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For your next hiking holiday, think in regards to a GPS device. GPS or Global Positioning System is a tool that more and more hikers are bringing with them. The system, plainly broken down is a series of satellites and units that persons will carry. With three rotating satellites, rotating around the Earth it is easy to calculate your position using these handheld tools. Another satellite helps to determine your altitude as well.
What You'll Find
There is a assortment of GPS units available today, with a range of pricing available. The more features you find, the more costly they will be, but very basic units are also available. Some concede you to find your latitude and longitude very without apparent effort within seconds. They may pinpoint where you are from east to west and north to south.
Garmin offers a full line of merchandise in respective models and styles. As one of the leading makers of this product, they provide quality all over the board. There are other brands available as well. Brand ought to not be what you are looking for, though, as you want quality in the battery life, the weight of the unit and the control placement as well.
Various Features
GPS units offer respective features. Some of them are waterproof, which may be very helpful when you are traveling over rivers or find yourself in the rain unexpectedly. You will find another distinction in the dissimilar numbers of waypoints that the units have. A waypoint is actually a term that is employed for terrestrial coordinates. This is the longitude and latitude as well as altitude of your location. In galore GPS units, the term waypoint genuinely means something dissimilar and is employed to describe the number of landmarks that are found on the display of your unit. This varies based on the type of map that you have loaded into the unit as well as the unit itself. While more seems to be better here, it may also be distracting and overbearing. Instead, consider the right amount of selective information for your needs.
As the value of a GPS goes up, you will speedily find digital gains including a digital compass. You may also find the capacity to download respective maps to your unit as well as the capacity to relocated and zoom. Consider the Garmin model known as the eTrex. It is waterproof and provides up to 500 waypoints. It also offers controls on the side of the unit, giving you more display size. It is lightweight, too. This unit is in regards to $200 in cost. That is regarding mid range in that quality range. Remember that you get what you compensate for in these units. Know what you are getting before you buy.
If you are planning a hiking holiday, do invest in a GPS unit. Choose well because a quality unit means getting the best for your money. You must always consider what fits in your budget and offers features that you will use on your hiking holidays.
Perfect for crossing over the threshold from city to backcountry, the Garmin nüvi 550 provides a high-sensitivity GPS receiver with turn-by-turn navigation in a ruggedized, waterproof exterior that you may use while hiking, biking, or boating. With it is high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver and HotFix satellite prediction, nüvi 550 locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains it is GPS emplacement even in heavy cover and deep canyons--whether in the city or out in the wilds. And it without apparent effort switches modes (driving, walking, biking and boating) to navigate through your active lifestyle depending on your activity. Other features include a 3.5-inch touchscreen, microSD memory expansion, geocaching GPX file capablenesses for finish cache descriptions and hints, and Garmin Connect Photos--enabling you to associate your bestloved images with saved locations.
The waterproof nüvi 550 guides you while you drive, hike, bike or boat. |
The nüvi 550 offers elaborated City Navigator NT street maps for the United States and features digital elevation maps that show you shaded terrain contours at higher zoom levels. The map data, provided by NAVTEQ, features over six million points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs and attractions.
The DEM basemap (above) provides shaded contours, and the nüvi also includes a digital compass. |
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Weighing 7.6 ounces and measuring less than an inch thin, the nüvi 550 fits effortlessly in a purse, backpack, or jacket pocket. The 3.5-inch color touchscreen display (with 320 x 240-pixel resolution) is easy to read even in direct sunlight, and the nüvi's easy-to-use interface means you'll spend more time enjoying the outdoors and less time searching for information. Simple controls and sub-screens make it easy to enter or search for destinations and get info in regards to your trip. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with turn-by-turn voice directions, 2-D or 3-D maps and smooth map updates as you navigate. Its digital elevation model (DEM) mapping shows you shaded contours at higher zoom levels, giving you a big picture of the surrounding terrain. In addition, the nüvi accepts habit points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs.
Garmin's HotFix capability mechanically calculates and stores satellite locations, principally reducing satellite acquisition time so that you may turn the unit on and get going. With HotFix, your nüvi 550 remembers the position of all satellites it is tracking when you turn it off, and calculates their movements in order to predict where they ought to be the next time you turn it on. HotFix may predict satellite positions for up to 3 days after the device was last turned off.
Conveniently plug in optional preloaded microSD memory cards for all your outdoor activenesses on land or water. Just insert an optional Garmin MapSource card with elaborated street maps (such as for locales outside the United States), and the nüvi 550 provides turn-by-turn directions to your destination. And with optional BlueChart g2 Vision maps, you'll get everything you need for a outstanding day on the water including depth contours, navaids and harbors.
A user-replaceable lithium-ion battery will give you up to eight hours of battery life (depending on use). In addition to an AC charger, the unit likewise ships with a 12-volt power adapter for vehicle charging, as well as a windshield suction cup mount.
