I have had a Lowrance IFinder for about 3 years (1 year of geocaching) and it still works like it is new. The drawback to this unit is that I have to transfer all my data to the unit using either a mmc memory card. I know with other units you can connect directly to your pc using a cable. I have found that my units (my wife also has an IFinder approx 1 year old) do a great job keeping satellite lock in all geocaching situations that I have been in. I have no complaints about this, whereas I have heard complaints about other units. To be fair, I have not used any other brand unit, but that is my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

I am not sure if there is a max amount of storage space that the GPS will accept from the memory card. I use a 128 meg card in mine which allows me to have street maps for all of Mich (U.P. and L.P.) all of Wisconsin and Minneapolis. I also have room for a little more for when I travel. I guess it just depends how big a memory card you want to buy. When I bought mine the MMC card that came with it was 16mb. This is enough storage space for the entire U.P. and the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Mich.

+1, I spent a lot of time hand entering coords for big trips before I found a way to import waypoints to the GPS…not fun.

Oops, one more, the GPS 72 doesn’t come with a cable either, but does connect to a PC. This unit appears to be identical to the 76, but without an external antenna port (and a cable). For this one, the cables are around $13 delivered on Ebay. I didn’t bother to cost one with Garmin, but I am sure it is significantly more. So, if you want the features of a 76, but don’t want the external antenna, this unit will save you around $60 if you buy the cable on Ebay.

The new Magellan Explorist series 100, 200 and 300 do NOT have PC interface capability. A huge negaitve in my book. The 400, 500, 600 have that but they have Lithium-Ion Rechargable batteries where if you run them down in the middel of the woods, your only choice is to put another spare fully charged ($40)Lithium Ion battery in.

The Explorist XL (Magellan’s newest) is the one I’m looking at getting. It takes regular batteries (albeit 4 of them) has a huge color screen (largest of the rugged handhelds on the market) and retains the staple of Magellan’s products, the ability to hold on to satelites in the roughest of conditions.

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Team GeoPink – Co-conspirators to make the world a better place…
– Jeff Rahmlow
WGA President
geopink at wi dash geocaching dit com

The comments and opinions above are those solely of Team GeoPink (arcangl7) and are not those of the WGA, the WGA board, or its other fine members.

as mentioned before the explorist 100, 200, & 300 don’t have any pc connectivity from magellan. but there is a cable you can buy if you already have one of these and want to add a pc connection. it uses a port under the batterys, so you have to remove them to use it. http://pc-mobile.net/mex100.htm

the explorist 210 came out back in november and comes from magellan with a USB connection, base map, and their geocache manger software.(oh and it still uses AA battterys) It only has 24mb for map storage but this is pretty decent for the price. you can find one online for just above $150.

EDIT: I should also add that I don’t know how good that site showing the cable is, they just had some good images of it. you can find them on ebay if you really wanted one.

[This message has been edited by hogrod (edited 03-17-2006).]

I love the color screen. I have the 60CS. The compass is a pretty nice feature, but not necessary if you carry a compass. I don’t have any use for the altimeter. If you’re looking to save a few dollars, don’t worry about those features.

Bec