[hydrodis]

My gps would be used only for geocaching.
Rarely would it be used more than 50 miles from my home location in the UK.
What benefit would the Magellan 310 model offer over the GC model?
Still not ruled out the Garmin etrex20 but the sticky problem puts me off.

[Ohiosiouxfan]

I just ordered the GC model yesterday as it happens. Amazon has it for $135 and free shipping. I tried to buy local, but none of the local stores had it in stock. I'm getting it to supplement the Iphone and ancient Magellan Gold. I have three sons under 15, so they should be able to handle this pretty well.

The units looked pretty similar but I believe the 310 has some more storage capability. It was also priced at $179.99 at my local Bass Pro. It may also have some more preloaded map and topo info that's not related to geocaching. The GC model claims to allow you to go caching "right out of the box" but my research shows that it has about 1,000 preloaded caches (the most popular) covering WORLDWIDE. Well, the fact is that there are likely 5,000 caches closer to where you're going to open this up than one of the pre-loads. So plan on uploading the caches via the computer connection (on both units) before you get to geocaching. You get a 30 day trial of premium membership to geocaching.com with this model.

The 310 Model would seem to work well for geocaching as well. It's GC features include: "The eXplorist 310 supports paperless geocaching, which allows you to download more than 20 unique characteristics of each cache, including name, location, description, hider, size, difficulty, terrain, hint, spoilers, attributes, and last 20 user logs among a number of other details." http://www.magellang...0-North-America

The amazon link below has the manufacturer video for the GC: http://www.amazon.co...g/dp/B003CYKYVQ

I found this video of an unpacking of the Magellan GC to be helpful as well:

This post has been edited by Ohiosiouxfan: 17 April 2012 - 05:27 AM

[Socal ZukiCachers]

The GC and the eX310 are the exact same hardware in different colored cases. However, the difference between the two units is the software and capabilites of the devices. The GC is a simple Geocaching GPS and does a super job with paperless caching. The eX310; however, has several of the capabilities of a higher end unit such as tracks, routes and the capability to load high end or custom maps to the device as well as having all of the Geocaching capabilites of the GC. Personally I have a GC, 110 and 310 and they are all great units. I can't say a lot about it at this time, but Magellan is always working to improve these units and are going to be some changes with the GC in the near future which make the unit even a nicer unit for the user. With that said, since I'm an off roader and a Geocacher if I were to have only one GPS I would go with the eX310; however, I you only want it simply for Geocaching and don't care about loading higher end maps or needing to track back after going deep an area after going after a cache - then the GC is the unit for you. The eX110 is actually cheaper than the GC and it is now shipping with a new brighter screen and does simple routes and tracking and has the paperless caching, but with only limited sorting capabilites and it will also not load the higher end maps. It is also limited to 500 geocaches at a time; which the GC and eX310 will handle 10,000 caches at a time. However, the eX110 is a simple and easy to use unit that does do the paperless caching and also handles the tracks and routes.

David
Magellan Insider

[ShaunEM]

I have had the GC and now have the etrex 20. I do like the routes and being able to upload my own maps.

I would say the 310 compares more directly with the etrex 20 in terms of features.

The GC only has a stadard basemap, and I found that limited as I do like to do a lot of trails and get lost a LOT!

Whatever device you get. Make sure you MARK where the car is before you head out into the bush!

Shaun