General questions re. outdoor GPS's

[GabrielKnight]

Hi,

I love walking but hate getting lost all the time, and map reading in general!

I'd like to buy an outdoor GPS, looking at Garmin Colorado 300, but don't really understand what these things can / can't do.

1.
Does it give you a couple of numbers that tell you the grid-point you are on a map? That would be a good start!

2.
Best of all would be if you could program your route on the GPS (with the help of a map) before leaving home, then the GPS just keeps directing you as you go around. Is this possible, or am I still waiting for such as machine to be invented ?!

3.
Screenshots of live maps etc look cool, but I bet theyre just if youre in the States? If I'm traipsing around the penines (UK) is it going to look like a green screen with a dot in the middle?, !

[mikealder]

If you want true OS style maps with your position shown on screen and it has the ability for prior planning a route to follow it I would look at Memory Map although to run this software you will require a PDA and GPS receiver (unless you get a device with the GPS built in) you can even run this software on certain mobile phones, another device to consider is the Active 10 by SatMap, there is a dedicated foum section for both these products. I never really liked the Garmin Topo Maps, probably because I have been spoiled by using the excellent OS electronic maps. - Mike

[GabrielKnight]

Yup, that looks good. Can someone play devils advocate by pushing why a Garmin would be better. That way I can sum up the advantages / disadvantages of each option. Thanks.

[Moreymach]

Hi


1/ Yes. Any hand held gps will give you lat/long details. Not just the Colorado, you can buy a cheapo one for £60 or so or even less second hand on ebay.

2/ You can add waypoints again to pretty much any gps and use these to navigate your route.

3/ A basic mapping handheld will most likely have a base map which will just show your location as an arrow and major towns/roads/coastlines. The shots youve probably seen have the Topo maps on the machine. As far as the Colorado goes the version we get here (UK) is the 300 which has only the basemap. In the US you can buy the 400 models which have various US maps preinstalled. Over here you have to buy the UK Topo maps which are around £120 or so on top of the price of the unit, this then gives near OS quality maps.

Personally I do prefer the all in one Garmin approach to a pda set up. In my experience pda's can be tricky to set up, not very robust and have limited battety life. The only benefit I found with using a pda was teh amont of third party and often free software available. Buy a Garmin and you are pretty much tied to what they produce. But what they produce suits a lot of people quite well

[burtonian]

I chose a Garmin Legend HCX over a SatMap or Active10 for the following reasons (and no doubt others will disagree!)

1. the Garmin is smaller
2. more robust/weatherproof
3. better battery life
4. it will clip easily on a bike if required, and not be overly obtrusive

I chose the Legend over cheaper models because of the mapping capabilities. I use Memory Map to plan a route then transfer the waypoints to the Garmin. I always carry a real map and compass so the Garmin Topo maps are perfectly adequate for me, and a useful way of moving from paper map to GPS, and vice versa.

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