Our son has asked us to find and ship a portable GPS unit to him in Iraq.  He specified that it cannot broadcast its location and that it must work with military grids.  Does anyone in the Forum have a recommendation for a brand/make/model that we should purchase?  I have searched the Extreme Outfitters web site and found several devices, but I couldn't tell which, if any, meet his needs and I certainly don’t want to send it to Iraq and then find out we made a bad choice.

Mrs Claus,

Last year I had a Cav unit requesting the Garmin Foretrex 201.  This is a rechargeable GPS that's worn on the wrist. You would also need to get a vehicle charge adapter if it's not included (it wasn't when I bought it).  If your son he thinks he may be where he can not always recharge somewhere every 10-15 hours, you might want to consider the Garmin ETrex Legend instead.  It's probably not as nice and definintely not as convenient as the Foretrex but it runs on AA batteries.

You'll need to plan on replacing any GPS after about 3-4 months. The dust and heat are very hard on electronics

update:

I did a little research and the only GPS being requested by name this year is the Garmin Rino, BUT this unit transmits location. The GPS unit on the List of Things Needed with AmericanSnipers.org is the Garmin 12 Series, BUT this unit has been discontinued.

The Foretrex is NOT a mapping unit. The ETrex Legend IS a mapping unit. The mapping features are nice but personally I still always check my coordinates against a paper map anyway. In my experience, the first sign that a GPS unit is failing is that it will give incorrect coordinates and/or distances traveled (I noticed disagreement in distances traveled before disagreement in standing coordinates).  It's a good idea for any group to have two GPS units so they'll know if there's a problem before they end up in the wrong place. Mark your calendar to send a replacement instead of waiting for him to ask.

You and your son are in my prayers.

jo

I strongly suggest you contact Extreme Outfitters.

Not only are they experts in all things tactical, but they are friends of AnySoldier.com

See http://www.extremeoutfitters.us/index.asp?PageAction=PRODSEARCH&txtSearch=gps&btnSearch=GO&Page=1 or call them at 888-972-7040 and be sure to tell them you came from AnySoldier.com  ;) 

JoCee and Marty,

Thanks so much for the advice.  Two Garmins from Extreme Outfitters will be on their way to my son's unit soon. 

The Garmin 12 is still available from online outlets like this one: http://www.gpsnow.com/gm12.htm

My biggest concern about buying a GPS for someone overseas is whether or not there are maps available for whatever region they are in.

There are maps of Iraq available for Garmin GPS units (I don't know about Afghanistan) but you don't want to go there.  These are for civilian contractors and are extraordinarily expensive. There may or may not be a military version, but we wouldn't be allowed to know about things like that anyway.  The important things in a GPS are the accuracy of the coordinates given, reliability over time, battery life and ease of use.