Which Gps To Buy???

[KineticO]

Hey all, I am getting ready to buy a GPS and have narrowed it down to 3, based on my wants and needs. Mostly, I am going to be doing a lot of backcountry stuff, hunting and start geo caching. Here are the three units I have selected:

 

Vista

Rino 130

GPS MAP76S

 

I have made up I my mind that for hunting, the 130 radio feature is nice as well as the antenna.

 

The price is right for the Vista

 

And....well...I dont really know why I like the GPSMAP76s

 

I am open to your opinions and suggestions about where to purchase as well,

so far, the price is right at gpsonsale.com, howver, I have done no research about their customer service.

 

Thanks in advance!!

[+Nyteyes]

Well i haev a 76S and i still go back to my legend. 76S is good for maps in my opinion tho... and it floats... and thats always cool

[KineticO]

I went with the vista, I think it will accommodate every purpose I may have for it. Thanks for the advice everybody...NOT!!! I also bought locally to support local economy instead of dealing with the notorious online headache.

[+briansnat]

Good choice. Vista is a good unit. The Rino is nice, but only if someone else with one.

Mao76 is a great unit too, but a bit on the large size. The Vista is nice and compact.

[+I4anI]

i bought a vista and returned it only due to the fact that it has a patch antenna and kept losing reception. i had a magellan which very rarely lost reception with a quadfoil antenna. i bought a map76s for the same cost of the legend and am very happy with it. yeah a little on the large side but it's a lot easier to read, it floats and has the quadfoil antenna.

[+briansnat]

i bought a vista and returned it only due to the fact that it has a patch antenna and kept losing reception. i had a magellan which very rarely lost reception with a quadfoil antenna.

 

The Magellans lose reception too. However they continue to try to project the course, making it appear that they have reception. In other words, they don't tell you they don't have receptio, while the eTrex tells you immediately.

[+I4anI]

The Magellans lose reception too. However they continue to try to project the course, making it appear that they have reception. In other words, they don't tell you they don't have receptio, while the eTrex tells you immediately.

 

my magellan always told me when it lost reception, but anyway i don't lose reception nearly half as much as i did with the vista with my map76s. it's more a matter of preference anyway as to what you want. i prefer the larger screen and the quadfoil antenna over a patch antenna. i get better reception than my brother in law when we're in the same area and he has the legend which isn't really much more different than the vista.

another thing i liked about the map76s is that it has an electronic compass--meaning that you don't have to be moving for it to work

[+Nurse Dave]

i bought a vista and returned it only due to the fact that it has a patch antenna and kept losing reception. i had a magellan which very rarely lost reception with a quadfoil antenna.

 

The Magellans lose reception too. However they continue to try to project the course, making it appear that they have reception. In other words, they don't tell you they don't have receptio, while the eTrex tells you immediately.

Dang it boy!!! Every time you post this I have to post the fact that my fiancee has a garmin and my Magellan still leads us to the cache despite turns and stops and starts, after hers has lost lock. You can look at the sat, screen and see how many it has locked on. I can turn around three times, head the wrong direction then the right way and the arrow keeps pointing me to the cache. Yes, it will lose lock when stuff gets thick, but not as soon as the Garmin. I finally figured out that maybe people that say there is no difference don't have as much tree cover as others do or something. But when we're caching in the trees, I see this proven almost every time.

[+briansnat]

my magellan always told me when it lost reception

 

They eventually do tell you, but they will not let you know right away. The Garmins do. The only way to really tell is to switch from your navigation screen to your sat screen, but you probably never had a reason to do so, hence you didn't realize you didn't have a lock.

 

 

I can turn around three times, head the wrong direction then the right way and the arrow keeps pointing me to the cache.

 

EXACTY! The Magellan is still computing your orignal course and doesn't realize that you made the change. It's part of the averaging feature. It also causes what many call the Magellan "slingshot effect" where the Magellan will send you past the cache, while their Garmin using companion will go straight to it.

