Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....

[+Pacar]

Hello all!

right, I need some serious assistance with this one....

 

I've done a lot of work into looking for a new handheld for geocaching. I presently have a Garmin 60csx which is a cracking piece of kit, but I now want to go paperless. I was using a Palm handheld with the 60csx until the Palm died, and have now taken to using my iPhone, but I want a completely self contained unit, all the information in one place and have plucked for these units.

 

I'm wanting either the 62sc of or 62stc. The reason being, I want the ease of being able to take a picture which is instantly geotagged, yes 5mega pixel isn't a lot but it will be ample for when I'm in the Lake District or Canadian Rockies to quickly remind myself of what was where, if I need a better picture, I'll use the compact camera I have in my back pack. Also, I'm wanting to spend my money on a new GPS with a camera, not a camera with a GPS attached.

 

So, the only dilemma that comes is this. The "t" in 62stc defines TOPO map and I can't find any images which give an indication as to how much detail these maps give, I'm going to be putting a micro SD card in any way, so how much use is this base map anyway???

 

My 60csx does have the countries of the world as a "base map" (I guess is the correct term???), with major roads and motorways drawn on, do these appear on the Garmin 62sc? Can someone send me some photos of the map shown in the unit with no Micro SD Card inserted please?

 

Regards,

Pacar []

[+Bear and Ragged]

Base Maps are... Pathetic.

 

You could try the talkytoaster OpenStreetMaps http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ for the UK, and http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ for further afield.

 

ETA.

A quick look on follow-the-arrow.co.uk gives: http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk/resources/garmap.html

Edited November 1, 2014 by Bear and Ragged

[team tisri]

Hello all!

right, I need some serious assistance with this one....

 

I've done a lot of work into looking for a new handheld for geocaching. I presently have a Garmin 60csx which is a cracking piece of kit, but I now want to go paperless. I was using a Palm handheld with the 60csx until the Palm died, and have now taken to using my iPhone, but I want a completely self contained unit, all the information in one place and have plucked for these units.

 

I'm wanting either the 62sc of or 62stc. The reason being, I want the ease of being able to take a picture which is instantly geotagged, yes 5mega pixel isn't a lot but it will be ample for when I'm in the Lake District or Canadian Rockies to quickly remind myself of what was where, if I need a better picture, I'll use the compact camera I have in my back pack. Also, I'm wanting to spend my money on a new GPS with a camera, not a camera with a GPS attached.

 

So, the only dilemma that comes is this. The "t" in 62stc defines TOPO map and I can't find any images which give an indication as to how much detail these maps give, I'm going to be putting a micro SD card in any way, so how much use is this base map anyway???

 

My 60csx does have the countries of the world as a "base map" (I guess is the correct term???), with major roads and motorways drawn on, do these appear on the Garmin 62sc? Can someone send me some photos of the map shown in the unit with no Micro SD Card inserted please?

 

Regards,

Pacar []

 

The base maps are all but useless, they show roughly where major roads go and roughly what the outline of countries look like, and that's about it. If you get the sc model you'll get the useless basemap.

 

If you go for the topo version you'll get a reasonable map. From what I recall you get either a European map or a North America map (depending on where you buy the unit). In the US I believe what you get is the 1:100,000 topo map which works reasonably well but sometimes has a few niggles (like showing roads running about 50 yards from where they actually run).

 

You can get free maps of a lot of areas using either talkytoaster's site or garmin.openstreetmaps.nl and then if you need more detail you can buy paid maps. I've been looking at the 1:24000 topo maps of the US, on the basis they provide a lot more detail than the free maps I'm currently using (specifically contours) and I think I'll get enough value out of them to justify the price tag.

[+Happy Humphrey]

Presumably you're expecting to use the GPSr a lot in extreme weather conditions (which seems to be the main feature of the 62sc). Other units are much better otherwise. As the screen is quite poor and small I'd use a Talkytoaster map by preference, although for Canada you will probably need to buy maps.

[+Cardinal Red]

Since no one else has made this point I will mention it. I did not do a comparison of internal memory between an Oregon 450 and a 62sc. I have an Oregon 450 and an Oregon 450t. The "t" map is not worth much, but the 450t unit does have more internal memory to support that Topo map. I remember 450t owners commenting that they bought the "t" unit just because of the extra internal memory, and promptly deleted the Topo map. And for one particular software update the "t" unit updated fine for me. The non "t" unit would not, complaining of insufficient memory. Until a bunch of not essential stuff was jettisoned (extra language support for example). This might also be the case with the 62sc unit. Something for you to look into and consider.