Need GPS recommendation

[SMSP]

Yeah, I contacted Cabela's last Saturday. I ordered the bundle and will return the single unit once the bundle arrives. Cabela's customer service was great. They are not gonna charge me return shipping, which is $7.50. I will also get the original $15 new customer credit on the new purchase.I have been satisfied with the 60csx so far. I have been making waypoints and tracks during the day just to get familiar with its operations. I plan to hike some this Labor weekend and will track a local trail. Hike on!SMSP

[jeepcachr]

In my opinion the 60 series are to big. I'm a big fan of the newer Etrex series. I have a Venture HC and a Colorado 300. The venture makes it out more often unless I'm going to Geocache. Then the paperless geocaching on the Colorado wins out.

FYI the Etrex H does not have a USB connection the rest of the current Etrex line use USB.

[SMSP]

Yeah, the 60csx is sizable. But I'm new to GPS for the most part. By time I tire of the 60csx, perhaps there will be something affordable in a smaller package as powerful as the 60csx.

SMSP

[Uncle Wayne]

I have a Delorme pn40 and it does everything I want it to do and more.

The learning curve was a little challenging and battery consumption (two double As, or rechargeable lithium) is a bit more than I would like.

Weary

I have one of these also and agree with Weary's statements above. Every PN40 owner I've talked to has said the same thing. Biggest gripe is battery life. My friends Garmin CSX has about 3 times the battery life as my PN40.

[weary]

.....Every PN40 owner I've talked to has said the same thing. Biggest gripe is battery life. My friends Garmin CSX has about 3 times the battery life as my PN40.

I'm willing to put up with poor battery life in part beause a GPS is not something I use every day. More important is the ability to produce trail maps for our town land trust using a variety of Delorme and other maps as a base.

I also like Delorme because it was founded in Maine and continues to operate out of a factory and store just outside of Freeport. I met the owner casually when he stopped by the newspaper where I worked in the 1970's to ask me to do a story about his plans to produce maps for outdoor active people.

I didn't do a story because I didn't like his early maps, and I had enough to do without writing negatively about a tiny startup map company. But I've been casually watching the company grow and improve ever since. I'm not privy to the details of the company, but I tend to prefer good products with a Maine flavor than good products made mostly in Taiwan.

Weary

[No Belay]

[QUOTE=BrianLe;1039485]I'm planning on the CDT for next year; my GPS for the PCT was the one built into my smartphone, and I "used" the same thing on the AT this year (not too much needed on either trail).

For the CDT, I'm thinking of a relatively expensive and new option, the Delorme Earthmate PN-60W Portable GPS Navigator with SPOT Satellite Communicator. A fairly expensive approach as the combined units are about $550, plus $100 annual SPOT fee, plus I'd likely spend another $50 for 500 text messages, but I reckon that cell service will be very very limited on the trail, so the ability to at least send (but not receive) 40 character messages in addition to just the normal "I'm okay, at this location" messages that the normal SPOT devices send --- that might be worth the money for my trail partner and I.

QUOTE] Brian, I have friends that are back country rangers in several of our "Big" parks. If you even say "SPOT" to them, their eyes glass over, they start foaming at the mouth, and they start ranting about insecure yuppies that should have never left the side walk. Seems the biggest back country pain in the a$$ is puesdo hikers with more money than sense that use the emergency function for such dire situations as, "the water tasted funny" , "I saw a bear", " I wasn't sure which fork to take in the trail", and my favorite, "There wasn't any toliet paper in the privy". As with 95% of all gadget owners, it seems Spot owners rarely read the instruction manuals and consequently there's alot of false "911" triggerings by folks learning the device OJT. If you get the GPS/Spot combo, I'd keep it to yourself. Usually if I see someone with a SPOT, I'll find some where else to land.

[SMSP]

I got to use the 60csx this past weekend and am very pleased with. Finally, I got a GPS that is accurate.

SMSP

[SunnyWalker]

Magellan GPS. Good products.

[Dont Panic]

I didn't read this whole thread, just wanted to throw in that I used the Dakota 20 with Out of Order's track line and free maps from http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/ on the CDT last year. They all worked perfectly. I navigated with the ley maps 95% of the time, but the few times I wasn't sure or wanted to find a shortcut I would use the GPS.