Edited May 15, 2004 by briansnat

[+Nurse Dave]

EXACTY! The Magellan is still computing your orignal course and doesn't realize that you made the change. It's part of the averaging feature. It also causes what many call the Magellan "slingshot effect" where the Magellan will send you past the cache, while their Garmin using companion will go straight to it.

NO, No, no! I can make a turn and keep walking and it turns the arrow i.e. knowing I made the turn and pointing the new bearing to the cache. And when I stop it stops counting down until I move again.

 

Okay, you just need to come out here and see it first hand I guess.

[+briansnat]

Okay, you just need to come out here and see it first hand I guess

 

I've seen it first hand. On a recent hunt a Magellan user was so frustrated that the Garmin users were going right to the cache while kept blowing right past it that he said he felt like throwing his unit (a Sportrak Pro) in the garbage and getting a Garmin.

 

I'm not saying a Garmin is better. They are different. And regarding the patch vs. quad helix antenna, this comes from the GPSINFO webiste:

 

2)  Antenna  patterns  are another cause  of  wrong  conclusions

about  "which  GPS  has  a more  sensitive  receiver.  Many  GPS

receivers  use the patch antenna which has the antenna gain  fall

off as you near the horizon.  (Examples:  G-12XL,  EE,  M-4000). 

Others  use  the  wrapped "helix" style antenna  which  has  good

coverage almost all the way to the horizon.  Outside in the  open

spaces,  both perform very well.  The patch antenna is  conceiv-

ably  superior since it tends to reject signals very low  on  the

horizon and thus is somewhat less sensitive to multipath  errors. 

On the other hand,  if you are indoors (or in a car),  the  lower

pattern  coverage angles of the helix style antenna may  pick  up

SVs  lower  on the horizon (or multipath  signals)  through  side

windows  and  stay locked where you might not with the  patch. If 

multipath  signals are received and processed,  you  may  see your

GPS position move hundreds and even thousands of meters away from

your actual position. 

 

    In actual practice,  I find little difference in "real world"

performance between the two antenna types under normal clear view

of the sky situations.

 

The  questionable results come when someone takes his  GPS  units

INDOORS and does a comparison test for receiver sensitivity.  In

such  cases,  almost all of the direct signals from overhead  SVs

are  blocked  and signals from off to the side  through  windows

and/or walls may be stronger than any of the overhead SV signals. 

In such cases,  the helix type antennas will almost always  prove

'better'  due  to  the fact that they have  the  ability  to  see

signals  LOW  ON THE HORIZON and so can look out  windows  better

than  the patch antenna equipped units.  However!  The fact  that

the helix style antennas can look off to the side better does not

indicate  that  the GPS they are attached to will (or  will  not)

perform  better  in  a normal environment  with  an  unobstructed

overhead view.

 

The above refers to unobstructed views. I can only go by what I've experienced while geocaching with Magellan users under a heavy leaf canopy. I noticed that at

times they would have a better lock and sometimes I would. Yes, they would "loose their lock" less frequently thanks to the averaging feature, but if we looked at our sat screens, we'd find out that they often didn't have a lock when they thought they did. And oddly enough, I had a similar experience while geocaching with my wife yesterday. I have an eTrex Vista and she has a Gecko. There were times I lost my lock and she had a stong signal and vice-versa. The odd thing was that we were usually no more than 10 feet apart.

Edited May 15, 2004 by briansnat

[+Nurse Dave]

Oh well if it's on the web I won't believe what I see then.

[KineticO]

HMM...Im still trying to figure out how the last couple of posts helps with the original topic! Its nice that you guys and your tech arguments found a great place to be posted . Thanks to those who did answer my questions!

[+I4anI]

OOPS!! didn't mean to start a war in here. But i'm appreciate all the techie info you guys are posting. I still find my brother-in-law with a Garmin patch antenna unit losing sat view more than me with my Garmin quad antenna unit. I've experienced the sling shot effect many a time with a Magellan. Does get annoying when you're guiding and the ol' lady is driving and she starts yelling at you when you tell her we need to turn around. Anyway I'm going to do more caching---have fun guys (and gals ).