Best Gps Under $250?

[rsgalloway]

I'm looking for a new or used handheld GPS unit which would be good for both caching and on-road navigation for under $250. Big plus would be some kind of memory card option, USP and Mac support. Don't really care about color screens. Must be water "proof". Another plus would be support not only for N. American and European cities but also cities in the Far East.

 

I'm looking at a "near new" garmin legend C on ebay right now for $215, but it doesn't have a memory card.

 

Thanks.

[+embra]

The Magellan Meridian Gold comes to mind. It will cover all your wants to some degree, albeit with some limitations.

 

- can be found for under $200 for the GPSr (accessories such as software will take you over $250, but I expect that would be so for most GPSr in this range)

- accepts SD card up to 2G

- USB support not built in, but available if you use card reader for the SD card.

- MapSend software programs run on Macs but require VirtualPC and Windows

- Guaranteed to be waterproof. What this works out to is that although some people have reported sustaining water damage, units are repaired or replaced at no charge.

- MapSend software available for North America & Europe. MapSend WorldWide Basemap will give basic coverage for much of the world--but only at a basic level. I don't think detailed international GPSr map software is generally available.

 

edit: spelling

Edited May 25, 2005 by embra

[+briansnat]

From the Garmin end, there is the GPS V which can be had for around $250. That price includes the routable mapping software, making it a real bargain. Its an additional $90 to $140 for other units. No USB support though.

 

If you shop around, you can also find the eTrex Legend C and Map60 for under $250. Unlike the GPS V and the Meridian (mentioned by Embra), they have USB connections. The Legend C is a color unit and the Map60 is greyscale. The Legend C has the advantage being nice and compact. Its a great unit. The 24 megs of memory will provide significant map coverage. All these units are waterproof to IPX7 standards (they will withstand 30 minutes under 1 meter of water).

 

Another choice is the Lowrance iFinder Pro or H20. The iFinder uses memory cards. The H20 is waterproof (the Pro isn't). The iFinders don't have direct PC hookups, but instead use a card reader. A bit of a pain to use (you have to open the unit, remove the batteries, then the card, every time you want to load. You also need to do some file conversions in GPS Babel), but considering that they are inexpensive ($185 for the H20 on Amazon.com) and use memory cards, it might be worth the tradeoff. Also, their Mapcreate topo software is far better than Garmin's or Magellan's.

 

With your $250 limit you're going to have to make some tradeoffs. If you want detailed mapping included in the price of your unit, you sacrifice USB support and memory card (GPS V). If you want USB support (Map60 and Legend C) you sacrifice memory cards. If you want memory cards (Meri Gold & iFinder) you sacrifice USB connection. With the iFinder, Meridian, Map 60 and Legend C you're going to go over your $250 limit once you buy the mapping software.

Edited May 25, 2005 by briansnat

[+wickedsprint]

Another Vote for the Garmin V, at 230 bucks on amazon it is a bargain and nothing comes close in that price segment.

[+Xangxa]

Another vote for the Meridian Gold. I went caching with a Garmin Legend owner this past weekend, and I was getting better signal under tree cover and in narrow valleys

[+wickedsprint]

Does the meridian autoroute? Do they offer streetlevel maps for europe?

Edited May 25, 2005 by wickedsprint

[+GOT GPS?]

Does the meridian autoroute? Do they offer streetlevel maps for europe?

Magellan units will autoroute, but only with the Directroute software.

Meridian Gold, Platinum, Color, SporTrak Pro, and the Explorist units.

 

Mapsend Directroute Europe

Edited May 25, 2005 by GOT GPS?

[+wickedsprint]

...seems then that the meridian is a better choice based on his desires then, it floats, wateproof, SD card, and autoroutes.

[rsgalloway]

Thanks, all.

 

So if I want the autorouting (for on-road navigation) it is between the Garmin GPS V and the Magellan MeriGold, is that right? The difference being the price (GPS V is $230 and MeriGold is $190 + $175 for mapping s/w, however you do get a SD card option).

 

What are you opinions of this ebay auction? Is this legit?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

 

If I can get this DVD and make it work with the MeriGold then sounds like that is the way to go, agree?

 

BTW - I decided I don't care that much about USP support since I'm sure I can get an adaptor if necessary.

 

Thanks again.

[+briansnat]

So if I want the autorouting (for on-road navigation) it is between the Garmin GPS V and the Magellan MeriGold, is that right? The difference being the price (GPS V is $230 and MeriGold is $190 + $175 for mapping s/w, however you do get a SD card option).

 

The GPS V autoroutes pretty much out of the box. The MeriGold, Legend C and Map60 autoroute if you buy the proper software.

[+Jamie Z]

The difference being the price (GPS V is $230 and MeriGold is $190 + $175 for mapping s/w, however you do get a SD card option).

As Briansnat said, the GPS V will autoroute out of the box. The Meridian requires Directroute software and an SD card in order to autoroute.

