Re: [Killietalk] GPS meters

["Doug Dame" <dameda at shands_ufl.edu>]

Rusty wrote:

>>  I would say Garmin, Magellan and Trimble all make fine products. 
>>  The technology is really the same. And among handhelds, the 
>>  accuracy is the same as well. 


I have a hand-held Magellan and concur with the above. 

However ... I am also reminded of the old freshwater ichthyology truism
that 95% of all collections are found within 30 yards of a highway.
(It's not what you think ... apparently fish like the noise and hub-bub,
it keeps them from getting bored. Active fish are more alert, they get
eaten less by predators, they survive better, it's all According to
Darwin. I'm pretty sure.) 

My next GPS will be something like Jim Graham of Michigan uses ... map
software running on an in-car laptop computer, with a GPS receiver head.


==> MUCH MUCH more detailed picture of the local roads and water than
you'll get in the base map of any hand-held; 
==> a much bigger, full-color display; 
==> and much easier to use to figure HOW to get to a place that looks
promising ...  or to the next one on the list, or to revise your
directions if you somehow wander off the original plan.

DeLorme's EarthMate GPS with Street Atlas USA 2004 s/w is selling on
the DeLorme website for $124, which is obviously very competitive
price-wise to a basic hand-held GPS. Street Atlas 2005 is expected to
start shipping at the end of this month, tho, according to the site.

There may be other equivalent products, but that's the one I know the
most about.

Hand-helds are great for marking collecting locations, but they're a
lot less handy for finding out how to get there in the first place.

Of course, the laptop software isn't very useful if you don't have a
laptop to use it on. (And the "mobile desk" mounts for laptops in a
vehicle are painfully expensive.) 

HTH

Douglas Dame
Yankeetown FL






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