GPS for hunting

[palousemoose]

I am considering a new GPS for my hiking/hunting this year.  Do any of you use one and what kind of experience have you have with the Oregon 400t or Colorado 400t?  Those seem like the two that best fit my needs but I havent used either of them.

[carpsniperg2]

just bought a little backtrack to play with but never used one before. a lot of people use rhinos

[RoyBoy]

just get a rhino. they never let me down

[dougedoug]

i have the Oregon 400t and love it...

[JackOfAllTrades]

I have an older Rino 110 that I like the feature of the radio in. Also that it takes AA batteries instead of a battery pack. Many of the new GPS's take Lithium-Ion packs. Advantage is that they last longer. Disadvantage is that I can't take the bat out of my flashlight to power up the high end GPS's. I like that the Oregon takes AA batteries.

Most all of the the Garmin products are quite water proof. The topo stuff/maps is cool in those color screens. But... That's a touch screen on that Oregon. I dunno how that would hold up compared to the abuse I've given my Rino over the years.

The Colorado 400t has been discontinued already. I'd stay away.

-Steve

[Houndhunter]

i got the oregon 400t and it is awesome, really easy to use

they stopped making the colorado so i wouldnt get one of them

[vandeman17]

just get a rhino. they never let me down

My old man and I got the rhino 590 I believe it is last year. While they are a little spendy, they are great. They are a combination radio/gps and have alot of useful features. It is really nice to be able to send my location to the other radio so that I show up on the his map. Last archery season I came across a few cows and instead of having to try and talk my buddy to where I was, I just sent him my location and he was able to come find me.

[huntlakewood]

i have the Oregon 400t and love it...

I have a garmin 60 and I have played with Doug's 400t and wish had seen his first I think it is more user friendly.

[woodman]

just get a rhino. they never let me down

My old man and I got the rhino 590 I believe it is last year. While they are a little spendy, they are great. They are a combination radio/gps and have alot of useful features. It is really nice to be able to send my location to the other radio so that I show up on the his map. Last archery season I came across a few cows and instead of having to try and talk my buddy to where I was, I just sent him my location and he was able to come find me.


These are great, especially with the feature of seeing where your partner is located on screen.

[gasman]

i have the Oregon 400t and love it...

I have a garmin 60 and I have played with Doug's 400t and wish had seen his first I think it is more user friendly.

I played with Dougs too, and I want what he has 

[whacker1]

rhino 530

[Skyvalhunter]

Should you be playing with someone elses? His wife might not like that

[gasman]

Should you be playing with someone elses? His wife might not like that

He's single 

[Machias]

 

[GoldTip]

I have the Rino 530hcx and love it.

[NWWABOWHNTR]

Rhino 530 is the only thing I will use.... till they come up with a better one!

[SkookumHntr]

Does the 530 take batteries or a battery back? Or both?

[GoldTip]

Does the 530 take batteries or a battery back? Or both?

Either, comes with battery pack, lithium ion I believe.  Which if just used while active hunting will last several days.  Can buy a package thing that will allow use of I believe 4 AA batteries, but it does make the unit a bit bulkier, but is what I'd do if on a wilderness trip.

[SkookumHntr]

-Thats just my reason, When im in the wilderness for a week i wont be recharging the thing but sound just like what i need! Im gettin one this week! Is Wholesale sports still having that sell on everything??

[SkookumHntr]

-Another question on the 530, does it allow you to input lat long cordinates to find a spacific spot, like if a outfitter was going to drop me off at a camp and i wanted to pre scout the area before hand and he gave me cordinates to the camp spot? My buddies doesnt do that or he dosnt know how to do it?

[MtnMuley]

Quick question for those who use Rinos.  How does the mapping ability compare to the Oregon models?  I've used Rinos for a few years now, and am ready to get a new GPS.  I love the talk and buddy locate feature, but am just concerned the 3D mapping ability of the Oregon might be superior.............?  Thanks for any help.

[GoldTip]

To try and answer both of the above questions, honestly have not used the 3d maps so can not answer that question.  And yes you can put in lat/lon coordinates and hit go to and find where your going.  I can tell you the 1:24k topo maps are nothing short of stellar.  expensive, but quite incredible.

[MtnMuley]

1:24 topo is what I will be using.  Have you used those on the Rino? 

[whacker1]

1:24 topo is what I will be using.  Have you used those on the Rino? 

yes - great

[MtnMuley]

Thanks, whacker.

[piled-up]

does anyone know if the rhino series have this 1/24 mapping stock or do you have to buy the mapping seperatly?

[GoldTip]

does anyone know if the rhino series have this 1/24 mapping stock or do you have to buy the mapping seperatly?

At least at this time last year you had to buy the 1:24k maps seperately.  Hated spending the money as one is WA/OR and another is MT/ID/WY, but with hunting in all those states you need the maps.  They were like $90 each last year, and you can't share them from one GPS to another.  But I will have to say they were worth it.

[whacker1]

does anyone know if the rhino series have this 1/24 mapping stock or do you have to buy the mapping seperatly?

