Nuvi 855 use for Trail

I use my 885 on the trail. I bought 2 additional batteries to swap out. I also keep my screen on the dimmest setting while hiking.

I have Garmins TOPO 24k Mountain Central installed. It may be a small thing, but I do like being able to route my hikes.

I just couldn't bring myself to try and deal with the small screens on the Garmin trail GPSr so I got the 855. I bought an extra battery.That will be ok for day hikes but extended backpacking still needs a solution. I was thinking about a fold up solar charger but you need 1000 ma output to be able to navigate and charge a Nuvi at the same time and that would require a pretty big array.

I guess that's why Garmin limited the screen size on the trail GPSr's. The screen is what eats up the power. Someone on this site said that the removable battery Garmins still use power when you turn them off(goes into sleep mode) unless you remove the battery. Can you confirm that?

Try this site http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ It has some good stuff for topo GPS work.

My 855 should arrive next week. Looking forward to using NG TOPO with it and gpsfiledepot stuff.

Yes, the 855 never turns off. You have to pull the battery to turn it off. This also does a complete reset and you loose your stored data unless you put it on a SD card.

So, pulling the battery causes favorites to be wiped out?

And if one is running a track log, that would be wiped out too?

If so, that would be a real bummer. It means I couldn't use it on the trail
for 8 hrs or on a multiple day backpacking trip. The only way I could do it
is if I got a huge external battery.

What if it was connected to an external power source and you pulled the internal battery to swap a new one in. Would that still cause a reset?

That I don't know. Have you looked at the New Delorme hand held? It has a fairly large screen, you can upload maps, POIs, tracks, and gets pretty decent life out of it's batteries.

And the Topo 8 Program accepts POI-Factory files, natively.

The PN-40 http://www.delorme.com/

Rest assured, you will not lose your favorites or your track log by pulling the battery! That is all kept in solid state memory.

The batteries do lose juice when it is "off", but it is very little. If you are spending the night up on the trail, it may make since to pull the battery while you sleep.

I don't think you even lose any of you other settings (i will confirm this later). It does, however, take a little extra time to find the satellites after you change batteries.

Edit: Well, when you remove your battery, you lose some settings, and keep others. For example, Jack went back to Jill (default), I had GPS simulator on, it went back to off. But it kept other settings, the map detail and map view stayed how i left them. Of course, as I said, you do not lose your favorites or your "trip log" aka track log.

WOW! That's a big relief! I can keep a number of charged batteries then in reserve and have what I need for a day hike at least. If I don't need to navigate while I'm charging, eg. after I stop for the day on a multiple day, I could use a lower wattage solar array to charge the batteries for the next day.

Thanks for the clarification.

You do not loose any settings or favorites or anything else except the voice will default back to Jill when you pull the battery and reinstall it. All that happens is it does a cold boot start up just like my 760 and c550 do every time I turn them on.

Cool! I like Jill(alias Nuvi) anyway.
Thanks. Now I just need to have enough spare batteries on hand.

If the screen is blanked(sleep mode) but there is an active tracklog anyone
know how long the battery lasts?

Specs Tab. Battery Life, 4 hours.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=33921#specsT...

Not even close to the best unit for handheld hiking.

Yes, I know what the specs say. I was just hoping that with the screen blanked
the battery might last a bit longer.

So, suggest a better hiking GPS that has the same size screen or larger.
Screens eat up power. The larger screen, the more power they take. I think that's one of the reasons Garmin hasn't increased the screen size on their trail GPSr's. That and trying to keep them smaller for convenience.

Did you look at the Delorme PN-40? I don't think you are going to find a handheld with a screen as large as the 885.

That said, there is a reason why. Big screens eat batteries. the PN-40 has gotten really good reviews and has a very clean crisp screen that is easy to read in bright sun.

http://www.delorme.com

Looked at it but I already ordered the 855 and prefer to stay with Garmin anyway. Perhaps someday I'll add a trail GPS to my stable but 2 GPSr's is plenty for now.

I just don't think you're going to be happy with it's performance, and having to sway batteries every couple of hours. Remember, those specs are usually very optimistic.

But who knows, it may do exactly as you require.

You may be correct. I was using my 350 on hikes so the 855 can't be any worse except that I may have trouble if I want to run a tracklog. All I used the 350 for was to turn it on occasionally for a position confirmation for a prominent location that I had pre-entered. It doesn't have a tracklog capability.
But being the old geezer that I am I hate small screens.