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Most Popular Gps?


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The family has 3 Yellow Etrex, one GPS III and one GPS V. All have advantages and disadvantages.

 

I have to think from what I have seen that the most poular would be the Garmin Etrex Yellow (Price and size) followed by the GPS III (Moderate price/Uploadable maps).

 

Not to take away from any other brands, it just seems there is more accesability to Garmin products.

 

Face it, a lot of the bells and whitles we have got used to aren't necessary to get the job done. (He says as he fires up the GPS V.)

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I currently have a GPS MAP76S. I am selling it to a friend because I ordered the 60cs. Let me tell you, if you haven't used an electronic compass when geocaching you are missing out. No, an extra compass will not work the way I use my GPS. It will point to the geocache. I dont have to take a step here to there back and forth to get closer to the coord's I look at the arrow and walk right to it. I will not have a GPS without an electronic compass.

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Although I had a little trouble with my unit recently (my fault not the units'). I have to say my Sportrack Map GPS has been a good unit. My friends have a Etrex Legend and a Compaq with the GPS adapter and neither one does the job the Sportrack Map does. As a first timer, I didn't want to get too "over-techy" with my unit but I also didn't want to go cheap either. "Middle of the road for me"! Plus it's waterproof. Good Luck in finding a unit!

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I have an Etrex Legend I got less than a year ago. I haven't used it for caching much yet, between bad weather and weird work schedule and other projects I haven't made enough time for it, but I do use it when travelling to keep track of where I came from (so I can find my way back, I have poor sense of direction :D, but intend to get some software for it eventually.

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I bought my Garmin Geko 201 before I heard of Geocaching; I wanted to mess about with a GPS, and thought the games and PC connectivity would be cool.

 

Now I hardly ever hook up the PC cable, and you look like a weirdo playing the games, but I get a lot of use out of the unit. It's cute and does all I need. And when EGNOS finally comes onstream I'll have some use for the WAAS capability !

Edited by sTeamTraen
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Started with a Magellan GPS 315, quite some time before I even knew about geocaching. Last year, I updated to the Magellan SporTrak Pro...Love it!

 

Also have a Garmin ETrex yellow, for my 11 yr old son, that I got new for $25 through the Marlboro catalog. He loves it, but my fav is my ST Pro!

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Having used Garmin and Magellan products, and havng been a buyer for a Garmin and Magellan dealer. My choice is Magellan. I do not like the small Garmins (E-trek / gekos ) the patch antennas are to small an not as dependable as the antennas in the larger Garmin and Magellan models. As far as software, the magellan topo software includes street names, the Garmin does not. The magellan GPS will give you a trail projection the garmin will not.

 

I use the Meridian Gold in my truck running map send direct route to got the the cache area( I have just about all of Ca. Nv. loaded onto the memory card), then I use a Magellan sport track map or sport track color to find the cache. My first choice of the two is the sport track map, the color screen is not that easy to see with polarized sunglasses. BTW, I tried the garmin 60C with polarized sunglasses also, same problem.

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I have been extremely happy with my Legend. After having it for about a year if and learning how to use everything well I feel now if I were to buy one I would go with the 60c. This is just because I have been bit by the bug to have a more deluxe model with color screen. The first one was to familiarize myself with it and use it the a few times a year for my hunting, boating a snowmobiling activities. I find I use it just as much or more for geocacheing. So knowing I do use the unit quite a bit I would not feel bad spending more next time. But for now the Legend is all I need and I will not replace it anytime soon.

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;) Well for overall use, I like my Garmin iQue. Found my last sixty caches with it. Seems to work...

 

The question was not "which is the best GPS for geocaching?". It was "which GPS do you use?".

 

Something to be said for one unit which can:

1. Route you to the location (with voice direction).

2. Find the cache (like any other GPS).

3. Listen to mp3's while searching (not like other units).

4. Look up "paperless log" for clues or information.

5. Fill out paperless log for entry.

6. Use same device to find refreshments nearby (with same unit).

7. Route to said refreshments (see #1 above).

8. GOTO 1.

 

Works for me. :lol:

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I've been using a Vista for 2 1/2 years and it's been a great unit. I recently bought a Pocket PC which I now use for auto-routing to the trail head using Mapopolis program. It's 240 by 180 pixel color display and full voice prompts are really great.

 

While I still use the Vista on the trail, I take along the PPC with its own GPS receiver that has a high gain patch receiver that picks up satellites under heavy foliage when the Vista won't. The PPC also has NG Topo 24K maps on it. Also, the PPC allows me to go paperless.

 

Alan

Edited by Alan2
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I've been using a Vista for 2 1/2 years and it's been a great unit.  I recently bought a Pocket PC which I now use for auto-routing to the trail head using Mapopolis program.  It's 240 by 180 pixel color display and full voice prompts are really great. 

