gps

i'm about to get a gps unit for christmas, and wanted to know what kind i should look into. i'm looking at around $200 give or take, and will be using it for everything from geocaching to backcountry hiking, and i've looked at a lot of reviews, mostly focusing on magellan and garmin. any thoughts would be extremely helpful

I would suggest you look at the forums on geocaching.com, or better yet, www.thegba.net (Geocachers of the Bay Area, centered on Silicon Valley and hangout of a lot of techies and a number of us who beta-test new units, plus one of the largest concentrations of geocaches and geocachers, as well as people who use GPSRs (that's the proper acronym for GPS receivers - "GPS" refers to the entire system, including satellites and ground control segment).

But some basics -

1. All consumer handheld units currently on the market give the same positional accuracy - the limitation is in the signal available to the "non-authorized user", along with the signal available at a given location and time (terrain blocks signals, plus the satellites are continuously moving in their 12-hour orbits - that's 12 sidereal hours, not solar hours).

2. This means you get the same accuracy with the $50 WalMart special and the $600 unit. But the difference is in the "features" - maps, color vs grey scale vs B&W monochrome, information on the various "screens", amount of memory, availability of maps of multiple parts of the world (some are US only, Europe only, Japan only, some allow loading maps of other areas, most allow only their own proprietary maps, one company allows loading of National Geographic's Topo! map packages, another company allows loading of satellite and aerial photos and scanned USGS maps), etc etc etc. Some models are set up for skydivers and parapente folks (showing rate of descent or climb and figuring trajectories).

3. Some allow only display of position and special items (such as Suunto's golf and sailing GPS-based watches - great if you want to know how far the next hole is, or you are in a yacht race; or the training watch/HRM versions from Garmin, Suunto, or Timex are good for foot, ski, and bike races; or the ones specialized for kayak racing).

What I suspect you would like is a unit that has topographic maps, probably in color, and is usable under fairly dense canopy (that's tree cover). If so, $200 isn't going to do it, plus you will have to get the map software (either proprietary or NatGeo's Topo! or Delorme's TopoUSA). This narrows things down to a small number of units:

A. Garmin's 60Cx or Etrex Vista (H version) - these take Garmin's proprietary map software
B. Magellan's eXplorist 600 or Triton 1500 or 2000 (Triton is just out and might not be easily available, but it accepts NatGeo's Topo! as well as Magellan's proprietary map software)
C. Delorme's PN-20 - this takes Delorme's proprietary maps, aerial photos, satellite photos, and their scanned versions of USGS maps

Garmin and Magellan units readily up and download waypoints, routes, and tracks to National Geographic's Topo! as well as to Delorme's TopoUSA and StreetAtlas (best road mapping program currently available). Delorme's PN-20 does not interact very well with Topo! - the exchange of waypoints is very awkward. Plus, the PN-20 is unbelievably slow to redraw maps as you move across the terrain, when you load more than a tiny amount of maps into it (I loaded a 2GB card with the maps, and found if you loaded that much it was slower than molasses in January).

I have used Garmin and Magellan units from the Arctic to the Antarctic, in North America, Australia, and Europe, and generally been happy with them. There are some glitches with the Garmin "S" ("sensor") GPSRs that lead me to say to avoid them (the 60CSx and the Vista eTrex), and I did have my 60CSx completely fail on me in Antarctica for reasons that still have Garmin's tech support baffled (worked just fine early this month in Italy, though). I strongly suspect it was related to the barometric and compass sensors, though no proof.

Probably more information than you wanted, but I think if you go to the geocaching websites and state clearly what you will use the widget for, you will get more than enough advice.

actually, i'm not so much concerned with color or using tons of topographic maps on it, but i would like one that is usable under fairly dense canopy. since i plan to be a missionary, i would like to be able to use it in other countries, but i already know that's not much of an issue if i'm not using topographic maps. basically, i want to use it to make sure i don't get lost when i'm hiking, and occasionally use it for geocaching, so as long as it can tell me the distance from a waypoint, and the direction it is in, i'm fine. i think that with these qualities in mind, $200 is not that out of reach. we even found a garmin map 60 for a little under 200, which isn't as good as the map 60csx, but i still think it's pretty good, as far as i can tell from reviews on this site and others

If you're just looking for a simple GPS unit, check out any of the new Garmin High Sensitivity eTrex units. They all have an H in the suffix (i.e Vista HCx). You really want the high sensitivity recievers because they won't loose reception as soon as you walk under a tree. Nothing worse than trying to follow a track back to camp only to realize that you're GPS didn't record 90% of your outbound trek.

Another important issue is battery life. The new eTrex units get up too 20 hours on a set of batteries. Watch out for the rechargeable units though (Rino). You want a unit that you can change the batteries in the field rather than having to charge a lithium battery pack.

