Outer Limits 4x4 Board

What are people using and why. Whats good for offroading and competitions and how much did it cost you. Pros and Cons of a cheap garmin e trex.

i used to have a garmin etrex, but found it a pain to use in the car cause the buttons are located on the side, which makes it hard when its mounted in the car. i've since changed to the Garmin GPS72, which is still a cheap unit but has more features than the etrex and the buttons are on the front

http://www.ja-gps.com.au/gpsprod_gps72.html

will be trying it in it's first competition this weekend

BTW- johnny appleseed gps is the cheapest i found in australia for gps'

www.ja-gps.com.au

and they know their sh*t

I've used a Garmin 128 in a few Outback Challenges and many other nav type events in Vic and find it be ideal. Larger screen and bigger buttons than the smaller hand helds are a big advantage. Have never had a problem with it and Johnny Appleseed have them for around $550. The downside to the unit however is it is a fixed unit and you need a second hand held for anything outside of the vehicle.

The only other one I would recommend is the Magellan large colour screen one which many competitors are starting to use. It is quicker to put in waypoints as it has a number keypad whereas the Garmin doesn't.

Hope this helps

Magellan Colour..
Feels solid, nice clear screen, but chews batteries if your not using ciggy lighter power cable. Cheap enough, get one from US too..

Got from USA for $279.00us and $20 freight.

Get what ever you are lookin at from USA...

Cheers for that fellas. Johnny Appleseed is the man. I will call tommorrow and chat.

ludacris wrote:Cheers for that fellas. Johnny Appleseed is the man. I will call tommorrow and chat.

I can give you a contact that we have used in states numerous times for deals.

Bogged that would be great. I will find out what I want then order it from the states.

ludacris wrote:Bogged that would be great. I will find out what I want then order it from the states.

wife is actually there for another 4 weeks

Awsome. Will let you know tommorrow arvo.

I bought this one last week for $240 from TJM. It's a Magellan Explorist 100 and it's very basic like the ETREX but has a very big screen, easy to use buttons, one touch waypoint adding and takes all of 30 secs to load sattelites and lock on. So far it's telling me it's accurate to about 4 metres but get less when inside or in a car. Although it can't load maps it'll be great for the bush and fraser is for me. The 200 & 300 models (which sell for $450 & $550) have extras like built in base-maps and barometer and stuff which i don't need.

Cheers




LINK TO MODEL

We used a Magellan "Platinum" for the "great escape" in the General Lee, while it worked perfectly and never let us down at all, I have a couple of gripes about it ......

the "incar" mount wont tighten up enough and comes loose constantly to the point where we stuffed a rag behind it to stop the rattling. This sorta worked short term..

The screen is difficult to read in sunlight, to the point where you had to put ya hand over it and stare untill it was readible... the back light wasnt worth shyte either. The screen is large enuff but direct sunlight kills it bigtime..... A torch pointed at it made it easy to read in sunlight !

Sunlight combined with the shaking meant that every time you looked at it you had to hold it still and shade it and then with the other hand operate it....leaving no hands free for anything else ..... like holding on !

It was powered by a 12volt addaptor lead so batteries were never an issue, just the pi$$ poor incar mount, and hard to read screen.

Bogged, hows the color unit for readibility in the rig ???, Might have to invest in a color unit if its easier to read.

Kingy

V8Patrol wrote:
Bogged, hows the color unit for readibility in the rig ???, Might have to invest in a color unit if its easier to read.

Kingy

with the backlight on its AWESOME, really clear and crisp... without it you cant really see it! Welcome to come sus it out if ya round this end of the city... OR just go to Rays and sus one out there..

bogged wrote:Magellan Colour..

Got from USA for $279.00us and $20 freight.

Good price, gotta be happy at that ,

How did you go with maps etc for Australia? I've been watchen em on
EBay and quite a few dont come with the Aussie CD......

& whats the chance for a group buy on the color unit, or can I sweet talk ya missus ta bring one back ???


I recon a stronger mount is a definite must have, the 'Marine" one might be kewl...... and a little "hat" would fix the sunlight problem.



Just on a quick note ::::::
looking at the JA site I recon one of these would be pretty good ,
http://www.ja-gps.com.au/garmin_legendc.aspx
what do others think ????


Kingy

if you are after good quality mounts try the ram Brand these are available from Jonny Apleseed

Does anyone use the ones that hook into a laptop via USB, PCMCIA or CompactFlash?

I've been wondering about getting one; they are very cheap if you already have a laptop anyway...

Jason

V8Patrol wrote:How did you go with maps etc for Australia? I've been watchen em on EBay and quite a few dont come with the Aussie CD.

... always lookin for maps.. Im using the aussie basemap on mine dont use it with a laptop, I think its a total wank.

You are better importing 1-2 at a time. Mine had a "OPENED BY CUSTOMS" sticker on it... so if there were 2 in there, I was gonna hafta pay duty...