 

While I still use the Vista on the trail, I take along the PPC with its own GPS receiver that has a high gain patch receiver that picks up satellites under heavy foliage when the Vista won't.  The PPC also has NG Topo 24K maps on it.  Also, the PPC allows me to go paperless.

 

Alan

Check out the PC-Mobile Re-radiating antenna. It will fix all your reception problems with the Vista. I have a Vista as well and it works very well. You can check out this thread where we have been discussing it.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php

Edited by MacBandit
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I have my 4 year old Lowrance gm100 and it works fine for

me.

 

I have an older Eagle expidition 2 and works for my son.

 

I think if you have any 12 channel unit and can go to 3 decimal places then the gps will work for Geocaching.

 

The question was not "which is the best GPS for geocaching?". It was "which GPS do you use?".

 

I think the question should be " Will I use all the features and justify the cost of the unit"

 

:lol:

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So far (in no particular order):

 

11 Garmin eTrex legend

5 Meridian Platinum

9 Garmin 60CS

4 Garmin yellow eTrex

7 Garmin eTrex Vista

3 Magellan SporTrak Pro

6 Garmin 60C

1 foretrex 201

1 fortuna bluetooth clip-on

1 Garmin eMap1

1 MeriColor

3 MeriGold

5 Garmin V

3 Garmin gpsmap 76s

1 Merigreen

2 Garmin Geko 201

1 Garmin gpsmap 76

2 Garmin GPS III

1 Garmin Venture

1 Garmin Rino 120

2 Sportrack Map GPS

1 Garmin iQue

1 Lowrance gm100

1 Eagle expidition 2

 

I had to make judgement calls about what people were ACTIVELY using based on their posts, so this won't necessarily be 'scientific', but it's the best I can do with the time I got at the moment. SO FAR Garmin seems to be in the lead, but they just came out with a couple of new units, and the buzz is still active about them. We shall see...

 

This 'poll' closes june 14th - I'll close the topic then. In the meantime, please feel free to add your current, actively used for caching GPS. I've left out GPS units that have a purpose for the owner outside of directly caching - as in road navigation and then a separate unit for caching. Please just list your CACHING unit...

 

Thank you for your support, as two old men used to *hic* say...

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Owned a Garmin 12 but lost it. Bought a Garmin eTrex basic and started Geocaching with it. Now I use a Fortuna ClipOn Bluetooth linked to my PocketPC phone/camera. This combo gives me voice directions to the cache while driving and then clips to my belt and allows me to navigate with the GPS view for the last 50' or so.

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I didnt see the Garmin Rhino 120 or 110 mentioned...

 

I like them for team caching since the walky is included in the one package.

They certainly have all the features I need. Only drawback is the lack of upgradable memory which I havent used anyway.

 

I use it for driving directions, caching, travelling etc. And since my wife has a 110, she and I can back the boat in that much easier with the walkies.

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Magellan Meridian Color is great and stores up to 512 mbs of data, maps, etc, I have the entire west ern U.S. on the SD disk that is avail for this unit. Wanted a 60cs but storage sucked 56mb what a joke, i didn't want to keep adding and deleting maps. I wanted to cache. Only $399 for color screen. No complaints so far.

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I'm surprised at how few Garmin GPS12's there are. Garmin has claimed that it was the most popular GPS ever made & they still sell it. That's what I'm using. You can't beat it for a no nonsense durable GPS that seems to have great signal lock relative to other GPS's that I've cached along side. It is very big compared to the new models.

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Okay, I admit, I'm using a Garmin GPS12. I found it for $50, thought it'd be great to try out to see if I liked geocaching as much as I thought I would. Now that I know I love it, I'm looking at upgrades - probably a 60cs. I use the GPS a lot more for driving than I thought I would, and I need maps and autorouting.

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I've had a eTrex Legend for about 2 years and I loved it. Works well. I just recently upgraded to a Garmin 60c and can't beleive how great it is! IMHO there is no reason to spend the extra cash on a cs model because all that buys you is a compass and a barometer which don't really help when caching. Actually for the compass to be usable the unit has to be laying flat which is inconvenient. Just buy a $10 compass if you really need one - I never have :blink::lol:

I just got a 60c myself and felt upon reading the differences in the store that they did not justify the $170+ premium either, but I am glad to see someone has articulated the differences. Yes, I just use a $10 cheapy compass and whenever there is a significant barometric change, my knees give out - and that one's a freebie :tongue:

 

(P.S. I am a n00b to this site but not GPS landnavigation - been doing it for years - owned a Magellan 4000 and a Loran Serial Tripmate prior to the Garmin - the accuracy and performance improvements since these earlier systems is remarkable to say the least)

Edited by sgt_scarecrow
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I had a Garmin 12 for a long time... it has always worked great... pretty basic and simple... however I recently bought a 60cs (I didn't need the extra features at the moment, but had the extra cash at the moment).

