Bushnell ONIX400 Handheld GPS Receiver

I've only used a few hiking/hunting GPS devices - most are not too good, but this is the bottom of the pile. The free base map is unusable for any real navigation - major features like large lakes, parks, major roads, etc are not shown or are inaccurate. Unless you purchase large numbers of maps this device is basically only a digital compass. Even if you sign up for the "unlimited downloads" at $29.95/yr you will waste so much time down loading the maps that its not worth it. Also, as I understand their customer service tech, the maps are not zoomable. So you need to buy multiple maps for the same area (i.e., zoomed out to "get you there" and more "zoomed in" to see the area's details when you get near.) It is very difficult to reach "customer support". Not only do I strongly recommend against this product but I would not be likely to purchase any other optical products from Bushnell based on the low quality of this product and their customer support. My DeLorme PN-20, which is not ideal, is far superior, IMO. Even at the $99 sale price I paid for the 400, it was a bad deal. Also, the 400 is very large compared to other units and uses a proprietary battery that can only be charged from an AC source. So if the battery runs down in the woods, it will be a problem unless you purchase additional expensive batteries and tote around the extra weight. Finally, some of the waterproofing rubber seals fit so poorly that they fall out and can be easily lost (which is why, I suppose, that a replacement seal is included.)

Bottom line, this thing is useless. It will only hold 20 of those 1 sq Km maps that you have to pay a dollar apeice for, so unless you know exactly where you are going to be, buy the corresponding sattellite maps for a dollar apiece, and upload them to the device, you are not going to be able to use the sattellite info. Compounding this is the maddeningly sparse basemap, against which all other data is displayed. This basemap contains only the major highways, no streets, no roads, even the widest and most traveled streets are omitted. It is like looking at a blank screen with a point in the center that say's "you are here"... If a major highway is close enough, you might be able to determine your distance from it, but you will not see the streets you need to travel to get there. Unless you can fly, this data is useless.

To activate the cool features, you have to pay. To get weather, you have to buy a Sirius radio subscription for $30 a month. Sattellite imagery costs $1 per square KM. To put this in perspective, to get all of New York City as a sattellite map for this unit, you will pay more than $141,000, and you would only be able to fit 20 of those one dollar images into the unit at a time. To view all of New York City as a sattellite image on your screen, you will have to load 20 sq Kms at a time, over 7000 times.

I cannot believe that bushnell has the audacity to call this unit a navigation system. It cannot under any circumstances be used to navigate, beyond telling you which direction you are facing, and your precise lattitude and longitude.

Great gps, aerial photo layering is awesome for the gulf coast area here in the great state of TX topo maps are worthless because its so flat here, maps that it has from the factory arent very good only major highways, you have to purchase aerial photographs theya arent free, penetrates tree canopys good, easy to switch between functions, cloud cover can be in the way on some locations for aerial photos, nice to have live doppler when your out on the lake or bay, not really easy to enter reef coordinates or any coordinates for a waypoint that is not your current location because if you make a mistake you cant go back and erase the characters one at a time if you didnt get right, xm radio with sports great for long sits in the deerstand, batterey life isnt that great, but you can buy an extended life battery, $50 manufacters rebate good through 8/31/08, so you can pick one up for about $350 when its all said and done