Hello Claire,

I´m working parttime at an outdoor equipment retailer and if I would buy one now I´d take the Garmin GPSmap 62c to the field. But it may depend upon the question what your specific use is.

Hi, I own garmin etrex 10, it is basic equipment, no map, no electronic compass or barometer, but it is ok for log track, save waypoints, it is robust, small and compact and battery lifetime is pretty good. When you need some advanced equipment then 62 model is good solution.

The Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx. We have been using these for years in rough expedition conditions in Peru, Bolivia, Madagascar, the Caucasus and the Himalayas. Great signal under canopy. I have found that these are much better and more reliable than the newer 62c.

We have a couple of Garmin eTrex receivers, they work fine for our needs on Pacific islands logging tracks and waypoints. We use rechargeable AA batteries. I was able to break one (!), the screen cracked and although it worked for a while, when it got wet the circuit board got fried I guess. Never determined how I managed to crack the thing. But otherwise they are inexpensive and water resistant, we just picked one up on Amazon for about 240 clams I think.

In my opinion one of the best (for several reason) is http://www.trimble.com/mappingGIS/juno3.aspx (or similar)... great value, great accuracy, strong and easy to use (both during field work and exporting data on your workstation), mostly if you use Arc-GIS (ESRI)... great value!

one thing to consider is also if or how many waypoints you expect to save. I had a basic model of a Garmin gps and had to erase waypoints frequently, since I had run out of memory. Really annoying and inconvenient in the field.

I agree with Rainer about the Garmin GPSMap 60 series vs the 62. We've also used them for years and they are robust with good signal. The 60Cx is a bit cheaper than the 60CSx, but with a micro SD card there is no issue with storage or large numbers of waypoints.

I echo the recommendations for the Garmin eTrex series, but I'd make sure you get one that GLONASS capable (like the eTrex 20). With an additional 24 satellites to utilize, GLONASS compatible receivers can acquire satellites up to 20% faster than devices that rely on GPS alone and it's been my experience that they can be more accurate.

The Oregon 6xx series is nice for the above reasons, plus you can get them with a camera and eliminate another device from the field.

I agree re: the Garmin GPSMap 60CSx - have been using one for several years, never have trouble getting a signal even under dense forest cover.

Ditto on the Garmin 60CSx - used them all over the world and in aircraft and they keep on ticking. The micro SD card makes the difference against some other Garmin models and I've kept days of flight paths on there with no problem.

I wish the 60 Csx was still available, it hasn't been made for years now. In the coastal plain none of the cheap units have good elevation. But if +/-40 ft is ok then there you go. If you get a unit that is map capable they have units that can have topographic maps loaded to them. Where I am the topo maps are more accurate in elevation than the GPS because +/- 40 feet here is the difference between the elevation of most of the state. If you have to operate in mountains or under dense canopy you will have poor accuracy without a quadhelix antenna like on the Garmin 62 or 64 although I am not endorsing those. Often in high interference areas the $1000+ units although more accurate on open ground, have algorithms that have difficulties with satellite signals that are distorted or bounced by vegetation or buildings or mountains.

Garmin at one time had a great program called MapSource for dealing with maps and tracks, and lots of waypoints. In the last few years they discontinued that for a dumbed down version that is a pain to use for scientists with hundreds of waypoints. I guess they are aiming their software toward tourists who just don't have the waypoint management issues that field scientists have.

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I've got a Garmin etrex 12 channel as well, and I use it for co-ordinates in various formats as well as elevation. Other features like marking way-points and a trip odometer are also useful. I use it to mark occurrence records of animals. Battery life is great and takes two AAs.

I used the etrex before switching to the Garmin 60Csx and Garmin 62s. Personally I don't have many issues with the latter 2. I work in the dense interior forest of Borneo and they work well, whereas the etrex was can be (dangerously) useless.

