GPS Question

I've owned both Magellan and Garmin and I'm sold on Garmin. Great product, easy to use, they're the #1 GPS brand for some very good reasons. My Garmins have all been over $150 so I don't have any specific recommendations, but you can't go wrong with a Garmin in that price range.

Jerry

Amanda wrote:

Great gift idea! He'll like it.

Garmin and Magellin both offer units in your price range.

yes, but like tires, you do get what you pay for. An insufficient unit will only have to be replaced.

Look at the Garmin eTrex line, there are several any many are within your budget. Can't go wrong with any of them.

Amanda did pass the time by typing:

Although there are better models out there now I still use my old Garmin eTrex Vista. Read up on the add-ons like street level/terrain etc. as those can be $$$ on top of the basic maps.

Garmin is my choice. I live up here in the PNWet also and have been quite happy with my Etrex Legend. I just bought the unit with the pc cables and while I have the software from a freind (topo and cities) I have not needed to use them yet. However, I use it mostly for geocaching. I do reccomend getting a power cord for use in the vehicle tho. I didnt get one and I regret it a lot.

By the way... send him to

-jenn

I've got the Garmin V. Love it. Retail is higher than you're looking for but, as with anything, shopping around might get you a lot closer.

"There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'."

Pronunciation: 'jEp Function: noun Date: 1940

Etymology: from g. p. (G= 'Government' P= '80 inch wheelbase') A small general-purpose motor vehicle with 80" wheelbase, 1/4-ton capacity and four-wheel drive used by the U.S. army in World War II. _____________________________________________________________________

Amanda wrote:

Speaking of.... I got mine for a good deal thru Amazon.com. Suprisingly at the time they had some of the best prices on the web.

Here's the place to go for this question:

A GPS by itself is of limited usefulness. It will tell you where you are, but if you don't know where that is, well . . . you're still lost. Now the killer combination is a GPS and maps. I bought my first GPS in 1998 and until just recently I've been using it. My vintage GPS and topo maps were everything I needed to find my way around while jeeping.

I don't know what a $150 GPS will do, but I'm sure it will do the job. Some other nice to haves are a way to mount it so the driver can see it, but not have it bounce all over the place on rough roads. Another nice to have is a power cord to plug into the cigarette lighter. I doubt it will come with built in topo maps, so buy some maps of the area your boyfriend likes to go. I bought a book with topo maps of my entire state for around $15.00. Make sure the maps have Latitude and Longitude markings down the sides. Even with my fancy new GPS I still carry my maps. The view screen is just too limited, so not having built in topo maps is not a big limitation IMHO.

As for the brand of GPS, that's easy buy Garmin. Recently I've gotten into Geocaching in a big way. And after I got tired of my Caching friends ribbing me about my antique GPS I started asking them which GPS to buy. They've tried them all and to a person Garmin was the only one they recommend.

Merry Christmas to you and your boyfriend Dean

Thanks, guys!

Amanda