arai 0 #1 October 1, 2006 anyone here had experience buying gps's online? I've been looking at the garmin eTrex Vista and while most prices are around what seem to be manufactures recomended, 370ish for the eTrex Vista Cx or 240ish for the eTrex Vista but on places like ebay you can find them new in box as low as 130 -150 or so. I've seen some really good deals online compared to retail in the past so I dont jump to the too good to be true, but rather ask around to see if anyone else has had positive/negative experiences. thanks -arai- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phoenixlpr 0 #2 October 1, 2006 I have bought my Garmin Geko 301 on eBay. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OverTech 0 #3 October 2, 2006 As a matter of a fact, I just bought a Garmin eTrex Vista cx off eBay a couple of weeks ago. I put batteries in it and made sure it worked, but I haven't actually used it for anything yet. Now I've decided to get a Garmin Foretrex 101 and I'm about to list this eTrex back on eBay myself. I gave $287 for it (haven't seen the cx models as low as you stated above) and will of course take a loss on it when I list it for resale. $200 and it's yours if you're interested, I'll pay shipping to US/Canada. It would save me the trouble of relisting it if nothing else. I know this is my first post on this forum, but that's only because I'm a lurker and new to the sport and therefore have no input to give anyone. But I'm legit, I jump every weekend at Skydive The Farm in Georgia and any of the instructors there can vouche for me. I know "popsjumper" (ground instructor at The Farm) is a regular on the forums, but I don't know if he ever comes into the Wing Suit Flying portion... Dave Koons Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KrisFlyZ 0 #4 October 5, 2006 I would strongly recommend buying a later generation GPS. Specifically an edge 205 for jumps from the airplane and an edge 305 for BASE jumpers. On BASE jumps, the 205 seems to read wrong altitude in the 'Bowl' but reads correct altitude once enough distance has been covered from the area where GPS signals get reflected. Mostly the error seems to be with the altitude....however we did a two way and comparing the readings from the other pilots 305(barometric alti) and my 205 will be a good test of GPS based altitude accuracy. Kris. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arai 0 #5 October 5, 2006 why the recomendation? are there any specific features / performance it does better than the etrex vista? I wont be base jumping anytime soon so I'm happy to stay in the gps's that work well from aircraft exits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KrisFlyZ 0 #6 October 5, 2006 Yup, the etrex vista is what I purchased the first time around... 1) it is bulky and not easy to mount. 2) It is way inferior to the newer generation GPSes...interms of acquisition and maintaining a signal in the airplane. 3) The newer uints are cheaper than the Vista Cx? point 2 is so important. Kris. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arai 0 #7 October 14, 2006 does the 305 work well from aircraft exits as well? or is the gps altitude from the 205 better for that? I found a good deal on a 305 and was going to pick it up until I realized they use 2 different ways to calculate altitude altitude Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KrisFlyZ 0 #8 October 14, 2006 Go for the 205. the altitude data from the 305 will be noisy due to pressure variations from the GPS(barometer) moving in and out of a clear airstream. If you read the BASE forum there is a thread BASE GPS Calculations. There are some charts that compare the 305 readings to the 205's readings from a 2-way BASE jump. Kris. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
