Which GPS for a climber & traveler?

[softmoo]

Hey,

Im thinking about getting a GPS, but I have different goals that make chosing a unit hard. Can you guys help me out?

Primarily I would want this GPS for mountaineering, and finding hiden rock climbing spots in oregon and very rarely in california. This would also involve knowning small town roads and forest service roads etc... Climbing is what would motivate me to spend the money for a GPS. For me rock climbing is a weekend activity (and doesnt usually need a gps). And alpinism is a rare activity, but when I do go I do alpine style rock routes where getting lost is a bad option.

However I do bike a lot at home in the states. And I spend most summers in france and switzerland. It be nice to have info of the street names etc for those places.

So my goals in order of importance are:
topo of sm parts of oregon
city map of oregon
topo of sm parts of california
alt, bar, and compass
battery life

extra stuff that would be nice:
ability to add street info for switzerland and france
ability to use as a trip computer for biking (distance, speed, etc)
ability to use mac to load the software. (i have a pc as well, but the laptop is a mac).

I know there are some freeware apps for mac and garmin gps. Also natl geo topo works, and there is some thing for downloading maps from ms terreserver, but I dont know how it works.

I looked at the etrex vista c, map60cs and 76cs. Is 24mb (vista c) enough to store topos for most of oregon? or at least half of oregon? Are the other models too big? The 76 looks huge. What about other brands? Id also like to know as much about mac software for gps as possible.


THANKS!

[softmoo]

I also would like the ability to load topos for switz and frace because I climb there too!

[Dave]

24mb isn't a lot of memory and I don't know Oregon, but I would think that you would get quite a bit there.

If you're priority is rock climbing then I would definately say a handheld GPS would be best. THe more rugged the better, you will want it to take a knock or two.

As you're rock climbing then you really want want to check your altitude, so I'd say an eTrex Vista (nice and small) or a GPSMap76S would be better, or perhaps a Magellan SporTrak/Meridian. If you want a colour screen then Garmin are bringing out the colour version of the 76 and they also have the 60C/60CS. Magellan also have the Meridian Colour and SporTrak Colour which are also good units, but not as waterproof and rugged as the Garmin's.

You could get away without any map with these providing if you just want to rock climb and hike, and then mark spots where you've been so you can plot your way back, you then won't need any kind of map, but if you would rather look at ridge contours etc, then probably Garmin or Magellan's topo maps would be better.

As for street names, if you go for something like a 60c/60cs then you can have full street routing ability (albeit without voice), so that might sort of make your mind up :D

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