mordecaia

I LOVE THE WOODS AND LOVE TO HUNT AND JUST SOMETIMES GO EXPLORING BUT ALAS i AM SOMEWHAT " DIRECTIONALLY CHALLENGED" . MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP SOON AND iM THINKING ABOUT ASKING FOR A GPS.

I WANT SOMETHING THAT IS SIMPLE TO OPERATE AND WITH SIMPLE DIRECTIONS ON USE- NOTHING TOO TECHNICAL. I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHERE I AM AND HOW TO GET BACK TO WHERE i CAME FROM AND POSSIBLY MARK THE LOCATION OF CERTAIN TREESTAND SITES.

WHAT REASONABLY PRICED UNITS WOULD ANYONE RECOMMEND FOR THE ABOVE FEATURES-- ie: SIMPLICITY!

skeeter 7MM

I would suggest the Garmin Etrex (little yellow guy) for ease of use, no frills and get you to where you want to go. It is waterproof as well, the only gotcha is no digital compass, so you must move for it to engage. Personally this poses no problems for me or any of the 4 other I hunt with that use the same model. BTW, it still is important to know how to use and always carry a compass as back up. I would never trek into heavy woods without my compass as back up, technology is great but things can always go wrong with electronics and batteries do die. Also if you are sitting down in a tree or on the ground and want to check wind direction, etc the manual compass will allow you to do so without moving. FYI, some models do have a digital compass but you will pay more and more often they are the loaded up units that you may not have any use nor want those extra features.

Most are pretty simple to use I feel, but I have yet to hear anybody complain about Garmin products on the ease of use! A few hours of playing and testing, you should feel comfortable to head out in the woods with them.

I got mine on the way to a northern fishing trip, by the time I landed I had figured it out, marked distance from airport to cabin, home to airport, etc. It helped us that week locate cabbage beds, rock shelfs, spots that had no visible land marks and once to get back to camp(the first day) in the dark. Since then I have marked many spots, located shot animals after we pushed them up and decided to give them time to lay down. It has been a great addition to my pack, that I wouldn' t leave home without.

Brampton Mike

Well I have a Garmin GPS12XL & I don' t leave home without it!!!!!! A word of advice though....always have a compass with you & know how to use it as GPS run on batteries & sure as sh*t those batteries will die when you need your GPS the most!!!!!!!!! Brampton Mike [8D]

trailer

When your looking at a GPS and decide on which one to get , check out the accessories. Some of them are good to have like the power cord with the cigarette adapter or the car mount bracket for when traveling in the vehicle. Good luck in your choice..

JagMagMan

I' d recommend the Garmin Etrex too. Its pretty simple to use, priced right, and has plenty of memory for marking stand locations.
I' ll second carrying a compass for backup too!

mfrofadventure

Yup...Etrax Vista. About 3 bills, but worth it. As mentioned, always bring the compass and a map of the area you' re in. I always bring spare batteries and all that survival stuff too!

JagMagMan

My Etrex was about 100 bucks. I really don' t need the extra 200 bucks of map features. The regular Etrex does all I need.

Deleted User

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Taxman003

I have a Garmin Legend that I just purchased last year. However, for simplicity I would recommend the Etrex (yellow). It' s $ 100 bucks about this time and will fill your need well.

One comment I' d like to make is those concerning a compass. I am a rookie hunter and will use my GPS to mark points. However, when it comes to navigaiton, I will use my compass first and my GPS second. How are we supposed to learn the learn the lay of the land when our face is down looking at a screen.

When I got messed up last year (no GPS), my compass was my best friend.

CalNewbie

I guess I' m the lone voice of dissent. I recommend the Magellan. In doing my digging before making the purchase I came across the following comparison information.

First, the antenna of the Magellan is better suited for picking up signals through trees, etc. Not that those things don' t cause interference and/or that you' ll always get a signal, just that the Magellan is a bit better at it than the Garmin line.

Second, the Garmin unit(s) I read about tended to smooth out your path, the Magellan doesn' t. The Garmin tends to remove your " dog leg" turn and make it into an " as the crow flies" path.

I haven' t had the opportunity to really put the Magellan through its paces, but I do like it so far. Its a little bulkier than the Garmin, partially because of the enclosed antenna. My info came from these forums, review sites, PC Magazine (of all places). It seemed fairly consistent.

Got mine online for $250 at www.compuplus.com.