need info. on GPS for hiking

D

Dave in PA

Joined
Sep 23, 2000
Messages
123
Hello all,

I have finally gotten my wife interested in taking some day hikes with me and the dog (only took 26 years!) and we have had a great time. She still isn't interested in any camping, but I usually go solo or with my son.

Anyway, she is interested in seeing how far we are hiking/walking and I figured a normal pedometer would not work due to the different gait over different terrain. I sincerely wish to keep her interested and hope this might help.

I have no GPS experience and wondered if one of these would be good for my task? If so, can anyone recommend a specific model? I really don't want to spend too much and I'm also open to other ideas if you have any.

Thanks!
 
Garmin Etrex easy to use and cost about $100. will do everything and more that you want. I have also found Garmin to be the best as far as user friendly easy to use.
 
Hi Dave,

Like mentioned above the garmin etrex is a great hiking gps, and its fairly simple to use. I your interested I have one im looking to move in the classifieds. You can email me at pabushcraft@aol.com if your interested.

Thanks Bill
 
I'll second (or third) the Garmin eTrex for what you want. I use it in much the same way to see the distance, elevation gain/decent, and path of new hikes that I do. It's kinda neat to see how far you walked without even trying to do much distance. I've already done twelve miles on a leisure walk and had no idea that I had even gone that far because I was just out there enjoying nature and was following prominent landmarks like mountains and a river for navigation aids not worrying about "getting lost" Just don't fall into the trap of relying on it to "get you back to your car" like so many people do. Always keep a good compass (and a map if it's an unfamiliar area) with you because batteries do die and electronics do fail. Situational awareness should not be lost to reliance on "toys"

I do use the feature for marking waypoints when I find a new outdoor goodie like a nice patch of wild edibles or such so that I can quickly get back to it and also mark it on a map once I get back home.
 
I been using garmin cx60 and love it. Use it on my bike for navigation and backpacking trips and it never failed me. Also on backpacking trips i turn it on once an hour or so save the point. As a back up i print a map of the area and everytime i stop i would transfare the cordinates to the map so when all fails i can trace my way back from the map. Always carry a back up battery but never needed it yet. For more fun to get your wife hiking check out the geocaching.com. Its something fun to do and find new trails.

Sasha
 
^ Second the Garmin 60Cx. Good, has color, decent battery life and MAPS. The etrex is nice if you just want to create an electronic trail or get back to the car, but a GPS with a map would give you a better feel of your surroundings. Plus, it can be used for road navigation too!
 
Map based GPS are expensive, but they are also nice. You should still keep a physical map, but I find that when I am referencing my position on the electronic map,its really easy to position myself on the physical one. Anyhow, if you don't want the advanced features of a higher end map and really just want it as a distance marker and car locator then by all means get the cheaper ones. On the other hand, getting a nice GPS might provide the motivation and confidence you need to tackle on a little bit of off trail adventures.
 
I like my delorme pn-60w. It came with a spot satellite communicator which would be perfect for hiking with your family and more so when hiking alone. It's nice to have that extra piece of mind that if you did end up in an emergency, you could hit the button and search and rescue would come to your location. Also, you can send up to 12 pre-defined (by you) text messages as often as you like with the basic spot service. They come with a link with your coordinates that you can open on google maps. For example, some of mine are, Arrived at trail, starting hike. I'm fine, just checking in. I'm injured, need help at my location. Vehicle problems, need help at my location, etc. You can send these to a group of people via text or email for non emergency situations, or just hit the sar button if you need to.

It also comes with a robust software that has detailed maps for all of north america, and within the software mapsend topo 9.0 i think it's called, you can download additional maps for any area you want for a small charge.
 
Go with something that is easy .I have a Garmin H2O and its so complicated that its almost useless to me. I never take it.
 
Go Garmin. I use the 60CSx on the recommendation of a geologist here.
He says they're tough and do the best job of receiving signal all over the world, even under cover.
However, I bought it several years ago, and I imagine Garmin may have made improvements on some of their sleeker touchscreen models.
That said, I've recently seen other models that look remarkably like the 60CSx that are still coming out. One is marketed to hunters.

Maps can be found much cheaper than the maps Garmin tries to sell you. I run a topo of the Southeast on my GPS. I downloaded it for free online.
 
I have a Garmin Etrex LEgend H, I picked it up on clearance for $50 a couple of months ago and downloaded a free map for it off the internet, it works good, a little slow zooming in and out but its good once you get it where you want it. I use it on my bike too.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I tried using my buddies Etrex (admittedly an old model) that failed horribly. It kept losing the signal due to being in the woods. Are they all like this? A unit that loses the signal under a canopy of trees is useless to me.

I can see more investigation is in order before spending a bunch of money.
 
Dave in PA said:
Thanks for all the replies. I tried using my buddies Etrex (admittedly an old model) that failed horribly. It kept losing the signal due to being in the woods. Are they all like this? A unit that loses the signal under a canopy of trees is useless to me.

I can see more investigation is in order before spending a bunch of money.
Click to expand...

Mine hasn't lost it's signal yet, except for once in the house. I used mine to navigate my way out of a swamp at night a week or two ago after I didn't mark my trail on the way in :stupid:, and it kept its signal the whole time. I will say that it is a bit of a battery hog however, you should turn it off when you're not using it. Pretty sure that's the way it is with pretty much all fancy electronic toys though.
 
Dave all of the new models that are marked HC have a hyper antenna so that they will not lose signal.The older models use to lose signal under a tree. The new models are good to go. I have a Garmin 76 csx that I get signal even in my house.

Best of luck,

Lt Mike
 
I recommend the Garmin 60CSx. I use it in Europe and the US. It never fails (except in a 800' deep river canyon). It takes a couple minutes to get a satellite lock, but it rarely looses it. I've taken it white-water rafting, hikes up mountains - all over the place and it just never fails.

I teach land nav from time to time and also use it to set up nav points super-fast.

There are smaller/lighter units, but i don't mind the extra reliability, accuracy and weather-proofness.
 
Dave in PA said:
Thanks for all the replies. I tried using my buddies Etrex (admittedly an old model) that failed horribly. It kept losing the signal due to being in the woods. Are they all like this? A unit that loses the signal under a canopy of trees is useless to me.

I can see more investigation is in order before spending a bunch of money.
Click to expand...
I have an older eTrex (10 years or so) that is absolute junk. It was state of the art at the time, but takes several minutes to get a signal, loses it under any cover at all, and also loses the signal if you turn it sideways. The newer models are supposed to be better, but I'm reluctant to try...
 
bigcountry1315 said:
Dave all of the new models that are marked HC have a hyper antenna so that they will not lose signal.The older models use to lose signal under a tree. The new models are good to go. I have a Garmin 76 csx that I get signal even in my house.

Best of luck,

Lt Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. I thought maybe I was a buffoon that just couldn't figure it out. My friend says his Etrex is a first generation model so that could be the problem. He used his mostly on his boat and said he rarely had trouble.

The good news is that while still investigating a good GPS, my wife still is interested in hiking! That's my ultimate goal anyway.
 
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