GPS recomendations?

[Trailhiker]

When I go out on trails that I haven't been on I use the local typo maps (Hendersons for Southern California ) together with my trail apps on my cell phone ( when I have coverage ) to track my distance and rate. But I feel it's time to add an additional tool to my belt in the manner of a GPS with trail maps which is connected to a satalite rather than a cell tower.

Does anyone have any recomendations?

(Or stories on their best GPS moments?)

Just between Garmin and Magellan there seems to be quite a few models.

Thanx

[Matthaios]

There is a lot of variables that can determine what you should get. For example, boating and cycling have different models that cater towards that type of usage. Also budget can be a big factor. I use a Garmin Legend hcx. My needs was mainly trail and loading city maps while traveling. I also wanted color so looking at City maps and rivers gives better contrast to more easily navigate. If I were to get a new 1, I would be looking at the Garmin eTrex 20. The Oregon series is really nice, but more than I'm willing to spend.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[Miking]

+1 on the Garmin eTrex series. For general outdoors usage the eTrex 10 will probably do everything you need, the 20 is a little prettier to look at. All eTrex pick up signal very quickly, have good battery life and are easy to use. I'm personally not a big fan of in-gps maps due to the fact that on a 2" screen by the time you zoom it in it is too focused to be useful and by the time you zoom it out it is too low resolution to read. In fact my Garmin GPSmap 62st came preloaded with topo maps and 90% of the time I just ignore them as they rarely tell me anything I couldn't fathom from looking up.

As a general rule the instructions that come with your GPS will be complete garbage. If you are rusty on some of the finer points of GPS navigation via UTM coordinates I recommend pages 20-27 of In Plain Sight: Exploring the Natural Wonders of Southern Alberta By Neil L. Jennings, I have never seen anyone explain how to read a map as quickly as Papa J. (Pst, you should be able to read that part in the preview)

Also worth a read is the navigation chapter in Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills.

[MtnMan]

The DeLorme Earthmate PN-60 handheld GPS receiver is an excellent unit. Very sophisticated, weatherproof, removable SD card, available USB connection, optional rechargeable battery, powerful features. DeLorme has an extensive forum much like this Tom Bihn one.

I bought an older Earthmate PN-40 a couple of years back. I don't get to use it as much as I would like to. It is an excellent unit, though.

Be advised that DeLorme's computer software is Windows-only. I bypass this and use Google Earth.

[Trailhiker]

Matthaios, Miking & MtnMan - thank you for your recomendations, I'm going to jump on one of them when I get back from my next trip.

Miking, got the book!, In Plain Sight, it's going to be my reading material on my flight to Nashville tomorrow.
Looks like a good read!