Garmin handheld GPS comparison chart

Comments

1. Steve says:

   June 17, 2011 at 10:43 pm

   Looking for a new (and improved) GPS primarily for Geocaching but I do camp, hike, hunt, Jeep as well. I have been using an old original yellow Garmin eTrex for geocacing has always worked well but tired of limited data entry and printing all teh paper work prior to a camping trip paperless sounds like the way to go. I also have Garmin Nuvi 205 & 780 units but not sure how wel they’d work for geocaching (haven’t tried them) and have used teh explorist 400 for hunting. From what I’ve read it seems like the Dakota 20 or Oregon 450 would be ideal for geocaching but man am I getting a collection of GPS units (not even including the factory ones in my SUV and JEEP).
   Thanks for your thought/insights.
   Steve

   Reply
   • Steve says:

     June 17, 2011 at 10:45 pm

     Follow-up — I’m also likely going to be upgraing by cell phone to either an Android or iPhone4 in the near future which will of course also have GPS capabilities any geocaching integration?
     Steve

     Reply
     • Rich Owings says:

       June 18, 2011 at 7:31 am

       Yes, there are geocaching apps for both.

       Reply
     • Eric says:

       August 22, 2011 at 4:17 pm

       I use an iPhone and Ipad along with a Garmin Dakota 20….

       The Iphone/iPad app is awesome!! I can search from any location and find a cach and then immediately update my logs so when I get home everything is there. The only thing is that it isn’t quite as accurate as the garmin…. Unfortunately you have to download all of the locations before you head out on the Garmin- Not good for spontaneity!! The iPhone/iPad has much better maps features etc…. I say if you own one already, buy the app, much cheaper and way way way more functionality. It will still get you to the location but sometimes you have to walk around a little until the device becomes accurate (within 20-30 feet). The garmin will take you right there but like I said, definitely has it’s minuses (but is water and kid proof!!)……

       Reply
       • Rich Owings says:

         August 23, 2011 at 9:44 am

         Wouldn’t it be great if Garmin embraced Bluetooth and made it easy to transfer paperless info from your smartphone to your GPS?

         Reply
   • Rich Owings says:

     June 18, 2011 at 7:31 am

     Welcome to the club (GPS collectors)! You can use a nuvi in conjunction with the eTrex for paperless caching (http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/). But a new unit would be ideal. The Oregon 450 is an excellent unit. I’ve heard of a few broken Dakotas and have the feeling that the Oregon is a little sturdier.

     Reply
2. Godfrey Obura says:

   July 20, 2011 at 2:43 am

   Is Garmin 78s a differential GPS?

   Reply
   • Rich Owings says:

     July 20, 2011 at 12:02 pm

     No.

     Reply
3. Robert Brokaw says:

   August 8, 2011 at 11:24 am

   I want a unit like the Garmin etrac Vista that can be used with a MAC.

   Reply
4. Boyd says:

   August 9, 2011 at 7:58 am

   All of Garmin’s devices can be used with the Mac. Just download their free Basecamp program here: http://www8.garmin.com/macosx/index.jsp

   At that same link you will also find Webupdater (used to update the firmware on your GPS) and Communicator which is used for other things such as registering a new GPS.

   Garmin also has a tech support forum for Mac users here: https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=167

   Reply
5. jrsquonk says:

   August 26, 2011 at 4:07 pm

   Great deal at REI on Garmin Oregon 450. $250! With the $50 rebate, that brings the total price down to $200.

   jrs

   Reply
   • Rich Owings says:

     August 26, 2011 at 5:04 pm

     Yep…

     http://gpstracklog.com/2011/08/garmin-oregon-450-for-199-99.html

     Reply
6. Melissa says:

   October 1, 2011 at 8:16 am

   Wow-great site, even for me who has zero experience with hand held GPS! I am looking for a unit for my husband’s birthday. He has no experience with hand held, either and gets easily frustrated with electronic devices, so it will need to be instinctive. He is not a person to go searching around the internet to do alot of downloads, upgrades etc. (he will ask me to do it and I would rather eat nails)

   He’s 55 and hunts in Maine north woods and hopefully we will also be traveling to the Grand Canyon, Ireland and Yosemite in the next 18 months.