Also, you might want to think about how you will use the unit. My Lowrance GPS is oriented towards "Going To Someplace" not "How Far Have I Come". The Garmin units let you see both of these meters on the map page. Other units only allow you to see a trip computer (How Far Have I Come), as a pop up or seperate screen that blocks out the rest of the display or is buried three sub menues down and is hard to get to without stopping on the trail to push buttons. (You want the unit with the fewest buttons, not the one with the most!)

Lastly, think about how you will carry the unit. Clipping it on your belt will limit its ability to see the sky and will cause it to loose reception. I clip mine to the load lifter straps on my backpack so that it sits on my shoulder and faces the sky.

Like Bill, I have all kinds of different models with every available feature, but my Garmin eTrex is still the easiest and most reliable unit that I have.

thanks guys. while i certainly wouldn't mind having a more complicated unit that can do all kinds of things, i certainly don't need one. there are usually too many features than i know what to do with or that don't matter, such as prime hunting and fishing times (if i ever do hunt and fish, i won't need a computer to tell me when to do it!). well, there's that and the fact that getting fancy costs too much money for a poor college student! i've been getting most of my gear either through trade or on ebay, or i ask for them for presents, so i was just looking for some good ideas and suggestions. now i know what to tell my parents to look for

Your clarification changes a little bit what I said. Since you will be outside the US a lot, topo maps for GPSRs are generally not available (restrictions by many governments on what data to release).

But, you want the sensitivity under canopy. This means you need a unit that has the SiRF3 chip or better. This restricts you to the Garmin 60x, 60Cx, 60CSx (which I don't recommend for a multitude of reasons), eTrex H series (as the Sarge mentioned), Magellan's Triton series, and that's about it. Note that the Garmin 60 you mentioned does NOT have the SiRF3 chip that the "x" 60 units have - it suffers a lot under canopy. I'm afraid that you will probably have to exceed your $200 limit to get the sensitivity.

Some of the features you say you can do without are stuck into just about all the units. So don't worry about the additional stuff (which, frankly just clutters up the menus, but they stick it in anyway - hunting and fishing and sunrise/set moonrise/set seem to be in even the cheapest units these days). Just look for the newer, more sensitive chips, capability of at least 1000 waypoints (surprising how quickly this builds up), computer interface (you need this for pre-loading waypoints and planning routes, plus storing where you have been for future reference and review), 100 routes or more, and a good selection of datums and coordinate systems (when you are outside the US and Europe, a lot of countries use these other datums to draw their maps, which can differ from the standards - WGS84, NAD27, and NAD83 - by a large fraction of a mile). Also, make sure the waypoints are stored with the altitude - turns out an accurate altitude is a good indication of horizontal accuracy - if you want to be within the horizontal accuracy standard of 10 meters, you need to be within 20 meters or so of the correct altitude. All the units I listed store the altitude, but most older Garmins do not do so.

thanks a lot! my parents keep asking me what to look for, and i never really know what specs to tell them. maybe i can see if i can chip in a bit and expand the search to get the best possible unit

If you're not concerned with a color display or maps then I suggest a Garmin Etrex H model. It has the high sensitivity receiver which allows it to track a signal around a 1000 times weaker than than one without it. They are only about $100. I borrowed my buddy's Rino 110 (NO High Sensitivity) to do some grouse hunting in the N. GA mountains, but the tree cover was so dense it only picked out a signal half the time I was in the woods. Also, there was a big signal change when the unit was oriented different ways. So I bought an Etrex H. I've only had it for a few days and I haven't had a chance to try it out in the woods. I have tried it out everywhere else. It picks up great inside my house, in the truck, etc. I even brought it inside Walmart where it picked up a good signal (metal roof), but I also walked up to one of the open wall coolers (more metal and various other signal blockers) and held it under a shelf and against the wall...and it still did not lose the signal! I can orient the receiver any way and don't get much signal change which is also very desirable.
So if you're concerned about signal obstructions, go with a high sensitivity receiver. They range from $100 to $Many-Hundreds depending on the other features you desire. Good Luck!

Be aware that there are a number of levels for the Garmin eTrex models, ranging from the bare bones, very limited model under $100 (at WalMart) to the Vista. The cheaper models display limited information (the worst being the completely uninformative satellite status display) and a very limited memory for storing waypoints, tracks, and routes. They also have a shorter battery life than the mid- and top-range versions. You mentioned wanting to do some geocaching - the cheapest version in the eTrex H series are pretty limited for geocaching - it completely lacks the geocaching mode and no ability to add maps should you later want to do so and no ability to expand the memory. The Venture HC (list $214) and Legend HC (list $265) have the geocaching mode and can later add maps. The Legend HC also allows adding a microSD card later to expand the memory by up to 2GB. Both happen to have color screens (most mid to upper range units are adding this). Since they are just above your $200 point, you might consider them, since they can probably be found on the web for less and will allow for future growth in your usage. Garmin's website allows comparisons - www.garmin.com Click on "On The Trail" and then the "mapping" units (the "basic" choice doesn't actually list all the "basic" units)

There are lots of websites you can get discounts and much better service than WalMart. I have found GPSCheap to have good prices and to be very fast in shipping. But there are others as well.