I have a Garmin Rino 530.
More gizmos than I need or use, but as a gift I aint complaining.
I wanted the next model down.
The reason I use this model is the better antenna, better in the mountains, valleys, heavy brush and trees.
I think the best it would get was within 2' - 3' of a given spot, although that will verify depending on conditions and terrain.
Garmin doesn't do much in the way of support, and you will have to buy and install the mapping software for your area.


Bill

Without a doubt, GARMIN.
Garmins support far exceeds the rest of the industry and the maps, and technologies available for the United States/ North America are without compare. The lower end priced models will require more manual setups, expertise, and maps.The upper end and most current technology models are more automatic and include more advance features, and lifetime (GPS lifetime) maps included in the retail price. I've owned and used them all, so to speak, Garmin.

I have also heard that GPS as we know it is/will be outdated and unsupported soon.
How soon ? is unknown to me.
I would suggest not spending lots of $$$ just to have it go away shortly after you make your purchase.


Bill

not so sure that we would be losing it soon, industry is still using it infact it is on the increase on surveying. Surveyors are on contract at this time resurveying grids on USGS system and updating.  If you are talking an electromagnetic disturbance from the sun that is possible but your GPS would be the least of worries if that happened. The GPS satellites may be protected not sure. I would hope the latest ones would have shielding and line filters.

I have both collecting dust.

I find the one on my cell phone works the best and I can get all the fancy bells and whistle apps for it and less problems updating it.

Joe, When you are using your phone as the GPS out in areas that do not have cell coverage/data,  I am assuming that you can use strictly the GPS function alone....but do you have detailed mapping too? Have you found any apps that would have terrain features? what OS do you have on your phone?

I have the Garmin Montana 650T. I use it at work and in the field. It is absolutely great. Lots of options on the maps you can load and you can find most of them on ebay for less than the Garmin site.

I would like to know if you have GPS when you lose cell service. Does the GPS still work or is it tied to the cell phone service?

Cellphones work by radio towers.  Signals are sent tower to tower and cellphone to tower.  GPS works by receiving signals from satellites and the more satellites in view the better the fix.  We have some land in far west Texas down in Terlingua, Texas.  We have 3 cellphones with us (my work phone, my phone and my wife's phone) all with different service providers and none of them work on our property.  Our GPS works just fine.   

Since I last made a post, I have found something better than any GPS that I was going to buy in the store. I was researching Trimble GPS products and found that they offer very professional mapping services, which have the highest definition Topo maps as well as " land ownership" details which list the names of the owners of the private property. This is extremely valuable in that you can see at the moment where you are physically and whether you might be on BLM land or Park Service or privately owned land and who you could contact if you want to get their permission. Now the best thing is.....you get this data on a single SD micro card which you can use on your cell phone (i-phone, i-pad, android device....no windows system yet) and you do not need to be online to use it. You download a free app from Trimble, and you load the card, and you are in business with a powerful navigation device. You can do waypoints, active tracking, position marking, ect. You purchase these 16 G chips from Trimble Outdoors and they are sold by each state for $99.00. I think that is a small price to pay for the power that would equal a $600.00 GPS with a tiny screen. You can load this baby in a tablet, forget the phone and use the tablet as a dedicated GPS with high resolution screen and large display. When you buy a $99.00 map, you also get a free 1 year subscription to their Elite service which allows you to download unlimited states maps (they just wont contain the private lands data). Ok...it might seem that I am promoting this, or might work for Trimble.....but I dont. I just think this is a good one to use. I just received my first map chip for Nevada, and am using it in my Samsung Tab 3. I have not yet taken it out in the field, bit will soon do so during the next upcoming trip to Rye Patch.

We use an upper end Trimble for our survey department an our heavy equipment uses Trimble for blade control and I agree it is tops in its field - for that kind of work. The reason I did not consider it is a cell phone battery is very limited. Cell service in some areas is very limited. If you have looked at the Montana 650T you will see the screen size is larger than an I-phone. The rechargeable battery is great and it also accepts standard AA batteries. The Montana also has a camera built in and works without cell-phone contact. The case is waterproof to 30 feet and you can drop it off a building. I also use it with street navigation in my Jeep for driving. I don't work for Garmin - I work for a heavy highway construction company. By the way the maps also come on SD micro cards and just plug into the unit. The base unit comes with the full United States map system. I have also purchased for $49.00 the state of Texas, Arizona and Nevada for highly detailed maps. They offer satellite photos for areas as a service but I don't need that for what I do. One feature is you can scan a map - any map or sketch or drawing and import it into the unit then scale it so the unit tracks on your map. I imported the Disney World layout into the unit and carried it on our last Disney vacation. I knew exactly where I was in the park at all times. That was pretty cool. You can get marine navigation maps but I don't need those.

I have had Magellan and Garmin handheld and automotive use. They all worked but I just bought the new Garmin solar instinct GPS watch. I am less likely to lose it prospecting or ATV ing and it is solar powered but it does use a lot of power if you have a lot of the features on. I have only had it for about two weeks now and have not tried it outside yet. I live in central Minnesota and it has been below zero here for about 12 days now. Warming up this week now. 🛶