What Kind Of Gps Do You Use And Why.?

[+Quoddy]

Until the Garmin 60CSx comes out (soon), I'll continue to use my 60CS. Right now, I consider it the best overall unit for caching. Once the "x" model comes out, that will have it all.

[+laohu1]

Well, I just bought my first GPSr before Labor Day - a Garmin Quest, and I'm still figuring out what all it can do. I bought it first and foremost because I am completely navigationally challenged when I drive, and wanted something that was a little more geared for that. It has 112MB of memory and I've been able to upload tons of maps when I've travelled out of state. So now I have a cute little GPS that I can tuck in my pocket or my purse, and I don't get lost <as much> anymore. However, the other day, I was caching near a stream and realized my GPSr is not waterproof. I would have wept uncontrollably if I dropped the thing in the water, and I wouldn't have managed to find my way home without it. So for Christmas, I'm probably going to get something I little more durable. Dunno what it will be yet, but I'm taking these comments into consideration.

[+ATMA]

We use the Garmin eTrex Legend. Own 2 of them because they were free.

Santa may be bringing me a color one though. Not sure if this is the best thing to do though. The blue Legend works great.

Edited December 10, 2005 by ATMA

[+ATMA]

Made a couple of car power supplies out of old cellphone supplies, easy enough and like the way they operate.

What power supply works with the legend? Did you have to modify the phone power supplies for this or are the ready to go off the shelf? Any more info on this would be greatly appreciated.

Come to find out, most cellphone chargers for auto use have a chip in them that can be programmed to any output voltage up to input supply! This was a nice surprise too since I picked them up at Wally World for 50 cents each. Once reprogrammed to the PROPER GARMIN REQUIRED VOLTAGE, it worked just great.

Changed out the coiled output wire with a very small diameter wire from an old mouse and presto, no internal battery drain when connected to the external power supply.

[+sbell111]

... out of my curiosity what kind of GSP do you use and why what does it do thats you Like whats does it not do thats you need or want..?

Well, I used to use a Garmin GPS 3+. It was a great unit. My favorite thing about it was it's ability to be used in profile or landscape mode. Profile was convenient on trail, while landscape allowed it to be used easily in the Jeep. The problem with it is that, while it did have good mapping, it did not give turn-by-turn directions.

 

Therefore, I sold it and bought its big brother, the GPS V. It gave great service and I absolutely loved it. It only had three problems. First, it had a monocolor screen. Everything else has fancy color screens. Second, it computed directions fairly slowly. It would just take a few seconds, but you realized that you were waiting. It was sort of like the lag time you used to experience with windows 98. It wasn't a huge thing, but it was there. Third, some horrible person stole it out of my Jeep.

 

So now I only have my backup GPSr, a geko 301. I do like this little unit, it just has no mapping. It is a terrific unit to use once you arrive at the parking lot, but its all but useless on the road.

 

I will replace the V. In fact, I'll probably get another one just like it, unless they come out with an improved model with the same form factor. (In my dreams, I use the Garmin GPS VI).

[+Team Cotati]

I use a Magellan Meridian Gold because it provides every geocaching feature that I need, it is 'bulky' like me and I don't really care what people think.

Edited December 11, 2005 by Team Cotati

[+Ed & Julie]

I have a used Garmin Legend...because I'm broke as a joke and it does eveything I need.

 

Ed

[+Anonymous']

I used to use a Garmin eTrex because I had little money, that was for about 4 years. This year in April I bought a 60cs and I Love it. The autorouting makes finding where to park and stuff a heck of a lot easier. And the quadhelix antenna gives me pretty good reception in the woods.

[+RedhedMary]

I haven't seen anybody mention using a Cobra! I've been using mine for about six months now and it works pretty well for me (the 1000) It has a SD card so I can load maps into it. Bought it on clearance for a decent price. May get something better someday but for now I'm happy.

[+Miragee]

Well, I just bought my first GPSr before Labor Day - a Garmin Quest, and I'm still figuring out what all it can do.  I bought it first and foremost because I am completely navigationally challenged when I drive, and wanted something that was a little more geared for that.  It has 112MB of memory and I've been able to upload tons of maps when I've travelled out of state.  So now I have a cute little GPS that I can tuck in my pocket or my purse, and I don't get lost <as much> anymore.  However, the other day, I was caching near a stream and realized my GPSr is not waterproof.  I would have wept uncontrollably if I dropped the thing in the water, and I wouldn't have managed to find my way home without it.  So for Christmas, I'm probably going to get something I little more durable.  Dunno what it will be yet, but I'm taking these comments into consideration.

