G'day forum, I am planning a trip starting is Brisbane (Australia) then heading through central NSW to Victorian Highlands and back home via the coast. Well i figured that a GPS is going to be pretty handy for the trip. I want something that will be fairly multipurpose eg. I could use it in the car and on the motorcycle. Being able to use it for hiking and canoeing would be advantageous but not necessary. My first thought was maybe a Magellan explorist 310 or 510 would be ok. But soon i will need to replace my Moblile (cell phone) so i have thought about getting the iphone 5s. I heard that the Iphone 5 has a great GPS system. Can anyone give me some advice? Are there any better alternatives put there? My budget for a dedicated gps would be about $550 AU.
I am currently using a garmin 62s. I have added oztopo v5 and tracks 4 australia for bush use. When in the city I use my android for street details etc. I suppose I could add city naviagator to the 62S chip. The advantage I can see over use of a phone GPS is that you can use garmin basecamp to work out where you want to go and then transfer that route to the GPS. I have set up a 12V lead so I dont have to rely on AA batteries. what is the battery life like on the I phone when using GPS? I have a garmin rino/uhf radio unit as well but it is still in the box. I like the touch screen. The 62s uses buttons but it isn't hard to operate. Some guys on this forum prefer the 78 model for the more robust power connection, rather than the mini USB plug on the 62S, but to date my unit has not been unreliable with the power supply. The 62S and Rino are around $500 but come out on special sometimes. The 78 is cheaper usually. I hope this helps.