Which GPS to buy?

[Kelvin]

Hello all,
I am curious about getting a GPS primarily to play with in the car/truck (/tractor???).

Based upon online specifications that I have seen I am considering either the Garmin GPS III or Garmin GPS V. The GPS V seems to sell for $399 at several places, with EBAY prices ranging from $320-$399 (occasionally more).

Anybody have any experience with these units? Any other recommendations? Since I travel every now and then to strange cities it would be nice to play with as I'm out sight-seeing. The voice prompts for navigation and "nearest restaraunt" would seem useful. My problem is that I've never actually seen one in use, so I don't know if they're really as useful as they appear to be.

Another place that I would like to use the GPS is possibly while flying, but this is not a great priority right now (I am currently not flying the small airplanes and the larger airplanes I fly have fairly new GPS systems). I understand that some of these smaller GPS units can't handle ground speeds greater than 150 or 200 knots.

Thanks for any input,
Kelvin

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

GPS has been a very hot topic on another online board I frequent and the consensus there seems to be that, for your uses (all with 12V power at hand), the Garmin 2610 is the way to go. From what I read in older posts there, the prior consensus winner (before the introduction of the 2610) was the Street Pilot III. The flip side is that after all of the hoopla over the 2610, the prices on the others might come down further and you also might be able to find some cheap on the used market from people who moved up to the 2610. For what it's worth, I'm going with the 2610 but I'll never tell you I'm the one to emulate in this or just about anything else. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Good luck with whatever you decide. I hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[RockyMnt1]

I like the Garmin 295. I use it as a backup/independent unit for the panel mounted IFR Garmin. I haven't seen any problems when used in a C-150 up to a C-601 (Challenger). It helps to have the ability to download the updates via a laptop instead of the cards.
Lots and lots of options for displays. Doesn't seem to chew up the batteries excessively. Able to run on anything power source from 12V-48V.

 

[OkeeDon]

My son has a Garmin GPS (not sure of the model) that he uses primarily on his boat, but we've never used it on land. Instead, since I always have a laptop with me when I travel, I use DeLorme's Street Atlas with an Earthmate GPS antenna. I like the larger display, and the entire US is on the CDRom - nothing else to buy or download. $129 for the software and the antenna. I just ordered Street Atlas 2004, which also has all or part of Canada's roads, also.

 

[thcri]

Kelvin,

Go to www.geocaching.com. It has a discussion board just like here. You can talk to people that sleep with GPS. The ones you mention are good but may not be for what you want to do with it. I have a Garmin Etrex Vista. Also Garmin is coming out with a new one this spring that everyone is ranting and raving over. I may even sell my Vista to get one.

As for buying check out www.gpsnow.com or www.gpsdiscount.com. There you will find the allowed advertising prices, but when you click on add to my cart the price drops a whole bunch. I bought mine from www.gpsnow.com and had good luck with them.

murph

 

[Bob_In_MN]

The nice thing about Garmin is they offer a ton of options. I have the GPS 12 which is a very basic GPS.

95% of my use is getting me from shore out to the fish house and back. We usually fish about 5-6 miles out and even the most experienced person would have a tough time finding their house at night or in a storm.

I also carry it with me when we are traveling. In an emergency, it's nice to be able to tell people where you are.

Anyway--sounds like you have different uses for you GPS, but Garmin definitely will have a product for you.

Good Luck

Bob

 

[DocHeb]

?"Fish house"?

Made me think for a minute - but finally realized that in these here parts we call them "shanties", as in ice fishing shanties.

And whenever I think of ice shanties/fish houses, I think of those ice fishing scenes in Grumpy Old Men /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EarPlug]

Kelvin,

First concerning purchasing Garmin product through E-Bay be carefull. Garmin WILL NOT honor warranty unless purchased through an Authorized Dealer.

I have both the GPS V and the 2160. The 2160 is by far a better unit. The V is limited to 19 mb of maps at a time and to download a new set from your PC will take about 45 minutes. The GPS V does not have voice prompts but the 2160 does. Both have autorouting. Just put in your destination and it will calculate the route there. Both also have off route calc. If you miss a turn they will recalc a new route. The 2160 is probably 10 times faster at calculating.

