Well, I have been needing to upgrade my very old Garmin Legend - its been a great companion over the years but it was just time. Last couple of seasons I've been borrowing my dads Garmin Vista HCx on my longer out of state trips and was pretty impressed - in fact figured that was the way I would go with many of the newer units being a little more than I really wanted to spend. But - just ran across a smoking deal, thought I would mention it in-case anyone else has been waiting for a 'sign' to upgrade for this year... Cabelas has a limited time offer (think for about another week) for the 450T priced @ $279 AND if you use the promo code 52SHIP you get free shipping!! Been looking at these units for a while and that's a heck of a deal! Just make sure you buy the 450T vs. the 450 as the T mean it comes with pre-loaded topographical maps... http://www.cabelas.com/product/Garm...=garmin+450t&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products
Very cool thanks. I was going to start a thread to ask about topo gps's. I've owned many for the car but never one for hunting. I'm hunting Elk in CO in sept and though I better get one. Thanks again. Any others I should concider?
IMO I'd hold off on that one. I was looking at those too, and in cold or wet conditions or even if you have bigger than normal fingers, that small touch screen will be a real pain. After playing with one, I new there would be issues in anything less than ideal conditions and the salesman told me that the touchscreens do not react as fast once the weather is cold. I ended up going with the Garmin Map62sc which was more than I was initially looking to spend, but wow, what a unit. Just got back from Turkey hunting in Nebraska and was very happy with it. I'd also save my $100 and NOT get the one with the topo maps as Garmins topo maps are only 100k while the typical topos you see are 24K and much more detailed. The garmin topos arent worth much in my opinion. With the $100 you save not getting the topo, go to GPS File Depot and get topos for free or the best thing I have seen in a long time is the offerings from myhuntinggpsmaps.com. Here you can order (for a fee) a complete topo map of the state you wish to hunt that has all of the public/private land boundaries clearly defined on your GPS map. In nebraska, I knew where I was in relation to the private boundary at all times and in many national forests where there are no fences, this was very handy. Depending on what maps you get, you can even have maps that show the name and contact information for the landowners of adjacent private property.
The reason I mentioned to get the unit with the Topo's in this case is that the sale price is such that the topo unit is actually like $10 cheaper! If it was $100 more, don't know that I would go that route... So for that price, why not get the built in topos - just my thoughts. The 62S certainly looks like a really nice unit too. But I had to talk myself into thinking I needed a $280 gps, would have had a hard time spending more - too many other things to buy - ha ha :-) Yeah, those hunting gps maps look sweet. I'm planning on using them this year on both my antelope and elk hunt.
Garmin, Maps, and Weather. I'm planning on solo Elk hunting in Colorado this August-September and have the Garmin Oregon GPS. 1st, my intended purpose for the GPS is not to look around and find locations but to make sure I know where I am and where I am heading. For these reasons I bought the Garmin and the Southwest map package for the detail, and to be able to search for remote small lakes which don't always show up without the package. 2nd, I've used the Oregon Garmin in cold conditions above tree line here in Colorado during a blizzard. The thing works great. If your hands are too cold to affect the touch screen, you have other problems that come before looking at a map! Get yourself safe and warm, then figure out how to get were you are going! 3rd, I always bring a topo map of the location where I am going even though I have a GPS. I know we all love technology, but any real hiker will tell you that you need to know how to use a map and compass no matter how much cash you have to spend on technology. To quote Burt Reynolds in Deliverance, "You don't beat this river. Machines are gonna fail. And the system's gonna fail. Then... And then what? Then survival. Who has the ability to survive. That's the game: survive." partially joking of course Be safe, be careful, over prepare.
Tony... Couldn't have said it better myself. Love the electronics but make sure you learn how to read a map!!! Great Advice.
