After 10 years of running an old yellow Garmin etrex without any mapping, I have decided it is time for a new handheld GPS for hiking that has topo maps, an electronic compass and street maps as well.
Ideally the GPS would have a wide selection of global street and topo maps avaliable at a reasonable cost, in addition to marine maps (I am taking up kayaking).
I am considering the Garmin 550T and the new Lowrance Endura Sierra, but the Sierra dosen’t seem to have anything avaliable in terms of maps outside the US.
I am open to any suggestion and would love to hear from any 550t or Sierra owners, or anyone else with good advice on choosing an appropriate unit.
Hi Tom, I use a Garmin Etrex Vista HCx, with a micro SD card loaded with Topo maps for North England and midlands which also covers north wales.
It comes with Road maps built in, there are maps you can download for europe etc; and the SD cards are available for various Topo maps??
The Compass ,GPS and Altimeter have proved more accurate than I expected with my location being only about 3-5 metres out. Altimeter is about same with approx 5 metres out when using barometric settings.
The unit and SD maps cost me £220 which when shopping around in UK was the lowest price at the time, I have had it now for about 3 months?
Hope this helps, but you have asked a question where you may get a lot of different opinions