Good hand held GPS?

[manlymatt83]

I have a GPS on my phone, but I pay $10/mo for it. At $120/yr, that's a big deal. Furthermore, it requires me to use VZ Navigator which doesn't always work. I would love to get a small, handheld GPS, that can be used for numerous things, such as hiking, walking, but also driving.

I've recently started volunteering for a local hiking group and they'd like me to walk a few trails and rate distances. My current phone won't handle this. I used to have a car GPS but it was only for streets and wasn't that good. Finding a GPS that can do accurate distances would be good.

Is there a good, small handheld GPS that can help me drive when I get lost but also help me follow hiking trails and calculate distance, etc.?

Thanks!

Moved from Off Topic.
Moderator allisolm

 

[Newbian]

Don't buy anything to expensive.

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: Newbian
Don't buy anything to expensive.

ha =)

 

[manlymatt83]

Thanks for any suggestions this sub forum can provide!

 

[mentalcrisis00]

i bought a Garmin Etrex Lengend HCx from amazon for $180. It's the cheapest one I could find that has expandable memory because I wanted to load the detailed topo US maps. The base map on these things are useless but if you have the city nav mapset you get turn by turn directions, topo maps give you detailed hiking and trail maps, the unit is waterproof, acquires satellites in under 60 seconds almost anywhere, and has great software/button interface. It's really a great buy and garmin makes excellent GPS units, I've been buying garmin units for myself and family for 5 years and have never had trouble with them. My friends all have tom tom's and I was impressed with the voice recognition, turn by turn voice prompt, and the software but I've never actually bought or used one myself. I prefer the Garmin because of the highly detailed maps and great map source software for loading them. They do get expensive, topo maps are $60 and city nav is $100 but really it's worth it seeming you never have to buy paper maps ever again. Topo maps for a 10 mile square area can run you ALOT of money, and buying road maps for every state can get expensive as well if you want decent ones.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

 

[manlymatt83]

mental: will that device track distance and speed and altitude and such without maps?

Also, is this a device I could charge with my solar powered USB charger? I assume it uses the same sort of plug that's on a blackberry charger?