Okay, words to the wise here..
I borrowed a friend's "Garmin eTrex Legend" mapping GPS unit for a couple of days. Loads of fun, but not terribly accurate for the final 20m (65') or so to the geocache. And maps of Canada basically suck except for downtown Toronto Montreal Ottawa or Vancouver.
The reason for the eTrex inaccuracies seems to be that the built-in antenna/receiver sucks. Under light tree cover, it picks up only 3-5 satellites, and loses WAAS too easily. Inside my living room, it gets zero satellites. On the front steps, it barely gets a lock on 4 satellites.
So, I didn't buy one of those. Instead, I got seduced by Magellan's claims of "7m accuracy" versus Garmin's "15m accuracy" numbers. Well, not really -- I went with Magellan for the expandable map memory capability.
But.. the accuracy claims turned out to be true, at least when comparing (unfairly?) the eTrex with the Magellan Meridian Platinum. This new beast locks solidly onto 8 satellites + WAAS from my living room. It gets 8-9 satellites from the front doorstep. And back at the same bloody geocache in the trees it was getting 9 satellites + WAAS, and I practically tripped over the same geocache box when it said "distance = 1m".
Wow!
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