Looking for a GPS. Requirements: handheld, good battery life, Garmin preferred, waterproof, adaptable to both paddle sports and hiking. Price is not that important. I was just wondering if anyone can tell me which model they use. I prefer Garmin because I have found that their aviation models are easy to use and reliable, but will consider all. As always thanks for your time.
Ed
Garmin Vs Magellan
Chevy vs Ford, VHS vs Beta. You’re going to get a lot of differing opinions. Me, I like Magellan because that’s what I started with and have been very pleased with the quality and service that I’ve experienced. At the moment I have the Explorist 210 with Marine and Land capabilties. Light-weight, easily operated with one hand, can use with my laptop for large screen road navigation, fast upload/download of data.
Whatever you decide on I highly recommend using a GPS Dry Pouch regardless of what the manufacturer claims as to water resistance. (AquaPac makes a good one you can strap to your thigh or arm.)
Good luck on your search and remember -
Any day on the water is a great day.
Cal
Discussion a few weeks ago
– Last Updated: Dec-29-06 11:08 PM EST –
Based on that I put in a request for a GPSmap76Cx for xmas. It's a pretty classy-looking unit, I think a good compromise for both boat and car use. A significant functional upgrade to the Magellan SporTrak I've been using for the past few years.
However, it is sort of bulky, wouldn't be my first choice if hiking was a consideration and car use was not. I'd be leaning towards an eTrex or GPSmap60 in that case I think.
Mike
I own 2 Magellans one is their marine
model. The marine model can be changed over to a land use one and back to marine. They both work well, easy to use, batteries last about 12 hours. As some one else pointed out what ever you buy what ever the manual calims put it in a dry bag.
If Price Isn’t That Important…
– Last Updated: Dec-30-06 6:17 AM EST –
two units would be the way to go. Get a MAP76 for the water and something more compact for hiking.
I've never used a dry bag for my MAP76 and have never had any problems. I just hold it under a faucet or spray it off with a garden hose to get the salt off of it.
Garmin Map-76
good big clear readout.
cheers, and Happy New Year,
JackL
E TREX
I use a E TREX, not sure who really makes this, not important to me. I like it because it doesn’t have alot of bells and whistles, I don’t really need a road map on a lake. I can get bread crum trail, way points, miles traveled, speed etc… Its water proof and it fits my deck bag. Regardless of what model, it nice to pull any information out of it and use it in a log book. And its fun.
my vote is Garmin 60 series
I have the 60C (older version than what’s out now). I’ve never had problem w/size/wgt while hiking in the rockies or kayakin. I hear the new garmins have a different chipset that works even better than mine. This is my 3rd garmin in 15 yrs and I wont hesistate to replace it w/a garmin unit.
good luck
Garmin Legend CX
I have the Legend C which I use with a Marine Mount on my yak and also use if for hiking. This model is no longer in production. That’s the only problem I have with Garmin they have too many models .Figure on whatever you get to last about three years before they come out with a newer model. I like the Ledgend because of it is not that big and fits in a shirt pocket .
FishHawk
Agree x4years, and just got cx for Xmas
Mine’s
the Magellan marine and it works fine.If you’re a member of Costco or were planning to join they have the eXplorist 500 on sale with MS Topo 3D for 179 which is a great deal.Membership I think is 50 bucks.
Good luck!
JMHO
Just bought a Garmin 60CX to replace my old Magellan 320. I can sit in my living room and the Magellan will not pick up a single satellite while the Garmin will pick up 6. I haven’t had much time to use the Gramin in the field yet, but I really like the ease of use so far. I passed on the 60CSX on the advice of a friend who bought one. He said that the Barometric pressure sensor was more trouble than it was worth and the electronic compass used up too much battery. I bought a 512 MB microSD card to replace the 64 MB card that comes standard with the unit and will be testing to see how much topo I can pack into it tomorrow evening.
Etrex for Hiking and kayaking
It’s small waterproof and easy to take in your pocket. Works fine. I taken it hiking and peak bagging all over the US, in Mexico and UK.
I’m no…
authority. But I like my Magellan 210, but my father in law uses Garmin. He is very familiar with GPS’s as he helps lay out hiking trails and greenways for the FTA.
But this I may help with. When you decide, try shopping here.
http://www.nextag.com/GPS-Systems–zz500181zB4z5—html
Happy New Year,
T
Thanks for the input everybody.
I am just slightly overwhelmed with the choices. Kind of like trying to pick a boat. Lots of good ones, but any one isn’t good for everything.
Ed