crfsonly wrote: now, which is the best garmin currently avaialble for this purpose?
If I am not mistaken, most GPS's should have this feature. It all depends on how much $ you want to spend.
Here are some of the features of the etrex vista model that I own,
Basemap: Built-in basemap with oceans, lakes, rivers, cities, interstates or major motorways, principal and major thoroughfares, and political boundaries.
MapSource®: Compatible with most Garmin® MapSource products including BlueChart® marine cartography, MetroGuide®, and Fishing Hot Spots®. Accepts up to 24 megabytes of downloaded map detail.(I have Metroguide Canada and Topo Canada)
Waypoints/Icons: 1,000 (with name and graphic symbol)
Tracks: Automatic track log; 10 saved tracks let you retrace your path in both directions
Routes: Route building capability with storage for 20 reversible routes with up to 50 waypoints
Trip computer: Current speed, average speed, time of sunrise/sunset, resetable maximum speed, trip timer, and trip distance
Elevation computer: Current elevation, resetable minimum and maximum elevation, ascent/descent rate, total ascent/descent, average and maximum ascent/descent rate
Some of the features I like are being able to see where we were, how far we rode, max and average speed and highest altitude.
I hope this helps. Any more questions feel free to ask, I'm no expert but I've owned 3 different etrex models in the past 6-7 years and a friend has the GPSMAP 76 model.