Handheld GPS for hunting experience?

[Don Lovel]

I will hopefully be hunting some back country I have never been to before and am currently studying Google Earth and topo maps. I am realizing, that while I usually shun electronic gadgets in the field, having a handheld GPS with mapping data base feature would be a nice addition to my field gear.
Who here has good experience with them, E-trex, Magellan, Brunton, other brands I should be looking at and best bang for the buck as these toys are expensive.

 

[4kdave]

Don, I to have been looking at a GPS for off road ATV use as well as hunting and have mainly looked at Garmin. They have so many models and accessories that it is hard to decide what I need and don't need. I mainly want to be able to go from point A to B and then be able to get back to A. Don't think I need a compass or altimeter so that cuts the cost. Cabelas has different models of Garmin on sale all the time.

 

[gramps]

The National Park Service in Kotzebue, Ak gave a 4 hour seminar on GPS while I was there. The upstart is they recommend Garmin as being user friendly. I bought a Garmin etrex 20. It has too many bells and whistles for my like. The same with my Magellan explorist, though it is easier for me to use. I am a pilot, and prefer a topo map and a compass. The GPS in my delivery truck has run me around in circles without obtaining my objective. I view GPS with a jaundiced eye. Map, compass, plus the knowledge to use it, and check the compass info against the sky is my reccomendation.
gramps

 

[tinman]

+1 on the Garmin. I have had a 60CSx in a Ram Mount that moves between my sidecar rig, ATV and boat for several years. My main uses are for the speedo, clock, distance travelled and backtracking. It has waaay more features than I will likely utilize but I still find it to be a user friendly piece of kit. It was marketed as a "handheld" device so is small enough to fit in a large pocket but as I said, it spends the vast majority of its life cradled in a Ram Mount.....and best of all, it is pretty much "me-proof". As of now this model has been superseded but for my usage it still rocks......If and when I find a reason/need to replace this unit I will be looking at the Garmin line first.

https://www.maptoaster.com/maptoaster-topo-nz/articles/60CSx-review/garmin-gpsmap-60csx.html

 

[pete44ru]

.

I bought (and tried) a Magellan, just after GPS became available to civilians - but sold it after a 1-year trial.


It was easy enough to use, but although YMMV, I preferred focusing on the hunt, rather than having to stop & plug in the route locations as I followed the turns/twists of the game trails I usually follow.

OTOH, my compass' (I always carry two) have yet to fail me over these past 60 years (I learned compass use as a Boy Scout in the mid-50's).


.

 

[kd4rgwml]

+1 on Garmin. I have a garmin 600 that i got on sale and its outstanding ( after I bought another map for $60 lol)

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

To borrow from Dan'l Boone, I've never been lost. I always know I'm "right here." Problem is, sometimes figuring where "right here" is on the map (yeah, map and compass are primary, GPS is icing on the cake) isn't so easy, so as Dan'l said, it can be confusing as to how to get to the next place. The basic little yellow Garmin eTrex model gives me enough info to find "right here" on that map.

It's still about $100, doesn't have a steep learning curve, and uses AA batteries. Batteries are an important consideration if you're gonna be out for a while, especially a multi-day trip. Every GPS I've played with is a battery hog--I seldom get more than half the advertised life if the unit's in constant use. And I've yet to find a tree or rock with an electric outlet to recharge one with a built in rechargeable battery!

The newer model has some basic mapping capabilities while remaining light on the bells and whistles (the sky's the limit on "features" if your wallet's fat, but as others have mentioned, the more complex the unit is, the less usable it may become. KISS?) Even this simplest one has a "track" function which essentially drops electronic bread crumbs to make a trail. And it's easy to set a waypoint marked "Truck" or "Camp" or whatever for purposes of navigating back to a starting point. Tell the GPS that's where you want to go and it'll give you a heading from where you are, so you can follow your compass. That can be helpful if you like to wander about in circles here and there and lose track of where you started.

Here's the current version of mine: http://www.thegpsstore.com/Garmin-eTrex-10-Handheld-GPS-P2758.aspx This is a popular vendor recommended some time ago here on TRF. I've bought from them and they're good guys...

Rick C

 

[Poco Oso]

I second the little yellow eTrex. Great tool for scouting for big game, turkeys, or exploring some 4wd trails. Cheap and simple to use. I have mine in a clip-on phone case that has a carabiner attached and can be hung from the mirror in my truck.

