If you had to buy a hand held GPS to be used primarily for bird dogging up corners and being able to walk lines which one would you buy?
It must be able to handle State Plane Coordinates.
If would be nice if it could support a basic DXF file for a back ground that shows property lines.
It needs to be able to sync to my computer for file transfer and points transfer.
I know I am leaving off a lot, but lay it on me, which one would you buy??ÿ
We've been using Garmin GPSMap 76csx since 2008. It's GPS only and is discontinued (replaced by something else). The good thing about it is that you can attach an external antenna (wire) which greatly improves satellite reception, as otherwise you have to hold the unit above your face so that your body doesn't block the satellites. We've done multiple projects with these units. They interface with PC, and there is ability to add user defined grid and datum.
The Garmin 76 series was replaced by the 78 series.?ÿ Although it looks like almost the same design on the outside, the software is a major disappointment.?ÿ
The 76 was obviously designed by people who played with it and found the best way to access things.?ÿ Once you find everything in its menus it all makes sense and it's hard to think of a better way.
The 78 I tried improves receiver sensitivity, speed of acquisition, speed of display update, etc.?ÿ But the software was obviously written by people who had been given a list of requirements and met them with no thought as to convenience.
My 78 is for sale, by the way, although you wouldn't know it from this review.
Download this Hunting APP to your phone. It has everyone's property lines; you can walk right up to the corner. Should take over for surveyors in the next ten years or so...
There's an app for that:?ÿ http://www.bluemarblegeo.com/products/global-mapper-mobile.php
The blue marble guys understand map projections and data presentation and the price is (wait for it) free!
Looks pretty legit.
been using ON X for three years now. works well depending on how close each counties GIS property line layer is.?ÿ nice feature is you can download onto your phone a basemap for when there is no cell coverage
I have to be honest I never really consider a mobile phone app. I wonder if the gps antennae in a mobile phone is good enough to do the kind of stuff a dedicated hand held gps unit can do?
I have to be honest I never really consider a mobile phone app. I wonder if the gps antennae in a mobile phone is good enough to do the kind of stuff a dedicated hand held gps unit can do?
That would be the issue for us. I think there is another thread on this forum that debates this exact issue, including GNSS receivers-only that can bluetooth position to a smartphone, so that you can use apps with position data from an "external" antenna.
We would probably consider something like this, paired to a smartphone, with the receiver fixed to the user's hat (or similar):
(Albeit blank, its even got a warning for California Residents).
I want a new one too.
Phone is NOT in contention, as I want something more rugged, and is easier to hold onto with gloves.?ÿ
Phone battery will burn up pretty fast with a map and GPS always on.?ÿ?ÿ
And if I were to be so unfortunate to drop or lose it, I would rather it be a $2-400 GPS, then my $5-700 phone with all my info in there.
We have used the small garmins and the Trimble Juno??s; in the past. I prefer using the internal gps in the Carlson Surveyor 2. At least with it you have all of the COGO features and drawing features that your data collector has.
Now just so you all know I have the Carlson RT3 Tablet with SurvPC and it has a built in GPS and it works amazingly good for bird dogging corners and walking lines.
But,?ÿthat thing cost $5000 whereas a hand held GPS is a couple hundred.
I am genuinely suprised that there is a lack of viable units.
My guess is that the availability of GPS on cellphones has severely cut into the market for stand alone handheld GPS receivers.
Right you are, Stephen.?ÿ Garmin still makes handheld GPS units, but you'd never know it from their advertising, which now is mostly aimed at folks who want instruments to tell them how their exercise is feeling.
Cheers,
Henry
I have an eTrex 20 in that I use for recon and while hiking, but it doesn't do SPC.?ÿ However, it runs a long time on a set of rechargeable AA batteries, and the form factor is very convenient.?ÿ It's easier to use than my phone when all I need to do is navigate to something and/or store waypoints.
I am partial to Garmin, mainly because that is what I have learned. I have an old (20+ years) Garmin 12 that finally has become unusable due to lines in the display not working. Recently bought a 64 and I have a couple of vehicle Nuvi units.
I don't know about other options available, BUT very easy to upload/download data if you can get data into the GPX format. At that point with at least all the newer Garmin products it is just a matter of dropping that GPX file into the GPX folder on the Garmin. Of course there is no SPC, but I have a software (ExpertGPS) that is very handy for creating the GPX from ASCII, KMZ, pretty much anything. I can export a KMZ out of Leica GeoOffice, import that into ExpertGPS and save as a GPX, drop onto any of my Garmin's and head to the field, just a minute or two to have old projects in a handheld and head to the field to start recovery.
The vehicle Garmin's work very well for driving right to the search area for a monument with voice commands the same as any other POI, of course the accuracy isn't super good on the dash units, so at that point fine tune with the handheld, usually walk N-S and then E-W and the intersection is usually pretty close to start looking.
SHG
I am partial to Garmin, ... Of course there is no SPC
My 76 had user-defined Transverse Mercator.?ÿ No Lambert.?ÿ The 78 has TM and Lambert, but in the original factory software the scale factor you entered for Lambert had no effect.?ÿ Don't know if that's been fixed.
I am partial to Garmin, mainly because that is what I have learned. I have an old (20+ years) Garmin 12 that finally has become unusable due to lines in the display not working. Recently bought a 64 and I have a couple of vehicle Nuvi units.
I don't know about other options available, BUT very easy to upload/download data if you can get data into the GPX format. At that point with at least all the newer Garmin products it is just a matter of dropping that GPX file into the GPX folder on the Garmin. Of course there is no SPC, but I have a software (ExpertGPS) that is very handy for creating the GPX from ASCII, KMZ, pretty much anything. I can export a KMZ out of Leica GeoOffice, import that into ExpertGPS and save as a GPX, drop onto any of my Garmin's and head to the field, just a minute or two to have old projects in a handheld and head to the field to start recovery.
The vehicle Garmin's work very well for driving right to the search area for a monument with voice commands the same as any other POI, of course the accuracy isn't super good on the dash units, so at that point fine tune with the handheld, usually walk N-S and then E-W and the intersection is usually pretty close to start looking.
SHG
Vehicle navigation4 wheeler navigation is a primary consideration. I want to be able to mount it and go without have the data collector doing the navigation.
As far as the SPC are concerned that is less of a concern as I can always convert them to LATLONG but I do not want to hand enter that stuff.
I know you are trying to get by cheap, but you don't already have a data collector with built in GPS do you??ÿ We have one brand new Ranger and a slightly older one that have built in GPS.?ÿ They let you even collect shots and work on common coordinate systems.?ÿ Rangers are made by Spectra Precision now which is owned by Trimble.
I know you are trying to get by cheap, but you don't already have a data collector with built in GPS do you??ÿ We have one brand new Ranger and a slightly older one that have built in GPS.?ÿ They let you even collect shots and work on common coordinate systems.?ÿ Rangers are made by Spectra Precision now which is owned by Trimble.
I have the surveyor2 geo, similar size and weight to the ranger.?ÿ I tried using it for recon, but it was too heavy and bulky for walking through the woods.?ÿ We need something that will easily slip into the jacket pocket to leave both hands free to grab branches and such while hiking.?ÿ All the survey gear possible goes into the backpack, sometimes carrying teh saw and/or rod in one hand.
