best. Anton ------------------ Anton Ninno, N2RUD Syracuse, NY 13210 Quote Link to comment
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