Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Discussion about software such as GSAK, OziExplorer etc, as well as all things hardware, GPSrs, laptops, PDAs, paperless caching, cables etc
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Barndillo
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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by Barndillo » 21 August 10 2:32 pm

After doing a bit of research and deciding how much to spend geowife just ordered me a new GPSMap 62s for fathers day. Expensive fathers day present I know but I did get her an iMac for her birthday.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by PesceVerde » 21 August 10 5:34 pm

Good choice :!: and it's worth the dollars IMHO.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by Landy_clan » 24 September 10 6:08 pm

Just a simple question, We have 2 Garmin GPSMap60csx units. Can anyone in Aus suggest a place where we can buy a good detailed map for the units. I am guessing they will come on the micro sd card.
Thanks guys.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by PesceVerde » 24 September 10 7:14 pm

I guess it depends on your main usage (Geocaching of course but what flavour, bush or city :?:). A good place to start for commercial maps would be http://www.garmin.com/, http://www.ja-gps.com.au/ , http://www.octapc.com.au/

I have Garmin City Navigator maps (and others) on my 60CSx which have good detail in the city and are autorouting.
Free maps like OSM, Shonkymaps, and Contours Australia can also be good, again depending on your needs. Hope this helps. :D

*Garmin commercial maps may be locked to one GPSr, or to one micro SD card.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by PirateRock » 05 October 10 9:21 am

I love my Colorado 300C, but in this day and age, I think that a Dakota or Oregon with it's touch screen would better suit my needs. I also have the Outback & street mapping, so I really have a great feature set with my GPS.

I have also used a HTC Desire and a iPhone 4. c:geo (Andriod's HTC Desire) is the better application, however both are useless with no coverage.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by PirateRock » 05 October 10 9:23 am

PesceVerde wrote: *Garmin commercial maps may be locked to one GPSr, or to one micro SD card.
They are locked to a MicroSD card, however a google search gives instructions on making copies. Useful for the nuvi 765 in the car and the Colorado.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by gmj3191 » 10 October 10 9:23 am

Do the maps purchased on micro SDs result in micro SDs being "read only",
thus limiting you to the on board memory for storing caches and other data?

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by GJMMelb » 30 October 10 10:07 am

We've recently been having a few intermittent problems with our Garmin Etrex (Yellow) and have decided that we have been well and truly been bitten by the "bug" \:D/ and so it's worth spending a bit more money on a handheld with a few more features ..... 8)

Today in the newspaper is an Anaconda Catalogue advertising a Garmin Dakota 20 for $349 which sounds like a good price??

We would love to hear from people who have this GPSr on what they like and dislike about it and whether we should consider this one OR from other people who have a different (Garmin) model and what they like/dislike about them ...

We're happy with Garmin, so it's just a case of which model

Thanks in advance :D
GJMMelb (J)

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by gmj3191 » 30 October 10 6:44 pm

I have had a 60CSx for about 4 years and this week received an Oregon 550 for my birthday.
I love the 60 CSx and its crystal clear and easy to read display, but the Oregon 550 is pretty good too, just not so crispy to use in the field.
I found 5 caches this morning with the Oregon and although not quite as easy to see it does have it's nose in front because
1) It contains all cache details for up to 5,000 caches except for pictures whereas in the 60 CSx I had to bodgy the caches in as POIs to get a few scant details such as hints, size, last found etc using GSAK.
2) It has a georeferencing camera which is easy to use and of a reasonable quality for uploading photos to the web.
3) It can program and receive CHIRPS which may become a common feature on the geocaching scene.
4) It is actively being developed by Garmin (CHIRPS added last fortnight)
5) it has built in Whereigo if that's important to you
6) You can make custom maps fpr it or use the Birdseye downloadable satellite imagery

I think the 62s is a bit cheaper and more along the lines of the 60CSx but with all the functions of the Oregon except the camera.
I may have liked that one more than the Oregon which does take a bit of getting used to.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by Cached » 30 October 10 11:47 pm

With the chirp coming in, make sureyou have one with the wireless capability. In the Oregons it means better than a 200, and I don't know about the Dakota's.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by tatty » 31 October 10 7:55 am

gmj3191 wrote:Do the maps purchased on micro SDs result in micro SDs being "read only",
thus limiting you to the on board memory for storing caches and other data?
There is pretty much no room left over, so yes your limited to on board memory because the card is full when it arrives.


