New to gps.. what to buy

[Guest NewbieGPSuser]

Nice site just found it today...

 

What I want to use a gps for:

1) Hunting

2) Fishing

 

And maybe trying out this new sport here I am trying to stay low budget. I have heard many units differ from how many sattelites they pick up, waypoints and such.. and tips help, suggestions are appreciated ty

[Guest navdog]

To start with , some of the Garmin units have have a built in hunting and fishing almanac and some marine units have tide table data. You can click on the links below and go to the manufacturer's sites below to find detailed info about various units.

 

http://www.garmin.com/

 

http://www.magellangps.com/

[Guest Geoffrey]

For fishing or hunting, try the Garmin GPS 76 or the GPS Map76. They have a large screen, and a good antenna.

 

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http://members.aol.com/geoffr524/myhomepage/howto.html

[Guest Pote]

Yup, I second the 76/Map76 recommendation. There is hunting/fishing lunar cycle info, tide displays, it has the quadrfilar antenna wich is proven to be the superior antenna in the woods, it's waterproof, it floats, it will connect to NMEA devices (depthsounders, radars, chartplotters, etc.) it has a 12volt external power supply for the boat/truck, it has an external antenna jack for the boat. If you plan to fish offshore, the Map76 is BlueChart ready and runs Mapsource maps for topos and street navigation. Screen is a nice size, it will display TD's if you want. The only decision you need to make is whether you want the map or not. If $320 is not a barrier, get the map.

 

If you want more info on the Map76, you are welcome to email me - but not tomorrow - I'll be striper fishing in the bay. :^)

[Guest Iron Chef]

(looks around for ClayJar's post on the horizon)

Hummm... this topic has been active for almost a whole day and no MeriGold post from ClayJar yet. He must be working.

 

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-Iron Chef

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

agefive.com/geocache/ ~ Fe-26

Lets Drive Fast and Eat Cheese!

[Guest navdog]

t, So we can get some field notes from him. Still would like to know if the "MeriGold Maramba" ...aka the handheld hula wave is required to deal with the auto-averaging situation.

 

 

[This message has been edited by navdog (edited 23 October 2001).]

[Guest Fotogg]

quote:

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Originally posted by Iron Chef:

(looks around for ClayJar's post on the horizon)

Hummm... this topic has been active for almost a whole day and no MeriGold post from ClayJar yet. He must be working.

 

---

 

Gee Still no ClayJar......

 

Could he be lost......

[Guest navdog]

ClayJar lost??? NEVER!!!

 

My quote from another thread;

 

ClayJar, with all that technical stuff bouncing around inside your head I don't know why you bought that new Meridian. All you need to do is slap a patch antenna on top your head and you could be a human GPSR!!!

 

So lost?, No. That's providing that he's got that patch on his head.

[Guest ClayJar]

Okay, okay! I'm here! (I guess I overlooked a topic... must be this quadrifilar antenna. Actually, strangely enough, my cat stepped in my eye this morning. It hurt; I reflexively slapped hard in the general vicinity, and she sat on a box in the doorway the rest of the morning.)

 

Now, yes, a Meridian is a very good GPS receiver to get (under $210 for a baseline Meridian GPS), especially if you get, say, the MapSend Topo CD and an SD card for your maps.

 

Also, my hypothesis from a previous topic has been experimentally tested. The results: the Meridians have the same auto-averaging characteristics as the MAP 330 -- you do not need to do any sort of waving, dancing, cantatas, or pantomime to keep them from averaging (by my observations, they seem to break out by 0.5mph, which is about the speed of a person rocking from one foot to the other). My MeriGold also got exceptional reception under tree cover at LAGG-1 (it was just a bit better than my MAP 330).

[Guest peter]

Hope you and the cat are both feeling better.

While the 0.5 mph threshold on the 330 and Meridian is certainly a big improvement, it's still faster than I move when climbing through rocks with uncertain footing. I can't see any justification for Magellan keeping this characteristic. When I want to average it's because I'll be standing still for awhile and it's not any problem to push a button or two to initiate it like other GPSRs require. But when I'm very carefully seeking the safest path through some precarious footing, I'd like to get an accurate tracklog without having to make any extranious movements.

