How to spend my X-mas money Â– Which GPS should I buy?

Tox · 2009-01-02T00:31:00.000Z

I currently use a Magellan Explorist 320, which performs quiet well, but is not the top choice.

I might spend my X-mas money on a new GPS, but I am very undecided. Three very different devices have made it into the final selection:

Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx nice toy, makes use of OSM maps looks cool, can connect an external antenna
Genie GPS BGT-31 with BlueTooth, highly recommended by the community, ugly and by buying it i can steer money towards OSM
HOLUX Wireless GPS Receiver - M-241, nothing to play with thus girlfriend compatible.

Any advice which to buy. Did i overlook the ‘‘Eierlegende Wollmilchsau’’*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eierlegende_Wollmilchsau

emj · 2009-01-02T16:24:57.000Z

I like to just log and the m-241 is fine by me, I have little need for a GPS navigator but I would buy the best you can get if you really need that. That makes a big difference in price (5 times?)…

Lambertus · 2009-01-03T13:11:44.000Z

Those GPS receivers are very different in functionality and price. I think you must first decide what you want to do with the GPS device, is it only tracking then buy the cheapest logger, do you want to go mountainbiking and don’t want to get lost, go for a Garmin with color display (the GPSMAP 60 CSx is very nice, but a Vista HCx is very good value for money).

emj · 2009-01-03T23:25:37.000Z

What’s good with logger is that you just start it and BAM! you are done, what’s bad with them is that there is little feedback even on the m-241 with a LCD. BTW I used a Garmin for logging recently and it started to overwrite its track after ~2 hours. Very bad, luckly we had a datalogger running as backup.

Jochen_Riehm · 2009-01-04T00:18:55.000Z

emj:

What’s good with logger is that you just start it and BAM! you are done, what’s bad with them is that there is little feedback even on the m-241 with a LCD. BTW I used a Garmin for logging recently and it started to overwrite its track after ~2 hours. Very bad, luckly we had a datalogger running as backup.

If you buy a Garmin with MicroSD card (like the Vista HCx) and set it to also log on the card than this won’t happen. You’ll get nice and upload-ready .gpx files on your card.

Tox · 2009-01-04T01:12:26.000Z

I think I finally made up my mind. I go for the M-241 now and wait for that perfect occasion to buy something like GPSMAP 60CSx in the future.

emj · 2009-01-04T14:25:54.000Z

Tox:

I think I finally made up my mind. I go for the M-241

Remember to have lots of rechargeble AA batteries, usually you must charge 2 at a time. And one AA i good for 6-9 hours of logging, so you might want to have a couple of them with you.

extremecarver · 2009-01-04T22:13:57.000Z

Is the M-241 so battery demanding?
That’s crazy. With backlight off but showing a map a Vista HCx on 2 AA eneloops gets about 25 hours, while showing OSM maps and mtbiking and recording tracks to microSD. Even with backlight on at 100% you get 12-13 hours. The 60CSx gets about 30% shorter times (maybe less difference with full backlight, which is not as light as the one from the Etrex series though).

emj · 2009-01-05T10:53:44.000Z

I’m giving you the lowest possible time, I’ve had it running for two days, but not more than ~12hours on one AA.