If you want something durable, I recommend the Garmin Vista C.

 

Last week we climbed "Lawson 4." My Vista C fell out of my fanny pack when I got my camera out to take a picture. From the position at the top of the red line, it bounced once near my feet, and then again before going over the edge. The fall was approximately 200 feet. When we found it, the neoprene case was off of it, but the Vista C was still on . . .

 

[Panama/Jack]

My dad gave me his Magellan 315.

[+Zzyzx Road]

While we have not used ours yet, it is still in transit, I chose a

Magellan eXplorist 600 because:

Hubby wanted the altimeter, barometer feature for hunting.

I wanted the compass and expandable memory for Geocaching.

It came with both of the above, in a color screen, with rechargable batteries.

 

And the fellow from eBay from whom we purchased it also had it for cheaper than Cabela's, with the TOPO cd and an SD card. Was a nice neat package. We'll see what I can do with it. A friend, (the one who introduced me to Geocaching) saw what I got and said something to the effect of "Holy CR*P!" I want a new one too!"

Of course I would like to have an iPod, and a PDA and all of the other new and fun toys, but I was price-conscious. I wanted a Lowrance iFinder Explorer (From a web-site description) but couldn't find one on eBay. Since I was to get my own "Christmas Present", that is what I chose.

 

I do enjoy reading all the opinions!

[+Skyfire & RandomConfusion]

I use a Mobile Crossing Waypoint 200 because I like having a PDA too! It's nice to always have my GPS tucked into my purse

 

 

We use one as well as our Garmin Etrex and our two Etrex Legends (etrex was a birday/christmas gift from my father that I looked at as if he had handed me a lone sock. Skyfire saw it and lit up saying "We can go geocaching!" Now we've upgraded to two more and going strong.)

 

Now if I can figure out how to mas-dump waypoints into the Waypoint 200 w/o manually entering them in.....

 

Random Confusion

[+Thrak]

Wow, this is an old thread. I originally posted that I had a GPSMAP 76CS and loved it. Since then I've sold that unit and upgraded to a GPSMAP 76CSx. It's even better than the old unit. This thing gets excellent signal in my house. I never lose signal lock when caching and I love the unit. I use it not only for caching but for routing me around strange towns and on trips. The autorouting has saved my butt many times. I love this unit for geocaching and autorouting both.

Edited March 28, 2007 by Thrak

[+jasond]

Yep, old thread indeed.

 

I can't believe only 2 others posted they're using a Garmin Legend C. I know it's discontinued, but still...

 

I like it because it's small, has a user-friendly interface, there a lot of chargers and mounts available (although I just have a car charger and vent mount), the color screen is easy to read, and the auto-routing maps save me time driving down roads I don't know which enables me to spend more time looking for the cache itself.

 

I think the biggest con is the memory. I haven't been choked by it yet, but I've come close.

[+Jollylolly]

I use a Garmin eTrex Legend.

Why? you ask... got it as a gift.

What does it do for me that I like? ... Gets me Geocaching. What more could I ask ???

EasyGPS and Mapsource Metro Canada (Bargain on eBay - Still figuring out how to use it!)

Edited March 28, 2007 by Jollylolly

[+PlantAKiss]

Ok...I'll dare to be different!

 

I use a Garmin Quest. I use this because...I wanted both a voice-guided car navigation GPSr AND a hand-held unit for caching. And, thanks to some generous help from Appletree, I LOVE it. So far, its done everything I need it to do. I use it in the car to effortlessly guide me to the cache area and then take in hand to get to ground zero. Still being newbish, I haven't done any of the fancy stuff yet (pocket queries and all the other stuff I see people talk about). But once I get some time to fiddle with it more, I'm sure it will be even better. I'm sure I'm not using half its capabilities. However, it leading me to caches so...I'm happy.

[+sbell111]

... out of my curiosity what kind of GSP do you use and why what does it do thats you Like whats does it not do thats you need or want..?

Well, I used to use a Garmin GPS 3+. It was a great unit. My favorite thing about it was it's ability to be used in profile or landscape mode. Profile was convenient on trail, while landscape allowed it to be used easily in the Jeep. The problem with it is that, while it did have good mapping, it did not give turn-by-turn directions.