As far as the GPS goes, the dakota appears to be a smaller version of the oregon really. You can compare them and see which has the features you would prefer and go from there, many more options in the oregon line up but they have discontinued quite a few and the 450/450t and 550 will be the only oregon variants left for 2010. The dakota 10 is the only non wireless version of the dakota and the oregon 200 is the only non wireless in that range, so they won't work with chirp. The oregon 450/550 holds a lot more geocaches, waypoints and routes to the dakota too.

Personally I picked up a Oregon 200 with free garmin topo SD (worth $199) from anaconda for $299 a few months back as an in between till I saved up enough to get the 550 I had my eye on, with the plan of passing the 200 on to the kids. I took advantage of the strong AU$ and picked up a 550 from the US for $440, much better than the $600 here in Aus!
The Dakota 20 is $290 in the US, Order Total (USD$): $320.94 with the cheapest shipping to Vic or $345.94 with fedex international economy.

A link to all their garmin stock, don't bother looking a 't' versions from the US as it is US topo. http://www.gpscity.com/search/q=outdoor ... 4&b=Garmin
I had my parcel in my hand 4 business days later using international economy, which was the cheapest shipping for my size order as I had a handful of chirps and another zagg screen protector too.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by squalid » 31 October 10 9:56 am

I was chatting to 3up the other day saying "I would be very upset if anything happened to my Colorado" only to find when I returned to the car that the backlight for the screen had stopped working. Very sad! This feeling can be quickly remedied by a trip to Johny Appleseed. I now have an Oregon 450t, and I'm very impressed. I have used Mrs Squalid's O300 in the past, and thought the Colorado overall was equal - better screen, worse interface.

The Oregon 450 has very quickly won me over. It has taken me directly to a couple of caches here in very heavy rain and 50% tree cover, and was reporting 5m EPE. The Colorado would have been OK, but I'm sure the EPE would have been 10m - 15m and the arrow would have been jumping around quite a lot. It also boots much more quickly, the topo maps work well, city navigation is there too.

I upgraded immediately to version 4.0 of the software because there is one real deal clincher there - the ability to enter and navigate to multi coordinates without moving away from the cache details. I'm not too sure whether this feature came in in v4, but it certainly wasn't installed on the unit when it came out of the box.

Officially an O450t fanboi.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by Echo » 01 November 10 12:22 pm

GJMMelb wrote:Today in the newspaper is an Anaconda Catalogue advertising a Garmin Dakota 20 for $349 which sounds like a good price?? (J)
We would go the Daqkota 20 in a heartbeat.
A few years ago we had a big caching trip planned with our Magellan 500 and the week before we had planned to leave, it fried it's motherboard.

A bit of investigating had us down at Johnny Appleseed the day before we left and a quick play with it that night and we never had a hitch with it. It's a brilliant little device and as far as we are concerned the only real difference between it and the Oregans is the smaller screen.

Did we mention that we love our Dakota 20?? \:D/

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by GJMMelb » 01 November 10 8:12 pm

Thanks everyone for your opinions!! =D> \:D/ :D

We've decided to put up with the e-trex for the time being as I discovered (and cant remember where I read it now) that a new Garmin model is coming out around Christmas time, so waiting to see what that is and how much that pushes the current models' prices down 8)
GJMMelb (J)

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by Nabarlek » 12 November 10 8:16 am

Hello everyone,

I'm just starting out and have been looking at different gps options. Honestly...it's doing my head in. I am on a limited budget of no more than $300. Under that would be great. That puts a stop to that Dekota 20 I was looking at =p But I'm just starting out so...baby steps are better. So I thought I would just get the eTrex H...until I saw the Garmin asus A50. Now I'm torn between the two. I have friends telling me not to get the A50 because it's being discontinued and you don't want a dead end phone. I don't know enough to know which would be better in the long run, or if the A50 has good coverage under tree cover etc. And, sitting down with a paper map with the kids has a certain appeal to it.

Any bit of advise for a newbie with a headache would be greatly appreciated :)

Thank you

Nabarlek

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