Amen!

Although this one time at winter scout-camp-day-thing I had to do the navigation course with this stupid kid, he wouldn't let me use the compass, and he held it by his slighly magnetic belt buckle the whole time, and we got completely lost and walked several miles in the snow to some state game lands and almost got lost, but we just followed our trail back.

 

I have both the Garmin E-Trex Vista and 12 Map (I didn't realize until now that it is discontinued). I use the 12 Map in the 4Runner because it has an external antenna I can plug in the back of the GPS and stick to the windshield above the dash. I use the Vista when I am on foot since it is smaller and easier to use with one hand.

I have also used the GPS V. It wasn't mine but it worked extremely well.

I guess the bottom line is you can't go wrong with a Garmin.

I do say that without ever having used a Magellan.

 

For those of us that don't yet have one, its possible that we could get a GPS group buy from ExtremeOff-Road. Although I'm not sure if anything will beat that Staples deal!

 

I am going to be buying one soon. Alot of the K-Marts in my area are going out of business and liquidating their inventory. The have a few models and quite a few of each. Right now they are 20% off. The discount will become greater as they get closer to the end of the liquidation sale. I am also going to buy a new set of personal 2-way radios from them. They have a great set of Motorolas that I want. I am going to wait until they go to at least 40% off. Then I will buy them both. I am not worried about them selling out before they take the deep discount. They have lots of both things and they are not very popular items at this store. They will have them in stock for some time to come.

 

hey fella's right now I am really leaning towards the Rino 110 or 120. I just like the idea of having an extra FRS/GMRS radio. However the 110 only has 1mb of memory. I know with more memory you can download more maps and such, but do you really need 7 more megs? Anyone with just 1meg wish they had more? I know Robinhood said he did. But anyone else?

 

I have the eTrex Legend, although now i'm wishing that I had waited 4 months and gotten the Vista from Staples But on the other hand I've been extremely happy with it, and don't regret it.

It has 8MB of ram comapared to the Vista which has 24MB (Not entirely sure if I'm right on that, but I think that's right) I haven't gotten any of the Mapsource CDs yet (Hopefully soon though ) but I have a bunch (atleast 100 waypoints, and close to 20 trails) of waypoints and trails stored on it and I'm not even close to filling up the memory on it. But I'm not quite sure how much room the maps take up on it, so maybe once I get the Mapsource maps loaded onto it I'll change my mind, but so far I'm really happy with it, and don't really need 24MB of memory.

-Braden

 

I really did with the orientering comp in BSA! And I really have a hard time getting lost when it counts.

About 3 weeks ago I took a trip to Phonix and was abble to use a Garmin GPSMAP 295 and boy was I impressed. It took all of the guess work out of the trip! And it was in 1 3/4 by 3 3/8 color! SWEEET I would have one but they just cost way to much! Oh and the other day at SAMS I saw a GPS for sale though I dont rember what it was... Sorry.

_travis

 

Most of the mapsource maps are slightly less than 8megs so you can only load one at a time. This is not the same memory used for the breadcrumbs and waypoints though (I don't think) so you can have waypoints and a loaded map. I just got the topo maps so I'll have to see how they work.

Steve

 

Hey Steve, Let me know what you think about the Topos, I've been debating whether or not to get them. I'm curious as to how well the Topo maps show up on the GPS Unit, and how much detail there is on them. I bought the National Geographic Topo! CDs for California and I'm really impressed by them, you just can't upload the actual basemap to the GPS but you can import and export waypoints, paths, etc... to and from the map.

-Braden

 

I'm pretty much a GPS newbie myself - this is my first one. But I've been doing a helluva lotta research, so...

It's kinda hard to get something for the best of both worlds - roads (road trips) and hiking/backpacking. About the closest thing is the Garmin V because it does auto-routing for street driving, yet is small enough to be a hand-held. But, because it is trying to do both at once, it has some disdvantages in each arena as compared to models designed specifically for one or the other.

So, in a nutshell, you kind of have to decide which is most important to you (roads or hiking) and choose one - or get the Garmin V. Don't get me wrong, hand-helds are awesome for road navigating too, but they just don't have as large of a screen or do auto-routing (give you turn-by-turn directions) unless you hook them up to a laptop and use 3rd party software.

Also, something you need to understand is that the map software that is stored on a hand-held GPS and viewed on the GPS screen is pretty rudimentary as far as graphics and up-to-date details and information. They are not as comprehensive as software maps that you look at and use on a computer screen.

For the ultimate in versatility, you would do best to get a really good hand-held GPSR that kicks arse out hiking in the wilds, and hook it up to a laptop running some really nice mapping software when driving in the vehicle. Unfortunately, this requires a lot of $$ (unless you already have a laptop) and room in your vehicle.

I have the Magellan Meridian Platinum (MeriPlat). As far as memory goes, this is a good one. I am using a 128mb SD card that slips right into it. I currently have detailed Topo and Street maps for New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and So-Cal only using about 84mb. I can also store seperate map sets and waypoints/routes on the card and switch between them. If you do mostly local stuff, then you really don't need all of this memory. If you do trips all over the place, it's really nice. The MeriPlat has a built in tri-axial compass that works while stationary, and in either vertial or horizontal position (or anywhere in between). It's cool!

Here it is mounted in the Taco...




One thing I love about the MeriPlat is that all of the controls are mounted on the face, and are back-lit which is really nice for use while driving.



And it floats and works underwater!

 

Bajataco.. You hit the nail right on the head with the Garmin V.. I it a great GPS.. (PS, it is waterproof too) I have logged 33k with mine since last June and I am still amazed how good it works.. As for it finding the fastest rout?? How about this one.. Figure a 3 road course thru a grave yard for a major short cut to a road running beside it!!! Dead serious.. (Pun intended) The Garmin V also comes with its own dash mount, power supply for the car, computer soft ware & cable.. All you need is some NiHm AA's (here is a tip.. use some packing tape to tightly bond the 2 battries end to end to keep a tight connection)