What model GPS should we upgrade to?

[64EH]

We would be interested in peoples opinions...What geocaching hand held gps currently on the market would be the best to purchase at the moment, and why? Are there any units that people would recommend not to touch?
Cheers 64EH

[PesceVerde]

Hi. You may well get as many answers as answerers.
What do you like and dislike about your current GPSr? What features are you looking for in a new GPSr? How much you want to spend?
IMO any fairly recently released Garmin mapping handheld with paperless caching would be a good choice. I like what the GPSmap 62S offers for multi-purpose use, including caching.

[Captain Terror]

We would be interested in peoples opinions...What geocaching hand held gps currently on the market would be the best to purchase at the moment, and why? Are there any units that people would recommend not to touch?
Cheers 64EH

Can I recommend looking here: http://forum.geocaching.com.au/viewforum.php?f=12

But otherwise I am one of many people I know who uses the Garmin Dakota series, and we all love them.

[gmj3191]

We would be interested in peoples opinions...What geocaching hand held gps currently on the market would be the best to purchase at the moment, and why? Are there any units that people would recommend not to touch?
Cheers 64EH

Can I recommend looking here: http://forum.geocaching.com.au/viewforum.php?f=12

But otherwise I am one of many people I know who uses the Garmin Dakota series, and we all love them.

I had a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx for a number of years, and I loved it. I used GSAK to upload all the caches in Australia to it as POIs, but you are limited to about 100 chs of info so I was just able to store very basic info such as abbreviated name, type, size etc and a few characters of the hint.

I upgraded to an Oregon 550 last year. This has a totally different interface and operating philosophy which takes a while to get on top of, especially if you use it for other uses and not just geocaching. The caching features seem to dominate it's operation and it takes a while to get used to switching profiles and customising them.
For caching however they are tops, and the camera is very handy as well. You can store pretty much the whole cache listing except for graphics, for up to 5,000 caches.
You really need to use it with GSAK to get the best out of it.

[joffa1970]

Joffa1970 has a Garmin Oregon 550 that was an upgrade from the Garmin etrex Legend HCx.

Mine is attached to the handlebar of the MTB most of the time (my main caching mobile).
I would by another Oregon 550 if it broke. you could do without the camera, so the 300 to the 450 would be OK.

The menu system on it is good and quick, like any high tech device, play with it and learn new features all the time. Especially before riding single tracks and trying to read hints and things!

Of course, to get the most from any GPS, being a paid up member of GC and using the routes download is best.

(There is a cacher (insert name here) that has over 1000 finds without a GPS. Do we really need one?)

[maccamob]

The Oregon 450 is great, especially with the new firmware that adds the 'Next Stage' feature for multis. The newest Magellans are apparently very good too.

[pprass]

.... The newest Magellans are apparently very good too.

I have a Magellan eXplorist 610 which I have had now for 3 months and find it very intuitive and friendly to use. I think it has very similar features and screen functions and layouts as the Oregon 550, however it comes complete with 3 layers of maps for the whole of Aus and the capability of holding 10,000 caches including the images that appear on the cache page. I do not think (and please correct me Garmin owners if I am not right) that the Oregon comes with detailed maps - just a World Base Map, so although the Oregon is still useable straight away for caching, it does not have the same detailed maps as you would get in the eXplorist units and so there is more mucking around to source or buy the maps and load them - might not be a big deal I hear Garmin owners say Still for someone new it is one less thing to be hassled with when you are learning the ropes.

There are a few issues with the eXplorist that Magellan are working on to rectify with their next software upgrade - such as slow start up time, improve battery life, simpler method of creating WPT's and reducing the size of the position indicator. Some of these issues were encountered when the Garmin Collorado or GPSMap was first released and soon rectified with an update, so we don't expect there to be much of a drama for Magellan to do the same.

As mentioned earlier by PesceVerde, these days there is not much difference in the top brands, so it really just depends on how much you want to spend and what you are comfortable with using. Trying out each unit before buying would be ideal, but difficult to arrange either from a retailer or caching friends.

In the end, if I was new to the game and wanting to buy a GPS I would make sure that the unit had at least these three features:
1. Ability to download mass number of caches from GC.com (or GCA) for paperless caching. This includes downloading images. Also the ability to interface with GSAK.
2. Electronic compass - I can't cache without an electronic compass anymore. Something that maccamob taught me early on in my caching career - bless them!
3. Ability to load detailed maps of the whole of Aus - including minor streets, tracks, features and points of interest.

Hope this helps!

[caughtatwork]

I do not think (and please correct me Garmin owners if I am not right) that the Oregon comes with detailed maps - just a World Base Map, so although the Oregon is still useable straight away for caching, it does not have the same detailed maps as you would get in the eXplorist units and so there is more mucking around to source or buy the maps and load them - might not be a big deal I hear Garmin owners say Still for someone new it is one less thing to be hassled with when you are learning the ropes.

