Thoughts on best GPS

The Garmin map60csx sounds very interesting.  I am particularly interested in using my ng topo state maps program with it. 

I use NG topo and it will download from Garmin devices, but it will not upload tracks into the GPS, only waypoints. This makes NG Topo useless for planning a new route on the map to upload to your GPS (or re-using an old route). NG Topo saves the file in it's proprietary format. I have not tried this yet as I just found it, but a map program called Topofusion up/downloads with any GPS device using the GPX file format and it uploads tracks, covers all of the USA... I most likely will be switching to this when I get a chance to check it out more. for now I use a simple freeware program called EasyGPS that saves my GPS data as a GPX file.

What are you using and what would you recommend - and why

I use a Garmin Rino 130 and love it because it has a 2 way GMRS radio built in and can share your waypoint position with other Rino users. I have 3 other ski touring friends that have a Rino series so it works well. This is useless though if no one else in your group has a Rino, but it's a nice safety feature if you get split up. It will also transmit your track log.

Regardless of what brand/type GPS device to get one thing I recommend is get one with a built in electronic compass, otherwise you have to be physically moving in order for it to give you your correct bearing to your waypoint. One of my "Rino buddies" learned this the hard way turns out only the odd numbered Rino series has the electronic compass. Trying to break trail holding a GPS only to find out after ~100yds your going the wrong direction is more than frustrating.

I have the Colorado, and like hyakerik, find that the battery life is quite poor.

I like the simple operation, but it can't survive a good 10 hour day (in good weather, even much less if its cold out). I tend to only turn it on when I'm unsure of where I am, then turn it back off. It gets the job done in this fashion, but I would prefer to leave it on for the whole outing so I could upload the tracks and check statistics when I'm done.

It hasn't bothered me enough to buy a new one right now, but I definitely wouldn't buy it again.

I just upgraded to Oregon450t which has a better compass than Oregon300 and a marginally better screen.  I've used the 300 since it came out 3 years ago, and it was a big improvement over Map60 I had before.  What I consider as a usable GPS:

• high resolution color screen to see different terrain features
• 24k topo map to navigate
• high sensitivity in dense forest
• 3D compass (works at any position)
• long battery life

I primarily used it as a micro map to navigate in any weather and use paper maps for overall direction.  Don't care much about waypoints or routes.  Oregon is small and fits in a hipbelt pouch and meets my need pretty well.  My next one will be lighter, blighter, last longer...cheaper, maybe.

Oh they can now overlay satellite pictures with contours, I'll see if that's useful.

while i like your eccentricities, i think you're in for it now... fwiw, i shun the electronics seakayaking, probably for similar reasons.

I have an older magellen explorist 100. It is hard to use with very counterintuitive controls and menus. In short, I hate it's useability, but it works.

That being said, I could navigate with it in a near total white out or darkness, if I needed to do that. It can work as a lifesaver in a pinch if, for some reason, it took longer than expected to finish a trip before darkness falls...

I have a good true story that I tell about being mocked for having my GPS.

My friends, (two brothers who I hunt with) always made fun of me having a GPS. The older brother would mock me for having it if he saw me pull it out to mark a location. One day they were following fresh bear tracks on a bear hunt late in the day. The older brother wanted to get a shot on the bear, then return to collect it in the morning, knowing that they had no time to collect the animal if they caught up to it and got a shot.  He reasoned, If he waited to resume the hunt in the morning, the bear could be long gone, so he insisted that they continue tracking a bit longer,.... then longer,... and then all of a sudden it was dark. They never caught up to that bear.

The two of them walked around a bit in the dark trying to get a sense of their location, but they had turned around too many times while tracking and were not sure which way to go. They decided to hunker down on a very cold night and wait til morning to hike back to their cabin. The older brother had a "space bag" in his pack and the younger brother had a "space blanket". All night long the wind blew the space blanket off the younger brother and he said later that he froze his ass off all night. The older brother complained less since he had the better "space bag"..... When the sun came up, they walked 50 feet up a hill and could see their cabin from the ridge off in the distance. They were a 20 minute walk with a flashlight and a GPS away from sleeping in a bed in the cabin with the woodstove burning. The younger brother has since bought a GPS for himself. The older brother had nothing to say when I told him if he had a GPS as a back up, he would have saved himself a night sleeping on the ground.

GPS is a good tool. It doesn't replace a map and compass, but in a white out or sudden night fall, it can be lifesaving to have. I use mine for checking distance and elevation, and have it on as a backup in case I am lost or unsure of my travel directon. It's pretty easy to drop over a ridge when traveling on snow and be off coarse and unaware of it.

***Brain's make mistakes, it's smart to have a GPS as another tool to use with your map and compass to back up your brain when it makes a mistake....

I've used several Garmin units over the past 20 years.  I'm currently using the 60CSx, which is superior to all others I've used (45, 12 XL, Geko 201, eTrex ??[borrowed]) for reception in cover and speed of satellite lock.  I've traveled side-by-side with an Oregon 400t and several eTrex models, which sometimes lost the lock while my 60CSx was continually receiving.  As Amar noted, the 60CSx shares the same chip with some eTrex, but the 60CSx's quad helix antenna seems to work better for some cover and tight spots.

I always primarily rely on map and compass, and limit my GPS unit use to getting a bearing to a stored waypoint (and then using map to get there) and occasionally marking a waypoint.  Due to such limited use, battery life is not an issue, even on a 9-day traverse, and I'm not interested in the stored map feature which, IMO, sucks compared to printing out maps from NGTopo based on USGS 7.5' map data.  Haven't tried the 62. I don't have firsthand knowledge re non-Garmin units.  I highly recommend the 60CSx to compliment a good map and compass.