GPS Brand Experience

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I was curious what brands of GPS units folks out there have owned or currently own and if there are any preferences. Garmin seems to be the most well known and Tom Tom appears to be the latest and greatest for in-vehicle use for navigating on paved roads. What about Magellan? I was thinking about asking for a GPS from Santa so I figured I'd start checking them out. I saw Steve's post from 2 years ago. I searched the Electronic Gadgets forum on MUD and have been looking around the web. I've seen some pretty good deals advertised on some basic units if I want to fight the crowds on Friday morning. I know there are some fairly economical units at places like Target and Wal-Mart (eTrex, I think). I don't care about having a unit that is focused for on-road use, such as driving directions in town. I want a handheld that I can carry with me while hiking/fishing/geocaching/wheeling but still has a decent screen that I might be able to view topo maps with. I'm liking what I've seen with the Garmin 60CSx. I like the way some of you guys can record your route and then load it into a software package and it will overlay your route onto a topo map. I'm assuming that's pretty typical functionality with even the economy units though. Is that National Geographic's TOPO! software you use for doing this? Any other thoughts or suggestions? It looks like I'll need to spend at least $200 to get something that does what I want. Any opionions on the sub-$100 units, like the eTrex?
 
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Marc,
Ive used both Magellan and Garmin units and the Garmin is way better in my opinion. I have the 60 CSX right now and I love it. Easy to use, decent memory and a good screen. The only issue I have had with it is that the screen is hard to read in direct sunlight.
Enjoy your shopping and I hope Santa is good to you!
Daisy
 
I have a Garmin GPS 60, the lower model, and wish I had bought the 60cs/csx. What ever you get make sure you can hook it up to a computer. I seem to recall some you can't. Two other features I require are a 12V port, and provision for an external antenna.
 
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I have a Garmin GPS 60, the lower model, and wish I had bought the 60cs/csx. What ever you get make sure you can hook it up to a computer. I seem to recall some you can't. Two other features I require are a 12V port, and provision for an external antenna.

Good point on the additional features to improve functionality. An external 12V power supply will help if the batteries die and you're near your car and I imagine provision for an external antenna would help if you've got a weak signal.
 
This has been a very good unit for me. It comes with Topo 7 for your laptop too.

Earthmate GPS PN-40 with Topo USA 7.0 - Bundle - DeLorme

How much did you pay for this one? The Garmin MSRP for the 60CSx is $399 same as the list price for the one you've suggested. I found the 60CSx on ebay for $250 - $300 depending on used/new/reconditioned. That's still a little more than I can justify for Christmas and Father's day and birthday are too far away to lump them together.
 
How much did you pay for this one? The Garmin MSRP for the 60CSx is $399 same as the list price for the one you've suggested. I found the 60CSx on ebay for $250 - $300 depending on used/new/reconditioned. That's still a little more than I can justify for Christmas and Father's day and birthday are too far away to lump them together.

I just did a quick check of gpscity.com and the 60csx was about $300.
 
Well scratch the GPS for this year. I just got a Temple Fork Outfitters 5WT 9'0" 4pc fly rod instead. If you know what all that stuff means than you know it's a pretty good rod. And it was only half the price of the GPS and has a lifetime warranty.
 
So, how much do you expect the fish you catch with it will cost you per pound?
 
Depends on how long I amortize it. Factor in 2 fishing trips per year using that rod, maybe 5 pounds of fish per trip. So the first year would be $15/pound. The only flaw with this math is that I rarely keep any of the fish to eat so technically that goes to infinity.
 
Ooh. Maybe I could use Father's Day as an excuse to get one.
 
This is what the tax return is for, come on now, be creative for a change :hhmm: While you're at it, pick up the ARB bumper in the for sale for your future 80 :D
 
I already spent the tax return on a 46" LCD TV. There's nothing left.
 

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