Ok heres my situtation, I am looking for a GPS to get my self but I no next to nothing about about them. The main things I am looking to get outa the gps is ability to show topo maps (mainly for logging roads), and an altimiter. I would be nice to have a laptop gps setup but I have no idea about accuracy, pricing, etc. If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be great.

Thanks

 

do you want one that's real portable or one that would mainly stay in the truck?

 

I have a Garmin eTrex Vista and I love it. Not too sure about the price these days (I've had it for a few years). But I think it would be perfect for you. It's small (about the size of a cell phone), very portable, you can download city maps and topo maps into it. Of course it has an altimiter. Heck, you might want to look into thier lower end models, I think the only difference is the amount of space it has for downloadable software.

 

If you are using it in your truck you want a screen that is easy to see (larger). Most of the GPS will have a cable you could connect to a laptop. That way you would have a large screen for the truck, and a portable unit to carry. I have a garmin etrex legend (first unit) that I can upload maps onto, and I have a Magellan color. Color is nice (is that little line a stream or a road?). The color unit uses SD memory chips. I can load my states entire topo onto it.

 

Austin,

Here is a web site that will answer all your questions.

GPS Info

 

I just bought a Magellan Sportrak Pro for my father in law (all the siblings went in on it) Seemed to get some great reviews.

 

I thinking that it would mainly stay in the truck, I would probally make a perment install in the truck. I have seen on ebay they have gps recivers, for like 50-100 bucks, that hook up to laptops. I think that would probally be the best route for me to take. What do you guys think about those kind, anyone using them?

Thanks for the help too!

 

I like my Garmin Street Pilot-III. Works great in-vehicle, will display topo maps, plus street maps with voice navigation. Connects to a laptop with real-time map updates. I can move it between my two vehicles in a minute or so.

 

I just picked up a Garmin eTrex Legend as my first unit. I have to say, it's easy to work, maps are uploaded via FREE software and it has so many bells and whistles, I can't see going to anything else in the near future.

However, if you want topo or street maps, you will have to buy them seperate.

 

if you go the laptop route, i hope your laptop is reasonably small to mount it somewhere! take your laptop nad put it inside your cabin. you'll realize that laptop sure does take up a lot of space. and if you have a passenger in the seat next to you, you would hope that he/she doesnt mind 1/4 to 1/2 of it in his/her lap too

that said, garmin has a laptop option that is less than $200. i believe its called the Garmin 180 or something like that. dont knw much, but its a relatively cheap solution

as for the handhelds, the best one in my opinion for me is the Garmin G60C. its color, it has 56MB ram which is plenty of room for maps, and is portable too for hiking, backpacking ,etc. got a decent battery life too.

now since you want an altimeter, the Garmin G60SC (i think thats the model name) has this feature as well as a compass. a little more expensive.

as far as the dashmounts like the Garmin Streetpilot series, i personally dont like them because they are not as portable as the handhelds. thye are good, but if youre gonna spend that kind of money on a dashmount, look into handhelds too.

also, make sure you factor in prices for the software and accessories. For example, you dont want to run any gps purely on batteries. thus, youll have to buy a cig lighter or hardwire power source. also, youll have to buy your area maps as well as your topo maps.

Bob

 

if u want it to stay in ur car go with a lowrance, their awesome and have tons of features

 

A good compromise might be to get the least expensive handheld that you can find that will connect to a computer and stream data. I personally like Garmin units because they are easy to use and will work with about any mapping program. Then get a program like TOPO! that can plug the GPS into. The gps will plot your position, speed, direction and altitude on the laptop map. I like TOPO! becasue it uses the actual USGS maps, not some mapquest type thing. I think that you can get TOPO for the entire western half of the country for about $60. I dont know much about the GPS antennas that plug directly into the USB ports on the laptop but would be interested in hearing anyones opinions of them.

 

I can't comment on the GPS units with built-in navigation for car use.

I use a gps with a laptop and an external 7" diagonal LCD. The laptop goes under the seat. Mounting the LCD is still not ideal because you want it convenient to look at (for offroad use anyway - best not to be looking at it on the highway) but then its always blocking something else. Definitely a compromise unless you're really into customing for a built-in look.

If you decide to go that route then get a "dumb" GPS that you can mount outside or somewhere that gives your antenna a good view of the sky. Lots of people claim to have good luck with units on the dash or in the back window, but I never got good results with the antenna on the dash in my 2k 4R so my antenna is on the roof rack. I used a handleld with the PC for about a year and it was a PITA to have to turn the thing on or off. The dumb GPS has no switches or controls - apply power and it starts working - no switches other than a master power switch in the dash. (I do have to start the PC and thats still a PITA, but I wired it direct (and have an aux battery) so it stays on all day if I want. There are a lot of inexpensive GPS units about the size of a mouse to choose from.