AnswerID: 9536 Submitted: Tuesday, Dec 10, 2002 at 00:00
P.G. (Tas)
replied:
G'day Mike.
Firstly, the
GPS II+, 12XL, and 12 have been around for a LONG time now. Not that it is a problem, they were good units, but the last bios upgrades for them were issued in 2000 and 1998 respectively. You can check them out at http://www.garmin.com/support/download.html for yourself. The
GPS 12 has now been superseded by the
GPS 72.
Secondly, what do you want your
GPS to do? Do you simply want to read co-ordinates of where you are or do you want computer interface so you can use Auslig Electronic maps on a laptop? If it is the latter, then the current "standard seems to be the eMap" in the Garmin range. There is proberly better, read more featured units, but value for money, this one seems to be the goods. Mine works brilliantly! I use OziExplorer/Auslig Raster 250 combination (I think they are worth about $230.00 the pair and that covers the entire Australian continent, including
Tasmania and heaps of smaller Islands off the coast).
Thirdly, If you do want to go down the laptop route, a Garmin combined 12volt/data cable (
GPS units can be heavy on batteries) will set you back about $100.00 (bloody ripoff). I have heard of suppliers on the net selling them for around $30-$40.00 (Don't think they are Genuine parts, but if they work ... ). Don't forget you need a mount of some description. A
GPS must be able to "see" the satellites, so that leaves 2 options. i. Mount the
GPS on the dash (that's where mine is), or ii. mount it anywhere else you like but you must then add an external antenna (about another $125 - $200.00, depending on model) and some models are NOT capable of being fitted with an external antenna!
Finally, 2 sites that have helped me a lot are (retail) http://www.ja-
gps.com.au/ and http://www.gpsoz.com.au/.
GPS are one of those items that if you don't do your homework thoroughly first, you can regret it with big dollars later. Let me know how you get on. Cheers!
Reply 2 of 9
FollowupID: 4866 Submitted:
Tuesday, Dec 10, 2002 at 00:00
Mike posted:
Hi P.G.,
Thanks for all the information you included.
As stated above in my follow-up to OziExplorer, I plan to use it predominantly in my 4WD, but perhaps the odd spot of bush-walking. At this stage, I am not planning on connecting it to my computer, but off in the future that may be of interest to me.
I looked at the 72 but thought the 70 series are more geared towards marine use. I guess that doesn't mean it is still not a good unit for land-based use. I wondered about the eMap, but was told by a retailer that it is not waterproof at all, and whilst I don't plan on dropping it in puddles etc, I would hate to damage it by having rain-drops etc hit the screen. I will need to mount the unit on the dash somehow, so the II+ gets the nod in that respect, as it comes with a velcro strip, whereas I would need to buy a mounting bracket for both the 12 and 12XL. Also, the II+ seems to have a better aerial from what I can gather. I had planned to buy at least a car power cable, and have referred to both the gpsoz and ja-
gps sites, which have both been very informative but also created lots of questions for me... (hence the post here).
Once again, thanks for your assistance.
Cheers, Mike.
FollowUp 1 of 1
