[Talk-us] Currently available good GPS for use with OSM mapping in the USA?

Joseph R. Justice jayarejay at gmail.com
Fri Nov 29 16:29:09 UTC 2013


First off, I'd like to thank all the people who responded to my original
message.  I truly do appreciate the time and effort you took to respond to
my inquiry.

I looked at the following items mentioned in the set of responses: The
Garmin eTrex series (most specifically the 30; if one is going to get it,
might as well get the best one available); the Columbus V-900 (and V-990);
the AMOD AGL3080; the iBlue 747proS someone sent an Amazon link to.

I skipped the other Garmin units mentioned (GPSMAP 62 et al) due to the
lack of GLONASS support; I figure if you're going to get a GPS unit you
might as well get one supporting all the currently available networks.  I
skipped the Blackvue DR500-GW as being a dash camera which isn't the type
of thing I'm looking for at all.

The AMOD and iBlue seem too basic; I could only use them to upload data to
my PC since they don't seem to have Bluetooth to communicate with Android
devices.   No display or anything so I can't really use them as a
standalone device except purely to record data.

The Columbus units seem to be somewhat interesting.  The 900 one at least
has Bluetooth (the manufacturer's pages for the 990 don't mention it, at
least that I can find).  However, I'm a little put off by what some people
wrote about their relative lack of accuracy; I figure if I'm getting a GPS
for the purpose of using it for OSM, accuracy is a significant
consideration.

The major lack to the eTrex 30 is that it doesn't appear to have Bluetooth,
so I don't think I can use it directly with my Android devices.  (I'm not
sure what "Unit-to-unit transfer (shares data wirelessly with similar
units)" means, tho I *think* it might be something called "ANT+", see
www.thisisant.com for more information.  There do seem to be USB ANT+
adapters, but I'm not sure they would do what I want to do with my Android
devices; it would need more research.)  However, I suppose I could always
get another device, such as a Garmin GLO or equivalent, to do that.  And, I
*can* use it as a stand-alone device at least, it has a display and all, so
I guess it's not critical if it cannot talk with my Android devices.

The other units non- eTrex units Garmin currently has with GLONASS support
(Monterra, Oregon 600, 600t, 650, 650t) are all substantially more
expensive than any of the eTrex units, so I think they're out of my budget.

I see the eTrex 30 currently for $219 (down from $299) as a Black Friday
special direct from Garmin, and for $199 from GPSCity.  (And the 199 price
is the same as Garmin retail for the eTrex 20, tho I'm sure GPSCity's price
for that one is less than Garmin's also.)  Online web shopping doesn't show
me any cheaper prices, so...  And GPSCity has the recommended Garmin case
for it available for less also, and free shipping, so...

Again, thanks for all the responses.



Joseph
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