Recommended GPS, Hiking Gear, Software

GPS Recommendations

Garmin E-Trex Vista GPS Review

Since my purchase there have been many improvements to the Vista and the top of the line model (the Garmin E-Trex Vista HCx) now has a color display and higher sensitivity allowing use even in the woods or canyons. The links above are to Amazon.com, where I purchased my receiver. The price tends to vary as different specials are offered, so you might want to shop around. You will likely have to add the item to your cart on Amazon or on other sites to see the actual price as this is they discounters are able to get around the rules from Garmin setting minimum advertised prices (i.e. they can be sold cheaper but the sites are not allowed to advertise their lower price). An excellent price for the package (receiver plus MapSource topo combined) is around $320. You might be able to find the receiver alone for about $235 after various rebates, and the MapSource Topo software for around $80. If you want to spend less on a GPS unit, you may want to try the lower end Garmin Etrex Legend HCx GPS available for around $195 after various rebates.

Mapping Software Reviews

Garmin US TOPO MapSource

Garmin MapSource City Navigator

Anyway, with this package you can download street-maps for any region of the United State, as well as listings of businesses, restaurants, hotels, etc. Once you have identified which maps to download to your GPS, from your GPS, you can enter the name of an establishment and it will give its location. You can even ask questions like "where are the nearest restaurants", and get a listing by type of cuisine, or ask where to find the nearest supermarket. With the maps loaded into your GPS you can generate a turn-by-turn routes from your GPS. From the GPS, it will plot the location on the map so you can eyeball the route from the streets also shown on the map, and it will tell you the direction and distance if you could travel in a straight line.

National Geographic TOPO! state series maps

You can also upload tracks and waypoints from your GPS to overlay your actual route following a hike. This feature is particularly useful to me, allowing me to record a track when I "try out" a new hike, then printing a map with the track from this first run to distribute when I lead a group hike "for real".

Most of the state series maps list for 99.95 but you should be able to find them for around $80-85 if you get them on sale. There are map sets available for smaller regions (like the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara region, which I originally purchased for $50), but I don't recommend these smaller regions. If you want to interface these smaller regions with a GPS, you will need to separately purchase the TOPO USA series for about another another $30, at which point you would have been better off with the State Series maps that include the GPS option standard.

I have found that the State and smaller region series have different maps, depending on difference in publication dates of the particular software chosen. The differences in the maps may make some maps better in either option. For example, the Millard Canyon map (1995) in the California State series had too much info, making some details harder to read, but the 1994 map in the Los Angeles regional series is less cluttered. The map scales for level 5 (most detail) is a little different using the regional vs. state series software, but when magnified to correspond, details seem similar. Other differences are that the regional series does not offer shading, the state series does.

The state series maps have some maps that extend a little beyond state boundaries, in particular, in my version of the California series, the entire Lake Tahoe region is covered, including those parts in Nevada.

Maptech TNAV topo