I am concidering buying a hand held GPS unit for hunting. I know nothing about operating a GPS unit. Would you please give me some recommendations on units that are easy to operate? I am looking to spend around $250 on the unit. I need one that is water proof , has a long battery life, and easy to use.
Hand held GPS unit recommendations
- Thread starter pat701
- Start date
rantingredneck
New member
I bought a Garmin Etrex legend a couple years ago. Very user friendly, light, long battery life. Works great for navigating hunting areas, marking stand and sign locations, etc. Also has a nice basemap of n. america that covers the major highways and has information on what's off the exits so you can plan stops on long trips (my wife loves looking for walmarts and targets when we're travelling 
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I think I paid right at 200 for it then but it's cheaper now. I think they have a higher model available now that's probably even in your 250 price range. The Vista maybe?
) I think I paid right at 200 for it then but it's cheaper now. I think they have a higher model available now that's probably even in your 250 price range. The Vista maybe?
FirstFreedom
Moderator
I've got the Lowrance I-Finder, which works great for my purposes, but if I were buying right now, I'd definitely check out the new Bushnells - evidently they have a lot of map detail in the new models for a good price - it jives up with some larger database of detailed maps, giving you more info that most GPS units. In five years, they will likely ALL do this...be hooked up with Google maps or some such.
Capt. Charlie
Moderator Emeritus
I have a Magellan Meridian Gold. It's a serious instrument, but like most Magellans, it's not the most user-friendly GPS ever built. RRR echoes what I've heard said many times about the Garmin E-Trex. They are probably the easiest to use out of the bunch.
One thing I would mention though; any GPS takes practice. Don't expect to take it right out of the box and be an instant Dan'l Boone. I toyed with mine for weeks before I even began to feel comfortable relying on it in the boonies.
One thing I would mention though; any GPS takes practice. Don't expect to take it right out of the box and be an instant Dan'l Boone. I toyed with mine for weeks before I even began to feel comfortable relying on it in the boonies.