An Observation About The Gps V

[appletree]

I have had my Garmin GPS V for a while now and I have observed something interesting when reading posts about it. Everyone who owns one seems to love it. I know there are features it does not have, like interchangable memory modules and USB interface, voice prompts and color, but in spite of the fact that it is not "perfect" and doesn't have every bell and whistle available on any unit at any price, I have yet to read a post by a GPS V owner that sounds like a complaint, or suggests even the slightest regret about having bought it.

 

I am curious as to whether any GPS V owners do have complaints, or if anyone else has heard any. I also own 2 Vistas, which I really like, but the Vista has some hardware problems and a learning curve that would lead me to be selective as to who I would recommend buy one. In contrast, I can think of few people who could not or would not use a V and find it to be of tremendous value.

 

I would be interested in other peoples opinions on this.

[+jollybgood]

Well I've had mine for almost two years. IT's been dropped on concrete. Dunked in at least two streams I was crossing, left in a vehicle in sub zero weather for four days by accident...

 

No complaints here. I love it. I wouldn't even think of selling it but dadgum if that Garmin 60CS doesn't just make me drool.

 

I should have become a Garmin dealer because I've arranged purchases of at least six GPSV's for family and friends who fell in love with mine.

[+Renegade Knight]

jollybgood hit the nail on the head. I've dropped mine off a truck at 35mph and it still works fine.

 

Here is my one complaint. The antanea swivels a bit easier than it did when new. Oh and Garmin came out with the 60CS and I find it's a real temptation...

[+CacheCreatures]

Ok, keep in mind the following:

 

I'm a software engineer, used to P4 2GHz + speed, having unlimited storage space, large readable screens, essentially no need for paper (except those pesky user manuals...)

 

Remember, keep the above in mind.

 

My wife and I have used a V for 3 months now. Its defiantly one rock solid unit. Just holding it, you get the feeling it could survive a nuclear attack. However, we cant shake the feeling its a bit outdated. Route calculation can take quite some time, we cant fit our normal driving area in the limited memory (about 2/3 of the SF Bay Area fits leaving significant gaps), the screen can be a bit small to try and read while driving, holding signal inside or under serious cover (even with WAAS) is hit or miss... basically, having seen today's computing power and resources has spoiled us to the point where the V feels like a step backward.

 

We recently acquired a PPC'03, a XTrack dual mode CF GPS (this thing holds signal EVERYWHERE, truly the future of consumer grade GPS's), an 8 hour battery, and various caching/GPS apps; all for about the same $$ as the GPS V Deluxe package (eBay is a wonderful thing). One major drawback is the durability; one drop and its all over for this setup. But ziplock bags and a rhino case would go a long way toward evening that playing field.

 

Just one, very spoiled person's take on the V.

[+Capt. Jack & 1st Mate]

jollybgood hit the nail on the head. I've dropped mine off a truck at 35mph and it still works fine.

 

Here is my one complaint. The antanea swivels a bit easier than it did when new. Oh and Garmin came out with the 60CS and I find it's a real temptation...

 

RK, you can remove the antenna and spread the metal blades(?) so as it fits into the housing a little tighter. Mine was somewhat loose out of the box and after doing this it is much better. I may be dreaming, but I think the signal is even stronger.

Edited December 14, 2003 by Capt. Jack & 1st Mate

[kb9nvh]

OK OK....

I hate how slow it recalculates an autoroute

I hate not being able to put in complete maps for 350mile trips and greater.

I hate the inaccuracies in my city select map (st louis is kinda screwed and some of the local roads around my house.

I hate that the points of interest are very incomplete.

 

Other than those gripes...I wouldnt' have any other GPS for the money...cept for now maybe the 60CS

[+wickedsprint]

I wish the basemap was a tad smarter, so we could rely on it more, for example it thinks any place two roads touch is an intersection, whereas sometimes they are an overpass you cannot turn onto. I can live with the memory issue since you only truly need detail for your destination. I wish all the points of interest were scrapped from the mapsource maps, they waste space and I never use them.

[+GOT GPS?]

Both my GPS V units are great, but I do have a problem with the lack of memory also. My older GPS, bought in Oct 2001, has 16875 miles on it's odometer. It is so much better than my Vista, and it has better tracklogging than my Map76S. How come there is not a GPS Vplus yet? Garmin should offer upgrades to a V plus unit.

[+gbraach]

I have only one complaint. I load my V with Topo map detail. With such it is dang near impossible to see the bread crumb trail. The only way to see the bread crumb trail is to turn off the topo detail which kind of defeats the purpose.

[+Capt. Jack & 1st Mate]

I have only one complaint. I load my V with Topo map detail. With such it is dang near impossible to see the bread crumb trail. The only way to see the bread crumb trail is to turn off the topo detail which kind of defeats the purpose.

 

Try setting the detail to less and they should show better.

[+Olar]

I have only one complaint. I load my V with Topo map detail. With such it is dang near impossible to see the bread crumb trail. The only way to see the bread crumb trail is to turn off the topo detail which kind of defeats the purpose.

On those occasions when I needed to overcome that problem like backtracking by visually following the track on my screen is to save the active tracklog and then choosing the "show on map" option for that saved track. It now displays as a darker, wider line.

 

In response to the initial observation all I can say is that you would have to do a really good selling job to convince me to buy something to replace my V.

 

Cheers, Olar

[+ke6n]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I wonder why Garmin isn't manufacturing GPS receivers with upgradable memory like the eMap? Rather than have fixed amounts, it would be nice to just plug in more memory if the current memory isn't enough to cover the area of interest. And rather than make it Garmin specific memory, use something off the shelf like the memory for digital cameras! Yeah, if a GPS company was on the ball, they'd be looking into that. -Ken

[+GeckoGeek]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I wonder why Garmin isn't manufacturing GPS receivers with upgradable memory like the eMap?

To sum it up in a word, I'm sure a big reason is waterproofing. It would be very difficult to protect and waterproof the unit and still allow the end user to add memory - much less memory with standard connectors.

[+Capitalpete]

 

Having been totally spoiled, and having access to use both. I choose both.

 

My GPS76MAPS is wonderful on the water, I love using it on our sailboat and it is even great for handheld use.

 

But, the routable mapping is hard to beat on my GPSV. It fits comfortably in my hand, it is easy to understand and use. I just like it. It seems bulletproof in design and function, nothing fancy but darn tough.

 

But, the flux .The fluxgate compass on the GPS76MAPS is GREAT for geocaching and taking sight bearings. The altimeter is fun and functional and I can hardly wait to use it paragliding.

 

But, the GPSV has such a great long battery life. But the batteries do not fit tight into the case and I can hear them moving about in there when I walk with it. But the GPSV came with all the mounts and software. It is waterproof but does not float.

 

The GPS76MAPS floats in water and has tide stations, it is lightweight, but only has one backlight level. The mounts, software and cables are all extra.

 

I can hardly wait to get my GPS60CS, and see just what this can do.

 

Spoiled or what?

[+ironman114]

My gps map175 has a waterproof to open and and map chips. It wouldn't be that hard to use the same door set up to cover the connection port for downloading.