Automotive GPS Systems The Best Deals On Automotive GPS Systems

I recently decided to start spending some time geocaching with my son. I finally settled on either the Geomate, Jr., the Garmin Dakota, Garmin Oregon or DeLorme PN-40. I asked questions at forums, looked at on-line reviews, checked out the ones I could find in stores (Oregon and PN-20) and finally decided on either the Dakota 10 (a great price on a bundle was the big attraction at the time) or the Oregon 300. The Geomate got great reviews and the most reasonably priced of the group, but it’s only good for one thing, geocaching, tho it does it well. The PN-40 also got pretty good reviews, but the screen is smaller than the Oregon’s, the computer software is in addition to the device purchase and an annual subscription (at a very fair price tho) is needed for all the available advertised map features. It’s also a device with a pretty steep learning curve, especially on the trip planning side. That left the Dakota and Oregon. My two concerns on the Dakota 10 was lack of an SD slot, and a lower resolution screen than the Oregon. But for $100 savings I took a gamble and ordered the Dakota geocache and hike bundle. Turns out my worries were all for naught.

This little navigator has been a pleasant surprise. Dead simple to use, the menus made sense right out of the box, screen sensitively is excellent, even text-entry on the touch-screen is surprisingly easy and accurate. The bundle included the 100K US maps on DVD, which while very good were not as detailed as I had hoped. Not to worry. FREE user-contributed maps are available and many are very good to absolutely excellent. The Florida 24K topo I found at GPSFileDepot was in the latter category. Bathyspheric data, roads, trails, poi’s, extended text descriptions of land features like springs, waterways, landmarks, historical features. All I could ask for, no added charge. No other manufacturer has a following creating compatible maps like Garmin’s. And a recent Garmin application update has even added the ability to easily import and use raster maps(ie, paper maps, attractions maps, etc) in your Dakota. I’m actually working on adding an early 1900′s Central Florida railroad map that I can overlay on my 24K topo for searching out old railway junctions and stations. With any luck I might dig up a little Florida history.

Here’s the best part, and something I didn’t know about in advance. Garmin’s “Profiles” is a powerful menu feature. Out of the box, the menus are customized/organized for specific uses like Geocaching, Recreational, Marine and Automotive. I modified my Automotive to use Garmin’s City Navigator (2009) map, Florida section only, with my 24K topographic maps disabled. I moved “Active Route” and “Route Planner” to the first page and customized the data I wanted displayed on my trip computer and compass pages, then saved it. Now when I tap Change Profile>Automotive, all my settings are ready to go. I customized Geocaching in the same manner, disabling road maps and enabling topo’s, even disabling “ground cover” display so the map screen is even easier to see. What other device other than Garmin’s Oregon series is this easy to use and set-up for your specific needs? Nothing that I’ve seen.

My only complaint, and it’s not even a serious issue, is screen readability. It seems all the newer high-resolution handheld screens suffer screen legibilty issues compared to the older devices like the tried-and-true 60CSx. So far no one has come up with a solution. The Dakota is certainly more readable than the Oregon, even tho the backlight is not as strong. I haven’t yet found a lighting condition that rendered the screen unreadable, unlike the Oregon I looked at side by side with it. Even the Oregon only needed to be turned a bit to see in light shade, a problematic light. Even when used tie-wrapped to my bike I never found the Dakota completely unreadable. But as mentioned by others, there’s room for improvement. For now it’s just a necessary trade-off for the better graphics and detail and easier use on these new off-road devices.

My concern on the lack of additional SD storage for maps was unwarranted. Loading the 24K map for the entire State of Florida, routable City Navigator road maps for all of Florida, 100K topos for Georgia and Alabama and a hundred or so geocache locations with details (gpx files) took less than 300MB of the available 850MB+ of on board storage. I don’t think I’m going to run out of space for hundred’s more geocache locations, waypoints, routes or even additional maps if needed. The Dakota 10 also lacks the tri-axial compass and barometric altimeter of the Dakota 20 (and Oregons), but I can’t see any situations where I would need those. The compass on the Dakota 10 is fine for almost all my uses and I have no need for the altimeter anyway, especially in Florida.

So all in all, I really have only a single complaint. Screen brightness in certain specific lighting conditions could be improved. But in MOST sun and shade conditions it’s not any problem whatsoever. My 14 year old son used it all day yesterday as both a highway navigator, calling out turns to me to an EarthCache, and a geocaching device once we got there with not a single complaint. Why is that important? He’s never used a handheld before. I only pointed out the “Profiles” feature and a one-minute tutorial on getting to and reading the road map screen. The rest he figured out on his own. That’s how simple it is to use. I honestly can’t think of anything I missed out on by passing up the Delorme PN-40 or even Garmin’s Oregon.

I recommend the Dakota highly.
Rating: 4 / 5

First Impressions: This unit has some nice features but the one thing it does NOT have is a “sunlight readable” screen, all Garmin “touch screen” models are much harder to read in the sun compared to the eTrex or 60Csx type models (regretfully these models are also very complex to use).

The main advantage of this Dakota unit is that it is better for paperless geocaching because it does display tips. The main disadvantage for geocachers, other than you can’t see the screen in sunlight, is that this unit does NOT offer “proximity alerts” like the 60CSx, this means you have to hold the unit in your hands constantly and with the screen set at its brightest setting to find the nearest cache, this is not only cumbersome but it also drains your batteries much, much faster. Any GPS without proximity alert is as close to useless as it gets.

Beware of the claim that Garmin makes about included maps, the maps that come built-in are pretty much useless, you will need to spend another $100 to buy a map that works.

A more detailed review coming soon.
Rating: 3 / 5