   Thanks so much for any ideas-simple would be good, but as many free pre-loads as possible!

   Reply
   • Rich Owings says:

     October 1, 2011 at 8:29 am

     Melissa,

     I don’t know how well it will work for him. Handheld GPS are complex beasts and usually fairly far from intuitive because of that. Your best bet would be a Garmin with preloaded 1:100,000 scale maps of the US. I’d suggest the Garmin Oregon 450t or their GPSMAP 62st.

     This may help if you decide to go forward with it..

     http://gpstracklog.com/category/handheld-sport-gps/handheld-gps-101

     If you do get one, we’re always here to help!

     Reply
7. Sandy says:

   November 25, 2011 at 10:33 am

   I am looking for a simple gps for trail riding (we just want to be able to find our way back to camp).Bass Pro has a Venture HC on sale and I have a friend that works for Garmin that can get me the eTrex at a great price. Would either of those work for me?

   Reply
   • Rich Owings says:

     November 25, 2011 at 10:47 am

     Either will do, but you’ll be able to have maps with the Venture HC, like the free ones at http://gpsfiledepot.com, which can make navigation a lot easier. If you ever want to see where you went on your computer, avoid the basic eTrex H, which uses a serial cable. If you can afford/justify a little more, I’d go for the eTrex 20, which is on sale right now…

     http://bestgpsdeals.net/garmin-etrex-20-and-montana-650t-at-ems/1366/

     Here’s why…

     http://gpstracklog.com/2011/04/five-reasons-to-upgrade-your-garmin-handheld.html

     Reply
     • Sandy says:

       November 25, 2011 at 11:12 am

       Sorry, I noticed that I did not specify which eTrex my friend could get me – it’s the eTrex 30, which I can get for just a little more than the Venture. I am thinking of going with the eTrex 30. Surely I will be aable to figure it out. Thanks for your help.

       Reply
8. Sandy says:

   November 25, 2011 at 11:10 am

   I am looking for a simple gps for trail riding (we just want to be able to find our way back to camp).Bass Pro has a Venture HC on sale and I have a friend that works for Garmin that can get me the eTrex 30 at a great price. Would either of those work for me?

   Reply
   • Rich Owings says:

     November 25, 2011 at 11:13 am

     Already answered above. The eTrex 30 would work too.

     Reply
9. Tara says:

   November 29, 2011 at 11:49 pm

   I am looking for a gps that would be good for hunting. My husband has been looking into hunting new timber and i think he needs it to find his way out easier I was wondering if the venture would be a good one to get him and I was wondering if it’s possible to get topo maps on it. I have zero experience with these things, but he’s mentioned wanting one.

   Reply
   • Rich Owings says:

     November 30, 2011 at 8:26 am

     Yes, the Venture HC will work and you can add maps to it. If you can swing it, the new eTrex 20 is nicer and a bit more user friendly.

     Reply
     • Tara says:

       November 30, 2011 at 7:42 pm

       Thank you, I started looking at the etrex 20 after i posted this and I think that would be better!

       Reply
10. Cliff says:

    December 5, 2011 at 11:02 am

    I’ve had a GPS 12 forever and have really enjoyed it. It does all I need it to and still works great (I use it for hunting), but I understand Garmin no longer supports it (no surprise in view of its age). What to replace it with?

    An Etrex Legend H was recently recommended (much less expensive than the hundreds I paid for the original unit). I tried it and am very disappointed: poor graphics, too many steps to accomplish the very simple task of marking waypoints, finding them, and navigating to them. Maybe I’ve just not learned enough about it to simplify the effort, but, even if I did, I don’t think that would improve the graphics. This device just has too many features that I don’t need, and I am paying for them with an overly complex device.

