Garmin Gecko

I have a Gecko 201 with 12v power and cradle.

IMHO an excellent little GPS does nearly everything the dearer ones do and is very simple to use. Would strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap reliable GPS. Recommend 12v power cable as it does use batteries quite quickly.

Purchased mine from Johnny Appleseed online. Cheapest I could find and turned up next day, brillant service.

Hope that Helps

Brian,

I purchased my GPS a few weeks after reading the same article. The Geko is a pretty good basic unit but before you go and spend your $200 or so dollars on it think very carefully about what you are going to use it for.

You might want to check if the 101 has an interface to connect it to the PC. If it doesn't and you want to enter waypoints (manually) I think you will end up throwing it aginst the wall.

Is it going for hiking or 4wd'ing or both. I ended up buying the eTrex (the older brother of the Geko) because it is hard to read whats on the screen when it on the dash of the 4wd.

Think also if you want map capability on it as well. As much I would like to have a maps on the unit, they are not that easy to read and it is always better to carry paper maps with you anyway.

Lastly the one think that I absolutley hate about the eTrex and I think it's the same on the Geko is that Garmin did not bother putting a beeper in it to warn you when you are approaching a waypoint. If you want this then you might want to consider the basic version of the SporTrac by Magellan. If I had to do it again and did not want maps I would probably go with the Megellan.

Happy Navigating

FatAlbert

Brian,

Sorry for the late reply. The 201 will let you connect to a PC so it is much more versatile.

Bad assumption (I made the same one), not all GPS will give you an audible alarm and I am pretty sure the 201 doesn't either - check it by ringing one of the shops like AusNav. I asked the guy about this when I bought my eTrex and I was suprised that it didn't but only later realised the value of it.

Assumtion [A] is correct. If you use it in Follow Route mode it will "guide" you by popping up a message "Approaching Waypoint XYZ" about 15sec before you get their (based on your current speed). The feature is bloddy useless becase you are usually looking for where to turn and not at you GPS. It works well in the night because the backlight turns on giving a visual indication.

Assumption [B] You can enter waypoints "on the fly" by marking them as you make your route. Use the same as [A] to follow it back to your first waypoint (your point of origin).

FatAlbert