# GPS units



## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Hey guys, just wanted to get a little insight on GPS units. I tried to search several places on this site and surprisingly, no hits came back. I'm sure there are topics out there but I can't find them. My questions are what do you have? Why do you like them? What features do they have that you use all the time for hiking, hunting, fishing, etc that make them a great tool for YOU to use? How much did you pay for yours? Do you like color screens or is it an overrated accessory? I have about 250 bucks to work with so I can't get some super high end thing, but I won't have to settle for bargain basement pieces of junk either. Thanks for your input guys.


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## nickpan (May 6, 2008)

I just got the Garmin Rino530Hcx. A few of my friends have em and they seem to work out great. It has the built in 2-way radios and NOAA weather satellite radio station into the unit. A little bigger than the average GPS but not bad. Has a color screen. It will also show you the locations of other Rino users that you want to see right on the Map screen, so you can see where they are. I just got it online for $360 but there is a $50 rebate until september sometime. A little out of your range but worth the extra bucks for the radio and NOAA. Only downfall is it doesn't come with a microSD card or any maps, but i already had those. Sd cards are cheap though


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## highcountryfever (Aug 24, 2009)

I have a Garmin Rino 530. It is the 2 way radio/GPS combo. Mine is the older model, I have had it for 5 or 6 years now without any problems. The radio feature is great, and it's not much bigger than a GPS without the radio. I think that the color screens are worth it. I have an uncle with the black and white and it is not as clear as mine. As far as use, I use it everywhere I go. I have a mount that I put on my snowmobile, ATV, mountain bike and last weekend I took it with me on a motorcycle trip to Montana.

The best thing about the Rino is the ability to locate other Rino's. This feature is AWESOME! How it works is when you key the mic on the radio, it transmits your location to the others in your group, and they can see on their unit where you are at. The higher units have the ability to request the location of another radio without that person keying their mic. That feature is called "Poll Location" and it has saved us many times. Quick example - My dad dropped his off the back of his snowmobile and didn't notice for several hours. We were able to take mine and Poll the location of his and able to get it back. My brother has also dropped his several times where we were able to recover it using this feature.

Anyway, they are worth looking at. They sell for around 500 or 600 at Cabelas, but you can find them online for half that, plus there is almost alway a $50 mail rebate for them too.

I did a quick search and found a few.

http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?373656_p3g

and the Rebate form

http://images.pricegrabber.com/rebates/251507.pdf


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

I have the Garmin Rino 520 HCX, Etrex Vista HCX and Etrex Legend HCX. I use them for hunting, Atv riding and Geocaching. I like all three. I do believe the color screen is better. I have a Garmin GPS 12 without the color screen and it is harder to read. In your price range you could get the Vista or the Legend through Amazon.com. I do recommend the HCX which is the high sensitive receiver. It makes a difference when you are in the trees. You can also get the Garmin maps and put them on a micro sd card. The base map they come with are not as detailed as the map you can buy.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Hey Reb, which do you like more out of the Vista or the Legend? I was looking at those pretty closely as well. Are they pretty easy to figure out and user friendly? I've got a friend who will burn the Garmin maps onto a couple CDs for me if I get a Garmin but just want to get one thats not too complicated for what I want to do which is just waypoints and routes to and from hunting and fishing sites.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

THose Rhino's are some sweet GPS's and the thought of having the radio and feature to know where your buddy is would be awesome, I just havent been able to fork out the 500 bucks yet. As soon as I can im definately going to get one tho. I have been using a Garmin 60CSX for the past couple years and I have loved it. If you get one , go with a color screen for sure. I dont have any complaints other than when im in deep forest, it seems to lose reception for a minute every once in a while, but im sure any of them might do that. I bought mine off E-bay used for like 125 bucks. It has served its purpose so far. I just used the Garmin software that my cousin has, Just downloaded it to my computer, and I dont need the disk.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

I know it is in your price range but I have the Garmin Etrex Vista and it is "pretty good", BUT down in the trees it just flat out does not pick up the satellites. I do NOT recommend it.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Bears Butt said:


> I know it is in your price range but I have the Garmin Etrex Vista and it is "pretty good", BUT down in the trees it just flat out does not pick up the satellites. I do NOT recommend it.


Do you have the HCX or just the standard "Vista" model? I've heard that the HCX is a lot better than standard models because of, like REB said, the more sensitive antenna. That seems to be what the reviews say also.

I guess I'm more of the "map and compass" kind of guy, just think it would be cool to mark exact spots on my treks so that I can return to them on another day, hence the desire for a GPS. Its certainly not something I'll be totally lost without so thats also why I don't feel the drive to get a real high end one, at least not yet.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Riverrat - I had the Garmin Etrex Legend until some Utard stole it out of my truck. Anyway, I loved that little thing. The features I REALLY Liked:
-The joystick thing allows you to go through all the menus and stuff with only one hand - it is very intuitive and easy to use. 
-I liked that it took regular batteries which makes it easy to take extras along if you need them.
-I never had issues with tree-interference to the point that it impacted really what I was doing. 
-VERY easy to use for marking waypoints, tracking trails, where you've been, etc.... Easy enough that in five minutes, I was able to teach my scouts how to use it.
-You can get it for under $150. That leaves some extra cash for other stuff. I found no features on the Vista that were worth the extra money. I've used the Vista with the color screen and in all reality, found it nice, but certainly not necessary. For me, if I were intent on spending $250, I'd get the legend, and drop the other hundred on a pair of binocs or something like that. But that's just me.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

My Vista is one of the older black and white guys. I still use mine today and it works fine, just not when I'm down in the heavy timber.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Have you guys ever had any issues with the little joystick breaking on you or getting stuck and making it hard to scroll through your menus? Some of the reviews I've read, man, those folks must be really hard on their gear because that was one of the main gripes about the Etrex stuff was the joystick and the pickup in the woods.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

No joystick issues with mine.


