Hand Held GPS

Anyone have experience with a hand held gps that fits with detecting? I don't want/need all the bells and jingles. I have tried a phone app but they dont even give me my correct location. I want to put in coordinates (long/lat) and have the gps tell me what direction to walk and how far. Also want to mark and store locations. And I need accuracy.

You might check out the Garmin Etrex that sells for $ 100.00 or less. It has a high sensitivity receiver but not a bunch of bells and whistles. I have one that I use as a backup while geocaching. Most Gps units have problems under the trees and near buildings. They won't take you exactly to your spot, but could be off by 10-30 roughly, at times. That's been my expierince. You want one with a high sensitivity receiver is best. I mainly use the Garmin Oregon 300. It has the.bells and whistles. Garmin is always updating their units. Good luck and holler back anytime.

I have used GPS units since they first became available for civilian use. In the early days they had an error sent to the non military GPS units so terrorists could not use them for precise coordinates. They lifted this error from use under President Clinton I believe. Since Iraq and Afghanistan I don't know how or if they manipulate the signals anymore. A GPS can be hindered around buildings and trees causing a loss of signal. If you use a GPS in your car and have your home as a waypoint you can see how far off they can be by looking at the different distances you are from where you park your car each time you return to home. It can be a few feet or a 100 or more feet at the parking spot at your house. I don't know if a hand held GPS will be accurate enough for this purpose.

Hi Ozzie,

After an awful lot of research I ended up getting a Garmin GPSMap 60csx from Amazon. I wanted one that would work in heavy canopy and was accurate and it works great for me.

It's more old school than a lot of the newer models out there but it's accurate, rugged, easy on batteries and easy to setup / operate.

We do a lot of woods hunting so I bought it for researching new sites plus marking new areas that produced. Used it for the first time last Spring to find an old camp and ballfield in some thick woods. Walked right up to the old cabin sites without a hitch even though the areas were completely overgrown and none of the structures standing. The ballfield was in some of the thickest ,nastiest undergrowth I'd ever been through but we kept following the direction arrow on the GPS. Finally it said 26ft, 14ft, 6ft, 2ft.... Looked down and there was a small mound of dirt I'd set as a waypoint. Never would have found it or even guessed it was a ballfield.

I started out using my son's Etrex but it was pretty much worthless under any canopy. I've used this one under heavy canopy under overcast and rainy conditions and it worked like a charm and put us right onto our target.

Good Luck!
Mike

Thanks for taking the time guys, big help to me. I have done some research...... to no avail.

I use a Garmin Rino 655T. The 655T has all the bells and whistles but it is a little pricey but it is well worth it. The Rino works great in heavy cover and the coordinates are always dead on. Garmin offers several different model Rinos at good prices. I always recommend to anyone interested in purchasing a GPS to use while metal detecting take a look at the Garmin Rino series. Metalman.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2012 12:35AM by Metalman.

With my Garmin Dakota 20 I can take any overlay (old aerial photo, topo, historic map....etc) I have made on Google Earth and transfer that overlay (.kmz file) into the Garmins' memory. When I physically get to the area of the overlay, there it is, on the GPS screen. It's really cool.

I agree with "mikewaz"... the Garmin 60csx is tough to beat.

I gotta tell you Ozzie, the Garmin I've got does all of the things you're looking for. The screen's not the biggest compared to a lot of the newer ones out today, but for what we do it's perfect for me. The biggest concern I had was using it under tree cover, overcast skies etc, but it worked perfectly for me. There are also free topo maps you can load into it. Go to Geocaching.com and you'll find a ton of info on the models out there. I research the hell out of everything almost to the point of OCD but I know when I finally make my decision I won't be second guessing myself.

Mike