Get the Vista - the digital compass is well worth the money. With the Vista, you do not have to be moving to get an accurate indication of bearing to a target. This way, you can stand still and it will point in the correct direction without having to be on the move. It is worth it if you use your GPS a lot.

All others will just tell ya what azimuth ya need to go until ya start moving. Then, they can derive a bearing.

IMO - the compass integration is worth $100 ! It has lots of other compass related features. Think about it - the navigation system is much more powerful if "it" knows which direction it is orientented without having to move.

 

i have the meridian platinum, it works great. got it from here pretty reasonable...

http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage....716el0o&id=819

314 for the platinum and mapsend topographic USA and get a 75$ rebate thing...get some SD ram from somewhere cheap and you're ready to rock.

here is a good non commercial site with info and reviews...the reviews are VERY honest.....

http://gpsinformation.net/

go comparison reviews and stuff...

http://gpsinformation.net/mgoldrevie...k-pro-rev.html

 

Just wanted to thanks everyone who helped me out on this on, I just put batteries in my new Garmin eTrex Vista!!! Looks like a great unit. Can't wait to try it out. I am gonna got to the Rally at the hopedale sportsman club tomorrow, that will be a good test for it, again thanks for all the help.
I got a good deal on it, got it at best buy, it was on sale for $330, and I had a 10% off coupon and it has a $50 mail in rebate, so after tax and the rebate right around $270! not to bad at all.

 

Raptor Rider .... I can not get the Hopedale Sportsman Club web site to work.....

I had there March ride down for Mar 1st ..... and the Rumble on the Ridge
marked down for the 29th .... are you sure there is a ride at Hopedale
today ??

 

Raptor Rider ... just found a web site for Hopedale...

http://hopedalesportsmanclb.tripod.com/atv_rally.htm

It doesn't show a ride for today .... but I know there will
be one in Adena .... Rumble on the Ridge...
Shortcreek Sportsman club

 

There regular website isn't working for some reason, but I know there is a rally there today, a very muddy one! haha

 

Just got back from the Rumble on Ridge .... in Adena ...
The trail was 38 miles long... and very fast... and muddy [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

There were about 2800 atv's there durning the day !!!

I got to race my KFX against Raptor and Peditors [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Hope all went well for you at Hopedale

 

I don't know why I was thinking hopedale in that post, I went to the short creek sportsman club, the rumble on the ridge, that was my 4th rally there. I was looking at a flier for the hopedale rally and just typed it in there by accident, I have never been to the hopedale rallys. Anyways, it was very muddy! I just got done washing some of my stuff, the not so fun part of the day. I was surprized to see as many Z400's, Raptors, and other sport quads as I did, usuall I didn't see that many there. And yes there was alot of quads! I think that was the most that have been at the ones I have gone too! To bad I didn't see ya there, maybe we can get together one of these days and ride somewhere.

 

I know this is thread is dated, but I wanted to put in my .02 for those that were interested.


Like most things I buy, I researched the heck out of GPS units.

I currently own 2 of them, a top of the line Garmin Map76S for the car/boat and a Garmin eTrex legend (blue case) for the ATV.

For an ATV I think the eTrex series is most ideal because of its size and waterproof feature. I also bought several RAM mount systems for both GPSs to use in the car, boat, ATV etc...

First, I looked at all of the major GPS manufacturers. Garmin, Magellan & Lowrance.

Magellan products are too much like toys and their maps really stink. Lowrance just doesn't offer much in the way of GPS, but they make great marine electronics. Garmin is the clear leader in high-tech GPS and it shows.

I chose the eTrex Legend mainly because Garmin is currently offering a $50 rebate for it. It is also WAAS compatible and it allows you to download more maps from the optional Topo software. I ended up getting my Legend on eBay for $129 after the $50 rebate.
I looked at the top of the line eTrex Vista but couldn't justify spending that much more for a few more MB of memory. 8MB on the Legend is plenty if you are downloading more maps.

I also highly recommend RAM mounts. They are pricey, but very high quality, very stable and totally interchangable with one another. Insead of buying one for each application, I just bought one complete mount and the extra parts to go with all of the applications I thought I might need in the future for both GPSs.

Lastly, I recommend you buy a power adaptor for the car, either cigarette type or hardwired to the battery. Plus a good set of NiMH batteries and charger. GPSs do eat regular alkaline batteries and the chargers and rechargeables will pay for themselves.

 

The Garmin Rhino 120 has the same memory as the etrex Legend model. There are more benifits with the 120 and for fellow riders that own one, you can recieve thier "way points" up to two miles as well.

I would recommend it because it is the SAME price as the Legend and has MORE features.

It also works with ALL two way radios as well.

Best buy IMO.

Jonathan