 

Love the 60cs so far... now I don't know how I got by without the map function... but then again trying to find a cache with out maps and just following a pointer with a distance is pretty entertaining in itself :tongue:

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Just to note the difference in price between the 60c and 60cs at places like www.getfeetwet.com is closer to $40. Also don't you usually have to hold a normal compass flat? The one feature a normal compass will not do is project a way point in a specific direction and distance then let you navigate to it using a built in map.

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I have used a Legend for 2 years and have had great success. ;):lol: The only trouble I've ever had with the Legend is when it is on the handle bar mount of my 660 Raptor quad running down a bumpy road -- it will occasionally vibrate to off. ;)

 

Reading the posts above and seeing all those happy with their 60cs took me here (Garmin 60cs webpage) to check it out. Looks like it may be time for an upgrade.

 

Does anyone use their 60cs on a quad or PWC or similar rough use??

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In regards to the poor battery life in a Garmin Vista, I've found that the Energizer E2 lithium batteries last about 10 times longer than standard batteries. Yea, they're more expensive, but you can get 'em by the multipack at Sam's Club for close to what regular batteries cost. Finding and using the lithium batteries have definately cut down on my stress worrying about when they're going to run out. Give 'em a try ;)

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Just to note the difference in price between the 60c and 60cs at places like www.getfeetwet.com is closer to $40.  Also don't you usually have to hold a normal compass flat?  The one feature a normal compass will not do is project a way point in a specific direction and distance then let you navigate to it using a built in map.

Sorry, my bad, that +$170 Canadian (not US) and I probably overpaid because I bought at LeBarons Outdoor Store. My total was $600 CAD for the unit.

Edited by sgt_scarecrow
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Just to note the difference in price between the 60c and 60cs at places like www.getfeetwet.com is closer to $40.  Also don't you usually have to hold a normal compass flat?  The one feature a normal compass will not do is project a way point in a specific direction and distance then let you navigate to it using a built in map.

Sorry, my bad, that +$170 Canadian (not US) and I probably overpaid because I bought at LeBarons Outdoor Store. My total was $600 CAD for the unit.

If you got the 60c that's probably bout $60 higher then you can get it online otherwise you aren't too far off the mark for a 60cs. In either case if you got it from a store front then you got an excellent price and I would be willing to pay for the difference to get it from a store front as well as it makes it easier to return.

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Just to note the difference in price between the 60c and 60cs at places like www.getfeetwet.com is closer to $40.  Also don't you usually have to hold a normal compass flat?  The one feature a normal compass will not do is project a way point in a specific direction and distance then let you navigate to it using a built in map.

Sorry, my bad, that +$170 Canadian (not US) and I probably overpaid because I bought at LeBarons Outdoor Store. My total was $600 CAD for the unit.

If you got the 60c that's probably bout $60 higher then you can get it online otherwise you aren't too far off the mark for a 60cs. In either case if you got it from a store front then you got an excellent price and I would be willing to pay for the difference to get it from a store front as well as it makes it easier to return.

 

Yes, I don't begrudge them a slightly higher profit considering I put the sales guy through the wringer. He spent about 45 minutes with me helping me decide going through all the different brands and units, letting me turn them on, play with the interfaces, go through the manuals. For that kind of service, I couldn't walk out of there and order it online without feeling like a total heel. Fortunately he was an avid geocacher and he could put the options on the various units in terms of geocaching functionality and I ultimately ended up buying the 60c when I originally meant to go in and get the $160 eTrex... hehehhehe... boy am I ever an impulse buyer. But I figured what the hell, its not everyday you make a purchase like this.

 

(Editted for spelling)

Edited by sgt_scarecrow
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Magellan SporTrak Pro.

 

Used a Vista for my first month of caching, but didn't like the physical unit - seemed made for holding in your left hand - when holding it righthanded, reaching for the toggle obstructed the screen. Also didn't like the user interface as much as the Magellan. The SporTrak was also slightly larger - a minus when tucking it into a pocket, but a plus when using it since the screen is also a bit larger (and easier for me to read).

 

Have cached with a friend with a 60cs; it did seem to converge on coords much faster than my SporTrak.

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I originally bought a Garmin III+ probably in 1997 just because it was a neat toy. This was before I had ever heard of Geocaching. Started Geocaching with it in the fall of 2002 and liked it even more. Unfortunately, lost it overboard in April 2003. I've just replaced it with a Garmin 60C and I am amazed and astonished how much move advanced the features are on this GPS.

 

A new job requires me to travel by car so I've used it on road with its turn-by-turn features and I'll never be lost again. The bright color screen is visible during the day in the brightest sun (I live in SoCal and drive a convertible) and at night with no problem. I've used it off road for geocaching and am amazed at it's accuracy and ease of navigation in finding caches. I've also used it on the water both day and night and it's a breeze to use.

 

I've also used the POI database to find gas stations, restaurants, stores, etc. Truly an amazing travel companion, regardless of how you're traveling.

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