Bushwalk Australia

Hi all. Thinking to purchase a gps myself. For 64S, it's $375 with no map, for 64ST it's $460 with Topo Lite. Should I buy 64S and then spend an extra $180 for topo full version? I don't need city turn by turn navigation as I already have a built in gps in my car.

Why not get the Etrex 30 with maps?

Another option might be to look into open street maps, I know a few people that use it and they swear by it.

Its a good way to save a few $ if it has what you need.

Having thrown the option out there now, personally I use the official maps as I got my GPS long ago before I knew OSM was an option.

icefest wrote:Why not get the Etrex 30 with maps?

I hear a lot of good thing about the 62 model. So I think the 64 should be pretty good too. Especially it's 375 at the moment compare to most places still selling it for 500. Don't know much about etrex 30. Will look into it.

Bubbalouie wrote:Another option might be to look into open street maps, I know a few people that use it and they swear by it.

Its a good way to save a few $ if it has what you need.

Having thrown the option out there now, personally I use the official maps as I got my GPS long ago before I knew OSM was an option.

Perhaps I will go the 64s, and try out with the OSM. If no good I can still buy the top sd card. After comparing with etrex.

fat_doggie wrote:Perhaps I will go the 64s, and try out with the OSM. If no good I can still buy the top sd card. After comparing with etrex.

Pretty much, there are ebay sellers that occasionally sell them for $20, my other half bought one such set of maps for Europe. The supplier left the instructions from the *pirated* download on the SD card. Point is, when buying, if you want genuine maps be careful, there are a few knock off cards floating about on places like ebay.

I used to have the 62s, it was a solid bit of kit (and also what I bought my maps with). I traded it for the etrex 30 to get better battery life and weight savings.

The 62s anecdotally got a lock faster and had less issues with wet trees, the bigger screen was a slight advantage too.

Whilst I'd still get an etrex (or maybe an Epix now, nice looking gadget) the 62s (and now I expect the 64s) is a very solid bit of kit that will not disappoint.

Don't rule out the Etrex 20. Misses out on a couple of features of the 30, but nothing critical and is considerably cheaper. I paid $224 but have seen them as low as $210.

What's your intended use of the GPS? The suggestions of the eTrex are good - I posted about them in another thread viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18850

The 64S is still a capable unit. It has the advantage of the slightly bigger screen than the eTrex, and the external quad helix antenna as well as an MCX port that you can plug in an external antenna as well. And the front buttons, obviously - these make it easier IMHO to use if you are using the GPS on the handlebars of a bike for example.

For a free option, OSM is also another good suggestion and you can layer Dooghan's Contours Australia 5m layers with it as well. See viewtopic.php?f=21&t=10088 for more info. I've found OSM maps in metro areas to be pretty good.

Bubbalouie wrote:Pretty much, there are ebay sellers that occasionally sell them for $20, my other half bought one such set of maps for Europe. The supplier left the instructions from the *pirated* download on the SD card.

I would be cautious about ebay sellers and cheap maps for newer Garmin devices. Garmin changed the way the newer devices like the 64S authenticated maps so the "unlocked" pirated maps sold on ebay will not work. I think Garmin was trying to roll out this new protection method by firmware updates to existing devices. Like the Montana series in firmware 5.60. However, for the Montana 5.60 the protection caused a number of unintended issues, including locking legitimate maps and third party maps, so that firmware was withdrawn. The next update 5.70 removed the authentication issue, but it could still roll out again in later firmware updates.

I went with the smaller Oregon 600 series as I prefered the smaller/lighter size, and wanted the touchscreen for easier navigating/data entry compared to my etrex 30.

So the topo I found on ebay only works on 62s. Perhaps the newer models won't allow people purchasing maps off ebay. This is almost $200 saving.

fat_doggie wrote:So the topo I found on ebay only works on 62s. Perhaps the newer models won't allow people purchasing maps off ebay. This is almost $200 saving.

I'm not sure you want to be paying for a pirated copy of the maps. The $20 maps on eBay are probably all pirated. A firmware update might mean your maps just stop working and then you've got a much less useful GPS.

Id sooner just give OSM plus the free topo maps listed above a go.

It may just be me, but I find paying for knowingly pirated software ethically tenuous.
Piracy isn't great, but when you are prepared to pay for it, you should at least give the creator that money.

icefest wrote:It may just be me, but I find paying for knowingly pirated software ethically tenuous.
Piracy isn't great, but when you are prepared to pay for it, you should at least give the creator that money.

+1