vind21

Im having a hard time deciding which gps unit I want to buy.

Im stuck between an etrex venture CX or an explorist 500/600.

Im mainly going to be using the unit for night hiking and off trail backpacking. I really need a unit with decent topo maps and a nice texas basemap.

The thing is I keep hearing such diffrent things about which company has the better mapping software and which units hold signal better.

I hear magellens tech support is terrible but the people who have working units are really happy with them. Any one have any thought or personal experiance with these units?

Alchemist2000

I don't know much about Magellan's products or their service, but I know from first hand experience that Garmin's service is fantastic. I am very happy with my older model Garmin (GPS V) that I have had for many years now. I use it heavily for off trail hiking and hence use topos. I believe it is true with units from either manufacturer that unless you have topos for some specific, specialized area (such as the topos for the National Parks) they do not have great resolution. At least for the Garmin maps, you can look at them online (www.garmin.com) and see if they meet your needs.

If you need more info, I would recommend the collection of reviews at http://gpsinformation.net/ For input from actual users of each of these models, you might try the "gps units and software" section of the forums on geocaching.com, http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showforum=11

Good luck. I have been thinking about upgrading for sometime. I will definitely get a Garmin since I already have a fortune invested in Garmin software, but I haven't convinced myself that the new features are worth the money compared to staying with what I have at the moment. I will be anxious to know what you decide to get and how you like it.

vind21

Thanks for the info, I really like the topos, they are half the reason Im getting a gps, in most cases I wont need one but the ability to turn on back track mode and throw it in your pack and not have to worry about where you end up and how to get back is so nice I can't ignore it.

Im definatly going with a model that has removeable SD cards so I can switch my topos on the fly so that pretty much eliminated everyone but garmin :idea:

And Im being tempted by the 3 axis compass but I think thats just overkill.

Shannon

I recently upgraded to a Garmin GPSMap 60Cx. I haven't used it very much except for short walks, but we are spending this coming week at Rocky Mountain National Park (I'm posting from our cabin, in fact, in Estes Park, CO) so we'll be able to provide a good review of it upon our return. I've got it all preprogrammed with various waypoints for trailheads, our lodging, etc.

Justin and I are huge Garmin fans, owning something like 6 or 7 units due to the specialized nature of each -- we own two different Garmin units for auto use, one of which is primarily an aviation GPS which Justin uses but it doubles as a good auto navigation unit; we own various small Garmin units for bicycling (Justin's has the heart rate monitor; I have an original Forerunner and one of the newer ones, sans heart rate monitor); we have two Rino's around here somewhere (they have built-in Family Radio Frequency for walkie talkie use, and can transmit their coordinates to fellow Rino users.)

I used to own a Garmin GPSMap 76S and loved it, but had always planned to use it for cycling because I didn't like the form factor for hiking. When we got into cycling, I realized it was too cumbersome to mount on my handlebars, so I sold it for a nice sum on eBay and bought the GPSMap 60Cx. I also owned an original Garmin Streetpilot, and upgraded about a year or more ago to the color touchscreen Streetpilot (Streetpilot 2720) with text-to-speech capability. I love it, and still use it even though my new vehicle has a built-in GPS navigation system (sub-par compared to what Garmin offers; I only got it because it was a requirement to get the hybrid-specific energy management -- read: geeky info -- stuff like how the power's being distributed and my real-time miles per gallon.)

Garmin, all the way! And yes, we are stockholders. We love the products and rely on them, so buying some stock was a natural choice.

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WestTexas

Hey Shannon, I've pretty much had nothing but Garmin myself for the portables (Lowrance in the bassboat!). Hiking, driving, flying.. all Garmin products. I'm currently using the Garmin eTrex Legend Cx. I like that I can actually download the super nice topos from National Geographic onto it. I actually first bring up the topo on the PC, then it's super easy to import, draw, edit, etc your routes and the drop the whole shebang (topo graphics and routes, etc) right onto it.

I've been super interested in the Rhinos. We usually each carry a 2-way radio (the little FRS units) to keep in touch if we're a larger group and get seperated. But I've been intrigued by the capability to actually see the other persons location on my handheld map.

How has your experience been with them?

Thanks in advance, WT

Cajun Camper

I purchased the Garmin eTrex Legend a year or so ago to fish off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf. I found it affordable and amazing for the water, and also driving. It has really saved me a few times.

I can't say how well this works in the parks, I didn't try it - but I will next trip to Inks Lake. For about $130, it has a great road map, is zoomable, lots of functions and features and easy to use.

http://www.garmin.com/products/etrexLegend/

Jamie

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Shannon

Ours are the original Rinos, the Rino 110, so they're fairly old. We occasionally still use them when geocaching or visiting a park with my eldest niece and nephew (they have their own Rino 110s). It is indeed handy to see their present positions plotted on our Rino units, especially when geocaching (when everyone sometimes ends up out of sight of one another briefly).

The Rino units, like all of Garmin's product line, are built solid and function as desired. I was not a huge fan of the user interface on the Rino 110, and I'm not sure in what ways it has changed on the newer Rino units. I'm sure it has improved, just as the newer incarnations of some other Garmin units I've used (Streetpilot, GPSMap, etc.) have improved over the years.

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Your Host @ WildTexas.com

Purchases in the Wild Texas Gear Shop support our continued operation. Thank you!

Electric Water Boy

Garmin and online auctions:

"To obtain warranty service, an original or copy of the sales receipt from the original retailer is required. Online auction confirmations are not accepted for warranty verification, and Garmin will not replace missing components from any package purchased through an online auction. "

Bummer. Maybe. I had a Lowrance IFinder GO2 that was meeting my needs until some &$&$$ took it out of my truck. SO now I've been looking at the Garmin 60 CSX and 76 CSX. I like the $300 price (after redbate) of the 60. I like that the 76 has twice the memory and floats - but's $150 more. Except that I just saw that West Marine has it on sell for $350. Santa may have to come early...

BigBendHiker

I have a Garmin 60CSx. Great GPSr for both hiking and city nav. You cannot go wrong with it. I have a 1 Gig MicroSD card in mine and have almost all of the City Navigator map on it, plus topo maps, plus the National Parks maps.

BBH

WestTexas

I meant to post this back in June, but time got away from me. I had loved my various Garmin Legend eTrex units, but did notice that when deep in the piney woods the signal would drop.

So I opted for the GPSmap 60Cx (same as the CSx but without the altimeter,etc). Aside from the fact that the display is about 50% larger than the Legend, it sports the new SiRFStarIII GPS chipset, which is super sensitive. Heck, I got great signal with it sitting on my desk inside the house! Packed it 20 miles into the Colorado Needle mountain area this summer and even deep in canyons totally covered by trees, it didn't hiccup once. And in 5 days I never had to change the batteries.

It even got submerged when crossing a stream, and I landed on it and rode it down when slipping down a scree rock area. Go Garmin!

WT

baytownbert

I drug out my old Magellan SporTrak today and dusted it off, that and the manual. I think I'm going to try and find some of the Geocaches at McKinney Falls State park next week.

baytownbert

Dang! I didn't mean to post that twice, but I do need practice! LOL