 

The price of Magellan software is not $175, though. I bought Directroute for $89 + $6 shipping, but it can be had for less if you look around.

 

In its day, the GPS V was the top-of-the-line handheld. The Meridian came out shortly thereafter. It seems to me that the Meridian has kept up with the times better.

 

Jamie

[+wickedsprint]

I'm still partial to the V, especially since it comes with city select 6 for a total of 230 bucks, it literally has no equal int hat price category. If the 76C came with city select for its 400 dollar price tag, it would likely eclipse the gps V in sales. The funny part is my 96C holds 5 times the amount of the gpsV 119mb vs. 19mb, but the V is still a better roadtrip tool, it sits on a dash better with a lower profile and because of its more heavily detailed basemap only needs a few megs of map data for the exact area you need to find the adress. Lets be realistic, you don't need to have all of florida loaded if your destination is a house in tampa.

[+briansnat]

What are you opinions of this ebay auction? Is this legit?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

 

I'm not sure what that is. Some sort of bootleg? Are you Magellan users out there familiar with this as a product?

[Hoary]

With the iFinder, Meridian, Map 60 and Legend C you're going to go over your $250 limit once you buy the mapping software.

 

My iFinder H2O Plus (package includes iFinder H2O, MapCreate Topo software, 32 Mb memory card and card reader) was $253 including shipping. Page Computers has very good price on the same set:

 

http://newsite.pagecomputers.com/store/pro...uct%5Fid=633544

Edited May 25, 2005 by Hoary

[+briansnat]

With the iFinder, Meridian, Map 60 and Legend C you're going to go over your $250 limit once you buy the mapping software.

 

My iFinder H2O Plus (package includes iFinder H2O, MapCreate Topo software, 32 Mb memory card and card reader) was $253 including shipping. Page Computers has very good price on the same set:

 

http://newsite.pagecomputers.com/store/pro...uct%5Fid=633544

Hmmmm, you're tempting me.

[+soreyes]

Some sort of bootleg?

Looks sketchy to me. The seller also has a pre-programed sd card I came across the other day:

 

Preprogramed SD for Magellan

 

As for best GPS under $250... I would say a Magellan Meridian (yellow or green). They can be scrounged up on ebay as well. Most of the Gold features without the steep price.

[+Jamie Z]

That DVD is probably illegal. Check out this quote:

 

What I did was I took each program and compiled regions/maps that covers all of the lower 50 states.  The regions/maps are saved as images or image files.  All you need is a SD memory card, any size you want from a 32mb up to a gig

 

So it looks like he is selling premade regions, and not the actual software. I'd stay away from this.

 

As for best GPS under $250... I would say a Magellan Meridian (yellow or green). They can be scrounged up on ebay as well. Most of the Gold features without the steep price.

Not quite. The basic Meridian does not support DirectRoute autorouting.

 

Jamie

[Hoary]

With the iFinder, Meridian, Map 60 and Legend C you're going to go over your $250 limit once you buy the mapping software.

 

My iFinder H2O Plus (package includes iFinder H2O, MapCreate Topo software, 32 Mb memory card and card reader) was $253 including shipping. Page Computers has very good price on the same set:

 

http://newsite.pagecomputers.com/store/pro...uct%5Fid=633544

Hmmmm, you're tempting me.

OK! I'll add some more.

 

From a seller package came with non-Topo version of MapCreate, which wasn't suprise to me. Before only iFinder Hunt and PhD in Plus packages were shipped with Topo, all others - with non-Topo. But couple of month ago non-Topo version was discontinued and now all Plus packages should come with MapCreate Topo. I called Lowrance Customer Service and they sent me MapCreate Topo at no charge and didn't even ask me to return non-Topo. Now I have both.

[rsgalloway]

With the iFinder, Meridian, Map 60 and Legend C you're going to go over your $250 limit once you buy the mapping software.

 

My iFinder H2O Plus (package includes iFinder H2O, MapCreate Topo software, 32 Mb memory card and card reader) was $253 including shipping. Page Computers has very good price on the same set:

 

http://newsite.pagecomputers.com/store/pro...uct%5Fid=633544

 

Will this package deal do autorouting as-is (for the $244 price)?

[+gpsjeep]

You can find the Meridian Gold at most Walmarts for $199. The Gold also comes with a 16 Meg base map and an SD card slot for expanded memory.

I also just did a search for Mapsend Topo on ebay and found one for $40.

 

Have fun. And remember, don't get any on ya.

-Jeff

[Hoary]

With the iFinder, Meridian, Map 60 and Legend C you're going to go over your $250 limit once you buy the mapping software.

 

My iFinder H2O Plus (package includes iFinder H2O, MapCreate Topo software, 32 Mb memory card and card reader) was $253 including shipping. Page Computers has very good price on the same set:

 

http://newsite.pagecomputers.com/store/pro...uct%5Fid=633544

 

Will this package deal do autorouting as-is (for the $244 price)?

Unfortunately, NO.

