Garmin GPSMAP 62S Handheld GPS Navigator

Prior to the 62sc, my experience with GPS units was bi-modal: I had extensive experience with a GPS72 and GPSV (both Garmin units) for personal use, biking, hiking, geocaching, etc and a Trimble GeoXT for general field GIS use; basic surveying, mapping, data collection, etc. The Trimble has insane accuracy and precision as you'd imagine to get from a $2k GPS, while the two garmins left a bit to be desired in that department. The GPS72 was my preferred GPS, as it was very easy to use and read, and, provided I was in an open enough area, got a lock relatively quickly. The GPSV got a lock a bit faster due to its helix antenna but it's awkward to hold.So, I just broke down and decided to buy a high end GPS. A lot of people told me to get one of the touch screen units, the Oregon or whatever, but I want one that I can use with gloves and not have to worry about the integrity of the screen. This unit is a bit expensive, but I have found it to be worth every penny.For one, it gets a lock very quickly and under almost any circumstances. My apartment is the bottom half of a split level in a valley in the Appalachian Mountains; the GPS72 and GPSV could barely get a lock in my back yard. The 62sc gets a lock with 30ft accuracy sitting on my couch! Its real test was my trip to southern Utah, where I went hiking in and around canyons. As soon as I turned it on it would get a lock with as many satellites as possible, reporting an accuracy of 7 to 9 feet. For a consumer GPS that's absolutely incredible! With my arms outstretched (I'm 6'5") I can essentially make a 7ft circle around myself. With my two older garmin units I'm used to an accuracy of 20-30ft in these situations, which was next to useless when trail mapping, though fairly useful for position reporting. Even in deep canyons (e.g. Zion) I could maintain a 7ft lock despite the hundreds of feet of rock walls on either side of me.This particular gpsmap 62 also comes with a carabiner clip which is the best thing ever. I can clip it to a belt loop and, despite looking like more of a dork than usual, I can have fast and easy access to the GPS and it's not at all in the way or is the antenna obstructed. I used to do something similar with the GPS72, but due to its patch antenna being opposite the lanyard loop, it would almost always lose a signal, so I was forced to hold on to it - something that gets to be a real nuisance when you're doing near-technical climbing!I was very suspicious of the altimeter, but I have been pleasantly surprised. When I first got it I hiked out to a nearby USGS benchmark and calibrated it, and since then it has been perfectly accurate to the foot. The same goes for the compass, very accurate, and very handy.The camera takes better pictures than I would have imagined, too. Here's an example from Utah: [...]It's a decent quality picture, especially from a 5MP camera with a tiny little lens. The field of view is much wider than I would like it to be, but if I just want to snap a quick picture and I don't have any other cameras with me, it's very useful - especially to have them be instantly geotagged.I put a cheap screen protector on it as soon as I got it because the screen looked to be covered by a softer plastic and I didn't want anything to happen to it. I haven't dunked it under water yet, but I have used it in heavy rain and snow with no issues whatsoever. Overall the screen is bright and easy to read in all conditions, including direct sunlight. Battery life has generally been exactly what garmin says it will be.I highly recommend serious users get a piece of software called G-Raster which will allow USGS and USFS quads to be easily made for the device, which is much cheaper (and yields much higher quality maps) than garmin provides at a very high cost. If you're handy with GIS you can also get free high resolution orthophotos from NRCS or NationalMap and put them on the unit, making it incredibly powerful.I think the only thing I don't like about this device is the fact that we're only allowed one custom map at a time, so you can't switch between orthophotos and quads and a custom map, they all have to be displayed at once. I imagine this is because they want you to buy their products.

After reading many of the reviews here, I was expecting to have some issues with the 62s, but I went ahead and bought it because a friend had one and it passed his high standards. So far, I've only had one small problem with it. I got the 62s to replace my 60csx because I wanted a better device for geocaching. In that regard, it is a vast improvement over the 60csx. I used to have to take my smart phone with me and use both devices to find a cache. Now, the 62s has all the information I need.When I got the device, I plugged into my OS X computer and brought up Base Camp. It immediately told me there was a software update. I had to download an app from Garmin to do the update. After doing so, the upgrade was a breeze. I also uploaded a non-garmin map to it using Garmin Map Install without any issues.Some reviews complained of a difficult interface. After the 60csx, I found it easy to use. It only took me a few minutes to get comfortable with it. Full disclosure: I have 40+ years programming experience and was the go to guy to assemble toys at Christmas. The interface is more complex as there are more options. For regular use, you generally don't have to access them. A nice improvement is the ability to customize the interface. I dropped several screens from the standard rotation making it easier to get to the ones I want. The only problem I have with the interface appears to be a bug in paging. At the completion of a search for a geocache that I decide to cancel by selecting Stop, I can't navigate to another page. When I press Page, I see all the other pages and can select one. When I do, it just returns to the compass page. The way around the problem is to select the compass page first. After that, it works fine. My friends 62s doesn't do this.I also read about complaints about the case creaking. I don't have this problem with mine. This may have been something they fixed in production since the product came out. I also read complaints about the battery level indicator going from full charge to no charge quickly. I've only discharged it once. The device was at full charge when I started out on my last outing. I wasn't checking the charge as I went along until I got a message that the batteries were low and that the back light would be turned off. At that point, the charge was down to two bars. I continued to use it for about an hour until it got down to one bar. At that point, I put in new batteries. I'm guessing I could have used it for a while longer before they went completely dead. Overall, I didn't find the performance any better or worse than my 60csx. I use alkaline batteries and my usual practice is to always carry an extra set with me when I'm out with the device.There appears to be one drawback in comparison to the 60csx when using the device to feed coordinates to a camera. They still supply a cable to do that, but it plugs into the USB port. From the look of the cable, it would stick straight out of the device like any other USB cable so you have to leave the flap open. My concern is that it would get in the way and be subject to getting bent. The cable for the 60csx plugged into another socket and came out at a right angle to the device. Another disadvantage of the new cable is that the other end is just bare wires. You would have to solder on a connector of your choice. My solution was to buy another GPS that mounted on my camera hot shoe. Even with the 60csx, the cable between the Garmin and the camera was a pain.In use, the 62s seems to lock onto to satellites faster than the 60csx and is slightly more accurate in zeroing in on a cache. These are just my opinions; I haven't done any formal testing. With both devices, I had problems in heavy tree cover.Overall this device is a vast improvement over the 60csx for the purpose of geocaching. My only complaint is the problem with the page switching,which hopefully can be fixed.