GPS Recommendations For a newbie who currently uses a smartphone to Cache

[TheDeckerFamily]

My wife loves to geocache and uses an app on her smartphone to do so. Problem is, the smart phone battery drains very quickly when using the app. I am looking for a GPS for her that can be uploaded at home (with ease) prior to heading out into the woods for her treasure hunting trips.

 

Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[+kd0bik]

I currently use the Garmin Oregon 600 and it works great. Before that I used the Garmin Oregon 300 and it worked equally as well.

 

Jerry

[+ru.beus]

My wife loves to geocache and uses an app on her smartphone to do so. Problem is, the smart phone battery drains very quickly when using the app. I am looking for a GPS for her that can be uploaded at home (with ease) prior to heading out into the woods for her treasure hunting trips.

 

Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

Garmin Dakota 20 - cost about ~180 USD. Works great ;-)

[+J Grouchy]

I'm still mostly a smartphone cacher, but I did buy a Garmin etrex 20 and it's been great so far. Not a huge fan of the interface (much less intuitive than it should be), but it does what I need it to and it has a more reliable signal for sure.

[+geekgrl1]

I use both my iPhone and my Oregon 600, depending on where I am going and for how long. I like the Oregon 600 because it has a touch screen, similar to a smartphone. I got it (new) on Amazon for less than $300. I didn't feel I needed the camera on the 650 since I always have my phone with me for safety reasons. And I didn't spring for the topo maps since South Florida is mostly sea level.

 

In the past, I have used an eTrex and Oregon 400, but I really like the touchscreen on the Oregon 600. I'm guessing there are others with a touchscreen as well though.

[+darkhunter7]

i had an Oregon 650 and traded it in for a 64st, the 650 wasnt anymore accurate than my galaxy S6, the 64st is highly accurate though, always takes me on top of the cache, im not a fan of the buttons but id rather have accuracy than the ease of a touchscreen, plus i use both in the field, i use the 64st to find the cache and my smartphone to log the find

 

hope this helps

[+ShammyLevva]

If money is no object then splash out on a GPS device, it's more accurate than your typical smartphone and the batteries will last longer. However it's more fiddly to setup usually requires a PC to interface it to and may not get used if your wife doesn't take to the interface. Some shops may allow you to hire a device for a few days to try it that might be a good route so you don't splash the cash on something that ends up back in the drawer.

 

If the accuracy isn't the issue and the only reason you want to get a GPS is the battery then you would be dramatically better off getting a "juice bar" a very compact portable battery charing unit. Look for the highest mAh (milliamp hours) battery that's a convenient size. For under £20/$30 you can get a charger that will recharge the battery on a smartphone at least twice often 4-5 times per one charge of the juice bar. Ie: if the typical charge of your wife's smartphone last 2hours with all the GPS usage you can extend this to 8-10 hours which is usually more than enough for your average trip to a forest.

 

The juice bars are very easy to use you plug in the USB of your regular phone charing cable to the juice bar and your phone into the other end and it just charges on the move as if you were on charge at home.

 

So if it's extending the battery life that's the issue get a juice bar, if it's accuracy of the phones GPS then get a proper GPS device.

 

Hope this helps.

[+Marcas_Found]

I've owned just about every Garmin that is out there. The 62 series are the best for accuracy but the Oregon is the best overall workhorse that Garmin has made. I would go as far up that line as you can comfortably afford.