August 22, 2007

GPS Tracking Device Selection

There are many different GPS Tracking Devices and there are many features that you must have for specific purposes. First off, are you wanting your GPS tracking device for navigational purposes in your car or, for hiking purposes (hunting, trail biking, etc).

For GPS Navigation in your car here are some features you will want to look for:

*Voice Prompting tells you which way you are going to turn and how far away the turn is ; some GPS Tracking Devices will only have a beep to let you know you are nearing a turn.
*Mounting is another feature I couldn’t live without. Make sure your GPS Tracking Device has is able to be mounted securely in your vehicle.
*12 channel reciever system - this will allow for better reception in bad terrain areas.
*Make sure it has maps of your desired area and find out about map update cost and availability of map updates.

I use a TomTom-750 for my auto GPS Navigation purposes and am pretty satisfied with it’s performance. Garmin also make some good GPS Devices.

Click here to take a look at some Automotive GPS Tracking Devices

GPS Tracking Device features for hiking purposes:

*Waterproof is a must for an outdoor GPS Device.
*Long battery life - make sure you check how many hours of continuous use and standby use.
*Route Capability - make sure it has at least 20 or more routes.
*Waypoints - It should have at least 500 user entered waypoints.
*Bearing to next waypoint- this will come with most new devices.
*12 channel parallel receiver system.

Topographic maps are also nice to have but not entirely necessary. You might also want a trans reflective screen so you can see it in sunlight better.

Click here to check out some GPS Tracking Devices for outdoor purposes