reddneckk

A friend's wife wants to get him a GPS, looking at the $100 to $175 price range, like the Garmin etrek or Magellan Sportrak. She wants me to help find a good one for him. So, do I need "WAAS enabled", does it make a difference is accuracy? Will I be happy without WAAS? Does anyone have comments on the two units above, and was yours WAAS enabled? How accurate should I expect -- how many meters does it get you to your spot? Any other models we should look at, or which ones to stay away from? Thanks for any inputs.

skeeter 7MM

I have a garmin etres (Yellow guy), it works well for my usage. No maps, but 500 waypoint, routes, etc. In most cases it is accurate within 5-10 meters, depends on the canopy, etc. It isn't WAAS enabled. I have heard WAAS can give you 3 meter accuracy vs 5-10. I think if i was buying new i would look at the WAAS capability, just b/c it seems to be the way of the future. I have been looking at the Garmin rino, it is a GPS and Radio combined, it has more features and WAAS. The Rino 110 costs about 170 and if your pal uses FRS it will be one item vs. 2.

I would have no problem recommending a Garmin, as out party has 4 in total, 2 - etrex, Vista and GPS12...all have worked well with no issues...none are WAAS. We all carry Motorola Talkabouts as well, thus why I think the rino is something to look at. Also if you have 2(or more) rino's you can send via GPS to the other(s) your location..up to 2 miles!

nate68123

If you're looking to find your buddy's hunting spot which you've never seen before, in the dark, WAAS is a good thing. If you're out in a boat and very fogged in, to the point where you can't see past the siderails and every horn sounds like it's coming from anywhere, WAAS is a good thing. If you want to find exactly where you buried the fortune you took out of the stock market at the end of the 90's, WAAS is a good thing. Those are things that 3m accuracy would be very helpful for.

5-10m accuracy, which is non-WAAS attainable in most any conditions, is available on the $100-$175 models. I have a non-WAAS Magellan handheld, and with a smidgen of common sense and a topo map, I do really well. If I didn't want to, I wouldn't even need the topo map, but I've found that the two tools in conjunction really help when scouting and hunting. Garmin is a very reputable company, and I like their e-Trex designs, but there's so many of them I get them confused. My gut tells me that $175 is the cheapest you'd see WAAS-enabled handhelds, and maybe not even that cheap, but the prices have fallen so much in the past 5 years (I got my GPS 5 years ago) I've lost track.

Nate

Deleted User

[Deleted by Admins]

skeeter 7MM

I just checked Cabela's and the rino 110 sells for 169.99. It has the 500 waypoints, 20 reversible routes, waas enabled, trac back features, Frs/Grms and beaming features (sending location of upto 2 miles to other rino's). I really would find it hard not to get this unit. The regular etrex is 110.00 than tack on an FRS your the same price, but you get waas ans some additional features. Lets face it an FRS is nice to have as well when hunting with a partner or two. Anything i have had Garmin has been topnotch, so unless they have a dodo bird in the rino...I think it's a great buy and tool. I only wished I had waited a few years. oh it works with stardard FRS radios as well for communication...just will only beem to other rino's. I say it is worth a look.

J. Shoot

I'm in the market for a handheld also. I have a GPS unit incorporated with my boat sonar. This is one of the most useful tools a fisherman could ever have, I have over 200 waypoints marked on only 5 lakes. I'm not sure which one to buy but I'm watching everyone's responses here, so everyone give me some advice.

Thanks,
J. Shoot


Searching

elknut1

I've had several GPS over an 8yr period the one I have now is the best I've ever had. This is the garmin etrex summit, I'ts digital, which means you do not have to move to get an accurate reading. Don't think that's not a big deal, because it is, other wise you have to use a compass to get a reading, say if you stopped to take a snack and take a reading at the same time, in order for it to read accuratley you must use a compass along with GPS. I've had several magellan GPS they last about 2yrs each and had to be replaced. This garmin is great, but like someone else metioned do'nt waste money on features you'd never use. The garmin sell's for 179.00 after rebate. elknut1

LeeinVa1

i have used the garmin gps products for years, gps 38, 40, 12, etrex and etrex summit and have had no problems with any of them. just purchased the rino and it seems to be a great product in that it combines the radio and gps together. the rino comes with a lot of bells and whistles that you may never use, e.g. calculator, stop watch, alarm clock, calander. takes awhile to work your way through the user manuel to set it all up, but once you accomplish this you are good to go. it does come with 8 gmrs channels and you do need a licence to transmit over them and it will Not transmit your postion to another user while using these channels. i would recommend the rino unit only because it combines the radio and gps together. my other recommendation would be the etrex summit. only complaint i have had so far is that the postions are shown in small print and they are hard to read. have sent an email to garmin on this to see if they can enlarge them. in case you did not know, you can go to the garmin web site and download updates to your units. anyways, i found if you combine the gps with a good map program like maptech you can't beat it. just my input, have a great day

The ORB

I have had a Etrex Vista for a year or two (has the Barometer/altimeter of the Summit plus WAAS, 24mb memory and mapping capability). It is a very nice and well built unit and I use it for hiking, hunting, and even mounted onto my Kayak. My only complaint is that when in heavily wooded areas it struggles to lock on to a signal. Not sure how this compares to other handhelds but I have heard that the antenna is the only weakpoint on the Etrex units. Just something to be aware of if like me you hunt in heavily wooded areas. The Rhino sounds good if you just want a good basic GPS though, it'll save carrying a seperate radio and batteries.

CargoF16

LeeinVA

I just read your post about the Rino. I'm looking hard at them and cant decide if the 120 is worth the extra money. Which one do you have? Do you wish you'd bought the other one?
I like to have topo maps available in the GPS to more easily verify my position compared to my paper map, plotting coordinates on the map is labor intensive. Also do you have map/topo software that you would recommend?

thanks




Cargo