Re: gps devices
After trying both Magellan and Garmin brand handheld units I choose the Garmin Etrex Vista HCX. I found it to be the most versatile unit for the money for my purposes.
It is waterproof and has a crisp bright color display which was important for my aging eyesight. Battery life is excellent, and it uses common AA batteries. This unit accepts micro-SD memory cards so upgrading is simple and map capacity is limited only to the size of the memory card installed.
On my unit I have highly detailed roadmaps of all of North America, full marine charts of the lakes I boat on and full topographical maps for all of Canada. It has full auto-routing capability for driving, which is a real nice feature. It has both the magnetic and satellite based compass, barometric pressure monitor and lots of other features. It has MANY custom configurable menus and setup features. I take this thing in the boat, in the car, hiking and back-country canoeing. It goes everywhere.
In my opinion, the user interface is MUCH MUCH better than the Magellan models I've tried.