[Guest navdog]

I am somewhat disappointed with the new Meridians and the inability to turn off/on auto-averaging. But for general purpose use other than gecaching, I guess it really isn't that much of an issue. Maybe it just shows Garmins attention to a sport like geocaching by having dedicated icons and selectable auto-averaging on some units.

[Guest Rubberhead]

NewbieGPSuser,

I fish inshore, nearshore and offshore out of Charleston and I duck hunt in many freshwater and saltwater marshes.

 

If you fish or hunt saltwater, you probably want a GPS that, as a minimum, stores navigational markers. For a fixed-mount, a Garmin 152 would be a fine unit. For a hand-held maybe a Garmin Venturer. You can download the marine database for the Venturer from the Garmin site.

[Guest ClayJar]

quote:

---

Originally posted by peter:

While the 0.5 mph threshold on the 330 and Meridian is certainly a big improvement, it's still faster than I move when climbing through rocks with uncertain footing.

---

I think I'd have to disagree on that one. While on average I may move less than about 0.5mph while crossing/climbing precarious terrain, I find it nearly impossible to stay below that mark the entire time. I intentionally tried to see how far I could go without breaking auto-averaging, and with concentration and practice, I got up to almost 25 feet once before it broke out, but the only time I've moved that slow in the real world was while climing an all-but-sheer face, and in that case, you're not changing position anyway.

 

All these people who are making such a fuss about MAP 330/Merdian auto-averaging should try it out in real life, realize that their qualms are simply misguided, and get on with life. The GPS 315 is an example of very poorly done auto-averaging characteristics; the MAP 330/Meridians are not. (There, I've said it; take it with a grain of salt of your choosing.)

[Guest navdog]

problem. hehe

[Guest ClayJar]

I tell you what, fly me up there, and I'll let you play with both a MAP 330 and a Meridian Gold for a few days.

 

(I've got a friend about to spring for a Meridian GPS... I was going to sell him my 330, but since we're both geeks, I couldn't help but talk him into buying an even better receiver. )

[Guest peter]

quote:

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Originally posted by ClayJar:

All these people who are making such a fuss about MAP 330/Merdian auto-averaging should try it out in real life, realize that their qualms are simply misguided, and get on with life. The GPS 315 is an example of very poorly done auto-averaging characteristics; the MAP 330/Meridians are not. (There, I've said it; take it with a grain of salt of your choosing.)

---

 

I admit that I have not used either the 330 or a Meridian, but I did experience the effects of a threshold speed of .5 - 1 mph for recording tracklog changes that Garmin put in one of their firmware releases - it certainly resulted in corrupted tracklogs under certain climbing situations.

 

I dislike bad design decisions even if they aren't all that bad. And auto-averaging with any kind of threshold strikes me as an inherently bad design.

If I want to get an averaged location, then I want to place the receiver at that spot, wait a little while for the Kalman filters to settle, and only then start the averaging. I sure don't want to include any spurious data from when I was moving the receiver slowly as I approached that spot.

OTOH, if I am not trying to get an averaged location, then I never want the receiver to go into averaging mode on its own. Either way, auto-averaging is a bad way to design a unit.

 

With a low enough threshold, it's not that bad in practice, but I tend to be suspicious of any company that deliberately sticks with such a flawed concept (it caused clear problems in the 315 and should have been eliminated in subsequent models not just tweaked to make it more benign). It makes me wonder how many other bad designs are hidden in the rest of their software.

[Guest loubob57]

I ordered a MeriGold from TheGPSStore last week. (my 1st GPSR) It was supposed to be backordered and not ship until 1st week of Nov. I just got an email that it is on it's way. I should have it a couple of days from now.

[Guest ClayJar]

Isn't it nice to get something early for a change? Remember that when you get around to using detail maps on SD cards, the SD card reader + MapSend + Meridian HOWTO comes in very handy.

[Guest phantom4099]

you got an email, I wish I knew if mine was going to ship early, It should because I ordered like the 16th. But I am just wondering why I havent got an email yet.

