Hi all you GPS gurus. Why Garmin? It seems to be a far more popular make than Magellan, even though the Magellan units and software appear to offer better features at much lower cost.
Lots of reasons Bill. Waypoints per route is my biggest issue, 50 for M and hundreds for G. What a difference! You could do the whole PD on two routes but we have to use more than 15 to achieve the same. Downloading routes for rides seems to be a real pain sometimes with M, where G is almost seemless. Ed Strohak may chime in later as he really is the GPS guru in my eyes (after working with someone for a while you really get to know them) and he could tell you so much. I have used both systems, planned multiple ODSC rides with both systems and frankly in my opinion G is far easier, I don't get late nigh phone calls with G but do with M. They all have weak links but maybe because of familiararity with a system my experience is go G and go to GPSCentral.ca. Buy the best mount you can and you should be good to go. The last G has about 25,000km on it used on a so called paint shaker LC4 and it is very much to do with the mounting system.
I have a Etrex Legend CX ... great little machine. Only lost sat once in the bush in the ganny. One great feature is that you can turn on MULTIPLE tracks easily on the unit... a simple check box of "show on Map" selects it to be shown. Not sure if is a universal feature of Garmin or just the Cx. The other day I was riding with a member with a Magellan and it did not seem to be an evident way to show multiple tracks. I also like the size .... real small but still very usable with it's high Res colour display. Graham
In fact, I guess its quite the opposite of Beta vs VHS. Beta was better and it still lost out in the marketplace. You probably have enough info to answer your question of what brand to choose for offroading, but I forgot to mention the reason I chose my lowly GPS-V model. I could read it ! The Magellan's at the time had very poor screen resolution. Two things that are making me wish for a newer model is: - cpu power (to calculate/screen refresh) - the need to store more track points. If someone with a new gps gives me a large track, I can easily reduce it down to my max of 250 per track, but it makes it less accurate. Newer models can store 1,000's of track points per track. btw - even the aging V has the show tracks on map feature and is very handy to know that have been down those trails on previous rides.
Thanks for your input folks. I'm an old Garmin user (GPS12), but just thought I'd get up to date on this stuff.
It also helps to know which software/topo maps etc that most of your friends have so that you can glom onto their saved tracks/routes, etc. That is less of an issue now that they have universal formats ( i.e. .GPX files) that work on (newer) Garmin/Magellan/Lowrance, etc. with the appropriate, updated software.
I'm shopping for my first gps. Don't want to spend more than I have to, but don't want to save $100 now and regret it later. :cry: Walmart has the Meggelan 400 bundled with Canada topo for $249. GPS Central price is $309 for same. This unit is not colour, but has slot for SD card, lithium battery, ac cord and USB cord and comes with the card holding the topo for all of Canada. Seems like a great deal, but, based on the above comments, maybe I should be looking at Garmin only? :? Etrx Legend is bundled there with topo for $300. Not colour, no expandable memory, regular AA batteries. Any more wisdom to share?
As far as batteries are concerned... I prefer electronic things that use standard sized cells (AA, etc.) instead of proprietary battery packs. I'm assuming that's the case with the lithium unit you mention? Forgot to charge them and need to use it? Grab some alkalines off a shelf. Lose the pack, or it died? They usually RAPE you on the price of a new pack, considering they actually have *standard* cells sealed inside.
I accepted all the good advice here and ordered the Carmin 60Cx from gpscentral.ca. Also ordered the Ram mount and Metroguide software. Like I said before, I'd rather spend another $100 now than regret it later. (Actually, it was $300 more than the Walmart bundle :shock: ). I asked for the ODSC discount on the online order form - we'll see...
Right now, I'm using a Lowrance H20 and its a nice unit. But it was also a gift. I'm thinking my next one will be a Garmin CX60. From what I hear its a good unit. The Lowrance is a good unit but to add data unless you buy the additional cable for $50, you need to take the batteries out and then the SD card. Then hopefully you have a card reader in your pc..
Anyone here have or had a Tom Tom Rider? It looks prety good with Touch screen. $ 680.oo Just looking around and see whats available. Conrad C
