Garmin eTrex GPS

The best handheld GPS for hiking?

What is the best hand held GPS to buy for hiking?

I wish to buy a hand held GPS to take walking, it does not need to fit on the dash of my car. Is there one that is easy to use without all sorts of complicated features I don’t need just so as I don’t get lost?

It needs to have a long battery life and if possible not be made in China.

If depend whether you want maps. The cheapest ones are non-color, you can plot points and routes, and record tracks (like a trail of breadcrumbs) so you can at least follow your path back if your direct path to your starting point is blocked.

Better ones have color maps. Topo maps are best for hiking because they show more smaller roads, trails, smaller rivers and creeks, etc. and elevations. You might take a look at the Delorme PN-20 delorme.com (which come with topo maps) or Garmin eTrex series.

The eTrex mapping models only come with a basemap of major roads and major bodies of water, unless bundled with maps. H is high sensitivity, C is color, and x means it can use a memory card and has longest battery life (25 hrs on 2 AA).

Check Ebay for deals. I got a new Garmin eTrex Lengend HCx bundle that included 12V cable, suction cup mount, and City Navigator NT (street) maps for less than elsewhere without the extras. But I already had topo maps.

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How to setup my Garmin C550?

How to setup my Garmin C550 for Geocaching?

I have the Streetpilot C550 and was told about geocaching, but don’t know how to set this up. I downloaded GeoBuddy and downloaded geotargets and it is on my GPS and comes up on my favorites list but doesn’t seem to be working right.

Do you know how to fix it? Thank you!

The C550 is a pretty poor choice for geocaching. You would be much better served by purchasing a Garmin eTrex H for $85 or an Garmin eTrex Venture HC for $115.

Programs like EasyGPS and the geocaching.com website can better interface with those units than StreetPilots and nuvis.

Automotive units like the c-series are too bulky and most automotive units are too fragile for geocaching. You *will* drop your GPS receiver while caching.

If you really want to use your C550, look to see if the unit has the ability to accept coordinate entry. Like how you can enter an address into the unit, you should be able to enter coordinates. You would then save the coordinates as a Favorite. You put the unit into Pedestrian mode. Then you go to that favorite you just entered. I know there are people who geocache with nuvis, so I know it is possible to do and actually not that difficult.

The only problem with those units is that you have to constantly refresh the coordinate readout screen and compare it with the geocache’s coordinates, since the nuvi doesn’t have an arrow page to guide you to the cache. The nuvi 500 series does have this feature and it comes out in Fall 2008.

Looking back at your question, it looks like you need to get your unit into pedestrian mode so it doesn’t try to route you on the roads when you are walking through a park to the geocache.

You also need to find out if there is a way to get a coordinate readout. On the nuvi you can get a coordinate readout by tapping on the cursor on the map screen.

The C550 might work the same way.

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Low Cost GPS Unit?

What is a low cost hand held GPS device where you can enter a street address and it gives you directions there

I am looking for a mobile handheld gps device that has the capability to enter or type in an address of a residence or street address and then it takes me street by street to that address.

Please help me by giving me the name of the GPS device so I can look at it.

Thanks.

Garmin eTrex Legend is best for your needs.

Whats the best hand held GPS unit that are not to expensive?

I need a hand held GPS unit to do my geocaching but I don’t know what would be a good choice thats for $200 or under.

Can anyone give me some suggestions?

Garmin GPS Map 60CSx is a best one for handheld gps, or Garmin Etrex Venture HC GPS Receive, Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color High-Sensitivity Mapping Handheld GPS.

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Economical & Effective GPS for Geocaching?

What is an economical but effective GPS for geocaching?

I’m new to geocaching and want a basic GPS that doesn’t cost a fortune and one that will work straight out of the box without having to buy expensive topo maps etc.

What do you recommend?

A Garmin eTrex H is used by many for geocaching.

However you might also consider a Garmin GPS 60 which is a mid level priced handheld which is waterproof and has more features.

A GPS 60 has up to 28 hours battery life and is WAAS-enabled for even more precise location and navigation. It features a bright LED backlight which makes it easy to find your way, day or night. It has both serial and USB connections for fast and versatile connection to your computer.

It also offers special geocaching features, indoor and outdoor games, an alarm clock, sunrise/sunset and moon phase tables, optimal hunting and fishing times — plus much more.

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The cheapest GPS unit for geocaching?

What is the cheapest GPS unit that I can use for geocaching?

I don’t want to spend over $100 on a GPS unit and I’ve seen some at Wal-Mart within my price range will those work for geocaching?

For under $100, it’ll be really basic, but it will be enough for geocaching. You’re probably looking at the Garmin eTrex or Garmin eTrex H.

They allow you to enter coordinates and then use the compass page to guide you to the coordinates. That’s pretty much all you need from a GPS receiver to go geocaching.

At some point you might want to buy the data cable so you can send caches from your computer to the GPS receiver instead of manually entering the coordinates.

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GPS outputs data via USB or Serial?

What GPS should I buy if I want a standalone unit that also outputs serial NMEA data via USB or serial?

I’m looking for the cheapest one that I do not need to hold out the window to get a signal.

If you want to go the handheld route, a Garmin eTrex H is one of the cheapest new models you will find.

A used eTrex H or eTrex Legend HCx would work. Pretty much any GPS receiver that can connect with a PC is able to send NMEA sentences.

There is a wide variety of puck-type GPS receivers as well. Go with models that have a receiver chipset made by SiRF or MediaTek.

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GPS system with latitude and longitude abilities?

Where can I purchase a GPS system with latitude and longitude abilities?

I’m looking for a GPS system that is portable that gives off latitude and longitude along with addresses and what not.

I’d also prefer it to be rechargeable and not run on batteries if possible. If not I can survive. The purpose of this is for geocaching and any suggestions would be great.

Please provide a link if possible.

Thanks for helping!

I would suggestion these good gps for geocaching:

1. Garmin 60CSx Handheld GPS Navigator
2. DeLorme Earthmate PN-40
3. Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver

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GPS System For Geocaching & Navigation?

Can you recommend an inexpensive GPS system that could be used for both geocaching and navigation?
Please note if any additional upgrades have to be bought to add navigation. I could most likely get by with little detail at the city level. I would just like to know how far it is between towns when driving, etc.

Also would like to try a little geocaching. A GPS unit for me is a luxury, so I don’t want to blow a lot of money on it.

Thank you.

Unfortunately mapping and inexpensive seem to be mutually exclusive.

The Garmin eTrex Legend might fill the bill, but the base map on this (and most GPS units) does not include any city detail. For the eTrex, you would have to purchase City Navigator, which actually covers all roads, not just the cities, but it costs almost as much as the GPS.

List prices from Garmin are 139 for City Navigator, and 160 for the Legend. Street prices will be somewhat lower. One of my pet peeves is that all the major GPS manufacturers have proprietary mapping software, and you can’t mix and match.

While you can get by with the Legend, there are two things that would disqualify it for my personal use: No electronic compass and only 8 megs of room to add extra maps. One “wild card” GPS is the unit now offered by DeLorme, the PN-20.

Can’t speak from experience, but it sounds interesting, and may be worth investigating. It’s not really cheap, but perhaps the bundle with mapping software could be attractive.

Bottom line is that cheap probably isn’t the best way to go.

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