To buy or not to buy ? ? ? - Dartmoor Letterboxing Archive

brinbunny

2011-06-18 17:29:16

Hi Everyone,

I have been debating a GPS system (I am a real sucker for a new gadget)

I have read the reviews on here and amazon and I am seriously considering the Etrex legend HCX and the TOPO map SD card.

I only want it to help me find the car if I get lost and to get a quick fix for boxes if I am going through a dry spell. Also if the weather takes a turn I don't want to trudge too far between boxes.

Does anyone have the SD card topo maps? are they any good? ? ? ? Also is there anything truly bad about the Legend HCX?

All advice greatfully recieved

R
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Colin

2011-06-19 00:31:11

Hi
I have the Garmin Mapsource Topo GB v2 which I suspect is the same as the SD card version?
However on the small etrex screen the contour lines are a bit hard to follow and the map detail is fairly minimal. I suspect it would look a lot better on a Garmin Oregon.
I believe that you can download open street maps onto a garmin, I haven't tried it but there are lots of sites on the internet that tell you how to do it and they are free.

To be honest you don't really need any of the Topo's / Maps to use it as a GPS, it work fine without them.

My experience of the extrex range of GPS units is good, I have had a few differnt versions of them and they all seem to work well, However I do find the screen quite small but they seem fairly rugged I have dropped mine numerous times and it still works. If you want one with a larger screen then look at the Oregon Range.

Hope this helps

Colin

The Sly Fox

2011-06-19 11:12:52

I use the Garmin eTrex Vista with the Topo GB v2
I do find it useful (especially, as you say) to plot the car in case of fog. But I will not kid myself and say I do not use it for finding those elusive boxes

I'm not sure about an SD card version of the maps though. My handset came with a MapSource CD and I downloaded the maps of the internet. I only really needed the map sections that cover Dartmoor (Tavistock etc.).
As Colin says, you can use it without the maps. But as mine is full colour (not sure if the Legend is) it looks good on the screen. You mainly get the contours, trig points, streams, rivers and ponds. It is by no means as good as an OS map, only a few of the tors are on it.
There are a new range of Garmin GPS available which let you have upload the OS maps onto them in glorious detail. But this works out extremely expensive.

Rob

brinbunny

2011-06-19 13:04:51

Thanks guys. I love maps anyway so nothing will ever replace them but for tricky boxes and finding the car will be the only time I look at the screen. After all I should be on the moor looking at the scenery or sticking my head under a good looking rock!
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blue danube family

2011-07-22 06:34:34

The one I go with, and it is one of the newest of Garmin and fairly cheap is Garmin Oregon 450. I used to have Garmin Vista, but would not go for it again, as the Oregon 450 is far better and can be used with the letterboxing program of Colin www.colin-masters.net

Concerning map see comments from the others.