Choosing a GPS device. HELP Needed!

Judging from the available GPS trails on this forum, I suppose some (perhaps all, ;) ) of you here have more experience with GPS than I have.
I don't own a GPS device, but am thinking of buying one.
I love exploring unknown terrain, but in Thailand's dense jungles it can be extremely hard to keep track of where exactly you are. Of course I would never totally rely on an electronic device. After getting lost once in Khao Phanom Bencha NP, and my lucky encounter with 3 poachers that helped me finding the way out, in the dark! (Another of my many unbelievable stories, haha) I now always carry a compass. Which is useful if you know where the main rivers or roads are. But I believe a GPS device could help me out more accurately and help remember the trail for a next time.

I did a bit of research myself and found the Garmin GPSmap 62s, which seems to get good reviews. It's not the cheapest, but I rather spend a bit more on the right device, than getting stuck with a device that does not suit my needs. Does anyone of you have experience with this device, and what's your opinion? You know the conditions in these forests in Thailand, so I suppose I don't need to explain what I need.
Hope it can handle humidity and has good reception. And if you know of any abilities that I should take into account when deciding, all advice is very welcome.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated!

What I like to do is save the trails I've walked, and add a Point Of Interest here and there (preferably with the possibility to add some text to specify the POI).
Is it possible to save all trails in a specific area (national park) and next time when you're walking in the jungle see where all the trails/ POI's are?

This might be a stupid question, but I simply have never used a device like this.
I think I don't need all the bells and whistles either. Just want to see the trails I walked before, and add new trails. And obviously I want it to work well.
I will have a look into the etrex series.

Thanks

While checking youtube for the Garmin eTrex 20, I see it seem to do what I just asked for in my previous post.
Thanks again. Now I need to find a place where to buy it here in Thailand.
I did find a place that sold the Garmin GPSmap62s, but the price of 25500 baht seemed a bit steep to me, especially since the same model sells for about 11000 baht in my home country... That's a bit too much of a difference.

Do you happen to know any store in Thailand that sells Garmin devices?

Thanks

onflipflops wrote:

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Is it possible to save all trails in a specific area (national park) and next time when you're walking in the jungle see where all the trails/ POI's are?

Yes you can do all of that. Garmin has a free program (base camp) so you can easily manage, adjust, file and notate tracks and create your own collections.

I really like the etrex models, you can just slip them anywhere and forget about them, my old etrex is still my fav. I also use a rhino when I am doing "off piste" macro stuff, but thats because my regular exploring buddy has one too so we can become separated and still see each others location on the screen and have radio contact also. I also have an Oregon somewhere but found it a bit too "geeky", the etrex really is the best all rounder IMHO. I know Tim likes the GPS62s and they are the ones that they supply to the rangers also. All are suitable for jungle use. Just choose the style you like.

You dont really need a map if you are using for the forest, and buying in the states or elsewhere was much cheaper when I bought mine also. Hence I bought in the states. Shops that sell in Thailand and have websites are "gadgettrend" and "eagle gps".

You might want to invest in re-chargable batteries or a battery pack also. I think 24 hours is the longest you can get out of a set of batts.

Thanks for all the info. I'm actually glad to hear that it does not matter all too much what you get, it all works.

4 - 5 months ago I bought a set of Eneloop batteries. That seems to have been a great buy.
I've put them in my SB700 speedlight and even though I don't use the speedlight every day, I do use it quite a lot. Only recently I replaced them (when I thought my batteries died when I encountered the Binturong in Pangsida), but then I discovered that they actually were still functioning fine.
Never had such long lasting rechargable batteries.
I suppose they'll work great in in any electronic device.

But anyway, I haven't done much overnight trekking. So if they last a day, that should be enough for me.
Seems like it's going to be a Garmin etrex20. Hope I can find it for a reasonable price in Thailand, though so far my search resulted in 13600 baht at thailand-gps, but back home about 6000 - 6500 baht, that's a significant price difference. I will think about it how much I want it now, or if it can wait for the next family visit... Which isn't very soon...

Thanks again for all your help!

Hi Jonathan,

May I ask how much you paid for the device, approximately? And how long ago?
The only times I go to Bangkok is when flying in/ out of the country. But am thinking of a shopping trip for the specific purpose of buying the GPS, and if there's a lot of camera gear available, I might return home with more than planned...

Any idea if there are decent spotting scopes for sale as well?

Thanks for your advice!

Thanks again. I actually hoped it would be cheaper.
Back home the eTrex 20 sells for 180 euro.
Which is about 7000 baht. That's quite a difference... hmm, have to think about that...

And thanks for sharing your connections at Fotofile. On their webpage I noticed there are a few branches in MBK, where is Oi staying?