GPS Help and Recommendations

[huntwriter]

I am in the market for a new GPS and would like to know what other hunters so use to help me make up my mind.

Here is what I am looking for.
The GPS has to be easy to use. I do not care about a lot of features that I most likely never going to use. Long battery life and strong aerial that will receive the signals even in the deep dark woods. My last GPS was a Garmin 12 (the older model from the early 90’s)

Any recommendations and, or points I should consider?

Thanks

[buckee]

I'll move this to the gear room Othmar. It won't fall to the bottom of the list too fast there.

[LifeNRA]

I own the Garmin Vista along with the MapSource CD's. I love the fact I have topo's for anywhere in the USA I want to go! I dont think there is a GPS that can read through tree's. If the signal is blocked, its blocked. Since I have had my Vista, I noticed the newer Garmin's with color screens have a longer run time per set of batteries. But I cant complain about mine except if the compass is turned on, then it eats power. But I dont use the electronic compass anyways. Would I buy another? Yep! Probably the Vista C next time. But if you just want plain old GPS readings, the regular Garmin Etrex should work just fine.

[GWSmith]

I believe John's right...Good Luck in trying to find Any GPS that will "Read" a sattelite through the Dense Trees.
People think that once they own a GPS they dont really need any Woodsmanship skills...they could not be farther from the truth.
You'll still need to be able to recognize and use landmarks to travel by. Since a GPS uses groups of Sattelites to "Triangulate" your position before it gets a "Lock" and operates properly without giving you the message WEAK SIGNAL.
I use a magnetic compass along with my GPS in Dense Trees. In an opening or clearing I get the direction that I need to go with the GPS and then use the compass...it's not bothered at all by the trees

As far as a GPS just to help you get to and from a treestand a simple(Low Memory) GPS like the Garmin E-Trex will work. It works great for getting to and from my treestand(if I have that spot marked as a "WayPoint") but like any other GPS that I know of it will lose Sattelite reception in dense trees. I have one of those and it does fine but is very limited on the amount of information that it can store in memory.
To give you an example...
I recently took a drive in the car with the wife and used it to record where we went. Partially because we did not really have any destination and to help us figure out how to get back if we became lost.
The GPS recorded the "Track" where we had traveled on our slightly over 1 hour drive...it used 44% of its memory to do so

In contrast my friend has the Garmin E-Trex Legend.
Here are those spec's:
eTrex Legend 1,000 waypoints, 160 x 288 pixel display, 18-hour battery life, detailed basemap, 8 MB for optional maps.

He made a very detailed Map where he works for his employer using all that extra memory to store information(tracks and multiple waypoints) as he walked the property.

Pay for the extra Memory that models other than the basic ones have...You wont regret it
I dont regret having the one I do...but I push its limits and after having become very familiar with it I'd buy a different model the next time.
If you get a GPS and decide that you also want to be able to upload and process any of that information to your computer you'll need:
The proper cable for your GPS
Mapping Software
...and alot of patience to learn how to manipulate that information into something you can use!!!

You'll Love using a GPS
Below is a small 3-D map that I created using Maptech's Terrain Navigator software and the "Track" that I recorded this past spring. I had roosted birds just south of the "Parking Area" and you can see where I did my first "Setup" on them. They flew down in the other direction accrossed that creek and then we were off to the races, with them on the other side of the creek, and me doing my best to catch up until I finally scored on one of them!
There were some small Gaps in the Track's line that I filled in with the programs tools(Thats where the GPS lost sattelite reception in the dense trees where I was hunting).

[HaDeRonDa]

That is what I call some nice mapping!
GPS's rock!

[OJR]

Great map but it sure is some flat country!!!