GPS?

[Samnite]

With the explosion of GPS technology, I've quite lost the thread of which company makes which product, which ones are considered "high-end" and which ones are meh. I know the market has fractured into handheld, auto, crossover, fitness, PC-based, etc. systems, and all manner of combinations. I've read a bunch of reviews, and now I'm looking for opinions. What's your favorite?

My requirements and/or specifications:

1) I need a tough, weatherproofed handheld unit. It will be used rarely for auto navigation, but its main function will be all-weather, off-road and off-trail use.

2) The unit should be compatible with 7.5 minute topo maps, either bundled or as an extra.

3) Color readout, with map display, a plus.

4) Usual yadda yadda yadda including WAAS enabling, altimeter, compass, etc.

Any opinions or recommendations?

[rhat]

With the explosion of GPS technology, I've quite lost the thread of which company makes which product, which ones are considered "high-end" and which ones are meh. I know the market has fractured into handheld, auto, crossover, fitness, PC-based, etc. systems, and all manner of combinations. I've read a bunch of reviews, and now I'm looking for opinions. What's your favorite?

My requirements and/or specifications:

1) I need a tough, weatherproofed handheld unit. It will be used rarely for auto navigation, but its main function will be all-weather, off-road and off-trail use.

2) The unit should be compatible with 7.5 minute topo maps, either bundled or as an extra.

3) Color readout, with map display, a plus.

4) Usual yadda yadda yadda including WAAS enabling, altimeter, compass, etc.

Any opinions or recommendations?



Garmin

[cavpilot]

Garmin +1000.

Have had 4 Magellans, had 4 shitty GPS's. (aviation, auto x2, and handheld)

Have 5 Garmins, satisfied with all 5 (aviation, auto x2, handheld, wrist).
That's not to say they're perfect, because they pretty much use the same map database companies but Garmin's hardware and the way they spec their database tends to be more stable.

[planteater]

Most handheld GPS units use the WGS84 (World Geodetic System of 1984) chart datum which maps exactly to modern marine and aviation maps. Many 7.5 inch maps use the NAD27 (North American Datum of 1927) system. The coordinate system used should be marked at the top the map.

You can't read your location from a WGS84 unit and plot it directly on a NAD27 chart. Make sure that the GPS you buy can be switched to the UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) datum. You'll will probably need to read up on how to plot UTM onto NAD27 as it is not a direct coordinate system. Instead you measure your distance in metres from a series of key points.