Correct.
Take 2 minutes of your time and get the latest open street maps for Garmin devices here.
http://www.osmaustralia.org/garmin.php
Download your state.
Open the ZIP file.
Drag the .img files to your Garmin GPS in the root directory.
Tada

[maccamob]

I do not think (and please correct me Garmin owners if I am not right) that the Oregon comes with detailed maps - just a World Base Map, so although the Oregon is still useable straight away for caching, it does not have the same detailed maps as you would get in the eXplorist units and so there is more mucking around to source or buy the maps and load them - might not be a big deal I hear Garmin owners say Still for someone new it is one less thing to be hassled with when you are learning the ropes.

Correct.
Take 2 minutes of your time and get the latest open street maps for Garmin devices here.
http://www.osmaustralia.org/garmin.php
Download your state.
Open the ZIP file.
Drag the .img files to your Garmin GPS in the root directory.
Tada

Not quite. The 't' versions (eg Oregon 450t) do come with detailed mapping.

[gmj3191]

I do not think (and please correct me Garmin owners if I am not right) that the Oregon comes with detailed maps - just a World Base Map, so although the Oregon is still useable straight away for caching, it does not have the same detailed maps as you would get in the eXplorist units and so there is more mucking around to source or buy the maps and load them - might not be a big deal I hear Garmin owners say Still for someone new it is one less thing to be hassled with when you are learning the ropes.

Correct.
Take 2 minutes of your time and get the latest open street maps for Garmin devices here.
http://www.osmaustralia.org/garmin.php
Download your state.
Open the ZIP file.
Drag the .img files to your Garmin GPS in the root directory.
Tada

Not quite. The 't' versions (eg Oregon 450t) do come with detailed mapping.

You do really pay for the maps on the T versions as those models are quite a lot more expensive.
One disadvantage of using OSM is that the Garmin address search feature does not work. As I understand it
the OSM maps don't quite provide the right details as Garmin will not release the IP around how the address search works, and therefore the OSM guys
can't format their data to work with it. This is not a huge issue (for me anyway) but it would be nice if it did work.

I don't think the lack of images is a biggie, as generally, if they are important, you're going to want to see them on a big screen anyway.

[GJMMelb]

I upgraded to an Oregon 550 last year. This has a totally different interface and operating philosophy which takes a while to get on top of, especially if you use it for other uses and not just geocaching. The caching features seem to dominate it's operation and it takes a while to get used to switching profiles and customising them.
For caching however they are tops, and the camera is very handy as well. You can store pretty much the whole cache listing except for graphics, for up to 5,000 caches.
You really need to use it with GSAK to get the best out of it.

Hi gmj3191,
just wondering what the screen on the Oregon 550 is like to read in bright sunlight etc
Thanks - GJMMelb

[gmj3191]

Probably not quite as clear as my good old 60 CSx but quite okay.
This was a concern initially as I think some of the earlier Oregons had a problem in sunshine, but it wasn't an issue with the 550.
I went to Johnny Appleseed and tried one outside before I bought it.
For comparison, when you take my son's iPad outside, it's so bad you can hardly tell if it's on or not.

[GJMMelb]

Probably not quite as clear as my good old 60 CSx but quite okay.
This was a concern initially as I think some of the earlier Oregons had a problem in sunshine, but it wasn't an issue with the 550.
I went to Johnny Appleseed and tried one outside beside I bought it.
For comparison, when you take my son's iPad outside, it's so bad you can hardly tell if it's on or not.

Cool, thanks, that sounds pretty good.
Thats cool they would let you take it outside to try it!!!
Thanks again
GJMMelb

[Yurt]

I do not think (and please correct me Garmin owners if I am not right) that the Oregon comes with detailed maps - just a World Base Map, so although the Oregon is still useable straight away for caching, it does not have the same detailed maps as you would get in the eXplorist units and so there is more mucking around to source or buy the maps and load them - might not be a big deal I hear Garmin owners say Still for someone new it is one less thing to be hassled with when you are learning the ropes.

Correct.
Take 2 minutes of your time and get the latest open street maps for Garmin devices here.
http://www.osmaustralia.org/garmin.php
Download your state.
Open the ZIP file.
Drag the .img files to your Garmin GPS in the root directory.
Tada

I tried playing around getting Shonky Maps on there ages ago but failed.

I've just tried following these directions but can't seem to access the GPS from the computer (yes it's connected, and I've loaded a new cache to it today via GC.com). It doesn't appear as a drive or device in Windows Explorer. (Windows 7).

[caughtatwork]

What model is it?