At the moment only one handheld from Lowrance can do autorouting, iWay 100M:

 

http://www.lowrance.com/Automotive/Products/iWAY100M.asp

 

You could find it for $335 + shipping here:

 

http://www.gpscity.com/item-lowrance-iway-100m/iway100m.htm

 

Version with color screen, iWay 200C, is coming this summer.

Edited May 25, 2005 by Hoary

[+embra]

What are you opinions of this ebay auction? Is this legit?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

 

I'm not sure what that is. Some sort of bootleg? Are you Magellan users out there familiar with this as a product?

Let's see...$180+ of software for a Buy It Now price of $29.95...ding ding ding.

 

No, I've not seen any combining of these products like this; I doubt it's legal. It's probably more of a rip-off of the consumer, though, than Magellan. To my knowledge, no one has been able to make a copy of the installation disk required to be in the drive when one starts the program.

 

There *are* hacks that edit the program code so the lack of the requested disk doesn't halt the program...perhaps this guy has done that. Bit of a gamble...and as he says, all sales final.

 

Stuff like this is why we have to contend with pain-in-the-butt copyprotection schemes.

[rsgalloway]

I found a new Garmin eTrex Legend C for $259. Is this a good deal?

Edit: Comes with a $50 rebate, too, so total cost would be $209. Sounds like a good deal to me.. thoughts?

 

http://www.gpsonsale.com/garmin/products/e...egend-COLOR.htm

 

To get the autorouting feature, it says I need to buy a MapSource CD. Are those expensive? I couldn't find a price on the garmin website, and it also lists several different CDs: City Navigator, City Select, MetroGuide... which of these would be the least expensive for just getting basic autorouting?

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

Oh yeah, anyone ever try to build a GPS unit? Seems like it could be pretty easy, maybe not that portable, though...

Edited May 25, 2005 by rsgalloway

[+wickedsprint]

The city select software is like 100 bucks give or take. The basemap on the color etrex units are pretty much useless.

[+scott9282]

What are you opinions of this ebay auction? Is this legit?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

 

I'm not sure what that is. Some sort of bootleg? Are you Magellan users out there familiar with this as a product?

Let's see...$180+ of software for a Buy It Now price of $29.95...ding ding ding.

 

No, I've not seen any combining of these products like this; I doubt it's legal. It's probably more of a rip-off of the consumer, though, than Magellan. To my knowledge, no one has been able to make a copy of the installation disk required to be in the drive when one starts the program.

 

There *are* hacks that edit the program code so the lack of the requested disk doesn't halt the program...perhaps this guy has done that. Bit of a gamble...and as he says, all sales final.

 

Stuff like this is why we have to contend with pain-in-the-butt copyprotection schemes.

This looks like a pirate software operation. In addition, if you read the requirements, the seller says that he will send you Excel and Word in an e-mail if you don't have those programs. Further, he says he needs the serial number of your GPSr to make the program work.

 

There is something very fishy here. You get what you pay for. If you were to buy this stuff, and it somehow damages your computer or your GPSr, who are you going to complain to? Some guy you bought stuff from on eBay? Good luck.

 

TANSTAAFL

[+briansnat]

I found a new Garmin eTrex Legend C for $259. Is this a good deal?

Edit: Comes with a $50 rebate, too, so total cost would be $209. Sounds like a good deal to me.. thoughts?

 

http://www.gpsonsale.com/garmin/products/e...egend-COLOR.htm

 

To get the autorouting feature, it says I need to buy a MapSource CD. Are those expensive? I couldn't find a price on the garmin website, and it also lists several different CDs: City Navigator, City Select, MetroGuide... which of these would be the least expensive for just getting basic autorouting?

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

Oh yeah, anyone ever try to build a GPS unit? Seems like it could be pretty easy, maybe not that portable, though...

I've seen it cheaper, but not recently. For some reason GPS prices seem to fluctuate quite a bit. So I'd sayyes, its a good deal.

 

For auto routing you need Mapsource City Select. Metroguide and Topo do not autoroute. I'm not familiar with City Navigator. A Froogle search shows $105 to be the best price right now for City Select. Metroguide was $71 (but again, current versions of Metroguide do not autoroute).

Edited May 26, 2005 by briansnat

[rsgalloway]

Thank for all the advice. One more question: which, if any, of the above mentioned units require either an activation fee or a service fee to use? I think the Magellan products don't have any fees, right?

[+Miragee]

There isn't an activation fee or service fee.

 

Once you have bought the GPSr and the maps, you are ready to go . . .

[rsgalloway]

There isn't an activation fee or service fee.

 

Once you have bought the GPSr and the maps, you are ready to go . . .

 

Good. But then why do so many of the products being sold feature the "no activation or service fee, so use it all you want" bit?

 

Are you saying every single consumer level GPS product does not have any associated fees what-so-ever?

[+IVxIV]

That's right, no consumer level GPSr has any sort of activation or user fee. The only way a GPSr device would have a fee is if it were a multifunction device, and the "other device" had a fee (cell phone, web connection, etc..)