Specifications
- User modes: Driving, Boating, Bicycling and Walking
- Expansion: microSD card slot for optional mapping and selective information storage
- Wherigo player
- Geocahing: Supports Geocahing.com GPX files for finish cache descriptions and hints
- Dimensions: 4.21 x 3.35 x 0.9 inches (WxHxD)
- Display size: 3.5-inch QVGA color antiglare TFT screen (320 x 240-pixel resolution) with white backlight touchscreen
- Weight: 7.6 ounces
- Battery type: user replaceable lithium-ion
- Battery life: up to 8 hours depending on use
- Waterproof standard: IEC 60529 IPX7
Navigate by Photo with Garmin Connect Photos
Garmin Gps Iii Waterproof Hiking Picture
Garmin Gps Iii Waterproof Hiking Photo
Garmin Gps Iii Waterproof Hiking Photo
Garmin Gps Iii Waterproof Hiking Pic
Garmin Gps Iii Waterproof Hiking Image
Garmin Gps Iii Waterproof Hiking Image
Most helpful client reviews
97 of 100 people found the following review helpful.
 Great all-in-one
By de0ris
So, at last I got my nuvi. It was a tough choice: some GPS carriers are available, and each has galore models that come in vast assortment of flavors. I've narrowed it down to Nuvi 550 for the following reasons:
1. Text to speech to me is in truth annoying. I want my GPS to tell me when and where to make a turn, and not worry when it comes to spending extra time looking off the road to affirm street signs. Although with latest update, TTS capablenesses are now available for this model (use Garmin's WebUpdater).
2. I wanted my GPS to support me out more than just driving directions. I hike, I camp, I travel all over, and not just North America. I wanted the skillfulness of being capable to navigate and pin point my emplacement on the highway, in the mountains, offroad, and not just be competent to locate nearest gas station. Before Nuvi 500/550 I would have had to buy 2 GPS units: one for the car, one hand-held (e.g. Colorado series).
3. I necessitated it to be durable, and reliable. 8 hour battery life + waterproof function to me are the two features I'm very very happy with. To date, my little nuvi took 2 falls (one on the rocks, and another one flying off down a lot of stairs -- don't ask), and I'm happy to report gadget is functioning flawlessly. I'm not advocating it's indestructible, but it does have lasting construction indeed.
4. Satellite communication is superior for the product. Leafs, heavy cloud cover, even indoors, I get reasonable reception. It does have it is quarks rarely, but overall, it pin-points me within 10' radius. Gotta love it. With the latest firmware update emplacement has been even more precise, so it's worth doing it asap. The update likewise adds a assortment of language choices and scooter mode, which is in truth neat.
Here's something to be conscious of... This model different from 500 does not come with topo maps or marine maps. It felt like a reasonable trade because it gave me Canada, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and all of US maps (includes Alaska and Hawaii) vs. 48 lower states+topo in the other model only. But here's a catch. No mapSource software. There are so a heap of free topo maps (and for that matter numerous others -- e.g. Israel maps, which garmin does not market) available, but there's no way to load them. Because of the proprietary interface, mapSource is the easiest way to take vantage of all these resources. There is third party software available, but it's not the easiest thing to use. Another botheration is that unit does not come with any case. There are not hard to find, but still.
So, besides missing out the software, this is a great unit worth each penny. I found LCD display to have good visibility in a daylight, volume was outstanding - I could listen it just fine with stereo on, and overall display was smart and simple. It's little and light, so it's easy to carry it around, and suction cup for the windshield is great, no need to get any extras. I also like the fact that it has swappable batteries. On long trips with no access to electricity, just fetch a few extras, and you won't get stuck. Really no learning curve to using it, and performance is fantastic. Great investment, no repents here.
57 of 60 humans found the following review helpful.
Amazing unit in a lot of ways
By Nameless Faceless User
It took me a while to comprehend the dissimilar amid the Nuvi 500 and the 550. Look no further. Only the base map is different. The 500 comes with the lower 48 states with topographical info while the 550 includes all of North America (Canada and Mexico) and no topographical information. The units are identical otherwise.
First, the good stuff. This GPS is quickly getting an priceless tool for long drives. I have been competent to enter a street address as well as numerous restaurants, hospitals, and businesses then just click on "go." On one trip, it in the right way navigated reversing direction on a double-cloverleaf turn. A pleasant voice guides you and alerts you of upcoming turns. Miss the turn and the unit will in a patient manner wait for you to realize your error. Then, after a while it will just recalculate your route automatically. It is also possible to finetune the routes by manually entering points to divert the automatic routing or pressing "detour" on the fly if you find yourself stuck at a railroad crossing. Custom routes may be saved. Waypoints may be sorted by category and new categories may be added. Photographs may be added, even though I haven't done much with this feature. Clicking on the top bar will display the route turn by turn. I found the routing rather intellectual and much prefer this unit over my last humane co-pilot (but I hope that she never reads this review). This queer unit has a rechargeable battery and the unit may be mounted on an optional bean bag mount to just throw it on the dash rather of messing with cables. This makes it perfective for rental cars as well. It has four modes for driving, walking, boating, or bicycling.
