GPS Page
Hand Held GPS Devices
Our preferred GPS is the Garmin GPSMap60Cx. The Garmin GPSMap76 Cx is also very good can be slightly cheaper than the 60Cx. Some people 
prefer the 60 or 76CSx which includes a compass and altimeter whereas I prefer to rely on a simple Silva compass for route finding in the bush.
We get really good results from these GPSs even in the most dense bush on rainy days. The topo maps for the whole country (NZ) are loaded onto each GPS and these provide sufficient detail to navigate although they do not replace the printed topo maps that provide the extra detail required for accurate route finding.
The key to the performance of the 60 and 76 devices is the SIRF Star III chip set. This has now been incorporated into several of the Garmin models and initially was denoted by the x as in 60Cx.
Other differences between the 60 and 76 models: They both have very similar menu systems and performance. The 76 is supposed to float in water whereas the 60 has a handy belt clip so you can attach it to one of the straps on your pack. Take care with these clips as they do break (we have broken 4-5 of them). Make sure you back up the belt clip with the lanyard.
The best place to buy these GPSs in NZ is from Tony Savage at KiwiGPS in Christchurch (KiwiGPS at paradise dot net dot nz). His service and prices are superb.
We are starting to replace our old (6+ years) 60Cx devices with the 62s model. The life and reliability of the Garmin 60Cx has been excellent but most of the first batch we purchased are noticeably less sensitive than the newer ones. It seems that Garmin upgraded to a better chip set after a couple of years without changing the model or making it public that the change had happened.
GPS Loggers
In SAR the GPS tracks of the teams are vital for the management to ensure areas are searched as expected. While the Garmin 60 CX tracks are ideal we have some teams that prefer to use their own GPSs. The disadvantage is that we cannot download logs from all GPS 
types plus sometimes the log function is turned off. For these teams we can supply them with a GPS Logger.
The Globalsat device (DG-100) is inexpensive, (around NZ$200) lightweight and as sensitive as the Garmin 60CX. The two rechargeable AA NiMH batteries supplied with the units are good for at least 20 hours. It has a USB plug inside it and the ability to store 50,000 track points. There is also a switch on it which can be configured for three different settings. The defaults are walking, cycling and driving. These settings determine the frequency at which track points are saved.
The drivers and software supplied allow you to save the downloaded data as a GPX file which can be imported into TUMONZ. The software is not especially easy to use. There is a free third party program that has been written that works much better - it even works with Vista which the Globalsat product does not. It is called DG Manager .NET and is available from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=201598&release_id=554508
We like these loggers and GPS devices, from a search management perspective. Within minutes of a team's return to base, their GPS track can be downloaded and stored in TUMONZ. This is printed on a Topo map and supplied to the debriefer before the team debrief starts
We are now looking to also upgrade these loggers. Nothing wrong with what we have except I suspect that a similar device with a newer chip set would have better sensitivity and battery life. The trick is to find one that will work on AA batteries.
Last updated 15 March 2012