Best All-Around GPS Value

Sure, this may not have every feature that every person wants in a GPS, but for the price, I'd love to find a better value.

I've owned a Garmin Legend (the monochrome version) for almost 4 years now. Unfortunately, when I moved to my new house about 6 months ago, it somehow got lost (you're in BIG trouble when your GPS gets lost!). That GPS has done everything with me from geocaching to finding Grandma's house to creating a tracklog of my trainride across the country. It did everything I needed it to.

How could the "C" version improve on that? Suprisingly, a LOT. The Legend C functions almost identically to my older version. You'd hope to expect that in a model with the same name, but with all the new features advertised, I didn't think it would be similar at all.

Here are just a few of the upgrades from the original Legend to the Legend C:

- 256-color TFT screen with adjustable brightness
- Road-following directions (Basemap only gets to within major roads and highways)
- Highway display mode (shows you on the highway in a drivers view, 3-D display)
- 2-AA battery life extended from 10 hours to over 24 hours
- New games
- New Geocaching manager
- Dozens of customizable icons
- Upgrade from Serial to USB interface cable

That's just some of the changes when the Legend went Color.

Here is what comes in the package:
- The GPS Unit
- USB Interface Cable
- Trip & Waypoint Manager CD
- Wrist Strap and clip adapter
- Manual

According to the package, here is the list of key features:
- Built in basemap with automatic routing cpaability
- WAAS enabled
- 24 MB internal memory for downloading detailed maps from optional MapSource CDs
- USB for high-speed map downloads
- 500 waypoints, 50 routes
- 36 hours on two AA batteries

Other features that I've noticed include:
- US Interstate Exit Information (a bit outdated, but still good for general planning)
- Turn by Turn directions (so long as you get on and off an Interstate or major US highway)
- Geocaching Manager
...and LOTS more.

Some features that some would enjoy that are NOT part of this package include:
- North Finding (or magnetic compass)
- Baro Altimeter (GPS Alt works fine)

Some features only available on the Cx model include:
- SD Memory Card feature