Garmin GPSMAP 62SC
Why this one
I chose this model because I wanted buttons, I had tried out a friend's Oregon 450. Reliability and visibility are very high priorities for me and the 62SC is better on these counts.
Ironically the Oregon touch screen does not work when it gets wet. I live in Oregon. It rains here. The controls and screen have to work all the time, even in rain.
I also prefer the more compact fits-in-my-hand feel of the smaller receivers.
I chose a Garmin over another DeLorme this time because I like making maps and there are lots of mapping options for the Garmin. I was also tired of the teensy fonts on my DeLorme PN-40.
The DeLorme mapping software does not work very well for me. To wit, it does not run in a virtual machine, and I hate having to boot my Mac into Windows just to look at a map.
I have used the 62SC for a year now and it is my favorite. I love the built in camera, it is very handy on hikes. I have Dropbox set to pull the photos when I plug it into my Mac.
Serial port access
I read an article "Public Service APRS with the Garmin Montana" that made me very curious about what I could do to link the 62SC with my new Kenwood D710. The article (and VE6AB's website) did not give any details.
So far I have found this promising posting: http://mikew.org/?p=282 "The GPSMap 62s can be paired with an appropriate amateur radio for full APRS functionality."
Information on the Garmin interface is here: http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/interface.htm
It should be possible to send a waypoint in NMEA format and have it immediately appear on the 62's screen. Sending a waypoint with the same name causes the position to be updated.
Maps
City Navigator with Lifetime option is not worth it. Use OpenStreetMap instead.
The velomap and openmtbmap site has OSM based maps with contours. The contours look like they are 1:250K so relatively useless. Use the free version of OpenStreetMap.
For hiking consider using the Garmin 1:24K topo, it is pretty good. Go to http://www.GPSFileDepot.com and get the trail data to go with it. The topo trails are outdated.
History
Got this one August 10 2012
Took a picture of Julie to try out the camera. Since my house now has a metal roof, the GPS can't see satellites so the photo is not geocoded. If you love GPS, don't get a metal roof!
I installed the Garmin City Navigator NT 2013.1 map and portions of the Garmin Topo 24K West map.
I installed the free Northwest Trails map.
I loaded a GPX file containing Corvallis area geocaches. I took it outside so it could get lock and had it list nearby geocaches.
