GPS-what to buy

There are numorous options out there.
a lot of people use the style with the walkie talkies, I use a garmin 60cs. Love it.

Just make sure what ever you get will take Topo maps and has a screen large enough to actually view stuff. Most GPS's will allow you to mark stuff and be stored and downloaded to your computer.

I have a Garmin 60CS, the 60 CSx is the newest version and worth the $$ compared to an Etrex. I first owned an Etrex Vista, a great GPS but I found it harder to use. The buttons are subtlely marked but unless you use it alot you will forget how to use the buttons to make it work. The 60 series has buttons clearly marked so you do not need to remember which button on which side does what. Also the 60 has a slightly bigger screen and I found its ability to keep a signal better than the Etrex series.

I have used my 60 for hiking, travelling and sledding. For an outdoors person this is the one to get. And the Garmin topo maps are great for it.

GPS recommendation

Definately the 60csx over the Etrex line (Vista etc). My Vista had poor reception, and liked to shut down by itself. After unsucessful service attempts I gave up on it. I actually liked the click stick on the Vista, but the other issues make the 60csx my favorite unit.

We have the Rino 130's. They seem to work good for us.

Garmin 60 CSx here also.

I have an eTrex Legend. I use it hiking, sledding, Jeeping, fishing (open ocean and rivers) and even on family road trips. It has always worked well for me. If I had to make one neg. comment about it, at times it is picky on signal. Move a little bit and it comes right back. I know there are better units out there, but this unit does a good job for about $120.

Garmin Rino 120's here, work great, love the radio feature...

Love my 60CSx. Full day of riding and only down one bar on the battery meter. Excellent reception, never dropped the signal even in trees.

Some others have mentioned it, but getting a tether for whatever unit you get is a very good idea. A broken mount and watching your GPS unit flying off into powder snow would make a dude cry.

not too long ago, I was asking the same questions. Here is what I found, and why I made the choice for our needs/wants.

I looked at all brands. The vast majority of feedback I got from others that I asked was that while no brand it without flaws, the Garmin brand seems to have the best feedback I found. Ease of use, ease of learning, interface with pc, expandability (sp?), and chips with data are easy to find. Based largley on that information, I decided to stay with a Garmin product. You can also call Garmin direct, and they are helpful with any questions.

ok, so now which one: The GPS 60Csx is a great tool with all the options. At first I wondered if I should spring for the color screen, but it was pointed out to me that just like cell phones, the color screens are actually easier to read, especially in limited light. Made sense to me. That model also had the higher sensitivity antenna. Since we are in the mountains, canyons, draws, trees, etc, and bad weather, I figured that would be worth the $$.

So, did I want to spring for the radio feature? Well, since we already had radios, that was a difficult question. I'm pretty frugal, so I don't buy something to have the 'latest, greatest', or 'new' - I need to see the value, but when the value is there, I'm willing to spend the $. I saw a benefit in the ability to transmit my location to others, or see others' location when they talk to me. (all the Rino's can do this) So, now, which series of rino do you go for? Again, being cheap, my first thought was to buy one with all the bells and whistles, and one really basic model, just for the polling feature. But, the 100 series transmits on a lower wattage than the 500 series. I did talk to some folks that had range problems with the 100 series models (in one case it was just over a ridge). Since then their group has gradually switched over to the 500 series (higher transmit wattatage, and more sensitive antenna) and so far, they have not had range problems. So, then thought about getting on 530Hcx and one 520 to keep the cost down, but I decided that I would rather have 2 devices that had full features and worked exactly the same. The prices I found was about a $60 difference.

So, based on that feedback, I chose to buy a pair of Garmin, Rino 530hcx radios. The "Rino 530 Hcx" has all the features as the "gps map 60Csx" plus the radio capapble of 3 or 5 watts transmission.

I chose to purchase on-line, and saved a lot of money. The best price I found was via E-Bay.

--just my opinion, PM me if you have any Q's

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Love the Rhino 530.

Great battery life in the cold.

Radio and GPS in one unit.

Download topos.

Peer to peer finding options is super cool in sticky situations.

THe group i ride with all have rinos. They work GREAT, love the pier search tool, ITs great to have when Johnny utah disapears into the trees. Ram-mounts makes a mount for it that you can bolt right to your hood. I have mine mounted between my tach and speedo. Love it.

Definately go with a garmin.... they stand behind what they build, and they build the best (imo) GPS units available.

I have an old GPS12... bought it used off craigslist and busted the battery boot on it.... shot an email to Garmin and two days later I had a new battery boot, completely free of charge, no questions asked. Too bad other companies don't work like that.

2¢

i just got my 530 rhino for xmas from my wife and i love it, has all the options, and it does way more than u could think of....the 530HCx is my choice.

I use a Lowrance H2Oc because of the Lake Map chips you can get for it, works well.

Rino 530 HCx if money is available.
Rino 120 if you are on a budget.

Ram mount to the hood or handlebar/riser and don't look back.

VB

I have a rihno 120. gps and radio. no fancy color features or nothing buy it works good, other 120 or 130 users, when they call on the radio it will show there location and you can track them, or go to them. You can turn this feature off for those of you who don't want you local shown, but it has come in handy finding people. after 4 years of abuse, mine is starting to get a glitch in wet cold weather, I think I will have to send it in for repairs.
What I don't like about garmin is the mapping program they have, I use Maptech and you cannot load that on there units. only mapsource is available for it, but I do transfer waypoints and tracks back and fourth between the 120 and my pc/maptech. go to maptech if you want something really accurate and detailed, but you got to spend the big $$ http://www.maptech.com/

You might also want to look at the Garmin 76CS. The colored screens are alot nicer then the plain screens.

My complaint with the 76 is the size. I would suggest that you go to a sports store and check them all out. They should fire them up for you and show you features etc.

I'm in the same boat, looking for a gps. So not to jack your thread but I'd like to ask a question.

For those of you that don't like the etrex series of Garmin. From what I can see the biggest complaint was the signal not being strong enough. Have any of you tried the new series of the vista or legend the Hcx series? It has the high sensitivity antenna wondering if this worked better. Seems to me that it is the same antenna in the 60's but not sure.
Just wondering.

Thanks

garmin all the way great support if in need and we run 530 have the radio to talk but with any must have a back track to get you out to where you came from.my 1 cent