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I do most of my hunts with a Garmin 12 Map. This particular unit does do averaging, which I find to be very useful when placing a cache, but not very useful for hunting them. One of the nice things about the 12 Map (no longer available…sorry) is that it uses four batteries instead of two, and therefore the time between battery changes is greatly extended. I also have a Garmin eMap which uses two batteries, and goes through them reasonably quickly. I have switched all of my portable electronic equipment (Digital Camera, GPS and GMRS Radios) over to Ni-MH batteries. They last a lot longer than alkalines, and they are rechargeable. You can get a set of 4 AA Ni-MH batteries for less than $12 and a slow charger for those batteries for about $12. For any GPS that only uses 2 AA’s, I would strongly recommend Ni-MH.
I also use the Garmin GPS V, and did extensive research, before making a purchase I plan to keep for quite some time.
– If you plan to use your GPSr for Caching only I felt the Magellian Meridian was the best chioce hands down, but if you plan on using it for travel as well I felt the GPS V was a much better choice for several reasons.
1). The GPS V uses 4 batteries
2). It has a removable antenna, “did you know some new vehicles have a coating on the glass to block UV which also blocks GPS reception” rendering some GPSr’s usless in the car. For a few bucks you can buy a remote antenna for the GPS V.
3). Plus the data base that comes in the unit is cool.
4). I also liked the switchable screen from portrait to landscape, making it more readable from hiking to driving.
– The choices are so varied, I felt it is something you need to really think about how you are going to use it, before you can make an informed decission.
– Good luck
-Team Kilroy was here!Our first 300 caches were all done with a Garmin GPS12. We found that this is a good solid unit. L/L have been right on the money and rarely have we had any trouble with Satillite lock. It is a bit clunky, battery hungry and it does not float. But within 100 feet, it has been highly reliable.
We recently added a Garmin Map76 to our tool kit. This is a great navigational aid. Huge and vivid display, and has excellent map detail. We still don’t have a complete handle on all the features. It seems to have a highter order of precision than our GPS12, but isn’t as quick in close. Maybe that’s us and we will pick up speed in time.
To make both storys short, they are each great units and each has it’s strong points.
For ease in use, our granddaughter achieved an admirable level of proficiency with a yellow Garmin eTrex in a few hours.I have the Meridian.. love the MapSend program.. stores on your computer so you can use it there and look at the monitor screen of the waypoints then easily upload it to your GPSr. Now that mem/storage cards are coming down in price.. I have enough SD cards to put the entire eastern half the US on them.. this program has food/hotel/etc as well as such detailed maps that they show many of the trail systems.. logging roads etc.. Parks and state natural areas seem also highlighted most times. The way I travel this GPS has always worked well for me.. even though I have not read the manual.. I was off and running within minutes after purchase. This is a replacement because my other one got soaked.. so don’t depend on it being that waterproof.. it does float but perhaps I had a defective first one (grins)
Big plus it only needs two AA batteries and I have the rechargable ones.. (8 in total) so I am set to go for days without backups.. also it has a cool plug and mounting hardware for the dash of your car that then plugs into the cig lighter socket..Only thing I still need for my unit is a neck band type thing so I don’t always have to hold it (grins)
One final note: MapSend will only allow four 15 MB or less Region uploads to the SD disks.. so buying any card over 64MB is a waste of space. I also have a mini disk reader that cuts the map transfers down quite a bit.
Hope this makes sense (grins)
~The Lil OtterI found my first 75 caches with a discontinued Garmin 48 then moved to the Garmin MAP76 and I couldn’t be happier. The unit is highly accurate, holds satellite lock well, even under tree cover, uses only two batteries (I like the lithium ion ones – they’re a little more expensive, but they give a LOT more time – can usually cache an entire weekend on one pair). This unit isn’t really meant for road navigation so it doesn’t give turn-by-turn directions like the V does, but I also use it for marine navigation and it can load all of Lake Michigan on it quite easily. I’ve found that I can navigate easily enough without having the GPS tell me where and when to turn – I can make those decisions myself.
That being said, about the only thing I’m not really fond of is the maps themselves. I use Garmin’s Roads and Recreation and sometimes the maps are a little lacking – rural roads missing or just diappearing, etc. Transferring waypoints and routes to either Delorme Street Atlas or Topo is a snap and they are somewhat editable in either program. Getting anything to work with MAC is practically impossible, but doable with Virtual PC. Getting the GPSr to work thru USB is also somewhat of a challenge…
My $0.02
GLSailor
I started out using a Garmin II, but left if on my dashboard for almost a year and I think it froze…ruining the LCD display. I replaced with a used Garmin III from eBay and have been very happy with it! I also had a Garmin 12 that my neighbor let me use “forever” so that I could teach him how to use it, but when he moved to the Antigo area, I insisted that he take it with him. I already have several of his shotguns that he insists that I “keep for him”
I like the way my Garmin III works as a dash mounted GPS and by simply unplugging it, works great as a hand held. The Garmin 12 held sat locks very well under tree canopy compared to the other 2 I might add, making it a very nice starter GPS!
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