The GPSMAP 76

[Guest Toejam]

I've been researching all of the different units out there and it looks like the GPSMAP 76 is the way to go. Thanks to everyone on this board with the great info. It should meet my hiking, geocaching, four-wheeling and boating needs!

 

The one question I have is - Is 8 megs of memory enough? It doesn't look like the unit can have more memory added. This will be my first GPS unit, so I'm not sure how much space all of the maps, waypoints, etc. will take up.

Thanks

[Guest Khao Mun Gai]

I have the GPSMAP 76 with the 8 meg of RAM. The 8 meg seems tight but adequate. Examples:

 

I can get all of Eastern Massachusetts into 8 meg of RAM with "Roads and Recreation" data.

 

I can get only my county and a single adjacent county (in Eastern Massachusetts) into the 8 meg with MetroGuide data.

 

The MetroGuide data for the city of Paris is appx. 7 meg - incredible detail. Further afield in France, the MetroGuide detail is much more sparse and you can fit a great deal into 8 meg.

 

The key is data density - not area. I have forgotten exactly how much of the state of MAINE I was able to fit into the 8 meg - but it was most if not all, despite Maine being several times bigger area-wise than Masschusetts.

 

Garmin breaks the map data into logical areas quite cleverly. You choose which regions you wish to load out of every region that is available. It is clear that forethought went into how they break things out - the decisions they made about area vs. filesize seem logical and based on a solid understanding of how people are likely to use the data.

 

Don't forget, too, that the data comes on CDs and is easily re-pushed to the unit with a special cable. As long as you have access to a PC with a serial port and a CD drive you can swap map data in and out of the 8 megs in about as much time as it takes to drink a cup of coffee.

[Guest Toejam]

Excellent, I don't mind having to swap out areas as needed.

 

One question I forgot to ask is price. What is a good price not only for the unit, but also the car power adaptor and external antenna?

[Guest faithwalker]

$319 for the unit, $69 for the Mighty Mouse 2 external antenna, I think the power adapter was $29 all from adventure GPS (great people to work with, you get a 30 day return policy, I had a vista but returned it for the map76, no problem)

http://www.gps4fun.com/home.html

Don't know what you can get it for from Amazon but they donate some of the price back to Geocaching.com.

[Guest mcb]

The GPSMAP 76 is an excellent choice. I bought mine from http://www.tvnav.com/ excellent service and very good prices. I paid $310.00 for my GPSMAP 76. I have never heard a bad think about tvnav. I have place a couple of order and alway received good service.

 

mcb