Northwest Fishing Reports

What better place to research information than the membership of Washington Lakes.
I am looking to replace my now broken handheld GPS unit (entry level magellan). I prefer handheld, as I would be using it on hiking, fishing, and hunting outings. What I'm looking for is the capability to upload from the GPS unit to a PC in order to make a graphic representation of the readings stored on the GPS. Nothing extensive needed, just the ability to be able to share detailed visual info if the need arises. I've looked at the map making advertisments, and company info, but was checking to see if any of you have "first Hand' experience with this procedure, and if so, what it accomplished for you. Thanks in advance for your input.

I've got an older Garmin eTrex Vista (black and white) with the west coast maps. Works great for basic stuff. Use it for fishing (crab pots location, speed and location), hunting (emergency tool more than anything as I still rely on printed topos and a hand held compass mostly), and geocaching a little bit. I have an older map program and it has much of the puget sound bathymetric info on it too, which is a bonus as you have to buy that separately now. I've downloaded my GPS to my PC and it's kind of fun to map where I've been and what I've done. It was especially interesting after a fishing trip on the sound in the fog. The GPS trail looked like we were drunk out there. lol.
Anyhow. The newer color models are much better for locking on and keeping a signal it seems. That is one of my complaints about mine. Seems like it loses connection easily in the trees or with cloud cover. My brother has a newer upgraded color model of the Vista and it's pretty sweet.

when it comes to GPS, nothing beats Garmin, sure some other might have some cool features but when it comes to the GPS technology Garmin is the way to go.

Thanks BentRod and scott080379 for your replies. Garmin has caught my eye, and is foremost in my line up. You can't go wrong with a proven name.

iv got a garmin 60 CSX they have came way down in price#-o it will do every thing you a asked for. get US TOPO around 100$ dont really know about using it on the water, somtimes i use it only to mark crab pots:cyclopsan but works sweet for hiking and huntin i payed close to 500$ now they are 200$? o well

Do exactly as Salty suggested. Garmin GPSmap 60 with the 100k map CDs (CDs make it easier to use on your computer, the preloaded SD cards are a PITA if you want to link it to your computer)

The Garmin Oregons are sweet too, but very pricey, and I sometimes wish I hadn't bought one, but I still love to play with it.

edit: I own a GPSmap 60 as well, and use it on my kayak. Prior to that, I used it for hiking, mountaineering, and navigating in Afghanistan.

I had a Garmin Oregon 200, until i dropped it in the drink. It was a great unit, got it in the Bargin Cave at Cabelas for a good price. It worked great for getting data from the unit to the pc. I found the software that came with it very easy to use to manage data and multiple map sets.

I am saving up to get another Oregon this year as well as a mount for the boat.

saltyseadog & bionic_one, Thanks for your input. The garmin 60 CSX has my vote at this time. It seems to have what I would need and not too expensive.
Hey bcalvert , thanks for taking the time to respond to my question. The Garmin Oregon 200 has more bells and whistles than I want in a gps at this time, but it looks like a nice unit with multiple capabilities.

All the input has confirmed what I suspected, but it is always good to have some input from those who have had first hand experience with a product.

yeah it is a nice little unit. you will like it:bounce:

I have the Garmin E Trex Vista HCx which I got for hiking this year. I have the Garmin Base Camp for determining routes and making maps on my computer, and the handheld synchs to Basecamp like a charm. I can plot on the computer and upload to the GPS, and vise versa. I've never downloaded the "breadcrumbs" to the Basecamp but I'm sure that works as well. (which would then allow me to make a map with my breadcrumb routes displayed).

I also have the Western lakes topo maps SD card which pops in to the handheld and bam I have all those topos. And to cap it off I can easily upload the Premium Member hotspots for a lake and they show up as well.

My handheld served me amazingly well hiking this last year. I wouldn't even consider going without it. (and a spare set of batteries)

Mike Carey wrote:I have the Garmin E Trex Vista HCx which I got for hiking this year. I have the Garmin Base Camp for determining routes and making maps on my computer, and the handheld synchs to Basecamp like a charm. I can plot on the computer and upload to the GPS, and vise versa. I've never downloaded the "breadcrumbs" to the Basecamp but I'm sure that works as well. (which would then allow me to make a map with my breadcrumb routes displayed).

I also have the Western lakes topo maps SD card which pops in to the handheld and bam I have all those topos. And to cap it off I can easily upload the Premium Member hotspots for a lake and they show up as well.

My handheld served me amazingly well hiking this last year. I wouldn't even consider going without it. (and a spare set of batteries)

Thanks Mike for that input. The vista was on my list too, it's a nice unit. For whatever reason the 60 CSX jumps out to me, so I'll go that route this time. After the purchase, I hope I don't have second thoughts, But I'm not expecting $1000.00 results from a $200.00 unit, so I think I would be satisfied with either of the units.
Glad your unit has been a benifit to your hiking adventures, and hope to read more of the adventures in the future.

Blufin loui how is the GPS unit coming along for you? I'm looking into buying one for myself.