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## nickpan (May 6, 2008)

Riverrat77 said:


> Have you guys ever had any issues with the little joystick breaking on you or getting stuck and making it hard to scroll through your menus? Some of the reviews I've read, man, those folks must be really hard on their gear because that was one of the main gripes about the Etrex stuff was the joystick and the pickup in the woods.


Reviews are great in helping you decide,but you have to remember that most people that put reviews on products are the upset people that have had problem. There could be a million others out there who are completely satisfied. And alot of people don't take care of their stuff!!


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

You've really got to be some kind of freak if you break the joystick thingy. It is too small to get enough leverage on it to break it. You would have to TRY to break it, and try very hard in my opinion. I never had any problem at all with it. As for pick up in the woods, I could maybe see that if you were in some really dense eastern forests, but in hiking all over the Uintas with mine, I never had an issue. On vacation in Florida, we did some geocaching with the family and we lost some accuracy when under full canopy, but it went from holding on like 12 satallites, down to like 6. But no big deal.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Awesome, thanks for the input fellas. Gary, I've heard a lot about this geocaching thing... what is that? Are there just random coordinates on the internet where people hide some cool little trinket or soemthing for you to find? Thats what it sounds like anyway.... there are a bunch of pages with reviews on GPS units that are almost all about geocaching ability... I didn't know it was that big of a thing.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Riverrat I know you asked Gary to respond to geocaching, but from what little I've done, someone usually stashes a weatherproof box with some small items in it. Also, with a pad a paper and a couple of pens. Then they go on the geocaching website and post up the coords for where it is. These places sometimes require some serious hiking and/or scaling rock, but most of them are pretty easy to get to. The object is to find it of course, but then you write your name on the pad of paper and you take something out of the box and write down what you took. You then put something of yours into the box. It's a nice gesture to also indicate on the pad what you put into the box. Then you leave it as close to how you found it, whether it is out in the open or covered with leaves/branches etc.

It's a fun little game and loads of folks do it.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

RiverRat
I like the Vista and the Legend the same. They are basically the same unit. The Vista has a couple other features that you would have to decide if you want them. I think the Legend is probably the best deal. Especially if you carry a compass which you should anyway. Make sure you get the HCX though. It does make a difference. They are real easy to use. They are also tough. My wife had the Legend on the four wheeler. It came out of the mount at 35 MPH and bounced down the road. Still works fine and there is not hardly a mark on it. Make sure you put the invisi shield on the screen to protect it from scratches. They are water proof also. I ride in a lot of rain, heavy rain at times and have never had an issue with water.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

reb8600 said:


> RiverRat
> I like the Vista and the Legend the same. They are basically the same unit. The Vista has a couple other features that you would have to decide if you want them. I think the Legend is probably the best deal. Especially if you carry a compass which you should anyway. Make sure you get the HCX though. It does make a difference. They are real easy to use. They are also tough. My wife had the Legend on the four wheeler. It came out of the mount at 35 MPH and bounced down the road. Still works fine and there is not hardly a mark on it. Make sure you put the invisi shield on the screen to protect it from scratches. They are water proof also. I ride in a lot of rain, heavy rain at times and have never had an issue with water.


Awesome, thanks Reb. They sure sound tough. I like the waterproof feature too, that'll be nice hunting in the weather.

Bears Butt, that geocaching thing sounds fun... like something I could take my daughter out to do with me. It sure sounds like there is a real following for it... lots of websites just dedicated to geocaching.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

Geocaching is fun. They are every where. I just hid one in the Uintahs designed for the kids.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Bears Butt described geocaheing very well. We used to do it all the time with the family. We were surprised to see how many caches were within walking distance of our house in West Jordan. I bet we've walked to over 20 just from our home. And every time we road trip, I look at a map and figure out where we are likely to stop and pull up a few at those locations. Its a great chance to get out and see some places.

The website to go is http://www.geocaching.com/
It is free, and pretty easy to use. I've done a bunch of it with my scouts and they really enjoy it as well. Now there is even a geocaching merit badge!


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## Moostickles (Mar 11, 2010)

I use the Vista HCX and love it. I also have the old Vista and had the same problem as Bears Butt, but the HCX picks up a signal just about anywhere, has an easy to read screen, and I do like AND USE the the compass and altimeter (which I believe the legend does not have).


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

The Legend CX has the compass, just no altimeter. I'm with Gary, I have had great luck with my Legend CX, user friendly and I like the color screen. The topo maps were easy to install too.


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## ut1031 (Sep 13, 2007)

If $$$ are a concern then definitely the Legend......Like most GPS units, if you are in heavy timber it wil be tough to get reception. Garmin also makes the 120/130 that are both a GPS and radio like the 530 models. If you look around, you could easily pick one of those up for 100-150 used or reconditioned.


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