Consumer Reports gets lost
The February issue of Consumer Reports has hiking GPS recommendations. Their auto GPS rankings have improved markedly lately and I was curious if they would do as well on the handheld side. The short answer is no. And a lot of the problem comes down to a very short article without much in the way of elaboration and caveats.
They ranked the Garmin Oregon 400t number one, which is quite reasonable. But then they put the Magellan Triton 2000 in fourth place, ahead of the Garmin 60CSx. Hmm, over at Amazon, the Triton has a 1-1/2 star reviewer rating versus 4-1/2 for the 60CSx. Methinks they botched that one.
CR ends up recommending the Oregon 200 and the eTrex Venture HC; again, quite reasonable suggestions.
But the devil is in the details. Or the lack of them. They claim that none of the units can provide turn-by-turn directions, when in fact, several will as long as you load highway maps to them. And they note that the 60CSx has an electronic compass and barometric altimeter, but fail to point out these features on three other units. CR also neglects to mention the Oregon’s touch-screen interface, and says the Colorado and Triton displays are better than the Oregon and as good as the 60CSx and eTrex. Sigh.
If you forced us — ow! okay, okay — here is how we would rank handhelds today:
GPS Tracklog top handheld recommendations
GPS Tracklog best buys
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