Many people ask us:  Which GPS receiver would we choose and which ones should we avoid.  This is not an easy question because virtually 100% of the GPS receivers on the market today are high quality units and will "get you there".  On the other hand,  we think that technology has moved along considerably in the last 5 years in GPS receiver technology and that as a result,  some units provide more "features and functionality for the dollar" than others.

You must weigh our conclusions with the understanding that we feel that a GPS receiver purchased today should have the ability to upload city street level maps at a minimum along with a minimum 8 meg map memory.   Not everyone will agree with this.  Particularly people in areas of the world where user uploadable high detail maps are not yet available.   If there are no uploadable maps for your part of the world,  a mapping GPS is not of much extra value.

For GPS users in the USA, Canada and Western Europe,  we consider that with the "current state of the art" that the following GPS receivers are obsolescent.  This does NOT mean that the receivers in this list are defective,  won't work properly,  or will fail to get you from A to B, or that they will not give you excellent service.  What it means is that we think that value for  money,  you can now pick out a unit with a combination of a) lower power drain,  b) more features,  c) better accuracy,  d) lighter weight,  e) uploadable maps or some combination of these.  Many of these units are still on sale in stores and likely will be for some time to come.  If the price is right,  one of these still may be just fine for your application.

Garmin:
G-II PLUS
G-III
G-III PLUS
G-12 MAP
G-12 (plain, XL, and CX)
eTrex (original, not later models)

Lowrance
GM-100
 

Magellan
GPS-300
GPS-310
GPS-315/320
Blazer 12
Tracker
ColorTrak