Best GPS for Mountaineering?

[mattyg]

OK, I know this has been covered in the past but I'm in the market now so. . .what are some units to look into? I'm specifically interested in light weight & full featured. Anything to avoid? Thanks.

[letsroll]

look for battery life. I have the 76s and it sucks butt when it gets cold. Can hardly use it, and most of the time that is when you need it. At least for me.

[Couloir]

OK, I know this has been covered in the past but I'm in the market now so. . .

Check this thread. It's not the MOST up to date, but it has some decent info.

[mattyg]

OK, I know this has been covered in the past but I'm in the market now so. . .

Check this thread. It's not the MOST up to date, but it has some decent info.

 

Yup, saw that one. Fishing for that new info that might be out there.

[mattyg]

Anyone on here use the Garmin Foretrex 101? How is usability when it's cold out?

[Macson]

I replaced my etrex venture with the foretrex 201 last year, and I really like it a lot. The rechargable battery lasts about 15 hours of continuous use, and doesn't seem to be affected by cold. That said, I would like to have to option of being able to replace batteries in the field....so when I bought one for my brother in law for a graduation gift I got him the 101. Use lithium AA's in it and never worry about the cold.

[sweatinoutliquor]

Garmin RINO 530! It only costs, like, 6 million dollars, but shit, it's got a built in 10 mile radio and picks up weather channels. Color display. Huge memory. Barometric altimeter. Etc etc. Sure it's awesome. Right for you? Unless your in the "wealthy" category I doubt it. Maybe kinda heavy. I dunno, I want one, but they cost what I make in a month.

~Natro

[Nick]

I use a Garmin GPS60. This is the cheapest of the new line that has both long battery life and an improved antenna. It is easy to use and I like it a lot. There are more expensive versions which can display maps as well. The only down side is the 8 ounce weight. It is a general purpose tool that you can customize easily so that the screens show exactly the data you want to see depending on whether you are navigating on land, at sea, or whatever.

 

Garmin also makes the tiny Gecko, very light. Down sides are shorter battery life and it's hard to use with gloves on and it could easily blow away in a strong wind, it's so small. It isn't designed to be used with a lanyard, but it should be.

[RogerJ]

The Geko also comes with 4 interactive games preloaded. That way you don't need to pack your GameBoy on the next alpine adventure.

 

-r

[sweatinoutliquor]

The games are sweet, eh? Mine has something called "waypoint bomber" or something. It's pretty tuff to figure out, and I think it has something to do with running around and throwing your GPS unit at your partner and you get points based on how hard you hit them.

[marcus]

Foretrex 101 is cheap(~$130), no bells and whistles to suck juice up, waterproof(ish) and just weighs a couple ounces. Haven't had any cold temp issues with it. Prefer simplicity of AAs(101) over rechargeable(201) for longer trips...

[Bergretter]

Try this shop for some better pricing. The GPS Store

 

For my two cents...I've used Garmin's Etrex Summit for some years now with no problems, seems very durable and weather resistant, loaded with usable features (as you desire), battery life and other good info on the above website for you to compare. Good luck!

[Eli3]

I just got the etrex ledgend c, and the garmin mapsource 24k topo set - it includes MRNP, NCNP and the olympics. They vectorized the contour lines, roads and trails and such, which makes for some neat features. Makes it nice and easy to pinpoint your location in a whiteout. The battery supposedly lasts 30 hours too. I've had the same battery in it for two full day (~8 hour) ski tours and its been ok - I did turn the battery saving thing on, so it calculates the position less often.

[mike1]

IMHO go with a basic model and stay sharp on your map, compass, route finding and bow staff skills. They’re fool proof and won’t let you down in an emergency. Having said that... I picked up the base model Magellan Sportrack a few years back. 0 complaints. No bells and whistles, but it picks up that rinex data signal easily enough. I put some lithium AA’s in it and it lightened it up a bit. (try that!). It stays in my pack 95% of the time, unless I’m specifically training with it. IF I bring it at all.

[Bigtree]

On a more positive note, I bought myself one of the new Garmin GPSmap 60CSx units. Have used it on several winter outings so far this season and am quite pleased with features/performance. Its relatively compact in size; weight is 7 oz with 2 AA batteries as measured on our little kitchen scale; has an integral compass and barometric altimeter; big colour screen; and best of all, it has expandable memory that has enabled me (with a 512 Mb micro sd card upgrade) to load my Mapsource topos/waypoints/climbing routes from the bottom of the Alaskan panhandle in British Columbia South the Mexican border and East of the Rockies. Yea, battery life could be better but what's the big deal about carrying 2 spare AA's. I use alkaline rechargeables and haven't found the need to spend the dough for lithium's to-date although its a common refrain and likely the way to go for long multiday trips in cold weather.

 

I've used earlier era gps's over the years for West coast forestry work and have found performance to be wanting, particularly with respect to that signal reception, small visual display, and lack of good topo mapping capabilities.

 

Sure, some of the features are more entertaining than useful for mountaineering; however the topo mapping feature sure is nice (can be found on a number of different brands out there).

 

In summary, my advice is stick with a handheld compass, thommen altimeter and a good topo if you are looking for a stripped down basic featured gps, or spend the money and get all the bells and whistles.