Help with GPS selection for a newbie please

I think I want to get a GPS unit. I want a unit that I can carry with me riding the motorcycle, the car, walking or cave hunting in the woods, or even just to have fun treasure hunting with the kids. Budget is important say limited to $300. I am assuming that what I would want is a portable/handheld unit. I prefer it to have AA batteries or something I can get at the gas station on a trip if it goes dead rather than having to stop and charge an internal "special" battery. I have never owned a GPS unit. I have no idea what "to" or "not to" look for. I would appreciate some helpful responses please. Thanks
http://home.comcast.net/~milkmaster/webvtx2.jpg

[h2o-x]

Look at a Garmin Quest, I have one and it works great, rechargable 20 hr batt color screen voice nav ect. under $300.00 on ebay. The quest 2 is a little more$ not sure what it does more than the Quest.

[Mad Cow]

Garmin and the 2610 seems to be a great choice.

http://www.vtxoa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=128618

[NMead]

Garmin and the 2610 seems to be a great choice.

http://www.vtxoa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=128618

Except for the walking around/hiking/caving part.

Personally, I would get one of each (one for vehicles) and one for hiking. The ETrex is a slick little model for the walking around:

http://www.garmin.com/products/etrex/

Nate

[Backroad]

Look at the Garmin Legend Cx. The unit itself you can get for under $300. Only drawback is that the detailed maps will run you another $100.

al

[Bulldog2]

I am not sure that a Quality GPS exists for all your criteria. Once you start wanting a handheld to walk around with, you have eliminated most if not all of the quality vehicle units.

Good Luck in your search.

Bulldog

[mab626]

Check out the Garmin Street Pilot i2 and i3. They are mini versions of their c330. The i2 has a black/white display. The i3 is in color. The i2 costs about $266 at Circuit City while the i3 runs about $315 at WalMart. There's a good review on the i3 at www.cnet.com (http://www.cnet.com) . Hope this helps.

[Gary in Indiana]

I have a Garmin 2610 and love it. Among it's attributes are a big color screen, durability, memory card compatibility, waterproof with no batteries to wrry about. It's just a quality piece of electronics. If you want, you can make it portable with a battery setup, too.

[HHIVTX]

Look at a Garmin Quest, I have one and it works great, rechargable 20 hr batt color screen voice nav ect. under $300.00 on ebay. The quest 2 is a little more$ not sure what it does more than the Quest. 8) Quest 2 is just preloaded instead of dowmloading info I believe. The same thing pretty much. I am looking at the Quest 2 only for convenience since I am not computer inclined as well as others! LOL :lol:

[batman]

I have both the Quest & Quest2. Physically the same. (Quest 2 pre-loaded with all roads, North America etc,) Quest must be downloaded. I can get the whole state of FL in the Quest, that's about it without removing and downloading.
http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/500/5268gps_001-med.jpg

[Guitar4Him]

While you can get everything you are wanting in a single GPS, there will still be compromises. If it's small enough to be convenient for hiking, etc, the screen will be small and difficult to see in a car or on your bike. Conversely, if it is large enough to be comfortable to view in the car or on the bike, it's going to be too large and bulky to carry in the woods. However, if finances totally dictate that you can only get one, here's the best compromises you can make. Obviously, you're going to have to get a handheld unit and deal with the smaller screen when using it with your vehicles. If vehicle routing is important, narrow your search to Garmins. I have a Magellan handheld (eXplorist 500). It's a great field unit and I bought it specifically for geocaching. It's road routing capabilities leave a lot to be desired, especially when I compare it to my Garmin 2610. Unfortunately, all Magellan hand-held units use the same sucky routing algorithms. Comparatively speaking, the Garmin hand-held units do fantastic road routing. Ok...that being said, your best bet to try to stay in the price range you mentioned is:

Garmin Etrex Legend Cx - $251.20

You're still going to have to buy mapping software for the unit:

Garmin North America City Navigator - $124.99

I know this is somewhat over your $300 goal, but for portability and quality road routing, this is about the best deal going.

Here's a good link to check out:

http://www.tigergps.com

Oh...BTW....you're still going to need to get some sort of mount for your bike and car. :shock:

[TnVTX]

Just make sure the screen is big enough to easily been seen while mounted on your handlebar, and read while in motion.
I've got an older Garmin GPS-V, but the screen is too small for my taste...
http://vmax1500.homestead.com/files/GPS_V_16Kb.jpg