Garmin is well known for both it’s car-based and trail based GPS receiver systems. In the world of geocaching, most folks who use a Garmin unit prefer the trail units as they are more rugged, weatherproof, and more designed for what geocaching typically requires: bush-whacking.

Below you will find descriptions and links to the most commonly used Garmin GPS units for Geocaching. There’s also a link to the trail section on the Garmin website.

The Garmin Oregon

The Garmin Oregon is currently rated as one of the most popular handheld GPS units for geocaching. It features a complete touchscreen interface and is fully capable of holding 2000 geocaches within it’s memory.

It fully supports paperless geocaching by containing the full geocache description, terrain, difficulty, and even the hint decoded: all from within the single handheld unit. It also support field notes which allow you to log your find on the unit itself, then upload the field note file to Geocaching.com to simplify the logging of caches. Great for day trips.

It also has all of the regular goodies such as the ability to store maps, auto-route from your current location to another (if routable maps are loaded), recording of track information for later use, and many other useful features.

Notable differences between the models of the Oregon are the memory, stored maps, and the inclusion of a digital camera (550 model only).

The Garmin Colorado

The Garmin Colorado was the predecessor to the Oregon. This GPS features much of the same functionality of the Oregon but uses a “wheel” as the interface between the menus.

It fully supports paperless geocaching by containing the full geocache description, terrain, difficulty, and even the hint decoded: all from within the single handheld unit. It also support field notes which allow you to log your find on the unit itself, then upload the field note file to Geocaching.com to simplify the logging of caches. Great for day trips.

It also has all of the regular goodies such as the ability to store maps, auto-route from your current location to another (if routable maps are loaded), recording of track information for later use, and many other useful features.

One feature that this author noted that is vastly different between the Colorado and the Oregon is the use of the WhereIGo player. WhereIGo seems to perform much better on the Colorado vs the Oregon. There are also various “models” of the Colorado which really only differ by the included maps.

The Garmin Legend

There are many different “models” of the Garmin Legend GPS but a very commonly used model for geocaching is the Legend HCx. This particular model (shown on the left) is a compact GPS unit with a color display and has limited support for geocaching.

It also has all of the regular goodies such as the ability to store maps, auto-route from your current location to another (if routable maps are loaded), recording of track information for later use, and many other useful features.

This unit does not support paperless caching out of the box. It does have the ability to store up to 1000 caches and you can log your “finds” on this unit, but it does not natively hold the cache description, logs, hints, or other info. Some of this information can be put on the unit by using software like GSAK but it is nowhere near as complete as the Colorado or Oregon.

One big advantage to this unit versus the paperless models, it is less expensive.

The Garmin 60CSx

The last Garmin GPS to be showcased on this site is the 60CSx. Although this is an older model of the GPS, it is VERY popular with geocachers for one single reason: accuracy.

Many owners of this GPS claim that they have never been able to obtain the same quality of accuracy with any other handheld GPS. It is for this reason that many people continue to use this GPS.

It also supports mapping and expandable storage and has the ability to log a find on a cache. Like the Legend, it does not support paperless caching.

Like the other units mentioned on this page, there are also several models of this unit which add/remove features.

If you are interested in the full line of Garmin trail GPS products, please check out their website.