for those that use them, which brands do you use, how do you like them, and how do they hold up in the elements?

I've got a garmin etrex vista but the screen has been giving me fits and isnt reliable. (its 2.5 years old and has not been abused)

i'm considering getting another one and dont know if i want another Garmin, or possibly something else.

any recommendations?

I use the basic etrex, The yellow one. All I use it for is marking sets. I am starting to think that it would be great if I could load maps on it though. I have been thinking of getting a vista that I can load TOPO maps on.

I got the garmin 60cx this year 60cx with topo and really like it.

i have a garmin map76 i love it big screen easy to operate.the newer map 76 csx color screen are pretty sweet. i have the mapsource topo maps down loaded. mine only has internal storage but the new ones use a sd disk and my father inlaw put about the entire state on his. I use mine pretty hard and it has never once given me a problem

I love my garmin I forget the model # it is one of the wide ones. I had a magellan once till the day I stood on a beaver house looking at the next house I had marked out across the flats. the thing told me the house I was looking at was 3 miles behinde me in the middel of Wood River.

I have the garmin 76csx. color screen, alaska map... thing works awesome.....cold, warm, on the hills, in the trees...

battery life is good too..

hup i got this gps mount for my sled,its made by a guy in anch(i'll find his name)fits the 76 perfect made out of alum,and has athumb warmer that you wire in keeps your batteries tosty and melts any snow that collects on gps.

My irond dog partner has one like that, and his plugs in, so it runs off the power of the sled, then switched to battery when the machine is off...

had a few request for a picture of the mount i have..i put a call into the guy that made it too see if he is still making them, if he is i'll let ya know how to get one if you want.

same thing..

man those polaris sure have a lot of warnings there.. is there one that says not to buy a polaris...????

Through the years I have gone through 4, Garmin lll, 76 black and white, 60c, and now the 60cx.
The 60cx does all I need for the first time.
The 76 was the first with uploadable maps. However it was too dark at night to see the screen. The 60c cured that. However the one thing about the 60c was it would loose signal under a heavy cover of leaves etc. I could not confidentally navigate at night to find my way out or to a moose kill in the dark for example.
The 60cx cured that. The more sensitive antenna (x in name) does remarkably well under all conditions.

Another thing I might add is that I had the opportunity to use a Garmin rhino this fall and found it very frustrating to use compared to the 60 in the operations that I frequently use on my 60. The single knob button in comparison to access of all the buttons on the 60 made me feel very limited to what I could do quickly. I had to use menues to get things that I use regularly at my finger tips with the 60cx.
For what it is worth. I feel Garmin made a blunder on that one.
Hup I am very interested in the heated holder. Could you post a name and number by chance.

i choose not to go with that option as my buddy fried his map 76 with it powered up to the sled, to much voltage variation. my thoughts were batteries are cheap and i know they will never spike!

From my experience the screen is the one that gets cold and freezes up. Granted the whole gps is getting cold. But the screen gets cold and then goes out.
Is it just keeping the unit warm that keeps the screen that is not heated or in heated air from freezing up? My thought at least on a fan machine would be to take a small flexible tube and run it from your heated fan air into the gps mount and onto the screen. A small bit of air would seem to make a lot of difference.
Maybe not needed. But then something to cover the gps when you stop for a while at a set for example to keep it warm enough.
It has been this dilemma that has kept my gps around my neck for years. But I would like to again experiment with a mount as I can see an advantage. Especially at night in the dark maneuvering via a gps track.
Lets keep this thread going with discussion and ideas on gps in Alaska.

I obught the alaska map for mine, and i am impressed 1000% with its detail...
it showed trails that I didn't know existed, and named creeks that I would have never imagined had names...

It helped us to navigate, traverese, side hill through sleeping lady and the george...

I love it

I have been using the Etrex legend (Blue One) for several years now, it logs my track line and I punch in my sets as I go. When I get home I download the data from the GPS to the Mapsource Topo (Alaska) program and I can see clearly on the map my entire days work. Its a great way to keep a data base of your line, activity, harvest exc...
Like most operating with GPS in the cold, I also have cold weather effects to batteries & screen. I also am very interested in seeing a post on the Sled mount heater option.

Grey G I have done the same thing with the National Geo top maps. A big step up from the mapsource.
But having the map on the gps is a big advantage. Knowing where creeks are etc when breaking new line is nice.
A gps that displays the map is a must for me.

FT : I thought Nat. Geo. was not compatable with Garmin. If I recall , Nat. Geo. is a much more detailed scale. Alaskan residents have asked for a more detailed map like the old Alaskan chip, but Garmin has not followed through. At least for Aviation that haven't. Is there something new out there ?

Piper the National Geo is compatible to download and upload waypoints and routes to etc. But you can't put the maps themself on the gps.
But it is nice to be able to see your route or waypoints on a detailed topo map. The mapsource has waterways in detail but about it from what I have seen.

FT : I get it now - that's more along the lines of what I was told. Thank You.

Lots of great info, thanks!

how about backlights? seems my last unit didnt work well, wouldnt stay lit very long and would eat batteries.

