I get asked quite often about what GPS unit would be good for geocaching. Not a simple question, as there are ton of models to choose from. I am only familiar with a few, and they are all Garmin brand.
I have been using a GPSMap 60 Csx for a few years now and love it. I can use my own memory card to store custom maps and thousands of geocaches. The sensitivity of the antenna is great, no longer do I lose a signal when under foliage or in a valley.
The Models
Here is the Garmin lineup : https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145
The Colorado models are the newest, and I do not know much about them (it looks like they may add a little fancier support for geocaching).
Features To Consider:
- Memory Card For the Garmin models (excluding the Colorados) the letter 'x' in the model name indicates that it will allow you to use a microSD memory card. Using your own memory card is handy for storing lots of maps and 'custom points of interest' (can be geocaches). I would highly recommend this option
- Channels This is how many satellites it can calculate against. I think 12 has become the standard number, at least last time I looked into it.
- Electronic Compass A GPS receiver (GPSr) is not able to determine the direction that you are facing unless you are moving. If you stand still and turn in a circle, it will not know that you are facing a different direction. Thus, some models add an electronic compass (works just like a normal compass - it faces magnetic north). Thus, if you stand in one position and turn, the electronic compass can tell that you have turned, allowing the map to rotate, or a heading arrow to change, or the arrow to the geocache to turn to the proper direction. They are not always perfect, and do need to be recalibrated fairly often (just hit 'recalibrate compass' and turn in a circle twice to recalibrate - easy enough. I personally think it is worth the extra $. (it can be turned off as well)
- Barometer A GPSr is great at determining your x/y position on the earth, but not quite as accurate in determining your elevation. To help improve accuracy in elevation, a few models also include a barometer. A barometer uses the the measurement of air pressure to determine altitude. This also requires recalibration - and there are arguments back and forth whether this is really a worthwhile addition. I believe that the barometer is really accurate at determining changes in altitude, but does need to be recalibrated against a known reading.
- Topo Maps
Garmin sells a Topo map software product which contains topo maps for the US (pretty low resolution) but there are becoming more and more custom made maps available for free. For example, this guy has high res topo all of Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming : http://www.miscjunk.org/mj/mp_main.html - Street Navigation
Garmin likes to make money off their street map software : Garmin City Navigator. If you have this installed, it will auto-route you on roads, let you search by street addresses and find points of interest like restaurants, gas stations, etc. If you do not already have a GPS for your car, this is worth the investment. (No more digging in the phone book trying to find an address for a garage sale :-), it will just take you there turn by turn).
NOTE: this is available on either a DVD which you can then use to install into your GPS, or on a memory card that you can put directly into your GPS. I would recommend the DVD version, because if you get the memory card version, you will not be able to use your own custom maps at the same time as the street maps.
- Custom Maps If you would like to load your own maps (custom topo, private land ownership, etc.) you need the models that have an 'x' in their name:
- eTrex Legend HCx
- eTresx Vista HCx
- GPSMap 60 Cx
- GPSMap 60 Csx (this is the one I have)
- GPSMap 76Cx
- GPSMap 76 Csx
- Colorado models.
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