[meteorite-list] Garmin GPS unit evaluation for meteorite hunting

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:12 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86904EE5B0E_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi All,

Wanted to thank Ron Baalke for posting the link to a Garmin GPS
comparison website:

http://www.gpsnow.com/gpscmpm.htm

For those that haven't checked it out, perhaps my analysis will save
you some time as far as the selection of a GPS unit best-suited for
meteorite recovery work.

First, my requirements:

1. Large # of track points -- at least 2000. For a 1-day trip, and
8 hours of active hunting, I would need 480 track points at 1-minute
temporal resolution. So 2000 track points would support trips of up
to 4 days without computer access.

2. WAAS accuracy a must.

3. Waypoints (for marking find locations) -- would like at least 500
active at a given time; for multi-day trips at multiple locations, it
would be nice to have 1000.

4. PC interface: USB preferred; 9-pin serial acceptable.

5. Battery life: the longer the better

6. Display: the greater the # of pixels, the better

Other features which are nice to have, but not critical:

1. Electronic compass
2. 2-way radio with position reporting
3. Detachable or external antenna hookup

13 units are compared at this site, three of which (the most
expensive ones) are dash-mounted, so that leaves 10. Battery life
is only 1.5-5 hours on the Garmin iQue 3600, which is the most
expensive of the handheld models. This is because it has a lot
of extra bells and whistles (PDA, voice recorder, MP3 player). It
also uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which adds to the
expense if you need to carry an extra one along. Nice unit, but
overkill on features and not optimum for meteorite hunting.

That leaves 9 units, which can be separated into two groups --
those with electronic compass and barometric altimeter, and
those without:

No compass/altimeter:

                 Track Way- Inter- Batt. Approx.
    Garmin Unit Pnts. Pnts. face Life Pixels Colors Price
    ------------ ----- ----- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------
1. eTrex Legend 10000 1000 9-pin 18 46080 4-gray $200
2. Rino 120 2048 500 9-pin 15 25600 4-gray $250
3. GPSMAP 76 10000 1000 9-pin 16 43200 4-gray $300
4. V Deluxe 3000 500 9-pin 25 40960 4-gray $400
5. GPSMAP 60C 10000 1000 USB 30 38400 256 $450

With compass & altimeter:

                 Track Way- Inter- Batt. Approx.
    Garmin Unit Pnts. Pnts. face Life Pixels Colors Price
    ------------ ----- ----- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------
6. eTrex Vista 10000 1000 9-pin 12 46080 4-gray $300
7. Rino 130 2048 500 9-pin 14 25600 4-gray $350
8. GPSMAP 76S 10000 1000 9-pin 10 43200 4-gray $400
9. GPSMAP 60CS 10000 1000 USB 30 38400 256 $500

The compass feature is nice, but I don't think you'd need the
altimeter for meteorite hunting. However, if you're planning to
use the GPS for backpacking, the altimeter would be a nice feature.
Basically you pay an extra $100 for the altimeter/compass option
($50 extra for the GPSMAP 60CS vs. 60C).

The V Deluxe has a detachable GPS antenna and includes a MapSource
CD-ROM (MapSource North America City Select). Fancy maps are
fine for driving navigation or trail hiking, but you'll find
they're of little use for wilderness meteorite hunting. The places
you're most likely to find meteorites are the very places that
tend to be devoid of interesting map features, so if you're only
using the GPS for meteorite hunting, I wouldn't spend a lot of
extra money on the mapping capabilities.

One thing that looks odd in these lists is that the eTrex appears
to be a better deal than the GPSMAP 76. It has the same # of
track points and waypoints, 4-gray-scale display and 9-pin
interface, but the eTrex has slightly MORE pixels and a little
longer battery life and yet costs $100 less! The reason for the
disparity is a "feature" I failed to include -- screen size. The
GPSMAP 76 has a 52% larger display than the eTrex (it also has an
external antenna hookup and more route features).

That's one problem with the Rino units -- the display is puny:
only 1.4" x 1.4". On this basis alone, I probably wouldn't buy
one. This is unfortunate, because they do have that nice 2-way
radio and position reporting feature.

The eTrex display isn't much better -- 2.1" x 1.1" versus
2.2" x 1.6" for the GPSMAP 76.

Based on all this, my Garmin GPS recommendation would be the
GPSMAP 76 (or GPSMAP 76S if you want the altimeter/compass).
If you have young eyes, you can probably get away with spending
$100 less for the eTrex.

One other cool feature of the GPSMAP 76's: they float! Also, I just
checked the "too low to advertise price" at the above website --
you can get the GPSMAP 76 there for only $256.90 including shipping!
(The 76S is only $316.90 including shipping.) That's a pretty
good deal.

--Rob
Received on Wed 07 Apr 2004 07:07:52 PM PDT