Besides providing you with a way to keep track of your whereabouts in the wilderness, GPS trackers provide you with plenty of ways to get in touch with the outside world in emergency situations. Including providing you with an SOS beacon and NOAA weather alerts to keep you one step ahead of mother nature. You’ll also want to keep your eye out for durability if you happen to be taking an exceptionally long or hazardous trek. Above all, we’d recommend looking at a unit with above an IPX5 waterproof rating. Make sure to glance over our guide to how GPS works before you settle on one of the best handheld GPS trackers for your next excursion. When it comes to navigation, the 64st features 250,000 pre-loaded caching and 100,000 topographical maps, plus a one-year subscription to BirdsEye satellite imagery. Adding additional maps is easy, thanks to 8GB of onboard memory that allows for even more topographical and detailed navigation information. Additionally, the Garmin features a three-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass. As one of the first consumer-grade handheld GPS trackers that operates on both GPS and GLONASS satellites, the eTrex 30x identifies or “locks on” to your location approximately 20 percent faster than just standard GPS. And planning your next trip is a breeze, thanks to free trip-planning software that allows you to connect with other friends or family that utilize Garmin GPS devices to share your plans and itinerary with Garmin Adventures. Beyond travel planning, the eTrex can store up to 200 routes and 2,000 waypoints to make your next trip even easier to plan before you head out on the trail or over the water. Running on two AA batteries, the eTrex runs up to 25 hours on a single charge. With an IPX7 rating, the device is water-resistant and can be submerged up to one meter for around 30 minutes. In addition to an eight-megapixel camera, Garmin pre-loads more than 100,000 topographical maps, 250,000 worldwide geocaches, as well as includes a one-year subscription to Birdseye satellite imagery. Add in a three-axis compass, barometric altimeter and automatic geotagging of photos and you’ve got a bevy of options beyond just the standard GPS tracking. Additionally, Garmin adds extras like trip pre-planning with their basecamp software, so you can share it with friends or family. Battery life is around 16 hours. At just over seven ounces, this robust tracker doesn’t add or remove anything that would alarm a handheld GPS shopper. Beyond the battery, the standard fare of GPS navigation is all here, including creating and viewing routes, dropping waypoints and navigating with an on-screen map. Additionally, you’ll find route details such as distance and bearing to your location. Garmin also offers Bluetooth pairing with your smartphone for the Earthmate mobile app, which provides additional statistics, as well as unlimited topographic and US NOAA chart downloads to your smartphone. DeLorme also includes a digital compass, barometric altimeter, and accelerometer for additional navigation support. In addition, you’ll get detailed road work, water features and even insanely remote rural mapping. The brilliant, sunlight-readable 2.2-inch display is on-par with many of the Garmins, and there’s even a paperless Geocaching option that lets you pull maps for use and reference when not connected to the outside world. The user-friendliness isn’t quite as tried and true as Garmin, but that’s to be expected. It’s the bundled up topographical maps that set this GPS apart from the rest of the Magellan line. Now, there is a 650t, but as best as we can tell, the only major difference here was the inclusion of an 8MP digital camera in the 650t. If you’re hiking, chances are you’re bringing your phone with you which almost certainly has a better cam, so you want your hiking GPS to focus on doing what it does best: positioning you on a map. So, going with the 600t, because you’ll get into Garmin’s gorgeous Oregon line for a lower price point than the 650t without the arguably unnecessary digital camera. The Garmin eTrex 10 Worldwide Handheled GPS weighs 9.1 ounces and measures 1.4 x 1.7 x 2.2 inches with a 2.2-inch monochrome display face. It features 50 routes (200 with its eTrex 30x version) and has a 20-hour battery life with two AA batteries. Users can save over 10,000 points and 200 saved tracks in its logging system, allowing them to re-visit old sites. Its GPS receiver is WAAS-enabled with HotFix and GLONASS support, so you’ll always have fast positioning and a reliable signal in the middle of nowhere. It comes with a one-year consumer limited warranty. Map features - It may seem like mapping software is pretty standard, but you’d be surprised how many features you can add on. Do you want topographical maps? What about built-in geocaching information? If you spend a little more, you can get a really nice set of maps for your device. Weight - When you’re hiking, you want to carry as little as possible so as not to be overburdened. That extends to your handheld GPS. Most of these devices are pretty lightweight, but you want to make sure you’re making proper tradeoffs. A tiny device might have too small a screen to be able to see in bright sunlight.