[Guest Ascension]

I bought a Lowrance GM100 Friday and took it on 7 caches this weekend, found every one. I am impressed. It is very sensative, does good in tree cover and landed on average less than 10 feet from the cache. Yesterday was overcast and rainy and reception was not as good as today, but it performed much better than my Mag315. With Ni-MH rechargables the battery consumption was not any problem.

[Guest loubob57]

Just rushed home from work because UPS tracking said my Meridian Gold was on my doorstep! Got back to work and put the batteries in it. Hit the power button and ... nothing!

 

Now I have to send it back and wait for a new one to be shipped. My first GPSR buying experience is not starting out well.

 

[This message has been edited by loubob57 (edited 31 October 2001).]

[Guest navdog]

BUMMER..But i will ask the obvious. Are you sure you put the batteries in properly? I would think they would bench test each unit before it goes out.

[Guest loubob57]

quote:

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Originally posted by navdog:

BUMMER..But i will ask the obvious. Are you sure you put the batteries in properly? I would think they would bench test each unit before it goes out.

---

The guy at the GPS Store asked that too. Yep, checked several times. Tried another set of batteries. Measured battery voltage with a meter. Everything was good. Maybe it was because I had an audience (3 co-workers) watching me hit the power button.

[Guest ClayJar]

een the larger tabs (right along the top edge of the battery well). If you just use a pen or your finger or whatever and set the springs back in their correct positions, you'll probably find that you're fine.

 

I admit that the design could use a point revision, but as long as you pay attention when inserting and removing the batteries (like I made quite certain to mention in my review), you'll never have this problem again.

 

If need more help, e-mail me.

 

[This message has been edited by ClayJar (edited 31 October 2001).]

[Guest loubob57]

quote:

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Originally posted by ClayJar:

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

 

Apparently you didn't read my review well enough (of course, it could be that I wasn't emphatic or detailed enough, too...). If you will kindly take the battery cover off the back of your Meridian and look at the springs, you'll almost certainly see that one or more of them have been displaced. The springs are held "down" (toward the front of the unit) by the plastic "tabs" on either side of the spring, and they are held "up" by the very small tabs in between the larger tabs (right along the top edge of the battery well). If you just use a pen or your finger or whatever and set the springs back in their correct positions, you'll probably find that you're fine.

 

I admit that the design could use a point revision, but as long as you pay attention when inserting and removing the batteries (like I made quite certain to mention in my review), you'll never have this problem again.

 

If need more help, e-mail me.

 

[This message has been edited by ClayJar (edited 31 October 2001).]

---

You made me go back and look, but still no luck. The springs are seated properly. I even measured the voltage on the pair of springs on the right side of the unit as you are looking down into the battery well. With my meter probes only touching the springs (not the batteries) I see 3.2 volts. So I know there is power getting to the unit. I even popped the springs completely out of the left side and had to pop them back in.

 

Another thing that worries me is the display looks like it may be shifted to the right a bit. (like 1/16 inch)

 

 

[This message has been edited by loubob57 (edited 31 October 2001).]

[Guest ClayJar]

Now that's odd... As for the display, that's normal (although a bit odd looking at first).

[Guest loubob57]

Well, the MeriGold is on its way back to theGPSStore. They will ship me another as soon as they get this one back. Hope they aren't backordered by the time they get it.

[Guest loubob57]

My replacement MeriGold showed up today. But this one works! I guess any product is gonna ship a DOA or two and if anybody's gonna get one it was me.

 

Can't wait to go out and use it.

[Guest Geoffrey]

quote:

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Originally posted by peter:

While the 0.5 mph threshold on the 330 and Meridian is certainly a big improvement, it's still faster than I move when climbing through rocks with uncertain footing.

---

 

This is certainly true if you get around on crutches.

 

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http://members.aol.com/geoffr524/myhomepage/howto.html

[Guest laurie]

really like it. So it seems to me that that would be one to investigate as well.

 

Anyway - there you have it.

 

Laurie

 

 

[This message has been edited by laurie (edited 10 November 2001).]