[toni-a]

Hi folks,

I am hiking in Lebanon forests on regular basis, at least once a week.

I will create a site where I will put gps tracks ready for download (google earth kml files), and pictures on various sites of the track

I want a GPS device where I can record tracks, that I can use for following tracks already made by fellow hikers, I need also to be able to use it for navigation in my car, but I don't want it to get crazy every time I am not on an asphalt road.



I don't need GPS tagging for pictures, I can do it manually.



Unfortunately lebanon available maps are only garmin compatible so this narrows my choices.

Any suggestions for a device.

Can the garminfone or any other device do that ?

[Kodachrome 25]

Hi toni-a,



what about Garmin Oregon or Dakota?

[url="http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/onthetrail/"]http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/onthetrail/[/url]



A friend of mine has an Oregon 450t which comes with topographic maps and he is quite happy about this device. I didn't manage to borrow it for a test hike so far - so this is all I can contribute.



Regards, Ralf.

[Guest]

I have a 450t as well which I use for wilderness walking.



It's probably the best model, or at least a 450 might be. It depends on whether you want to buy the maps separately, or whether you are happy with the built in maps for your region in the 450t. I'm guessing for your region you might want separate maps.



The 550 just has a rather silly camera in it so is no real advantage.

[Jos]

Hi Toni,



Another vote for the Garmin 450t, if you can find the right topographic cards for it. In that case Garmin is your best bet, probably a Dakota 20 or Oregon 450t. I have the latter and I'm quite happy with it. A new model has been introduced by Garmin, the Montana. This one seems to be specially aimed at outdoor AND automotive use. At first glance it seems to be expensive but for the Dakota/Oregon series additional software is required for automotive use which is not free, I'm not sure about this for the Montana. So I guess you'll have to do some homework. Another option is a smartphone (iPhone or Android) with GPS. You may also look at http://www.openstreetmap.org/ for open source maps but my experience with these is a mixed bag. Sometimes better, sometimes worse than the Garmin ones. Edit: the right link is: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ for OSM maps.