Monday, November 12, 2007
Calling all Geocacher's - I need help!!!
Okay, all you geocacher's, I need your help. I want to buy a GPS for my hubby for Christmas and I'm not sure which is better, so I need your opinions. I'm looking at a Garmin Etrex Venture or a Magellan Explorist 210. Any opinions on which is better - Garmin or Magellan??? Thanks!!
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3 comments:
Are you looking at just the basic Etrex Venture vs the 210?? If so the 210 is a lot better.
It has an internal memory so you can store maps and download cache info from the internet (the Etrex doesn't seem to even hook to the computer for downloads and entering cache info manually gets old). It also has a built in map, which the basic Etrex doesn't have.. I had a GPS that just showed where you are and where you were going, and it kind of sucked.. it made for an adventure, but....
I have had several eXplorists and have always found them super easy to use.. Only complaint would be when I once had to call customer service due to a software issue, and got bounce back and forth around India for an hour..
If you have any further questions, let me know!!
love ya!
We have one Magellan and two Garmin Etrex Legends. The Magellan we have has a few issues- if it loses satellite it takes awhile to refind itself.
The Garmin is WAAS enabled (Wide Area Augmentation System http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html), but then most of the newer units are. The venture isn't the best Garmin, the eTrex Legend is a much better than the Venture.
alex's human is correct though, the only computer connection for the Garmin is a serial cable that the unit comes with. The problem -not all new computers have serial ports that work with the cable. The Magellan is .5 oz heavier .3" longer and .2" wider. It also has 22 mg of internal memory - almost 3 times as much as the Garmin Legend.
Good Luck
Follow up.. After much looking and comparing, I have come across some additional info..
As abenanna said, the Legend has much better specs than the Venture. Though, for the price, you get a lot more memory in the 210 [22MB vs. 8MB.. even if it is 1/3 an inch longer and 1/2 an ounce heavier.. abenanna makes me laugh pointing that out :)]
abenanna (who is, without doubt, the geomaster) makes a good point, the other day my gps lost signal and it was almost two minutes before it found itself again.. But usually it's refound itself within a minute.. (not sure which Magellan abenanna has, but I have the 500)..
All this aside, I found a link that you may be interested in.. It's for a 210 from REI, and it comes in a bundle!! You get the gps, a case, map software, a cigarette lighter adaptor, geocaching software, and computer cable! This should give you everything you need to get started. And you get it from a respectable store, and it's only $100!!!
http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&partNumber=742252&preferredSku=7422520010&cm_mmc=cse_pricegrabber-_-datafeed-_-product-_-na&mr:referralID=1436ffca-a37e-4154-881f-f83836f496c8
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