Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Bang for the buck handheld GPS

Want something that will work with OnX Maps but in a tight spot, have an original lemon yellow Garmin eTrex Ive used for years but doesnt do mapping, just waypoints. Have an iPhone but its for work so dont want to go buying and loading stuff on it. So whats the best handhelp that does maps and will work with On X?

I go with my smart phone and downloaded maps. Have an extra battery charger with a solar panel. Works just fine for me but then it's been a mighty long time since I've been bewilder in the woods.

Looks like the etrex20 is in my future.

I used an Etrex 20 for 5 or so years. It worked but was a pain with the tiny screen and lack of a touch screen. I switched to a Garmin Montana with a bigger touch screen and like it MUCH better. It's bulkier than many guys like but to me, the size is worth it for the large screen. Battery life in the MT is about 1/2 what I got with the Etrex, though.
I'd sell the Etrex 20 cheap but it does have a corner of the screen by the scroll button cracked.

I'd consider buying a phone. Many phones can be bought cheap enough to use them only as a GPS. Just use wifi do down load your maps prior to leaving.

I use an iPhone SE. After using is this last season with OnX maps, I'm sold. A regular GPS has better pure navigation, but for getting around, having good quality satellite imagery, knowing boundaries, using the phone was fantastic. The phone stays in airplane mode so the battery lasts a long time and then I have a Dark Energy pack that holds enough juice to recharge the phone quite a few times. Nothing wrong with regular GPSs, but you choose between better nav features vs better maps, imagery and usability IMO. If I were hunting deep in a wilderness with no concerns for boundaries and wanted detailed nav features and really long battery life I'd get a Garmin. Otherwise, phone.

Thanks guys some things for me to chew on that I hadnt considered.

I've used phone GPS AND Magellan meridian gold for many years. The Magellan is much more dependable. With a 2D fix it was accurate within 9 yards. Wirh a 3D fix, accuarate within 3 yards. Once locked onto sats, it stays locked on, where as a phone GPS comes and goes with cloud cover. My GPS is long obsolete, but a stand alone GPS is in my opinion more accurate. Dependable, and has a lot more features including offsets, waypoints, waterways, geographical features. Ect.

If you can make a phone work for you then you really don't need a GPS. I volunteer on a SAR team. The most common one used when I show up at a search is the Garmin 64S or some version of it. If you're patient Cabelas and other places will put those on sale for around $200-$250 a couple of times a year. If not patient and can't wait for a sale they normally sell for around $400. This isn't a touch screen model, but for rugged use the buttons are more reliable, can be used with gloves on and they have an external antenna that picks up better in heavy cover or inside steep canyons. The Oregon sells for about the same price, is also often on sale, is touch screen with an internal antenna with a slightly bigger screen. Functionally they are very similar.

You can move up to the Montana which has an even larger touch screen and a few other features. But they are more expensive. The Rhino is probably the top end version and I see a few of those. But usually those are issued to teams and paid for by some government agency. Most of the folks paying out of pocket get the 64S.

I've still got a couple of the old Garmin Geko's. The screen is tiny, and just show waypoints. Nowadays, I just use my iPhone.

I have a less expensive phone. I've played with google maps on it and it eats the battery too fast. If I put it on airplane to save the battery, the location doesn't work. My Montana lasts at least twice as long and when I used an Etrex 20, it lasted 4 times as long.

One of my biggest uses of GPS is when the wife and I are out in the boonpuckies on our Razor. The HuntX maps are great for that. I have a Garmin Nuvi that will take the Huntx chip and show all the trails, too, but it can't record a track or set a route.