NorthWest Arkansas Cachers

ok, I recently got a grant through OG&E to buy 6 GPS units to be able to use in my classroom. No comment if one of them might come home with me from time to time.

I'm looking at the etrex series, possibly the eTrex Venture HC or the eTrex Legend HCx.

What I need to know is this.

1. Are these easy to use (especially for high school students?)
2. Can I preload a file of waypoints (like a .gpx or .loc file or something like that) from a computer connection?
3. Are these even decent units?

I'm open to options on these if you have any better. But I need to find them for about 12-150 dollars each to fit under the grant.

I use a Garmin etrex Legend HCx and it has done good for me. I am not very good with the hi tech stuff but these seems to be pretty simple. I down load via computer or gsak. Using gsak I can download 500 at a time.
The accuracy is very good and the price range is affordable for most people. But I am thinking the HCx is closer to 200. the venture HC might be less than 150. But that is just as guess.
Another thing i have found about mine is that it is pretty forgiving when I drop it in the rocks , etc. They seem to be pretty durable.
Hope this has helped.

You really can't go wrong with any Garmin unit. We used the plain old blue Garmin eTrex to find our first 1800 or so. Others have done well with the yellow eTrex. The HcX just gets you a color screen and better map capability, which isn't necessarily needed. The biggest drawback to the plain eTrex models is that (as far as I know), the interface is only in serial. If you have a computer in the classroom with a serial connection, this wouldn't be a problem though.

serial meaning USB port?

Walmart.com currently has the venture HC at $118 and the legend HCX at $148, plus tax and way cheap shipping.

Plus you'll get a 10% discount if you use your bro's discount card!

No, USB is a parallel I/O port. Serial is more like your mouse input. It'll be a round-shaped port. Newer computers (since about 2007 on) don't even have them. Parallel = fast, serial = slow.

I'm not sure what the difference is between the HC and the HCX, but I'm thinking its only an electronic compass and a barometric altimeter, which is the difference between a 60CS and a 60CsX. Both are abous as useful as _____ (Fill in the blank with your most useless simile)

The day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) Target will have the Garmin Nuvi 1350T GPS for 179.00 if anyone is interested.