Neither one of these units are aviation systems. I have taken my V on the airline and in a Lear 35 and they worked pretty good based on roadway databases.

I got my unit from Atomic GPS and they were great to work with and had the best prices.

Jack

 

[rdam]

In a prior life, I ran commercial vessels for a living. Garmin gained a very good reputation for reliable and user friendly units. Most are intuitive with little need for the manual.

I have a Garmin GPSMAP 76. It is extremely reliable and accurate out of the box. Lot's of accessories for those who like the latest gizmos. I DO NOT recommend this unit for a primary unit on a boat. It's too small.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Jack,

Did you mean that you have the 2610? or is there a 2160, also? I'm just trying to keep them straight. Thanks. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[slowzuki]

Magellan Meridian - Gold (Basic) Colour (self explaining) or Platinum (Compass and barometer) can't go wrong.

Uses SD/MMC cards to hold maps, can xfer with generic USB card reader.

I bought one in the spring and absolutly love it! My only with is for the higher resolution screen on the garmins.
Ken

 

[EarPlug]

Gary,

My mistake - Street Pilot 2610.

Jack

 

[_RaT_]

Murph, I upgraded the software version on my Etrex Vista to 3.60 and now it won't find a satelite. I may have to reload or perhaps, send it to Garmin to figure out. It is a very cool little device, especially with the map software used on the home computer, that is where it really comes alive. Mark

 

[GaryM]

The Garmin III and III+ units are discontinued, but still supported by Garmin. As mentioned the 2610 is now a top of the line unit.

I've been using my III+ for a number of years and it would be nice to have the color display and larger screen. I find my unit very difficult to view under certain conditions. The backlight is pretty much useless unless you have the unit in your hand. I have a mount made by Ram Mount www.ram-mount.com It consists of a large suction cup and cradles for the unit that are connected with a short arm and ball mount. This allows the unit to be positioned most any way you wish.

My unit also cannot do routing. Routing must be done on PC and downloaded, of use a tedious method of creating the route on the unit itself. Not a fun job I assure you.

Go for at least the V or the 2610 if possible.

 

[thcri]

Rat,

I have not loaded the 3.6 yet as mine is on loan to a friend and he is in California, somewhere by you I think. Anyway if you have your information backed up you can do clean and reset on it. That will take everything off your Vista. I have done this on mine and then was able to get things working. However make sure you have your data file backed up. I see 3.6 just came out so I will wait a bit.

You can still get the 3.5 if your worried about the 3.6 after your clean and reset.

murph

 

[thcri]

Kelvin,

Check out Garmins new GPSMap60C or 60CS. They are going to be available this 1st quarter of 2004 if you can wait. From the revues that I saw on www.geocaching.com it is going to be a pretty good unit. The CS is pre-selling at 428.00. I am seriously thinking of selling my E-trex Vista and getting the GPSMAP60CS.

It has been given the name "Jack of all Trades"

See this revue by a guy who knows a lot about GPS. In fact Garmin has given him a GPSMap60C to test out.

GPSMAP60C


murph

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Well, I just ordered the Garmin 2610 under the 12-31-03 deadline to get it on this year's business (nothing like waiting until the last three hours, right?). With shipping to my door, my total was just a few cents over $743. I'm not sure if that was the best I could have done, but I spent the better part of an hour online checking different places and it looked good to me. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I went with that one because it has a bigger screen and because of the fact it'll not only give me verbal directions as to turns, etc., but will also reroute me the "next best" way if I miss a directed turn like for a road closure or just what looks like a nicer road to ride on my bike. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It's primary use is as a business tool, of course. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[thcri]

Gary,

That is a good price. I checked some of the pages I have ordered from and you are within $2.00. Happy GPSn. If you want to get into Geo-Caching it is a great sport. Any questions on it just let me know or go to www.geocaching.com

murph

 

[GaryM]

Care to post a link to where you found it at tht price?

Thanks.

 

[thcri]

Gary,

I found mine on www.gpsnow.com or www.gpsdiscount.com. Both places show a higher price but if you click on "Add to My Cart" it will then show a lower price. Evidently Garmin has a minimum advertisment price so they can't actually show the true price until you add it to your cart.

murph