Starting out?

I've found that Hybrios work well in the cold and, unlike normal rechargeables, hold their charge for ages.

David Hare wrote (see)

Hi I am just abouut to buy a Garmin 550t Are they Any good?

Also which is the best mapping Quo or Discoverer I dont want to buy the wrong one as I fear if it is to difficult to operate it will just be left in a draw. Simple answears only please absulute beginer

Thanks David

Unfortunately any thread where a new member asks advice about which model of GPS to buy, usually degenerates into a compass V GPS debate. This doesn't help the person asking the question, and to be honest the subject has been done to death.

I have a Garmin Oregon 550. It's a fairly decent setup, easy enough to use, and loads of good features (see the review on the TGO forum).

However I've found it to be unreliable in normal use. It comes supplied with rechargeable batteries, and these don't seem to last long. Other major brands fare a tad better (energiser, Duracell), but only last week the unit again froze on me, after only 20 minutes operating with batteries fresh from the pack.

In future I'm going back to my Garmin GPS60Csx, at least until the reliability issue is resolved.

Hi every one Happy New Year

Hi every one and thanks for your input

Hi Parky I am willing to invest my time, I thought that was what I was doing by trying and find out about different GPS's My rucksack is 60% full of what I may need if things get nasty. I notice that you have a satmap 10  I was going to get the Garmin 550t but after investigating a little further it appears that the satmap 10 pluss may be the better one have you any views on this thanks David

the satmap 10 morphed into the plus version - principally a price rise for very little and making you pay for the online route planning - which is clanky.

apart from a slow start-up time it is an excellent unit. however, these types of units are not particularly suited for "emergency" or "where am i" use as they are very expensive for the very limited functionality that is required of them.

i always left my gps unit switched on to download into digital mapping - which was really quite educational as you quickly learn that what is on the map isn't necessarily what is on the ground. routes weere uploaded into it.

i now use the satmap to follow my route as it shows an actual os map and it is perfect for this. however, if you like to go walkabout, which i do, the very small amount of map visible on the screen makes this quite difficult and i resort back to a paper map for the wider view.

so to summarise. i use the satmap instead of a map/compass (i always carry both as a backup) as to use it otherwise is a waste of a large sum of money and not what the unit is intended for.

whilst a nice, tempting gadget may seem what you want i don't think it is what you need although the final choice is always yours.

i would strongly suggest that you get yourself a gps unit, fairly basic like a geko 201 for example, and use it in conjunction with your map and compass to improve your map/compass work. i found that having a gps made my navigation improve very quickly as the gps gave me confidence in my decisions. it also allowed me to understand the nuances and foibles of both maps and gps units too - a very valuable lesson.

gps also have a trackback feature which means you can always follow your trail backwards should you decide you really don't want to go any further.

i would spend the extra money and get yourself some pooter digital mapping (i hate memory map with an extreme vengeance so i can't recommend any but they're all around the same price points depending upon how much mapping you buy - i use tracklogs because it doesn't use routes and tracks; it only becomes a route or a track when you load it into the gps) to play with and print your own maps, upload routes to and where you've been from the gps.

if i had gone straight to the satmap solution i would not have learnt so much as i have with digital mapping and a gps and i would be much poorer for it.

Hi  Parky Thanks for your full and quick reply. Its only after talking to people like you that I realise just how little I know.I think I will put my wallet away and do some more studying

 (a little knowledge is a very dangerouse thing )

David

try fleabay for a decent 2nd hand oregon 200/300 to start with, not much dif between that one and the 550t judging for what you want it for.

maps are available for free for almost all Garmin unit's, google 'talkytoaster maps' or 'OSM maps' for example. No need to buy anything mapwise till you know what you want from the unit.

 That said I switched from a 60csx to a 550t recently, and for me its an immense improvement for the features I want out of it. I still got the csx, but the 550t is the one that comes along 99% of the time.

as for the satmap, meh, anything that i can't switch batteries on ad hoc isn't any good to me.

Hi Alex

whats that about the batteries in the satmap?

I am going to do some geocatching I found 2 over the weekend quite good fun with the dog kept us out a little longer  How Do I find the sit for free OSM maps 

Thanks David

David,

As Alex suggested, if you search for 'OSM maps' or 'talkytoaster maps' you should get plenty of results e.g:

www.openstreetmap.org

sites.google.com/site/talkytoasteruk/ukmaps

Be aware though, that these maps do not give the same level of detail as full OS maps (which the Garmin Discoverer use), but they are free, and the talkytoaster ones also have contour/height information.

As such they are more a replacement for the Garmin road based maps, rather than OS 'hill' maps.

alex uk, satmap batteries? eh? you have a choice with satmap, you may either use aa batteries or use the extended li-pol battery pack. your choice.