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Started by cash12, July 13, 2012, 07:03:00 AM

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cash12

New guy here and new to GPS.  I have been looking into a handheld, and I'm realizing I dont have any idea on any of this. 

Boyd

What is your budget? I would stick to the newer Garmin handhelds because they can use more types of maps (satellite imagery and scanned paper maps) than the old models. Here are few to consider. You need to shop around to find the best deal, Garmin's site shows list price and you can often find big discounts if you catch a sale.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=75226
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=63349
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=63801
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=87774
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=30926

cash12

thanks Boyd.  it's hard to say an $$$ amount, i would rather pay more for something that i could use and delivers.  I camp and hunt, and i've read on here about apps or maps that can tell me where the public land is, plus i go and fish, hike, and canoe in the Quintco Ontario area.  Is it more of getting the right apps than the unit itself? 

Boyd

Garmin devices don't really have "apps". They use a closed proprietary operating system, so you must choose the model that already has the features you want since there aren't any third party apps to close the gap.

However there's a growing quantity of nice user-contributed maps, especially here on this site.  :)

Seldom

If you're going to be canoeing you may want to consider this one:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=161&pID=63602
It floats.

cash12

Is the touch screen that important?  Looks like the Oregon has 850mb, while the others have over 1GB, Montana 3GB, am I limiting myself?  Looks like the routes and number of favorites vary too. 

Seldom

Quote from: cash12 on July 13, 2012, 11:10:53 AM
Is the touch screen that important?  Looks like the Oregon has 850mb, while the others have over 1GB, Montana 3GB, am I limiting myself?  Looks like the routes and number of favorites vary too.
You really need to visit a store to see the differences.  Personally, I hate touch screens, but if you have small fingers some data entry, like waypoint names is easier with them.  OR touch screens generally don't perform as well when fixed to bike handlebars as the non-touch screen models, because the non-touchscreen models have a slightly brighter display.  Don't know about display on a Montana, but when I saw it at my local REI it looked pretty big.

Boyd

#7
850mb vs 1GB is trivial, I wouldn't worry about it. The Montana does have more memory and the capacity for more waypoints. The additional waypoints would probably only be significant for geocachers (which I am not). However the Montana 600 is a fantastic device, the nicest I have ever owned. I use it in the car as well as on foot. It has a very impressive screen, viewable with no backlight in most conditions. But the backlight is also much brighter than any other handheld that I've seen.

All of the models we've discussed have a micro SD card slot and you could add a card up to 32GB if you feel you don't have enough space. The only time the additional internal memory can be handy would be if you use a pre-loaded Garmin map card. You can't add your own files to these, so they monopolize the card slot. In that case it's nice to have extra room in internal storage.

FWIW, the Oregon 450t has 4GB of memory, with the pre-loaded US Topo filling almost 3GB. That is why I mentioned that it might be nice if you find a good deal. You could remove the pre-loaded topo and archive it on your computer, freeing up another 3GB of internal memory in the process.

Touchscreen vs buttons: completely personal thing, there is no "better". I prefer the touchscreen for the most part, but there are times when I wish I had buttons too.