I use the Garmin 60Csx purchased on Amazon. It works well under both forest cover and in the open. Under full sky, we typically get +|- 3m as long as you let it lock onto as many satellites as possible. The Trimble units will be much more precise but are much more pricey and often really heavy to lug around doing fieldwork (although maybe they have become lighter in the past 5 years).

i am using Garmin 60Csx for marine studies in Gulf of Mannar, India, it working nice

Thanks for your advice everyone! I have ended up going with the Garmin 62 because the 60Csx has been discontinued. I'll let you know how it works out.

Found this thread after searching for GPS devices for my upcoming Ecuador field season. Any thoughts on the newer Garmin 64 series? Thanks in advance for the help!

It's been a number of years now since the last handheld stand alone GPS I bought. The last one I bought was a Garmin 64st. Who knows what's available now, mine's still working. But I did buy a Juniper, Geode sub-meter gps that isn't stand alone but is really accurate in the XY. I think those can be had for $1500.... and it has to talk to something else like a cell phone or computer. In field practicality it isnt as handy as one of the garmin handhelds, but not as unwieldy as a surveying GPS. and in accuracy it falls between the two.

is the SOS and text through satellite or is that through the wireless network?

InReach is owned by Garmin now (originally Delorme) so they now run off of the free Basecamp software. I found the waypoint management not as simple as standalone Garmins (60 series, even the crappy Oregon series) but it is a nice unit for SOS and for georeferenced texts in remote locations. We use them quite a bit in the canyon country of Utah/Arizona.

I've been using the Garmin inReach Explorer+ since January 2019 as my sole GPS unit in the backcountry of New Zealand during my research on yellow-crowned parakeets. The unit does a decent job sending/receiving messages on the Iridium satellite network and allows real-time tracking by colleagues via an online interface. The GPS side of things is ok: it records waypoints and routes just fine. The biggest problem with the device is the software that it interacts with. The unit must be synced with Garmin's proprietary web software and cannot be 'seen' by any other Garmin software (Basecamp) or third party software (qGIS, ExpertGPS, etc.). The Garmin site devoted to the inReach devices is a nightmare: it's slow, unintuitive, and poorly developed, as apparently the software was just re-branded from its DeLorme predecessor. It's been absolutely maddening trying to get waypoint data from it: sadly, one can only download lat/long data from the waypoints, not elevation! Furthermore, if you want to add waypoints/routes/tracks to the device, you first have to upload the files online, then attach your device to your computer via USB to transfer the files onto your device. I've been banging my head against the wall for months trying to live with this device. Just this past week, I was told from the Garmin Support team that "this device is primarily a two-way satellite communicator and SOS signaler, NOT a full-fledged GPS unit". At this point, I'm considering purchasing a Garmin GPSMAP 64s, as it DOES have full-on GPS functionality. I guess I'll drag two units around with me so I have the features of both. Ugh.

Garmin Map60 series

I am not up to date with the latest GPS units, but I used an eTrex 10 (Garmin) in the field for my research (an affordable unit) and I was not entirely happy with the performance. My Samsung phone and tablet had much better accuracy and was much quicker in picking up satellites. There are apps that one can download for Android that makes life in the field so much easier. Look into a good Samsung phone or tablet as a backup in the field. I used a 'zip-lock' plastic bag to keep my device free from dust and it even worked in monsoon rain conditions when I used stylus. I would suggest using a GPS device for mapping areas and tracks and having a Samsung device as backup for finding locations and double checking waypoint coordinates - the drawback is that you need to be in an area with reception.

Another option that I can personally recommend is a Trimble Device. The Juno is a small handheld GPS with multi functions. Just check if you need any subscriptions to run the software and GNSS access. I see ebay has some preowned options. All the best with your field work!

Michael Somers, did you get the GPSMAP 66i? or the GPSMAP 66s? I was considering getting the 66i

The "grade" of the receiver matters when it comes to positional accuracy - it is directly related to the cost of the receiver. So, choose a receiver wisely. We have conducted many studies of receivers over the last decade or so. Please see gps-test-site.uga.edu.