Guide to Buying a GPS Device

Every geocacher needs a navigation device, whether it's a smartphone or an official GPSr unit. Have a look below to see which one suits you!
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Geomate.jr
PROS
  • Cheap
  • Very simple and easy to use
  • Perfect for children or beginner cachers (it omits any cache with terrain or difficulty ratings above 4 stars)
  • You can save your home as a waypoint so you don't get lost
  • Splash proof
  • lasts 12 hours on 2AA bateries
  • Very accurate outdoors
  • Comes preloaded with 250,000 geocaches covering your country or state
CONS
  • Supports PC only (not mac)
  • services have been discontinued making hard to get updates or support
  • Can't view premuim member only caches
  • Can't enter custom coordinates
    You have to buy the update cable if you want to refresh the stored caches
  • Have to buy the update cable to refresh cache data or add new caches

Magellan eXplorist GC
PROS
  • Dedicated GPS for geo-caching
  • IPX-7 waterproof & rugged
  • Highly-sensitive SiRFstarIII™ GPS chipset – accurate to 3 meters
  • Vivid, sunlight readable 2.2” transflective screen
  • Powered by two AA batteries the device will last for up to 18 hours
  • Pre-loaded with 1000 of the most popular caches in Europe, holds up to 10,000
  • Straightforward, logical menus so you spend your time hunting for caches and not buttons
  • Seamless connection to geocaching.com
  • Drag n’ drop pocket queries
  • Free 30-day premium membership to goeocaching.com.
CONS
  • Sometimes joystick can be hard to navigate with, particularly for those with larger fingers.
  • Takes a long time to type out field notes on the device (though you can of course edit them when you return home!)

Garmin eTrex 10
PROS
  • 2.2-inch, monochrome display that’s easy to read in any lighting situation
  • Durable and waterproof, eTrex® 10 is built to withstand the elements
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Supports geocaching GPX files for downloading geocaches and details straight to your unit
  • High-sensitivity, EGNOS-enabled GPS receiver and HotFix® satellite prediction to locate your position quickl
  • Nice size and good light weight for backpacking
  • Well made and durable
CONS
  • "You may find spurious way-points being entered while the unit is in your pocket or your backpack every time the joystick presses against something hard-ish. A minor niggle but something to be aware of." -Amazon reviewer
  • Basic map
  • Black and white screen 

Garmin eTrex 20
PROS
  • 3-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass and barometric altimeter
  • Improved 3" sunlight-readable, color, touchscreen display, enhanced clarity
  • Preloaded U.S. Topo 100K
  • Wirelessly share routes, tracks, waypoints and geocaches between units
  • High-sensitivity GPS receiver with HotFix for improved performance and reception
  • finds the satellites very fast
  • the screen is very tough
  • 16hour battery life
  • Clear & beautiful interface
  • Sunlight readability
CONS

Garmin eTrex 30
PROS
  • Withstands drops
  • preloaded worldwide relief basemap 
  • Colour display
  • electronic compass always shows your heading
  • barometric altimeter pinpoints your precise altitude
  • High level of accuracy
  • Powered with two AA batteries
  • waterproof to IPX7 standards for protection against splashes, rain, etc.
CONS
  • Fairly pricey for just starting with geocaching

Garmin Oregon 450t
PROS
This rugged, palm-sized navigator combines touchscreen navigation, high-sensitivity GPS with HotFix® satellite prediction, barometric altimeter, 3-axis electronic compass and microSD¿ card slot in one affordable, power-packed punch.             
  • Good touch screen
  • Customizable Menu
  • Can add custom map
  • High detail map
CONS
  • Backlight can be a problem - sometimes the screen isn't light enough to see easily.

Garmin Montana 650t
PROS
  • 4-inch LCD display
  • 5 MegaPixel autofocus digital camera with automatic geo-tagging
  • Worldwide built-in basemap with shaded relief, preloaded U.S. Topo
  • Bright sunlight readable touchscreen color display
  • 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter
  • High-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver
  • Waterproof
  • 16 hour battery life
CONS
  • Too big for some purposes - while can fit in pocket, is slightly too heavy for comfort.

iPhone 5 32GB
PROS
  • Although not an official GPS device, you can buy the geocaching app for 10$ from the app store
  • App is very simple to use
  • Can log as soon as you've found them
  • can save pocket queries onto it
  • Can view photos/hints/recent logs etc..
  • Can see the number of favourite points
  • You can sort caches by type/difficulty/favourites/name etc..
  • You can add multiple waypoints
  • Don't need to carry a phone around too - built in!
  • You can download various apps to help you solve puzzle caches on the go.
CONS
  • Accuracy varies
  • Shorter battery life to a GPSr
  • Can take a couple of minutes to load large pocket queries
  • 32GB is the minimum size you should get - geocaches take up a lot of space, though it's not a problem if you delete the large pocket queries once you are done with them.

What's YOUR favourite GPS?