garmin

[Mudman]

I never used gps units and would like thoughts on what is best for hunting for reasonable price.  I want color screen, detailed map, gmu and land identification and google earth photo features where you can click it and gps can take ya there if possible?  Radio would be nice but not big deal as nobody seems to have one.

[Alan K]

I'd go with one from the Rino series.  I've got the 655t and love it, but earlier models like the 530 are very popular too, and less expensive.

[wraithen]

I don't know of any gps that integrates that well with google earth. With everything else it sounds like you want a 600 series rino for cheap. Sportco w membership sold me one for 427ish last weekend. I'm still playing with it but I like it. Just wish I had the option of a toggle joystick like the 130's had. Panning around kind of sucks sometimes. As far as maps there's tons of free ones out there. Some of them are better than what you'd get paying for it.

[Lazzwarbird]

I have been looking at some of the Oregon series and they look pretty good. Does anyone actually have any experience with one?

[Lazzwarbird]

Never mind, I just read the other gps post.

[huntnnw]

I have an oregon 550t..with the land ownership mad SD card... cool device but pack batteries!! leave it on for 30 min it might be dead!! ive never seen somehting suck batteries so fast..lithiums too

[ghosthunter]

Rhino

[Mudman]

I cringed and bought the rino655t.  I do like it alot but There is alot to learn and I think alot I will never use.  The birdseye thing looks sweet but I am going to get the hunting/land I.D. map first.  I did find free maps on gpsfiledepot like gmu boundaries and it is helpfull.  The camera feature is really nice and as soon as I figure how I might put some pics on here. Touchscreen is easy to use and reminds me of cell phones. The gps is very fast and accurite so far.  I do have questions about radio?  Repeater channels?  What is this and FCC stuff? Do they work or do I have to do something to activate em?  Also I noticed horse and snowmobile trails are not on maps.  Does 24k map show these? How do these radios work in the hills and trees and do I need to use 5watt then?  I know I got alot to learn.

[wraithen]

K. I've heard not so great things about the birdseye. It just seems over priced for what you actually get. I don't even wanna know what that set you back. I couldn't man up for the 55. I had no interest in the 100 maps and the camera didn't sway me. I don't know what the repeater channels are. I thought you'd need to have 2 radios in order to run a repeater.  The 24k maps show WAY more detail, as far as whats on it though, that depends on the map. That gpsfilesdepot has pretty good stuff. If by the fcc stuff you mean them bragging about the fms and grms stations, it just means they go a good distance but you fall short of power requiring a license. Think HAM radio operator. I haven't been able to try out the radio much in the trees. I was getting about 5 miles not LOS in eatonville. Some lady as pissed about the traffic. 

[Mudman]

5 miles is pretty good.  I read you need fcc licsense to use repeater channels? I have sample download of birdseye and it is ok, like google earth but not quite the detail on gps screen.  30$ for year service and you keep any downloads. How much better is 24k map compared to 100kmap. I wonder if frs or gmrs makes a difference on distance and signal strength?

[wraithen]

Not really, you're dependent on LOS either way. You may be able to talk across a valley easily enough though as long as you can pretty much see where you're trying to talk. I just use google earth overlays and skip birdseye. Here's the thing about the 24k vs the 100k. You are getting data off of a 1:24k vs 1:100k This means you are getting a much closer and more detailed view of the lay of the land. WAY more detail. That contour line on a 100k may be 100 ft or it may be 200. Huge difference when those lines get close. The 24k topo will generally always give a more detailed picture. You can also overlay the two against all your other maps. (Your rino does this automatically unless you turn some of them off.)

[Mudman]

Really!  How do ya overlay google earth?

[wraithen]

There's a button on the program that comes with the garmin that opens directly to google earth. After you click that you just save that image and throw it back on the program as a map layer for that area.

[pianoman9701]

I cringed and bought the rino655t.  I do like it alot but There is alot to learn and I think alot I will never use.  The birdseye thing looks sweet but I am going to get the hunting/land I.D. map first.  I did find free maps on gpsfiledepot like gmu boundaries and it is helpfull.  The camera feature is really nice and as soon as I figure how I might put some pics on here. Touchscreen is easy to use and reminds me of cell phones. The gps is very fast and accurite so far.  I do have questions about radio?  Repeater channels?  What is this and FCC stuff? Do they work or do I have to do something to activate em?  Also I noticed horse and snowmobile trails are not on maps.  Does 24k map show these? How do these radios work in the hills and trees and do I need to use 5watt then?  I know I got alot to learn.

Don't forget that the pics are geo-tagged, so that big bull on the ground will become everyone's new honey hole.

[pianoman9701]

MM, learn how to use that thing and you'll learn to love it. It takes a while, but you've got time.