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General discussion

help with GPS decision

Nov 24, 2007 5:46PM PST

I'm searching for a GPS (as a gift for my Dad). He wants one that is portable & versatile...e.g, it can be used (1) in the car, (2) on a motorcycle and (3) hiking.

The more I research, the more confused I get. It seems the "personal" GPS are meant only for tracking hiking paths, for example. What specifics should I be looking for in order to find one that is small & portable, yet also comprehensive for driving directions?

Discussion is locked

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Those are two units.
Nov 24, 2007 8:45PM PST

I doubt you will find one that will work for item 3. For under 200 (on sale) the usual names would make a fine gift.

Bob

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For these, start with a handheld Garmin or Magellan unit
Nov 29, 2007 8:21AM PST

I needed the exact same thing, so I bought a Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx, upgraded from a 76CS I had before. It's sold as a marine unit, but I mostly use it for car navigation and hiking. I've used it for the last few years, and now I don't ever leave the house without it.

Its driving directions and points of interest (gas stations, restaurants, shopping, etc) are as good as any car gps, but it has a smaller screen than most auto units, doesn't have traffic info-based reroute or 3d view, and only beeps rather than giving voice directions. These are the compromises of a handheld unit, but have never been an issue for me.

It comes with a variety of mounting options - I have the permanent car mount, the temporary car mount, and the handlebar mount.

To effectively use handheld units, you must also buy maps to put on them. They come with a base map, but the base map only includes major highways. I purchased navigation maps for North America for driving, 100K-level USA topographic maps for hiking, and Bluechart marine maps of the US western coast for sailing.

The cost for the gps unit plus all the maps is as high or higher than the best auto gps units (which come with built-in US maps). And remember, there are still the other trade-offs for handheld units. But in return, I have a unit that works well for many purposes, has a long (~14 hour) battery life, and is more rugged than auto gps units. With a single 1gb microSD, I carry auto navigation, topo maps, and marine maps for more than the entire southwest US.

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Thank you!
Nov 29, 2007 9:58PM PST

Thank you so much for this response! It's exactly the information I'm looking for.

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re: help with GPS decision
Nov 29, 2007 8:51AM PST

There are a very few crossover style GPS devices. Lowrance is coming out with one called the XOG. From the demo of it I saw, it should work well on the road, trail, and on the water. The cool things is, you can download topo maps for it. The only issue I see with motorcycle use is getting a good mounting bracket. I've seen the XOG listed at some online retailers, but I'm not sure if it's actually available yet. We haven't gotten on it at CNET for review yet, but Lowrance definitely wants to make it available for Christmas.