Basic GPS Choice

AndyP said:

A friend wants to buy a basic GPS, just for getting the odd grid ref
in the event of getting lost. The local outdoor shop has offered her
something called an iFinder Go for £79. Is that a good choice or are
there better ones for around the same price?

http://www.lowrance.com/Outdoor/Products/iFINDERGO.asp

Probably works fine.
Long run time from the specifications (good thing). Check it will work on
rechargable batteries.
I suspect the built-in mapping is useless outside of the USA.
A bit big and bulky.
Read the manuals to decide if you can understand it. The website will let
you download them.

In the UK, I think Garmin are market leader, and I'd suggest she looks at a
Geko 201. Smaller, lighter, easy to use. But shorter battery run time
(about 12 hours on AAA batteries). Should get one for under £100.

Or the classic yellow Etrex. Essentially similar capability to the Geko,
larger case and heavier, twice the battery run time. Just make sure its the
new version, which is WAAS enabled, not someone flogging old stock at full
price. (The reason for the new one is better internals and better features,
not just the WAAS bit).

NOTE Avoid the Geko 101 as it lacks a computer interface, and a computer to
upload/download waypoints is incredibly useful compared to typing in
locations using a couple of buttons on the GPS. It also lacks the ability
to save data for later reuse.

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

Nigel Cliffe said:

AndyP said:

A friend wants to buy a basic GPS, just for getting the odd grid ref
in the event of getting lost. The local outdoor shop has offered her
something called an iFinder Go for £79. Is that a good choice or are
there better ones for around the same price?

http://www.lowrance.com/Outdoor/Products/iFINDERGO.asp

Probably works fine.
Long run time from the specifications (good thing). Check it will work on
rechargable batteries.
I suspect the built-in mapping is useless outside of the USA.
A bit big and bulky.
Read the manuals to decide if you can understand it. The website will let
you download them.

In the UK, I think Garmin are market leader, and I'd suggest she looks at a
Geko 201. Smaller, lighter, easy to use. But shorter battery run time
(about 12 hours on AAA batteries). Should get one for under £100.

Or the classic yellow Etrex. Essentially similar capability to the Geko,
larger case and heavier, twice the battery run time. Just make sure its the
new version, which is WAAS enabled, not someone flogging old stock at full
price. (The reason for the new one is better internals and better features,
not just the WAAS bit).

NOTE Avoid the Geko 101 as it lacks a computer interface, and a computer to
upload/download waypoints is incredibly useful compared to typing in
locations using a couple of buttons on the GPS. It also lacks the ability
to save data for later reuse.

- Nigel

I would suggest giving the outdoor shop a miss and have a look
on-line,here for example:-

Quoted message said:

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

Outdoor shops tend to only have a limited range of units at vastly
inflated prices.

Tell your friend to do his/her homework as there are so many units
offering many different functions which you may think you don't need but
after purchase realise it may be nice to have them.

GPS's are a bit addictive.

As the previous poster commented Garmin are probably the most
popular,followed by Magellan with the others having a much smaller share
of the market.

Sam Salt

AndyP said:

A friend wants to buy a basic GPS, just for getting the odd grid ref in
the event of getting lost. The local outdoor shop has offered her
something called an iFinder Go for £79. Is that a good choice or are
there better ones for around the same price?

http://www.lowrance.com/Outdoor/Products/iFINDERGO.asp

Garmin GPS 60 from amazon £119 its the best

Sam Salt wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

another good site is www.gpsw.co.uk . I have no affiliation with them,
but I did buy my 60csx from them recently at a very good price and
received very good service.

<snip>

Basic GPS Choice

Quoted message said:

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

That's the place I got my Geko 201 from & very happy I've been with it
to.....

David.

214Fells said:

Basic GPS Choice

Quoted message said:

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

That's the place I got my Geko 201 from & very happy I've been with it
to.....

£99 - they're £84 on Amazon! I paid £71 for a 'refurbished' one. Looked
new to me.

Jim Ford

Sam Salt said:

Nigel Cliffe wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Or the classic yellow Etrex. Essentially similar capability to the Geko,
larger case and heavier, twice the battery run time. Just make sure its the
new version, which is WAAS enabled, not someone flogging old stock at full
price. (The reason for the new one is better internals and better features,
not just the WAAS bit).

Quoted message said:

I would suggest giving the outdoor shop a miss and have a look on-line,here
for example:-

Quoted message said:

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

But be aware that they claim to be selling the old eTrex and the new
eTrex alike. I got into all kinds of debate with them because their
eTrex review implies the new model, while the specs imply the old model.
Their response was "it's up to you to read the specs and not go by the
review".

In the end it WAS the new model, but their bad attitude didn't win them
a happy customer this time around - I've used them twice before without
any real problem.

--
Chris - also a yellow eTrex fan

Jim Ford said:

214Fells said:

Basic GPS Choice

Quoted message said:

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

That's the place I got my Geko 201 from & very happy I've been with it
to.....

£99 - they're £84 on Amazon! I paid £71 for a 'refurbished' one. Looked
new to me.

Purchased October 2004 - £94-ish including VAT & delivery.

Best £94 ever spent!!!

David.

Jim Ford said:

214Fells said:

Basic GPS Choice

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

That's the place I got my Geko 201 from & very happy I've been with it
to.....

Quoted message said:

£99 - they're £84 on Amazon! I paid £71 for a 'refurbished' one. Looked
new to me.

Purchased October 2004 - £94-ish including VAT & delivery.

Best £94 ever spent!!!

Doh!! Just checked the e-mail for the order.
I've got my mapping software from the above.
The unit came from www.gpsw.co.uk @£95.95

David.

In message <[email hidden]>, AndyP
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

A friend wants to buy a basic GPS, just for getting the odd grid ref in
the event of getting lost. The local outdoor shop has offered her
something called an iFinder Go for £79. Is that a good choice or are
there better ones for around the same price?

http://www.lowrance.com/Outdoor/Products/iFINDERGO.asp

When I brought mine I wanted to be able to connect it to the PC, and the
cheaper models didn't include a cable. I know one can make a cable, but
I don't have the bits & pieces to had to do that so when I factored in
the cost of the cable as well, I decided to get a slightly more
up-market model that came with one. I take mine walking and then upload
the track into Anquet. It's interesting seeing where the paths *really*
are compared to the map!

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net

Surfer! said:

When I brought mine I wanted to be able to connect it to the PC, and the
cheaper models didn't include a cable. I know one can make a cable, but
I don't have the bits & pieces to had to do that so when I factored in
the cost of the cable as well, I decided to get a slightly more
up-market model that came with one. I take mine walking and then upload
the track into Anquet. It's interesting seeing where the paths *really*
are compared to the map!

The cables are available on ebay for substantially less than the
"official" ones.

--
Mike
Some pictures of the Scottish highlands here http://www.prog99.com

In article <[email hidden]>, Mike
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Surfer! said:

When I brought mine I wanted to be able to connect it to the PC, and
the cheaper models didn't include a cable. I know one can make a
cable, but I don't have the bits & pieces to had to do that so when I
factored in the cost of the cable as well, I decided to get a
slightly more up-market model that came with one. I take mine walking
upload the track into Anquet. It's interesting seeing where the
paths *really* are compared to the map!

The cables are available on ebay for substantially less than the
"official" ones.

or from the excellent folk at http://www.lynks.co.uk/

--

Dominic Sexton