Help me choose a gps....

Well after quite a bit of research, I bought the Oregon 600 tonight. Looks like I'll be playing with it and learning it's features tomorrow.

You'll like it and it's fairly easy to use. I have the 650 and very pleased with it. As others suggested get the hunting map software for your area ... they are worth it.

Have fun!
 
As a woodland firefighter, I've used most of the handheld gps units available. Since my life can depend on knowing my exact location and where the fire is, I have spent way too much on gps technology. The rhino series is great because of the two way radio and seeing partners on the screen. Last year I left all of them at home. My go to for backpack hunting and fire is my phone running GAIA maps. You have tons of options when it comes to map overlays, and you can save a huge amount of maps on your phone to run offline. Once I acquire my position on the map,my phone can loose signal all it wants. To me it's priceless. I have a tablet with my entire state loaded in 24k Topo.
 
I too use maps on my phone app, Back Country Navigator. Many map choices and you just download prior to hitting the trail. I like the larger display of my phone and it's easy to charge off a battery pack for long trips.

I also have the Garmin Montana loaded with OnX maps, if I'm anywhere near where there is private land.
 
Any of the Oregon or Montana series Garmins with an OnX maps are great hunting near private ground. Anywhere else I download free base maps and trail maps from gpsfiledepot. The OnX maps on your cell phone is also a good option and much cheaper than a gps unit alternative.
 
I upgraded to the 64st a couple years ago, and thought I was happy. This year hunting elk I learned that the Rino has a more powerful 2-way (5 amp?) than the Midland I carry. I was hunting solo, but like to have a radio for success/crisis situations. I've decided I'll be upgrading to a Rino (755t?) for next year for a: larger screen b: stronger radio...
YMMV
 
If all you are wanting to do is back track yourself a good compass will do. Take a heading which would be your forward azimuth and read your back azimuth at the same time. I would take flagging and count paces. Very easy to do once you get the hang of it and a very low cost investment. The other quality I like about this is you stalk very slow and it is very satisfying to be able to find your way back to camp without electronics, old school.
 
Have had many over the years that all did what they were supposed to do and some with a lot more features but since going to onXmaps I have not used anything but this on my phone for that last 3 years.
 
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