[SunnyWalker]

Sgt. Rock: If you are still interestged the Magellan Triton 400 will go up to 12 hrs., with two AAs. (I formerly said 10, sorry).

[fredmugs]

Magellan GPS. Good products.

I recently bought an eXplorist 710 mainly because of the Summit Series maps that came with it. I'm not sure if the CDT is on there (probably) but I do know the PCT and the AT are already there. No maps to buy or download and modify.

The other reason I bought it is it has a complete set of city street maps so I can use it for hiking, biking, and driving. And because of the driving portion it also lists all of the hotels, restaurants, post offices, etc for any towns I might get into. Not to mention a camera and video recorder. Plus it has something like 7 Gb of hard drive space and a micro SD slot.

Just checked - CDT is already on my unit.

[SunnyWalker]

I have recommended to any who care to read my posts the Megellan line of GPS products. I have had three of their GPS units and currently still have an eXplorist, and a Triton 400. Recently I purchased a couple of Macs. My spouse and I are enjoying them. Well, to come to the point, I found out this weekend as I tried to load the software onto my Mac that it won't work. Come to find out Magellan does not support Mac and I won't be able to link these GPS units to my computer. Oh bummer. Oh, what junk! (That was my initial thought). So . . . . . here I go eating my words... I began to look around for Mac supported gps stuff. And guess what? GARMIN! I have been looking at their units and the support available and I am very impressed. I will keep looking but at this point the others will have to beat the Garmin GPS Units.

[weary]

I've used a Garmin unit, and two Delorme GPS devices. I'm not an expert, but I'm convinced that Delorme provides the best GPS devices.

My favorite is the Delorme 40. The most recent is the Delorme 60, but the difference is the addition of SPOT capability, and more money. Buy the 40 on sale and you won't be disappointed.

[SunnyWalker]

I'll look Delorme over, Weary. Bottom line with me though will it work with a Mac. I have beet watching the development of the spot. Have thought about using one when I (hopefully) do a thru hike of CDT in future. They sure are handy things. It would give my wife a lot of comfort to have the constant feedback I think.

[handlebar]

Several posters mentioned buying the Delorme PN-60/SPOT combo. I got a recall notice for the SPOT half of the combo. It seems it might not work in very cold weather. Anyhow, they (SPOT) are handling the recall in a very customer friendly manner. They even emailed a 2nd notice when I didn't respond to the first and are paying shipping both ways.

If you've got this combo and have not received a recall notice (applies to certain serial numbers only), I suggest you check out the SPOT website.

[10-K]

I have recommended to any who care to read my posts the Megellan line of GPS products. I have had three of their GPS units and currently still have an eXplorist, and a Triton 400. Recently I purchased a couple of Macs. My spouse and I are enjoying them. Well, to come to the point, I found out this weekend as I tried to load the software onto my Mac that it won't work. Come to find out Magellan does not support Mac and I won't be able to link these GPS units to my computer. Oh bummer. Oh, what junk! (That was my initial thought). So . . . . . here I go eating my words... I began to look around for Mac supported gps stuff. And guess what? GARMIN! I have been looking at their units and the support available and I am very impressed. I will keep looking but at this point the others will have to beat the Garmin GPS Units.

Garmin has great software for the Mac! There are also a lot of 3rd party GPS programs for the Mac. So far, I've been able to do everything I've wanted to do with my Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx & Macbook.

[SunnyWalker]

Thanks 10-K. Are the Dakotas or the Oregon series the latest? Also where does the GPSMAP 62st fit in?

[SunnyWalker]

I bought the Oregon 450. It does support Macs. No problems liking it to my Mac. I am so very pleasantly surprised by the customer support and all that Garmin offers. Also, the Oregon 450 is performing well so far. I won't go back to Magellan. They were good instruments (had 4 of them). No comparison to the Oregon 450 though. And the customer service offered by Garmin, well Magellan is fine and all that but there is just no comparison. Wow, I would have switched long ago if I had known.

[SunnyWalker]

I have found that I can add add into the Garmin Oregon 450 SD cards. nice. One can add to a card etc. Also Ifound tgat garmin has a pretty good offer of SD cards already loaded with maps and areas and all.

[leaftye]

The SD cards are great. I have several maps on mine, along with storing the pictures that the gps takes, waypoints and tracks. Sometimes I use the extra space to store other files, like ebooks and music, although those can't be used with my Oregon 550.