 

[gramps]

Tinman, the garmin you have is much like what the NPS had, and passed around to use for class. When I went to buy one Dick's was having a sale, and I was talked into the etrex. Here I was in Barrow, Ak, and the #!%* couldn't give me a path back to my Apt! It said "unable to find a road!" :shock: No hock, Sherlock! I was at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, around 2-3 miles away, looking for a short cut home. :roll: The stupid etrex would have let me die! :evil: As I said before, I like a map and compass better.
gramps

 

[tinman]

Tinman, the garmin you have is much like what the NPS had, and passed around to use for class. When I went to buy one Dick's was having a sale, and I was talked into the etrex. Here I was in Barrow, Ak, and the #!%* couldn't give me a path back to my Apt! It said "unable to find a road!" :shock: No hock, Sherlock! I was at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, around 2-3 miles away, looking for a short cut home. :roll: The stupid etrex would have let me die! :evil: As I said before, I like a map and compass better.
gramps

I hear ya, back when I walked or biked everywhere a good compass and map were the things to have. But with the advent of motorized conveyances, which will take a person waaay deep into an area very quickly, I really like the backtrack feature which is found on most GPS units. It becomes a real lifesaver when the sun goes down in the deep dark woods or way back down one of those "this looks interesting".... also known as.... "I wonder where this goes" roads/paths.

 

[blume357]

I'm a Garmin person... when I was walking in the woods I used a GPS chart one... small one for a boat but had about a 3" screen ... not sure what they have now. To be honest you can get as good or better service these days from a iPhone or probably a like smart phone.

 

[tinman]

I'm a Garmin person... when I was walking in the woods I used a GPS chart one... small one for a boat but had about a 3" screen ... not sure what they have now. To be honest you can get as good or better service these days from a iPhone or probably a like smart phone.

In town my I-phone works pretty well at giving me directions and such....but in the truck it is also plugged into the charger. Out in the woods I prefer the dedicated GPS unit. Just being able to replace a couple of AA batteries makes the choice easy for me......

 

[Pat-inCO]

I got a Garmin Foretrex 401 from Amazon for $170, primarily for the
altimeter, but it does a nice job. It comes with a velcro wrist strap
and except for the first time you turn it on (initialization and all that)
comes up very quickly.

Amazing feature set and well worth a look see.

 

[Arthr Itis]

I have a Garmin and I-phone, problem with the smart phone is that the battery drains really fast with GPS.

 

[Pal Val]

After you pack the GPS, phone, range finder, spotting scope, batteries, etc, will you still have a bit of room left for a gun and some rounds? Just curious.

 

[Rook]

I use my old Garmin III Plus for off road stuff or boating. It has a handle bar mount for motorcycles also. It leaves a bread crumb trail so you can follow you're way back out if there's no roads.

It was a really big help when I used to go fishing on lakes that I had never been on before. Before I got it I was fishing on a lake in Alabama, which was Lake Martin and it has a lot of fingers fanning out on that lake and you can get lost pretty easy. My wife and I were trying to get back to the boat ramp one time and she said that house looks familiar and I told her it ought to since we've been by it 3 times. :lol:

After that I bought the GPS and never had any problems finding the loading dock again. We even used it in the Gulf of Mexico with no problems getting back to the dock. It uses double A batteries so you don't have to worry about charging it plus it will also plug into a cigarette lighter receptacle.

 

[Mobuck]

In 1997 I and 2 friends had planned a trip to Montana for an elk hunt. My older Son and I went out in late August to do some scouting and select some spots for the first few days of hunting. I took a handheld GPS and recorded numerous waypoints which I recorded and mailed the list to the other two guys who lived 350 miles from me so they could locate the points on a topo map identical to mine. By the time we got together for the trip, we were all on the same page and could reference the same points even though the other guys hadn't seen the hunting ground.
I've used my unit to locate property lines and lay out fence lines but I haven't used it nearly as much since I have access to satellite mapping.

 

[tinman]

After you pack the GPS, phone, range finder, spotting scope, batteries, etc, will you still have a bit of room left for a gun and some rounds? Just curious.

If I'm in an unfamiliar area it is the GPS (usually on top of my pack so it can "see"), binos (on a chest rig) and a gun. Depending on which gun I am using the ammo is either in belt loops or an ammo wallet in my pack or pocket. Everything else I need/want is in my pack. :wink:

 

[Don Lovel]

After you pack the GPS, phone, range finder, spotting scope, batteries, etc, will you still have a bit of room left for a gun and some rounds? Just curious.

Yeah kind of my point in not wanting to mess with one. I spent a bunch of time in Boy Scouts as a kid learning how to use a compass and topo maps, trust myself with that, but boondocking cross country doing that I have also gotten myself stuck on a bluff and had to walk a bunch out of the way to get back on the trail I needed to be taking.

One of the problems we have out here in the Sangre De Cristo, mineralized soil and high copper percentage will make a compass sit on the ground and just spin around for awhile and then the compass will point that "north is somewhere kinda over there". Not a good thing, so I also watch for shade point at noon and such, but on cloudy days, trying to keep directions out here can be tough.

In Colorado, the Parks & Wildlife Dept wants you to carry GPS when bear hunting and mark the kill location with it and submit that to them when you confirm your kill.