The biggest problem with buying a car is that once you buy it, you have to stop shopping.
This is problematic for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that, having dropped so many thousands of dollars on a durable consumer good, suddenly other items seem a lot cheaper. So consumer electronics that, if you were sane, you’d dismiss as “too expensive” suddenly become little things to be casually picked up with pocket change.
This is happening to me now, because I’m looking for a GPS to use for Geocaching, even though I don’t really need one.
I have, to date, found exactly one (1, as in singular) cache, using a borrowed iPhone 3G and the awesome geocaching.com app. But since some of the caches I’m going to be looking for are in pretty rugged terrain, I was thinking about picking up a dedicated GPS, ideally one with topo maps and an electronic compass.
I’m currently leaning towards the Delorme PN-40 over the highly-regarded Garmin GPSMap 60csx. This mostly stems from my previous experience with both companies. My impression is that Garmin is a GPS company that happens to have some maps on their units, and Delorme is a map company that happens to sell GPS units. Which one you prefer is probably largely a question of taste.
Of course, the other solution to the problem would just be to buy an iPhone 3G.
Any recommendations from the experienced GPS users out there?
I’m going to advocate for doing something more fun than geocaching; go orienteering. As a bonus you get to learn how to read a map.
I haven’t had a chance to cache in a while, and I haven’t had a chance to buy a GPS in a lot longer. I don’t particularly like the electronic compass as a feature, it kills battery life and is generally unnecessary next to a much cheaper analog compass.
Of the two you’re looking at, I’d definitely pick the Delorme. The Garmin is a bit older, and although it’s set up for caching, the interface is somewhat limited compared to the apparently detailed information that the Delorme utility has. It also looks like Delorme has access to a wider variety of maps for cheap. The Garmin you’re looking at only has a basemap installed, which means you’ll need to separately buy any maps you want.
@Benoit – Do I get to act all snottily superior to geocachers?
Actually, I’ve often wondered if I can “do” geocaching without an actual GPS, but just with a compass and a few really good maps.
As I mentioned in a comment elsewhere, yeah, you may be disappointed by the support for the DeLorme in the more advanced tools used by most geocachers. I haven’t investigated fully, but will say that almost everyone I know who caches uses Garmin these days, even folks who were diehards about Magellan or other more esoteric brands a couple years ago.
And yes, you can most certainly go geocaching without a GPS, I’ve known several folks especially handy with the map and compass, and heck, in areas you know really well, even that might not be necessary to find the easy ones once you have a few hundred caches under your belt.
Given that geocachers and orienteers are both groups of humans, I suspect there is overlap, but the pure ones snoot at each other much like vi and emacs adherents.
The only geocache I know of is at Wolf Rocks, and I only know of it because of the throngs of geocachers who go up to the cache, get happy to have found it, then walk away, without so much as a glance at the nice overlook not 100′ away.
Hikers get to snoot at *everyone*.
Dude — Since you say you don’t really need a geocatcher, what about getting something you need with the money instead — like obscure liquors? I feel like you’d get more enjoyment out of buying actual necessities, whereas you might regret wasting money on a geocatcher later….