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I have a Yellow Garmin Etrex, but I am looking to upgrade.

Does anyone have any experience with a GPS that give maps and driving directions in the car but can also be useful in the field.

The one I have seen is the Garmin 60CSx. Seemed okay but pricey ~ $425.

Also, has anyone tried using a palm treo 700 with GPS reciever.

Thanks

Learn how to read a map and it will not only save you hundreds
of dollars but will keep you from having a wreck while driving
and fooling with a GPS in the vehicle.

Welcome to the forum, Mike. I see you are a new poster.

I hope someone here can answer your question because I don't know the answer. I use a Garmin car-mounted GPS with a good screen and a handheld GPS for fieldwork.

I would think something that is small enough to carry in the palm of your hand wouldn't be large enough to be useful in a car, though.

And don't mind, the people who don't think you should use a GPS. There was a similar argument between the carbide cavers and the electric cavers a long time ago. The reasoning was that carbide was more reliable and easily fixable in the field (cave). Both have their places, just as maps and GPS units, IMO.

tncaver wrote:Learn how to read a map and it will not only save you hundreds of dollars but will keep you from having a wreck while driving and fooling with a GPS in the vehicle.

Although I have no statistics to back this up, I'll wager there have been more accidents caused by people trying to read maps or printed directions while driving than by using their GPS while driving.

Modern vehicle-mounted GPS units with the touch screens and spoken directions are intentionally designed to minimize distractions to your driving while still providing useful/timely directions (theoretically).

Cavemike - welcome and feel free to look through the following threads for more GPS information:

Vehicle-mounted GPS units, GPS recommendations, GPS receivers, GPS questions, What to look for in a GPS?, New Garmin GPS, GPS Questions.

I tend to agree with Wayne. Any crossover vehicle/handheld GPS unit is a compromise, so you're probably better off choosing a different model to fit each application (in my opinion).

I use this for both feild and road. https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=326 I bought the road maps chip and the typo program. Works great.

How does it do on highway navigation -- telling you where to turn, etc?

I have the eTrex Legend and while it does tell me where I am on the highway, it doesn't at all compare with my Garmin Street Pilot, in terms of giving turn-by-turn voice directions, or being able to pull up any number of points of interest in a particular area.

Wayne and NZcaver both make good points. So long as you program
your GPS or read your printed map while pulled over or parked you are
not likely to have a wreck. Although, talking GPS units tell you where to turn and when, they should be programed while parked.
The hand held units are basically for field work. I have the ETrex Legend
also and I would never use it for automotive directions.
I think everyone should still know how to use a road map and topo
map. Sort of like using a calculator but still knowing how to
add, subtract, divide and multiply without it.

This discussion has not answered what the original poster asked, so I'll repost his original questions:

Does anyone have any experience with a GPS that give maps and driving directions in the car but can also be useful in the field.

The one I have seen is the Garmin 60CSx. Seemed okay but pricey ~ $425.

Also, has anyone tried using a palm treo 700 with GPS reciever.

It might be worth taking a look at the Magellan Crossover series too.

Tncaver,

I love real maps and will continue to use them but I also think technology can save lots of time when used correctly. When I add up the individual topos and other maps and atlas I own I've spent well over $500.

Has anyone used the GPS receivers you can put with the Treo 700p?

Any reviews?

Thanks,

I own a garmin 60CS and my caving buddy owns a 60CSX Both are absolutely fantastic. The CSx has upgradable memory and slightly better reception. The CS has better battery life and is about $200 dollars cheaper. Both have color screens, downloadable maps etc. I will probably upgrade to the CSX eventually mainly for 1 feature. You can download several thousand "points of interest" in addition to just a few hundred waypoints. (The CS just has waypoints) What this means for me is that I could download all state cave survey location data (for those I have access to) into my gps. If you don't need several thousand datapoints the CS is a great value

The Garmin 60CS/CSX models don't appear to have spoken street names or street direction "turn here" arrows etc - is that correct?

It looks like a nice trail GPS, but how do you like it for navigating unfamiliar streets?

You are correct, it is not very suitable for driving purposes. I have used it for such since the color screen and zoom abilities makes this "possible" though not preferred!

cavemike wrote:I have a Yellow Garmin Etrex, but I am looking to upgrade.

Does anyone have any experience with a GPS that give maps and driving directions in the car but can also be useful in the field.

The one I have seen is the Garmin 60CSx. Seemed okay but pricey ~ $425.

Also, has anyone tried using a palm treo 700 with GPS reciever.

Thanks

Cavemike:

I use the Garmin 60CSx with Topos 2008 in the field and love it. You can get it cheaper at places like TheGPSStore.com and GPSNow.com I paid $385, plus about $130 for the maps and $50 for a 2Gb memory card. It won't tell you where to drive though.

John

cavemike wrote:Has anyone used the GPS receivers you can put with the Treo 700p?

Any reviews?

Thanks,

I know a caver from NM who visited the DC area recently. We then went on the metro together. He drove to the metro and since we were headed from his hotel rather than somewhere I would normally going from, he used his PDA with GPS and it worked well. Oh, we'd met in a Target parking lot, then headed to his hotel to drop off my car before going on the metro. I knew the fastest way to the area where his hotel was like the back of my hand. I was gonna ignore his GPS. But when it came to going the last few hundred feet to his hotel, I had no idea where it was or how to get there. So I led down the highway, then let him pass me in his car when we got close.

I don't recall which PDA nor which GPS he had, but I think it was a Garmin. If you really want, I can send him an email and ask.