Power cords? or do you rely on batteries?

seems i remember seeing a weather proof carry case (like a small dry bag) that someone was using. cant remember if they were using handwarmers (disposable kind) or some other contraption to keep the unit from freezing.

have been looking around on Cabela's and they appear to be having some pretty good sales.

Garmin 60csx regular price 499.99 ON SALE NOW for 349.99
Garmin Etrex Vista HCx - regularly 299.99...on sale for 249.99

plus free shipping.....

gives those in the market something to ponder.

www.gpsnow.com

Best, cheapest place that I've found (thank you FT)!!

Your welcome Alaskan. I have used it 3 times myself for gps's
Right now. Free shipping and
60csx $319.95
60 cx $284.95 The one I have.
Killer deal for what you get.
The s is barometric altimeter and electronic compass.
I have not seen the need for it.
You have to click on the add to cart to get the real price as they are lower than they are supposed to advertise I guess.

I have NEVER had to replace the batteries in my Silva Ranger compass!

Pete

Pete,

I thought you were still using a Sextant to get around. When did you upgrade? Or was that White?

-TJ

AMEN BRO !! Same here.


I still prefer that knotted lead line for finding the water depth and the fish too. For long distance nav I use the Portuguese Rutter.


Seriously I own an old GPS12map that I don't trust and really don't see much use for. I guess if I lived on the coast with no trees it might be different. Otherwise its useless to me.

I have an old Garmin 76S. Other than learning how to use it I only really used it once to find my track in a whiteout. Got lost one other time when I didn't believe it. You have to use it a lot to have faith in it. Easiest feature for me is the backtrack feature to get you home.
I found the proprietary software of Garmins to be lacking reliable detail at least in our area. Our house is located almost a 1/2 mile away in the lagoon according to there map. Brought it to Garmins attention with no reply which tells me they are not to concerned about loosing market share at the Outlet of Lower Ugashik Lake.
I have a software mapping package from Delorme I use to make local maps and would be happy if Garmins proprietary package had the detail of Delorme's which is just a lift off from the USGS topo quads. At one point I was following a couple forums about loading your own maps in a Garmin but gave up. May be something out there now that is better. Memory prices on GPS are as hard to understand as Gas prices in AK.

Bob, as a consumer you need to form a coalition with your neighbors, then Garmin will listen, there's power in numbers!

While we are talking about electronics that don't work or tell you lies, range finders do that too!

-TJ

And Scopes!!! Err...those aren't electronic though....hmmm....

I don't know if I understand this right or not.

But the Alaskan Map chip I got this past winter, that plugs into the GPS for like $60 is about the most detailed map I can find.. It is as if not mroe detailed than the NAt GEO one on the computer.

I was simply amased at the level of detail on that map....like I said above, it listed old 'trails" that I had driven by 200 times and never saw.. I went poking around and found 2 old seis lines.. It also had names for the smallest creeks and about every peak too..

Yeah Bob. Power in numbers. Get "everyone" in Ugashik to write in and complain.

That'll put the fear in 'em!

"Lower" Ugashik, I don't think he associats with those upper Ugashiks.

Well I took the Idea from family trapper and made my own barrery system for my GPS. Batteries where getting to expensive. I had a 12 volt 7 amp battery in the garage as a spare for my vexilar fishing flasher. I made a battery harness with 2 5 inch carrage bolts and two wing nuts and a put lock washers on them. That way I can take the battery out fast and wasy with bigger gloves on. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the plastic tube on the machine and though the tin that I wrapped in tape for the top. I took that and used 14 AWG wire and ran it thought the frame where I could and wire tired it down. I installed a inline fuse and added a wal-mart special 12 volt plug in. Total cost for me was 4 bucks for the bolts and a few wire ties and 10 for the 12 volt plug in. Easy to make and it should last a while. I have the battery charing right now so I can use it tomorrow. You can also use the batteries from the emergency exit signs that light up when the power goes out. You can a charger from vexilar or any 120v to 12v by 500ma will work to charge the unit.

PF & BB:
Any day you can get two people to agree what day it is becomes a fine day in rural Alaska.

Cool woodelf.
So you will keep charging the battery when you come home?
Next look at putting the rectifier in so you can charge the battery from your machine.

HR/FT:
Does the micro sd card you use on the 60cx have the equivalent of the USGS 1/4 quads or I think 1:24000? Like was mentioned earlier I've used tracking data from GPS runs to make maps but when I purchased mine there was never the map detail I needed on the GPS itself.
Are the micro sd cards with the most detailed map data in addition to prices you show? I've been out of this loop but with the SD card thing I'm sure there are hacks available to put your own map data on.

got myself a garmin map 76csx love it takes some getting use to as it's my first always with me
I researched and talked to alot of people professional guides and outfitters and where I travel all use Garmin all my reports suggested that don't buy anything else other than garmin.

Prices are gps only. I have used the mapsource cd set to load maps is all. They seem to have the same amount of detail as far as waterways as the topo but missing other detail. The mapsoure I use is a few years old. Not sure if anything better is out there. I have not usd the sd card.
But I am wondering how to deal with the 500 waypoint limit?

For those of you who want to mount a gps on a machine for constant use, why not by a marine unit and permanently mount it?