If you read my earlier post you will see that I have a Garmin Legend. It can be bought on the internet for $169.00. I worked around a number of people who had issued gps' or personnel ones. At first I just wanted the simple low cost one, but after being exposed to a number of units I decided that one that offered more was for me.
I have had it almost a year now, used it hunting, fishing, and geocaching. I have uploaded maps from Garmin's Map Source, and downloaded waypoints and tracks to National Geographic topographic maps. I have used it in my local area and travelling in five Western States. The factory loaded base map contains a lot of State and County roads. It also contains small towns and large cities. If you want all the streets you need to upload maps.
There is a learning process, but there is also a learning process with the low cost model. My wife had a model that was upscale from the low cost model put away for Christmas last year. When I started researching she brought it out and gave it to me. Her message was that if that did not suit me, it could be returned. I did return it with her blessing and I bought the Legend.
At the sametime I got the Legend a friend purchased a lower price model. When we went geocaching he realized that there was an advantage to my unit. I had loaded the local topo maps on it and it gave us a feel for the land. The other information such as lat/long, compass direction, and pointer were the same. He is now suffering buyers regret.
One example of what you can do with a unit that hooks into your pc and mapping software is: You can create a track of a hunting area. You create waypoints of parking locations, deer scrapes, trails, crossings, stands, ect. You then down load the information to you maping software creating a map of your hunting area.
Another is that when I fish I use it to mark fish observed on my fishfinder, or when a fish hits I mark it so that I can return to the same sport.
In addition I can hook my Legend to my laptop and using Microsoft Cities and Trips software I can track around city streets. ($14.95 on sale.) Note that garmin does have its own street software.
I got hooked on using a gps, but I just made a costly mistake. The key one is that Brand A, B, and C it will not work on each others software. I bought a Humminbird Matrix55 with a great little gps. The problem is that the software offered for freshwater lakes is very limited. Only 400 lakes in the United States. The software is costly. I cannot use it with my Garmin Mapping software which is great when fishing every fresh water lake I have tried it on.
I should have cost out not only the fishfinder with the gps, but researched the offered software before buying. If I had done a full cost analyze I would have purchased a Garmin 168. In the case of the Garmin I already own the software and have been successfully using it in my handheld Legend. If I had to buy the software it cost fifty percent less and covers the US vs. only portions of a State with the other brand.
Tomarrow morning I am leaving to spend sometime on a friends houseboat. It is on a Lake with almost 400 miles of shoreline. On the Legend I have installed the MapSource Topo maps for the lake. I have pre-created some waypoints on the lake where I think I will find some fish, and a waypoint for the house boat. We will be fishing from my boat. Without the very expense software for this large lake I have created some key waypoints as navigational aids on the Matrix. Yes I could buy the expensive software, but it is not cost effective for a few days a year. Clearly I should have done better. Lower price does not mean that an item is cheaper in the long run.
Siskyou
