This topic contains 18 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by 
jsdad 13 years, 10 months ago.
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During our recent vacation, your 76Cx gave up the ghost (the battery clip broke off), so we ended up finding the nearest Best Buy and picking up a Nuvi 40 and a Dakota 20. We were really thrilled with the performance of the Nuvi for road navigation (for just over $100), including navigating to geocache parking. It even got us to this virtual which was located between the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-24 (where I know the 76 would have told us to jump the highway fence!) The Dakota, on the other hand, I’m not sure is worth the money. It performs well and I like the electronic compass a lot better than I expected (it switches between GPS compass and electronic compass depending on your speed, which is pretty cool.) On the other hand, it eats batteries like they’re going out of style, the screen is not really easy to see outside (although much better than the Oregon’s I’ve played with) and I have real doubts about using a touchscreen in the cold weather.
I looked at a 62s, but considering I would need to replace my maps, that is going to run around $400+. I’m really considering switching to a Delorme PN-60, but I have a couple concerns. First, it seems to use TOPO maps for road routing. Are they even close to up to date? Whenever I look at the USGS maps, they seem to have been last updated in 1980 or so. Second, this is not exactly a new unit, and they haven’t released anything else since this one came out. They have stopped selling their cheaper units (PN-30, PN-40). I’m concerned that they are going out of the handheld business soon. I have not heard anything about their service reputation (maybe that means they are reliable?) but Garmin has a pretty good reputation, although offering to charge me $110 to replace a battery clip has soured me on them.
So, I would appreciate any comments you might have on the PN-60. If I want to return my Dakota, I probably need to do it fairly quickly.
Dave, have you looked at the new Etex? They do paperless. I got a 62ST last spring and still leaning how to use it, or I should say that I keep learning something new. There is a site out there that you can get free maps. I have always good luck with their Garmin customer service. I had a problem with my 60 and and had a replacement unit in 5 day. I also called in last week and the guy I talked to was very nice and helpful. I no nothing about the Dlorems
I just picked up the pn-60 last month and it is a good unit. I got it mainly because of the accuracy and electric compass. The only thing I can say that I did not like is that the process/steps to get around it was confusing, but I got use it. as far as the TOPO maps I use my phone to get me in the area, but used it a few times and the beeps for when to turn scares the wife when she is not expecting it.
I got a PN-60 in May and once I got used to it, I’ve grown to really like it. One thing that I don’t like it that it doesn’t show associated waypoints, such as parking coordinates. I work around this by using my phone to look at the cache page for these. I haven’t had any problems with the road routing. You can turn the volume of the beeps down or even off if you want, but I find that they are helpful in alerting me when a turn is coming up.
All opinions, comments, and useless drivel I post are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of the WGA BOD.
I have a PN-6o and love it I also just bought a Etrex 30 and like it so far. As far as the maps, sometimes they are more updated than the Garmin. When or if you get on there is 5 discs and pick out the one you want load it. Then for caches you can download cacheregister from Delorme for free. You never really have to load the Topo 9.0 on your computer. Using that is a little tricky. Also after you load the disc on you unit go to map set up and click on hybrid and it will show you the roads better. If you need any help just shoot me an email. I have had a lot of Garmins and still keep my Delormes. Also they probable will be comming out with a new unit in the future, they have been working on the InReach.
ThanksI’m a big fan of my PN-40 and recently a friend of mine just bought a PN-60. For the cost, its a really great unit for geocaching. For auto-routing the PN-40 is not that great compared to the Garmin Nuvi I have. The cost of updating the maps is great for the Delorme’s as well. When wifeyole bought mine last October is was only $30 for lifetime map updates! Can’t beat that!
Please note: my comments are mine alone and may not necessarily reflect an official stance of the WGA Board of Directors.
Thanks, Yinnies,
I never knew about the hybrid maps. Looks better already.
All opinions, comments, and useless drivel I post are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of the WGA BOD.
Thanks for the replies. I took out my Dakota caching Sunday and was even more disappointed. It did the road routing fine, but then, to switch to off road you had to:
1 Get out of the map view to the main menu.
2. Enter setup. (I have already modified the menu to have Setup on the front page).
3. Scroll twice to get to the routing setup.
4. Select Routing.
5. Select Routing Method.
6. Choose Off-road.
7. Back out of Routing.
8. Back out of setup.
9. Select Compass (or Map).Compared to doing the same operation on the 76Cx:
1. Hit the menu button.
2. Scroll one space to Recalculate.
3. Press enter.
4. Scroll one space to Off road.
5. Press enter.For a unit allegedly designed with geocachers in mind, this sucks. As usual with touchscreens, some of the 11 button pushes have to be repeated due to “misses”. It is just very cumbersome. I’m convinced I need to take this back to the store and probably get a PN-60. If I don’t like that one, I can always bite the bullet and upgrade to the 62S.
Changing from auto to hiking is hit menu, scroll to route options and then select your options. Be warned that the auto routing has a glitch where it can keep recalculating and won’t let you exit it easily. I really like the Pn-60 and the support on the Delorme forums is great and I’ve even created my own maps for it. There is a big learning curve with Topo and the maps, but if you take your time and read previous questions about it on the Delorme forums you’ll grow used to the gps.
Yep, I knew it was going to double post.. 😳
@kc9gbo wrote:
Changing from auto to hiking is hit menu, scroll to route options and then select your options. Be warned that the auto routing has a glitch where it can keep recalculating and won’t let you exit it easily. I really like the Pn-60 and the support on the Delorme forums is great and I’ve even created my own maps for it. There is a big learning curve with Topo and the maps, but if you take your time and read previous questions about it on the Delorme forums you’ll grow used to the gps.
I’ve found that if you just stop moving, the auto router will stop recalculating and you can switch to hiking or stop navigating altogether.
All opinions, comments, and useless drivel I post are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of the WGA BOD.
Yep, that I’ve discovered also, but didn’t post that tidbit in case it was an anomolity in my unit. Kind of hard to stop though when I’m on the interstate and pass my exit and it locks up, for some reason the law frowns on me stopping to let the gps adjust. Laughing!
All in all I’m happy with the unit and recommend it to people, you just need to be brave and prepared for the many things the unit can do.FYI, I decided to give up on the Dakota and buy a PN-60. We shall see how this goes.
I think you will be happy
Dave, you will be mostly happy with the Delorme. It does NOT use topo maps for routing. If you like maps, you will love the Delorme. If you REALLY like maps, you can upgrade do their XMap software and “roll your own”.
Route planning on the PN-40 is very slow, but that might be improved in the 60.
Changing from road to hiking takes three clicks.
I wouldn’t recommend a Delorme for a beginner, or non-computer savy user, but you won’t have any problems using it.
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