GPS advice sought

geepondy

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I figure some of you techno guys must be knowledgeable on these. I'm thinking of getting my first one. Have been looking at the Garmin Etrex Legend. $250 list plus a $50 mail in rebate. Seems to have a lot of features. Anybody have experience in this model or Garman Etrex models in particular? Should I choose another?

One more question. I see all GPSs have distance/speed functions. Say you're climbing a mountain. Say the mountain is 4,000 feet in elevation from your starting point, the trail to the top is five miles long but on a horizotal basis, you've only moved a mile or so from where you started. How would the GPS compute the distance? The distance you actually walked, just the horizontal distance or something else alltogether?
 

leddite

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i'd recommend the etrex vista... it has more RAM, which is important when you get around to downloading maps... very very nice to have the 24 MB.

the garmin gps map 76s is also about equivalent, but a larger screen (and floats).

as far as speed, it computes your speed based on calulations from moment to moment. It's 3D aware too. I'm guessing it takes such things into account :> Easy to test in a car. Point a car up a steep hill, drive at 40 mph, and observe with GPS. then drive at 40mph on a flat and observe. compare.
 

Silviron

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I have a Lowrance Eagle- Garmin or Magellan are probably a better choice for most people, but (cheapskate that I am) I went with the lowrance because it was about 20% cheaper than the equivalent Magellan or Garmin.

Lowrance doesn't offer as many accessories though, and there is a LOT more third party stuff that works with Magellan and Garmin.

What is really neat with my setup though, is I can plug it into my laptop, and with my All (NM) Topos CD set I can go anywhere in New Mexico and see where I am on the map at any given moment, and a graphic representation of how to get where I need to get to. A little unweildly for heavy duty hiking, but great for four-wheeling etc.

I was interested in that Geocaching thread- sounds like fun, but don't have time for stuff l ike that anymore.
 

Glow Bug

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Etrex Vista or GPS MAP 76s. I own 3 units. You would not go wrong with either. I also use a 10,000 dollar Trimble GPS at work and have found out since the signal is no longer degraded by the military, the cheap garmins are practically just as accurate and has more features.
 

Unforgiven

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I have a Legend and I am very happy with it. It has an internal patch antenna that works well. The quad-Helix antennas are supposed to be even more sensitive. It has 8 Megs of mem which has been more than adequate for most needs. (navigating by GPS in a car could use a little more) but enough for many metro areas. Topo maps require much less memory. The unit has a base map of North America built in with exit #'s etc. in addition to the memory. The Legend has a higher resolution screen than the others also. Another thing you may want to consider its the Garmin Rino 120 which has the same amount of memory as the Legend and has GMRS/FRS capability and can transmit your location to other units if desired. The retail price is the same as the Legend. The Rino also has the base map built in and the more sensitive Quad-Helix antenna.
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It takes approximatly 16 minutes to fill 8 megs of mem via serial port with the Legend.
Garmin
 

geepondy

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Just how much of a difference does the 24Meg memory capacity of the Vista over the 8 meg memory capacity of the Legend make in the downloading of map info? I can't see any other differences in the unit and the price is a hundred dollars more ($300 after rebate for Vista compared to $200 for Legend).

EDIT: Ok I see I'm wrong on feature comparisons. The Vista has an electronic compass (Is this something I really need?) and also a barometric altimeter. What advantage does a barometric altimeter have over the regular GPS's altitude calculations?
 

Glow Bug

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Greater accuracy in elevations if you hike. Electronic compass is very nice if you navigate in the woods. You can stand still and the compass gives you an accurate reading. The other units except Garmin GPS MAP 76s (it also has the electronic compass as well as tide data if you fish, and a Quad Helix built in antenna)has a compass that works by updating your position. It then knows which direction you are traveling by the way you are traveling. If you are in the woods, you have to walk very fast for it to accurately tell you what direction you are traveling. The Vista has a nice feature that calculates acrerge if you traverse an area. Again, this is what I do a lot of the time, so: these units work best for me. I use the Vista & GPS Map to calculate acres and map wildfires from helicopters and download the data and produce maps for ground firefighting crews to use. Garmin units are very versatile.
 

leddite

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what geepondy said. basically, with the 24 MB of ram, i can have most of the useful to me parts of NH, VT, some of ME and i believe, some of MA.

the street pilot is nice that it has a card slot for external RAM. a 128 MB card can hold the metro guide information for pretty much maine to maryland, east coast data sets. rock on.

obFLASHLIGHT: when my garmin etrex vista gives up on the batteries, a regulated flash light loves them (madmax, badboy, newbeam, arc-ls, ...) yay!
 

geepondy

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Thank you Glow Bug and others. I'm now leaning towards the Vista. I don't want to buy the Legend and then regret not spending the extra hundred dollars. I'm just afraid the GPS's might be like computers and six months to a year, my unit will look antiquidated. I'll look at other's as well but the Garmins are ready available at many shops and unless I find their discounted heavily on the internet I'd rather buy locally.
 

Willmore

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I have an eTrek Venture--the little child in the Venture/Legend/Vista line. Same basic hardware and software platform, just less memory (and no compas).

I use it to navigate while traveling and for geocaching. I don't need the memory, so I can't comment on that. You might need it depending on what your desired application in. I have a Magellen GPS comapnion V for my PalmV and I can download a ton of maps into that thing--so I don't really need my smaller GPSs to do that for me.

My parents just got a 76s and are very happy with it. It's a good deal larger and the battery life is worse by a noticable amount, but it is just loaded with features. Unless you're really hooked on the small size of the eTrek family, the Map76S might be the way to go.

Have you read: http://joe.mehaffey.com ???
Can't beat that site for GPS info. You could guild your own with the info there. I know, I am.
smile.gif
 

John N

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Oct 12, 2001
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First thing - tell us what you want from a GPS. How are you going to use it?

I have two Garmins - the Etrex Vista and a GPS III+.

The III+ has 1.44MB of RAM. Way too little. You basically have to pick your hiking spot and upload just that map. Screen has too little resolution.

The Vista has 24MB of RAM. I'd like a bit more but in reality you can have a fairly large area uploaded with topos. The screen is really nice compared to the III+.

But...

The kicker is that for serious use, the GPS III+ seriously outperformes the Vista because of it's external antenna.

If you are walking in wooded areas with the GPS in a pouch on your pack strap, the Vista is pretty much useless. The III+ on the other hand you stick the little antenna out of the pouch and there you go.

I've noticed similar issues with the GPS on the dash of the car in heavily forested areas - the Vista has problems, the III+ usually keeps it under control (and you can unhook the antenna and put a remote antenna on it).

I've had this a bit in the city (Seattle) when in between buildings.

My conclusion is the Vista is a great GPS if you aren't seriously on the go* in heavily forested or otherwise obscured areas. It is a very cool pocket map, whip it out, see where you are, etc.

The best deal here would be the GPS V, which has the same mechanicals as the III+ but with the good screen and 19MB of memory.

* With the Vista, you can stop, look for an area with a bit more clearing and/or wait and you should get a signal.

Perhaps the Rhino might be a good with the protruding antenna, but I don't have one.

-john
 

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