What GPS do you use?

[Grant Lamontagne]

We recently got a bit off topic (yeah, I know, what are the odds of this forum going off topic? ) in a thread about burrs when we started talking about GPS units, so I thought it might be nice to have a thread about GPS units!

I have one on my phone for driving and finding things in the city, but when I venture off into the woods or in my kayak the phone GPS takes second place to my Garmin 60CSx.



It was a birthday gift last year and replaced an old Magellan 300 I had traded a red ALOX Pioneer for a few years ago.



It may not have maps, but the lack of a color display means you can run it for a week or so on regular alkalines without turning it off!  The drawback is that it will take you from one point directly to the next, regardless of whether there's a cliff, lake or whatever else in the way, and that can cause some difficulty!

I use them mostly when kayaking to see how fast I am going, how far I've gone and often (if I've marked my finish point) how much further I need to go.  It's not a necessity, but it sure is nice to have!

What GPS do you have or use, and how does it get used most?

Def

[Dunc]

I use an old style Garmin Etrax . I don't bother with maps its just for plotting a position or marking an object . I've recently been playing about with the GPS on my iphone and that seems to be quite good .

[Flying Dutchman]

I dont have an "off road" version, just the Garmin Nuvi 465T. Love that model because its great in the car, or change it to truck mode and it only routes you down truck routes. Very nice!

[Beerplumber]

For Christmas 2010 I bought a garmin Oregon 450. Very nice unit, we've been using it for camping mostly so far and it will be used canoeing this summer but the idea was to start geocaching. I had the topo downloaded for it but I need to pick-up a micro SD card (topo is like 4gig!) to load it up. Had too delete the topo file to make room on my laptop since then. The base map is pretty smurfy. This year we got a hand-me-down laptop and will hopefully try the geocaching trick again from scratch and redownload the topo.


Stay multi my friends

[David]

I`ve got an Garmin etrex Legend. I use it to mark and locate positions mostly. Its nice to know distance covered and speed. I was once traveling with some one who didnt know I was using my GPS as we were going down the road and was amazed that I could guess how fast they were driving when I could not see the speedometer.     I still like a map and compass but GPS sure is nice. I really need to upgrade but for some reason I keep buying MTs.   

[Top-Gear-24]

I've bought myself a Garmin GPS map 60 CSX back in januari 2007, and I love it  .

I use it on my MTB, I use it when I'm in the Ardennes forest looking for World War II foxholes, the Garmin does it all (and it can take a beating ...).  On the picture below I still used a plastic bag to "protect" the GPS from mud during my MTB ride, but I don't do this anymore, the Garmin can take it  .

[Dunc]

I use it on my MTB, I use it when I'm in the Ardennes forest looking for World War II foxholes,

Thats interesting , have you ever found any relics or anything ?

[legtu]

i use mobile xt on my phone, navitel (or mobile xt) on the pda paired with a gps bluetooth logger or just the logger itself if i just want to capture tracks/waypoints.

[Medic82]

I have the Garmin 60 Csx that I have used for some Geocatching but mainly I use it for when I am hiking. The gps saved me and my friends ass this September  when we where spending some days in the mountains, whe where out on a day hike climbing one of the tops and around 1900 meters the weather turned really bad and the visibility was only 2 meters as you can see from the pic



I did have a map and compass with me, ain't a stupid tropper, but the gps is so nice to use.

Here it is on it's usual position when hiking.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Millhouse]

For in car use:

TomTom Live Via 120




This is backed up by my Iphone with the Navfree app.


For off road use:

Garmin GPSMAP 62ST



Backup unit is a Garmin Oregon 200. Both of these units are loaded with full GB OS 1:50000 mapping.




My backup backup unit is my old Motorola Defy Android phone. This is loaded with both Navfree and MMFree.

[jzmtl]

Just my phone for maps and location if I ever get completely lost. I refuse to use a gps for driving, keep my navigation ability from disappearing.

Sent from a Galaxy S2 far far away

[Top-Gear-24]

I use it on my MTB, I use it when I'm in the Ardennes forest looking for World War II foxholes,

Thats interesting , have you ever found any relics or anything ?

Some bullets, some bullet casings (is this right ?  I don't know how you say this in English) and a lot of shrapnel ...

World War II in Belgium was mostly in the Ardennes, but World War I was more in the area near my home, when I go out in the fields here with a colleague from work and our metal detectors we regularly find some interesting things, like buttons, (with emblems on them), division emblems, lots of bullets, German money,  and a lot of shrapnel balls, and sometimes some old money (Roman coins, or medieval coins) and old Musket balls, ...

Here's a topic with some pics : http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,23474.0.html

My apologies for the "off-topic"  .

[ICanFixThat]

I've used the Garmin Nuvi 350 for the last 3 years or so.... but.... I'll be installing a new 2450LM into my vehicle this week.  With the lower prices of GPS units, and smart-phones  with GPS I'm hoping it will be safe to leave in the vehicle 24/7 without worry about having it stolen. 

I have a old handheld Garmin as well, but I've not used it in 10 years, it may not even turn on anymore. 

So right now I'm sold on Garmin units, although I'm not always a fan of the company.

[jzmtl]

With the lower prices of GPS units, and smart-phones  with GPS I'm hoping it will be safe to leave in the vehicle 24/7 without worry about having it stolen. 

No such thing, I've seen too many cars smashed and my own broke into with nothing obvious in sight. Save youself the aggravation and headache.

[J-sews]

I've had the same Garmin 60CS since 2004. The thing is a tank. I hike the national forest near me from October to January every year, scouting new trails and looking for good deer hunting spots. The rest of my gear changes with the seasons, but not the Garmin. It goes with me everywhere. Only problem is, its an older model, with "only" 1000 waypoints, and its almost full. I may need to upgrade soon.