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GPS device


makgonz_JOSE

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Any GPS unit you buy will work just fine. Go to Best Buy, REI, Sports Authority, just about any tech or outdoor store. I suggest going in person instead of looking online so you can actually pick one up and see how it feels.

You will get LOTS of discussion on what's best but really, for a kid just get one of the cheaper models and see if that peaks his interest.

(I'm still using a Magellin ExPlorist 500 that's more than 10 years old and I can't find any reason to get a new one)

 

oops... Best Buy might not stock hand helds anymore. REI and Cabela's have them.

Edited by hukilaulau
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I've been geocaching foor almost a year now and totally addicted of course. Anyways my youngest son who is 10 doesn't like it as much. He says only because he doesn't have his own GPS device. I wanna buy him one but don't wanna spend a lot of money. Any recommendations on a good cheap one?

 

if he likes yours, let him use it. ten years is responsible enough to know better than to throw it against rocks. we routinely hand our phones to 7-10 year olds without issue. they love to hear the proximately beeps as we encounter another cache along the trail, and the grass times they tripped and fell into creeks the (rugged baby!) phones were of course just fine. usually takes more time to wipe the tears away than it does the mud from the screen.

 

... but you asked about one for him. the Casio c811 ($30), Samsung rugby pro ($45), nomu s10 ($150) are all pretty tough, and you can install the simplest of, or very complicated/feature packed applications he prefers. no wires to carry, no cellular service needed (ever) just wifi in more caches (you can share caches between your phone and his very easily also) and go. it's extremely helpful to have the passenger watch the screen as you're nearing your destination, from my experience. they learn about napping and directions of road along the way also.

Edited by ohgood
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What ohgood said.

 

And worth clarifying, your boy can cache with a phone without it being a "phone". That is, leave out the SIM card and decline to sign up for a cellular account until he's ready for that. In the meantime it can be simply a WiFi-enabled GPS unit with a handful of extra functions and a choice of apps. (With Garmin you have one choice of app, like it or lump it.)

 

Here's a sub-$200 phone, a rugged Blackview BV6000s ordered from China, running Locus Map Pro for maps and caching.

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Notice the airplane-mode icon. That was to save battery because at this point I hadn't even plopped in a SIM card yet. Still worked like a charm for caching with the offline-capable app.

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I've been geocaching foor almost a year now and totally addicted of course. Anyways my youngest son who is 10 doesn't like it as much. He says only because he doesn't have his own GPS device.

 

My wife was the same way. She was just following me in the woods at first. Once I got her set up with a phone app so she could have her own position map and all the other goodies that you get with a phone app, she started enjoying caching with me. The other responses here about going with an unlocked but "not online" phone sound like a good way to go to me.

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I agree it is definitely not so much fun geocaching if you don't have your own device .... sort of like following someone through a maze instead of trying to find your own way through. Although the truth is that the last 30 feet where you don't use the GPS at all is the real challenge, there is something about having your own independence in navigating to that last stage that adds to the fun.

Edited by alandb
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