 

Therefore, I sold it and bought its big brother, the GPS V. It gave great service and I absolutely loved it. It only had three problems. First, it had a monocolor screen. Everything else has fancy color screens. Second, it computed directions fairly slowly. It would just take a few seconds, but you realized that you were waiting. It was sort of like the lag time you used to experience with windows 98. It wasn't a huge thing, but it was there. Third, some horrible person stole it out of my Jeep.

 

So now I only have my backup GPSr, a geko 301. I do like this little unit, it just has no mapping. It is a terrific unit to use once you arrive at the parking lot, but its all but useless on the road.

 

I will replace the V. In fact, I'll probably get another one just like it, unless they come out with an improved model with the same form factor. (In my dreams, I use the Garmin GPS VI).

I replaced my V with a Quest. The 301 has been replaced with a Venture CX. I love the Quest during the drive from cache-to-cache because of the voice guidance, but if I had to settle on just one GPSr, it would be the Venture CX.

 

(BTW, I also have owned yellow etrexes and a stray Legend C.)

[+Calley's Family]

We just purchased the Garmin GPSMap 60csx tonight. We will let you know how we like it after we get it and use it to find our first cache! We are very excited to be a part of the geocaching community!

[+Night Stalker]

Back a few pages and a couple of years ago I used a 60CS. Over time I got a little irritated when caching under heavy cover. I kept losing the signal and spent to much time wandering. Then I heard about the Sirf III chip and had to have it. I now use the 60CX. Added a 1GIG card. I now have all of the western US installed with City Select and Topo maps of all the areas I normally cache in. This will hopefully be my last GPS for a while.

[+sandia_doug]

Magellan eXplorist 500LE /w 512 sd & Li-on Rechargable Battery

I love this Gps for several reasons:

• Waterproof
  
• Rugged
  
• Accurate
  
• Good Battery Life
  
• Found Cache Feature
  
• Small/Compact design
  
• Easy Operation
  

I've also used the Magellan eXplorist 400. It works fine, but the 500 is a step up. The Garmin Vista is nice also, but I'll stick to Magellan !

[paulney]

I just bought a GPSMAP 60. I was thinking about a 60Csx, but...

 

- I don't really need color. Grayscale works fine for me

- Batteries last longer

- I load only the maps I need, and 24 Mb of internal memory is enough

- costs a whole lot less

 

My only concern so far is reception - seems to be pretty weak under the trees, despite the helix antenna. If 60Csx is actually a lot better in this, I may bite the bullet, return the 60, and get the 60Csx.

 

Could anyone point out any other major differences between the two (aside from color) that are really worth the money? I'll be very thankful.

 

Thank you.

[+SUV2003]

My wife also got me a Meridian Color Unit, I have no ideah how to use it. Would love to pick your brain if you have time to walk me through.

SUV2003

[physics_boy]

I've only been geocaching for a few months and bought a used Magellan 315 to see if I'd like geocaching or not. I keep saying I'm going to upgrade to something newer, but I'm still doing OK with the old Magellan. Certainly, something with WAAS would be nice, but every time I look for a newer, more advanced GPSr, I keep thinking that the old Magellan is working just fine, and I'm not convinced that something newer would be better. The one thing that makes it nice is the Quad-helix antenna. I noticed those tend to make the price go up, but the reception is awesome. I've gone geocaching with friends who have the newer Garmins with the patch antennea, and I get better reception with my older Magellan, and accuracy that is at least as good. I have no experience with WAAS, however, so maybe that would convince me to buy a new one. The only real issue I've had with the old Magellan is the update rate. If I'm walking to a cache, I tend to overshoot often because the GPSr doesn't tell me I've passed it until after it updates. This, however, is a very MINOR problem, and I just need to correct my caching habits - quit staring at the GPS screen and use some more basic orienteering skills.

 

If anyone thinks I'm full of lunchmeat, let me know. I'd love for someone to convince me to go out and buy another hi-tech gadget!

[+ImperfectSense]

My first GPSr (other than the one Dad bought for his airplane back in 1998), I just purchased a Magellan eXplorist 400 for $150. I would prefer to have the 600, but that woulda have been twice the cost, and since it is my first....

 

The black and white I don't mind at all, since the maps on any GPS unit are pretty simplistic. In the future, I will probably get a GPS or Bluetooth capable Windows Mobile device, but for now this thing is great

 

The only thing I'm having trouble with is being unable to find a free download of the DirectRoute v3 software........

[IMcachingHomer]

I just happened to be scanning through this thread and noticed that hardly anyone mentioned Explorist. I have an Explorist 100 and love it. When I upgrade I guess I'm gonna have to look at Garmin. but until then this works great.