Next, the so-so stuff. This unit does not come with any software. There is map updating software available which may be downloaded from the website, but there is no real aid for uploading and downloading waypoint information. It is possible to use Garmin's MapSource with this unit if you have an old copy, but the Nuvi 500/550 does not seem to be wholly supported. After wrestling with it a bit, I was capable to download points but not alter them. And, since the background map is pre-loaded, there is no background map for MapSource. There are features which are missing, such as the capacity to turn off poi's (Point of Interest) labels or the capacity to alter the lat/lon of a point once it's created. It does not come with an a/c adapter or usb cable, but they are both available from Garmin at an outrageous price. Thankfully, the USB cable is a frequent mini-USB and you may already have the cable you need at home and not know it. Once you locate a cable for it, it appears as a disk drive on Mac or PC without further and added drivers. I added a microSD card, which appears as a second drive, but haven't found a use for it yet.
Finally, the ugly stuff. 9 times out of 10 the street address translates to lat/lon coordinates within a few feet of your destination. But, once in a while, it's a bit off translating street addresses to lat/lon and there is no way to change this selective information (at least, not easily). The user data file appears on the unit as Current.gpx in xml format. However, this file appears to be only a copy of the real one. Any edit or deletion of this file is plainly undone when the unit reboots. And, since there is no software with the unit, you may have to just settle for arriving close to your destination rather of it bringing you right up the driveway.
If you genuinely want to dig into the guts of the system, the best way I found is to generate one waypoint and use the data in the Current.gpx file as a template for your personal waypoints. I produced various habit .gpx files in xml format with notepad. The lat/lon may be entered without apparent effort by using Google Earth, right-click on the new point (which may basi be dragged to precisely where you want it) and paste the selective information into notepad. When you're done, you will have assorted gpx files (xml format) which will be integrated into the unit's memory when you reboot. The bad news is that the points must be deleted through the menu scheme (not a huge deal) and the decision to re-load your personal files is apparently determined by the file creation date. Duplicate points or database corruption is possible, but effortlessly undone.
Using this method, I was capable to rectify the lat/lon of a waypoint which was 4 houses away from the rectify address. I found a more exact emplacement in Google Earth, deleted the point from memory, and re-loaded it through my habit gpx files. It's in truth more comfortable than it sounds since the only software you actually need is notepad. I've added a lot of new waypoints by copy/paste. To create a habit category, merely name it in the suitable tag. Routes, I imagine may be dealt with the same way but I find their format too difficult to formulate or change by hand.
There's a heap of missing features which I've found on other hand-held units. There is no way to save and load personal files, other than doing it by hand. The satellite tracking and repair info has been substituted with the same type of "bars" you have seen on cell phones - easy to grasp but less information. It has a touch screen, but it is not very precise, have a tendancy to make mistakes, dragging is miserable and the solution is very bad... but, all of this is worthy of acceptance or satisfactory since most of the time you only need to press a few spots on the screen to begin navigation. The cleverness of the unit actually outshines the shortcomings of the display.
All in all, a terrifi travel companion. It's intelligent, useful, and will keep you company on long trips. If you're a gps hacker, you'll find it just flexible sufficient make it do what you want, but it will make you wonder why Garmin makes us go through so much misery to tweak or save a waypoint to your pc.
46 of 48 humans found the following review helpful.
 Garmin Nuvi 550
By R. J. Dick
My primary impression of the unit was very good, it is a little sufficient to without apparent effort fit in your pocket, even a shirt breast pocket and is light sufficient not to be a problem. I had an older Garmin unit and was using Map Source (Tm) to manage the former device. The Nuvi 550 was reasonably easy to configure for use with Map source as well. I started to see issues with the unit the 2nd day I owned it, it went into a reboot loop, but after removing the battery it seemed to be ok. I upgraded the maps to the latest available and set out to Mississippi for a 1 week mission trip aid with the Katrina recovery work. The unit worked very well on the way, but when I turned it on after arriving to enter the initial emplacement that we were going to work, the unit started to reboot and shutdown. No manner of reset or battery remotion would stop it. So while my introductory impressions were very promising, I presently am waiting to have the unit substituted by Garmin or Amazon. I genuinely hope this to have been a fluke, as I was looking forward to using the device in car, on Motorcycle and in my Kayak. Light weight, 8hr battery and waterproof these features actually fit the bill for my needs.
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