A few years back I bought the Etrex Vista HCX since I had plans to visit some out of the way places on motorcycle and wanted the ability to load USGS topo maps on the GPS.
I have the Garmin Rino 655t that I use for hunting as it is also a two way radio. It's my 2nd Garmin, and I would highly recommend them. They are user friendly, and neither has failed me in the 8 years I've owned garmins. I run my off of rrchargable Lithium ion batteries, but they make a battery you can put AA in to power the unit.
EMP or restrictions on the satellite transmitters during crises will likely render a GPS virtually useless. However, if you are leaving immediately, any Garmin mapping unit should be functional.
Land Nav is a easily learned, and mandatory, skill.
Land Nav is a easily learned, and mandatory, skill.
Garmin Montana series units have worked great for me. They have decent battery life with the included rechargeable battery, AND will also run on AA's once you deplete it.
There are numerous maps available for them than you can have loaded on the SD Card.
For instance, this past July we went on a cross country dirtbike ride. Our plans were to trailer out to the OK/CO border, jump on our dirt bikes and ride on dirt all the way over to the UT/NV border.
So, on my Montana, I loaded the "City Navigator" maps for the road trip out there, with those maps running it works just like any other turn by turn routing GPS. Once I got to CO I switched over the the CO Topo maps since a lot of our trip was on road/fire roads/trails that arent available on your typical over the road mapping software.
Now with that said. The Garmin Rino series may suit your needs better? I believe you can load the same maps, but they also work as 2 way radios. They plot the location of your partners on the map, which is a pretty cool feature IMO.
There are numerous maps available for them than you can have loaded on the SD Card.
For instance, this past July we went on a cross country dirtbike ride. Our plans were to trailer out to the OK/CO border, jump on our dirt bikes and ride on dirt all the way over to the UT/NV border.
So, on my Montana, I loaded the "City Navigator" maps for the road trip out there, with those maps running it works just like any other turn by turn routing GPS. Once I got to CO I switched over the the CO Topo maps since a lot of our trip was on road/fire roads/trails that arent available on your typical over the road mapping software.
Now with that said. The Garmin Rino series may suit your needs better? I believe you can load the same maps, but they also work as 2 way radios. They plot the location of your partners on the map, which is a pretty cool feature IMO.
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and hiking across private property "making my own trail" is trespassing. you'll end up arrested or worse, but definitely late from work.
in his original post he stated he wanted it for bugging out. not sure why some yahoo would want to judge others when he didn't know the full extent of the question either.
Take it from an experienced geocacher. The eTrex line has HORRIBLE reception. If you have it on a lanyard around your neck, it loses lock. If you out it in a pocket even for a second, loses lock. Forget even trying to use it in a car.
Their GPSMAP series is FAR better, holds more maps on the SD card, and takes a LOT to lose lock. I have a GPSmap 60csx that I've had for years. I loaded it long ago with topo maps for the entire country on one micro sd card, and it even shows powerlines and pipelines that were constructed before the gov't stopped updating the data... pipeline and powerline scars are handy as hell when cutting cross country. Also the battery life in 3-4x more than my old Etrex.
Their GPSMAP series is FAR better, holds more maps on the SD card, and takes a LOT to lose lock. I have a GPSmap 60csx that I've had for years. I loaded it long ago with topo maps for the entire country on one micro sd card, and it even shows powerlines and pipelines that were constructed before the gov't stopped updating the data... pipeline and powerline scars are handy as hell when cutting cross country. Also the battery life in 3-4x more than my old Etrex.
^^^^ This! I have an ancient GPSmap 60c, and they can't be beat for outdoor use except by their newer models. Stop your shopping and get one of these, even an older used model is better than anything else out there.
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