[AVATR]

I haven't seen anybody mention using a Cobra! I've been using mine for about six months now and it works pretty well for me (the 1000) It has a SD card so I can load maps into it. Bought it on clearance for a decent price. May get something better someday but for now I'm happy.

 

I use the cobra 500. I'm looking for something better now. It was the first GPS I bought. IT was cheap and I got what I paid for. When it works, it performs well. It is just getting it to work that is the trick. I should have done more research before I made my purchase. Now I know.

[pokeylicious]

To add my $0.02 worth I use...

 

Garmin GPSmap 60CSx

2GB Sandisk microSD card

City Navigator North America NT v8

 

I've only been geocaching for about a week, and although some people may think it's overkill to have a unit specced out like this, my belief is that if you're going get a tool that's as essential to geocaching as a GPS unit, you might as well go for the gusto and get a great one, since you're going to be using it all the time.

 

That and the fact I can use the autorouting feature here in Vancouver REALLY made it appeal to me.

 

All in all, a great little unit, now if only my screen protector would arrive...

[liv2fly88]

I'm VERY new to geocaching (my fiancee and I had a DNF for our first attempt last night), so I went with a Garmin GPS12 primarily because it was marked down to $30 at the pawn shop.

 

I'm planning to get the interface cable to hook it up to my Palm Tungsten so I can use the streetmap & directions programs that are available.

[lrobin5000]

I have the old yellow Garmin eTrex. My dad bought it with the intent to mark "good fishin' spots". After someone introduced me to geocaching, I told dad that I should take the GPSr and figure out how it works so I could teach him...just never gave it back! haha. Turns out, I took dad on a recent caching run and he loved it. Looks like I have to buy my own GPSr now.

[+Easy Xjer]

I started with a Garmin E-Map for portability in my kayak, then moved up to the Garmin 276C for route directions in my Big Truck.

[+Psena72b]

Old b/w Garmin eTrex Vista.

Why? good price and permformace. for GeoCache-ideal.

[+Colin and Nelson]

I use a Garmin Legend Cx

I bought it because it was the smallest least expensive colour Garmin I could get with expandable memory.

I currently have a 512mb MicroSD card, but will be upgrading to a 1Gb soon.

 

I liked the Garmin layout better than the Magellin, just personal preference. And frankly there are maps available on Bit-Torrent, so I could try before I buy.

Glad i did that with the US TOPO24 that said it had Canadian coverage and really didn't.

Currently using Garmin Mapsource Metroguide 7 with Metrowizzz to load the routing into the GPSr,

and Canadian Topo

Edited May 7, 2007 by Colin and Nelson

[+SeventhSon]

My Legend started acting up, so I ordered a VistaCx, but they sent me a 76CSx instead. Talk about trading even or up!

[+simpjkee]

I got a Magellan Explorist 100. I got it cuz it was on sale at The Sports Authority for $79.99. It works fantastically

[+sargenv]

Um.. Garmin 12XL..... because it was $50...

 

After using it for 4 months in this hobby, I definitely need an upgrade... Probably to a Garmin 60CSx.

 

Vince

[+monahmat]

I use a Magellan Explorist 500 that I got refurbished off ebay. It provided the best deal on a color unit with sd card expandability.

[+cbearw]

Lowrance I Finder HuntC : Had it for about 4 months. Very good reviews and endorsements from other owners. Built in compass and barometer. Good bright large screen. Lots of memory and takes the Map Create Topo series of mapping programs. Projects and averages waypoints. New to geocaching but have 10 finds with it so far. Usually within 10 to 40 feet of cache location. Excellent fix on satallites in heavy cover. Waterproof. Less money than a Garmin but with all the features. Good customer service. Would and have recommeneded it in a heartbeat.

[+p-luv]

I use the magellin explorist 100. I have had mine for a while and there have been many updates to the gpsr since. My main reasons for using it is that it has a built in digital compass that does not freez when you stand still, You can enter the caches by waypoint or name them yourself. Others only let you go by the waypoint. It has a huge internal memory so no memory cards are required. The only downside to it is that you cannot download the caches to it directly. You have to enter them manually. But that goes to the being able to name them section so I do not mind.

[MelN2LilMen]

I have a Magellen(an?) Explorist 210 - and I love it because I got it as a present and didn't have to pay for it.

 

As I only have 3 finds, I have no expertise. The GPS didn't really help much either... but maybe that's just user error.