G'day
Looking for peoples experiance regarding hand held GPS. Looking for something suitable for land AND marine use. I have a magellan meridian color allready so I am up to date with these particular units. Have a rello who is purchasing a gps that must be capable in both fields. Any ideas?
Dave
I am in this same situation, looking for a land and marine GPS. I was initially looking at the Garmin Etrex Legend Cx's, a model they just released. They are a very compact handheld and waterproof, battery life is excellent from two aa's, over 30 hours, and they accept expandable memory. The drawback I found is the screen size, it's quite small. The buttons are also on the side, which I found is not what I prefer. So I kept looking and found the Garmin GPSMap 60cx, which is a unit designed more for Marine use, but it can be used in the car no worries or on foot. It has a bigger screen, is a slightly bigger unit, with a lesser battery life though, 20 hours I have heard. The primary feature of this GPS that led me to it is the new chipset, Sirfstar III chipset. This makes the GPS receiver ultra sensitive. It will get a signal inside a house, on the bottom of a car floor, under thick forest, in dense city. The Etrex Legend Cx does not have this chipset, and hence reception is not as good. I am about to buy this GPS, from the USA, RRP is like $800, most places sell it for $750, but I can grab it for just under $500 from the USA off ebay incl delivery. Though keep in mind if you want to use this unit as a car navigator, then you will need to purchase adequate software-Garmin City Navigator. $350 is what it will cost you. For charts for the whole Pacific, Garmin Bluechart will be needed, about $250 from memory. It depends how much your relative wants to spend. I would advise to have a look at the unit's in a shop and see what they like. Like the Garmin 76cx is the same as the 60cx feature wise and specification wise, except dimensions, but looks different and costs more. The 60cx and 76cx float. Also, for more $$ there is the 60CSx and 76CSx, the same as the 60cx and 76cx but with an electronic compass and barometric altimeter. If you want to know anything specific about the Garmin Etrex Legend Cx or 60cx or 76cx, then let me know because I have researched them for a while. Cheers, Joey.
Dave, If your rello only needs a basic GPS for a small boat, a bit of off-roading, or bush-walking, have a look at the Garmin 72.
I got one a few months back after using a garmin 12 for many years.
I have used mine a lot in the boat, also off-road on a large property where it would have been very easy to get lost, and on foot on the same property.
If he/she want's one with street nav functions -- forget it, but for basic GPS functions, this one is good value at about $300 including a 12v cigarette lighter adaptor.
Cheers, Deegee.
Hi Dave, deegee is right on the money, as far as affordable is concerned, $300 buys a reliable, waterproof unit that is accurate down to a few feet.
I did have an older Garmin 12, which was great also, until it did a swan dive from its cradle during a dodgy bar crossing. ( the garmin 72s have a locking clip on the cradle now.)
My present unit must be 3yrs old without a problem, I even have a second unit stored away, already loaded with marks should it be needed.
The units that joey-1987 described sound like the bee's knees, but with appropriate price tag, Garmin 72s are not real good inside.
The 12v adapter cable & cradle will cost you about $130 extra but is way better than batteries.
Hope it helps,
Muzz
Yeah I do agree, the 60cx I described does have a price tag to match. Though if you buy from the states and pay $500 for the unit, it's superb value and you get a large colour screen, expandable memory and the capability to use street nav software which lets you auto route, input a street address and it tells you how to get there. I tossed up the cheaper b&w models but decided I would rather colour, looks nicer and I want to be able to see where I am on the maps/charts. I plan to use mine in the car too, but this will require the expensive software. The cigarette lighter cables are about $20 to buy for this unit if you go for a generic one, and a good cradle is about $40-that's a proper garmin mount. Cheers, Joey.
onerabbit,
NO GPs that you can buy for $300 will be accurate down to a few feet, that is impossible.
NO GPs that I have ever seen is "good inside"
One thing to keep in mind is that buying overseas might give you a cheap(er) GPS but in some cases a GPS that can not be upgraded or suitable for this country.
are you calling muzz a liar? my 72 is accurate to a few feet, puts me right back on top of all my marks, even near tree's, i'm sensing a real theme with your posts on this subject, a true arrogant psudo-intellectual attitude to anyone's post. helpful input is fine, but i'm yt to see you write something truely helpful, and when you're shown to be wrong you ignore it and go off on another tangent. perhaps you should be quiet on this subject now, and find something you actually know what you;re talking about, and comment on that.
ash
G'day
Thanks for the input guys. We've had a damn good look at everything and the raymarine handheld are built like a brick sh*thouse and have a very nice screen size. He's decided to go for a Navman Trackfish 6500. I know it's a fixed unit but for the features, price and technology cannot go wrong. Just more economical to go for a dedicated in car unit when the time comes.
As for satNav..... didnt your mother tell you if you dont have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all??
Dave
1. NO GPS72 is accurate down to a few feet
2. Anybody who claims GPS accuracy down to a few feet knows little about GPS
3. There is approx 8 metres (25 feet plus) error based on the 3 most prominent sources of GPS error
4. Would defy anybody to justify a claim of a few feet
Blackened, If anybody including yourself would like to refute anything said then please feel free to discuss.
I once read, or was told, that one way to measure GPS error was to leave a unit switched on in a fixed location for an hour or three, with the track log on, and see how much it "travelled".
I tried this at the time with my old Garmin12, and it used to wander around quite a bit (while the boat stood still in the yard).
It was better after selective availability ended, but was still inclined to "move around" a bit. Can't remember the actual distances, but it was several metres. Haven't tried it with my G72 yet, but will do it just out of curiosity anyway.
My G72 has a field in which it shows the "estimated accuracy" I presume that this is the unit's own estimation of the accuracy of the info it is displaying, based on the number & position of sats, sig strength, etc.
It seldom shows less than 5 meters, and in poor conditions it can be out to 15 m or so. This begs the question of how accurate is the estimate of the accuracy??.
Any comments from the experts on any of the above ??.
Deegee.
1. Estimated Position Error is as you say only an estimation by the receiver based on how a receiver has been programmed.
2. Receivers from different manufacturers, even same manufacturers, same models different firmware compute this position estimate differently
3. Estimated Position Error has no real relationship to GPS accuracy as a GPS doesn’t know accurately where it is in the first place to enable acucracy to be determined.
4. The Estimated Position Error value is best used as a change in relative accuracy not an indication of absolute accuracy as it does not represent GPS accuracy.
SatNav, Thanks for that info. I think I understand (most of it anyway).
The first part confirms what I suspected, and the "change in relative accuracy" part makes sense.
I guess the apparent "movement" of a stationary GPS unit proves that there will be error and gives some indication of the degree of error you can expect from it - but no more than that.
Cheers, Deegee.
Originally Posted by Blackened
I use a 76CS here in the US for both in-car and marine use. It is a great unit, if I were looking now I would look at the Garmin X-Series products 76CSx/Cx or 60CSx/Cx. I have Bluechart maps and the City Select loaded. I know Garmin has both software packages for Australia. I would check with the place I got mine he had great prices and quick service, http://www.############### or http://www.westchaseproducts.com. You won't be disappointed with Garmin. As far as accuracy I can usually get to about 15ft on my 76CS.
Hi all,
I must admit, I dont have a great deal of knowledge on all the wonderful things technology has to offer.
My tests have been simple in nature, walking up & down in the front yard, walking around the block.
I found I could mark my driveway, & it would be very close.
I have found that some marks put me back in front of the same tree as well.
Most of my GPS use is at sea, so I cant really say how close we get everytime, but if I look for a pin, It's usually there.
Just my opinion
Muzz
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