At least at this time last year you had to buy the 1:24k maps seperately.  Hated spending the money as one is WA/OR and another is MT/ID/WY, but with hunting in all those states you need the maps.  They were like $90 each last year, and you can't share them from one GPS to another.  But I will have to say they were worth it.

yes, separate purchase from the unit itself.  I have an old set of CD rom's that I download the maps to the unit.  not as current or as detailed, but i haven't had to spend the additional money for updated info yet.

[MtnMuley]

Also, no 3D mapping with the Rino series.  I chose a Oregon 450T and absolutely love the 3D topo mapping.  However, you can't see a buddies location or speak to him via the Garmin radio, like you can with the Rinos.  I'm sure next year Garmin will make a Rino that can do 3D mapping and I will have to upgrade again!

[coachcw]

simple etrex around 100 bucks . It will get you in and out evenm if your electronicly challanged.

[Quackwhacker]

I played with Dougs too, and I want what he has 

Are we still talking about GPS'?
[/quote]

[Quackwhacker]

I used my buddies Oregon last weekend. Fell in love with it.  I am ordering mine tommorow.  I am going with the Oregon 450 and getting the 24K map download.  It comes out to be about the same price as the 450t but with better maps.

[JackOfAllTrades]

Used my GPS this weekend to mark the spots where I saw Bachelor pods of big bucks in Velvet!  

-Steve

[MtnMuley]

I used my buddies Oregon last weekend. Fell in love with it.  I am ordering mine tommorow.  I am going with the Oregon 450 and getting the 24K map download.  It comes out to be about the same price as the 450t but with better maps.

Spend a little extra and go with the "T".  3D mapping is incredible.l

[SkookumHntr]

What do you guys use to clean your gps screens?

[JackOfAllTrades]

A 530 in my day pack would be SWEET!

Not in the cards right now though. Gonna have to go another season with my 120.

-Steve

[nontypical176]

Got a rhino and don't like it.  Not enough buttons for one and the built in radio don't get out as well as my $40 cheapo walkie talkie.  The garmin 60csx is good, and gets better satelite reception + lots of buttons.  When your in the field you don't want to fiddle around scrolling to different screnes to see what your doing.  Terrain Navigator is an awesome PC program that works with most all GPS's, makes it way more fun.  I used several different gps units at work and simplicity is the key, when your in the bush.   

[buglebrush]

A 530 in my day pack would be SWEET!

Not in the cards right now though. Gonna have to go another season with my 120.

-Steve

[pods8]

I just picked up a Delorme PN-40 off amazon for $216, and so far I dig it.  Decent base map software for north america is included, then for $30/year you can download unlimited USGS quad maps and aerial photos.  The aerial photos showing roads, timber coverage, etc. are sweet.  Worked great in east side timber, I haven't dived into the west side ferns/moss/overcast skies with it yet.

[bobcat]

I've been wanting to try that Delorme. It sounds great. Problem is I already have the Garmin 60CSX and can't justify spending the money on another one right now.

[pods8]

I've been wanting to try that Delorme. It sounds great. Problem is I already have the Garmin 60CSX and can't justify spending the money on another one right now.

I hear you, luckily I was in the market for a GPS period here and thought that was a good deal so I passed it on.  I was looking at the 60csx but for basically the same money it didn't come with any maps worth a darn and is memory limited.  The delorme can accept up to 32gb flash cards and the package I got has 5 dvds to load in portions of whatever state you want and once done it covers detail down to side streets and 1:100k topos (if I recall correctly on the exact specification) which is basically going to be fine for the casual wanderer.  The aerial and usgs quad downloads at a fair price, in my mind, just sweeten the deal.

I would like to compare this to a 60csx under poor reception conditions though.

[LCG]

I've been wanting to try that Delorme. It sounds great. Problem is I already have the Garmin 60CSX and can't justify spending the money on another one right now.

 I was looking at the 60csx but for basically the same money it didn't come with any maps worth a darn and is memory limited.  The delorme can accept up to 32gb flash cards and the package

I just got the 60CSX with a 64MB card for $200 at Cabelas last sale and a $50 credit on their card event. Havent played with it yet but appears to be pretty nice for the money.

Don

[bobcat]

That's a great deal. I paid almost $400 for my 60csx a few years ago.

[Hillbilly270]

just got the 60csx for my bday.  like it so far but need some kind of map for it.  not sure where to start.

[pods8]

I just got the 60CSX with a 64MB card for $200 at Cabelas last sale and a $50 credit on their card event. Havent played with it yet but appears to be pretty nice for the money.

Don

I was looking at that too but then you have to pony up $100 for each region of the garmin maps, buy another memory card because 64mb doesn't hold crap (but you're limited out to 2GB on that unit I believe, apparently getting the 4GB cards to work is hit/miss).  Thus I was looking at $150 (with the card credit accounted for) + $100 for each geographic map package + 200mi of driving for me to get to Lacey and back.

$216 w/ free delivery & map coverage for north America looked pretty sweet at that point.  Came with 2GB card (listing said only 1GB but they sent 2GB) as well which offers reasonable storage out of the box.  (Edit looking at amazon currently they have it priced ~$230 right now, it was $216 when I picked mine up a few weeks ago).

[SkookumHntr]

just got the 60csx for my bday.  like it so far but need some kind of map for it.  not sure where to start.

-The 1:24k Northwest from Garmin is the easiest and best, preprogramed, just snap it in your slot and your good 2 go! There spendy but I thought it was worth it