    Suggestions?

    Just sign me: Simple

    Reply
    • Rich Owings says:

      December 5, 2011 at 11:09 am

      If you find the Legend H too complex, I’m not sure what to recommend. The new eTrex 10 and 20 offer an improved interface, and the eTrex 20 should have better graphics, but it has even more features than the Legend H.

      On the Legend H, you press and hold the front rocker key to mark a waypoint. Then you can press and hold the Menu button to choose a waypoint to navigate to.

      Reply
11. Travis Deabay says:

    January 1, 2012 at 1:47 pm

    Hi,

    Great information…I am looking into an eTrex 20 mainly for use for fishing and hiking, but also want to have turn by turn in the cities. Does this come standard or do you have to purchase the update for sixty dollars in order to have it?

    Thank You.

    Reply
    • Rich Owings says:

      January 1, 2012 at 5:35 pm

      You would need to add City Navigator maps…

      https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=253&pID=28765

      Reply
12. Lee says:

    January 9, 2012 at 10:56 am

    Any way to add a column, footnote, or something to show which models count geocaches and a separate kind of data, and how many each of those models will hold?

    Reply
    • Rich Owings says:

      January 9, 2012 at 1:40 pm

      What are you looking for besides how many caches they will hold? And does Garmin always make that public with each model?

      Reply
      • Lee says:

        January 9, 2012 at 1:59 pm

        Ay, there’s the rub. Garmin publishes a number of “waypoints” that each model will hold. But on the newer models (Dakota, Oregon, Montana, eTrex x0, etc) “geocaches’ go into their own storage and have a different and separate limit that doesn’t count against the waypoint limit.

        It;s mentioned in some of Garmin’s FAQs and a few other places online, but I’m looking for a chart like your that lists all of them side by side instead of running around to multiple sources trying to find for each model.

        Reply
      • Lee says:

        January 11, 2012 at 4:15 pm

        I posed the question in an email to Garmin tech support, specifically about the eTrex 10/20/30 models, and here was the reply:

        “The eTrex 20 and 30 can hold up to 5,000 geocaches. The eTrex 10 can hold up to 2,000 geocaches. The thing to remember is all three devices have a limitation of the number of gpx files. When you load a geocaches one at a time, then this will create a gpx file. However, when you load a pocket query to the device, you will be able to put in a large number of geocaches that only use one gpx file. The gpx limitation for the 20/30 is 2,000 while the eTrex 10 is 500.”

        Using the eTrex 10 as my example, I think that means I can have up to 500 caches in a single GPX file, but I can have multiple GPX files that will load at startup to reach the maximum of 2000 geocaches.

        I’m going to test this later — but does my interpretation make sense?

        Reply
        • Rich Owings says:

          January 12, 2012 at 7:59 am

          Or it means you can have up to 500 .gpx files.

          Reply
          • Lee says:

            January 12, 2012 at 8:15 am

            Yeah. you’re right. I just thought it was written oddly and my previous testing of the eTrex 10 had it running out of memory when I tried to load a GPX with over 500 waypoints or so.

            I think the real problem (specific to the eTrex 10) is the limited size of the mass storage area. Stripped of everything but system files, it has about 6MB of free space. In use I’ve had the thing complain about being low on memory when I’ve only used about 1/2 of that disk space — so either the GPS wants to reserve some of it for it’s own use, or there are other limits on internal memory besides than the mass-storage device.

            It’d be awfully hard 2000 caches (whether in one or 500 individual files) to fit in that space unless they all had short descriptions and no logs.

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1. beginning of another week, garmin 450 on the way, oil change: check, smart&sexy internet chick | Aaron Walton says:

   July 18, 2011 at 9:57 pm

   [...] tool will show you how the Oregon 450 compares to other Garmin [...]

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