Best Handheld Outdoor GPS unit
Choosing a handheld GPS unit is not as simple as picking the most expensive one. The right unit depends on the walking you actually do, whether you want Ordnance Survey mapping on the device, whether you prefer a touchscreen or buttons, and whether you need to be able to call for help when there is no phone signal.
We sell every unit on this page, we train people to use them, and we walk with them ourselves. So rather than list specifications, we have grouped them by the way people actually shop: by budget, and by what matters most to them.
Not sure where to start?
Let us tell you which one we would choose for you
Tell us a little about your walking - where you go, what you already own, and what you would like to spend - and we will come back to you personally with the one unit we would pick, and a walk and talk video of it out on the hill. Free, and no hard sell. If the cheaper option is the right one for you, we will say so.
Get my free GPS recommendation →Takes about a minute. A real person will reply.
A word about maps, before you spend anything
This is the single biggest source of confusion we deal with, and it is worth two minutes of your time.
Every unit here comes with worldwide base mapping as standard. That is fine for a general sense of where you are, but it is not Ordnance Survey. If you want proper OS mapping on the unit itself, that is bought alongside the device, and it is the choice that most affects what you pay.
Garmin units give you three options: the base unit, the base unit with OS 1:50,000, or the base unit with OS 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 together.
TwoNav units give you four: base unit, 1:50,000, 1:25,000 on its own, or both. If you only want the 1:25,000 Explorer-style mapping, TwoNav is the only brand that will sell you exactly that, and it is often the cheaper route.
As a rule of thumb, 1:50,000 (Landranger) is plenty for most hillwalking and covers more ground on screen. 1:25,000 (Explorer) shows field boundaries and walls, which earns its keep on lowland footpaths and in poor visibility. If you are unsure, we would rather you asked us than guessed.
Prices below are for the base unit. Adding OS mapping increases the price, and the current figure for every option is on each product page.
Best GPS unit under £150 - Garmin eTrex SE
Garmin eTrex SE - from £129.99
If you want a dependable, no-nonsense GPS and you do not want to spend a lot, this is the one. The eTrex SE runs for weeks on a pair of AA batteries, it is operated entirely by buttons so it works with cold hands and wet gloves, and it does the two things that matter most: it tells you exactly where you are, and it follows a route you have planned.
What it does not have is OS mapping on the device. For a lot of walkers that is absolutely fine - you plan your route at home, load it onto the unit, and follow it on the hill with your paper map in your pocket. If you want OS mapping on the screen itself, look at the next category.
Watch our walk and talk with the eTrex SE, filmed out on the hill, and see our most asked questions about the eTrex SE.
Best GPS unit between £250 and £450
This is where most people land, and it is the most competitive part of the market. There is no single right answer here, so here are the three we recommend most often and who each one suits.
Garmin GPSMap 65s - from £344.94
The safe, proven choice. The GPSMap 65s has been our steady seller for years and we still stand behind it. It is a button-operated unit with multi-band GNSS, so it holds a position beautifully in steep valleys and under tree cover, and it has an electronic compass and barometric altimeter. It runs on AA batteries, which many walkers prefer - a spare pair in your rucksack and you will never be caught out.
If you want a GPS that simply works, that you can hand to someone else and they will understand it, this is it. Watch our walk and talk with the GPSMap 65s.
TwoNav Terra - from £299.99
The one for a bigger screen and cheaper OS mapping. The TwoNav Terra gives you a large, bright touchscreen at a price the Garmins cannot match, and because TwoNav sell 1:25,000 on its own, it is often the cheapest way to get Explorer mapping in your hand.
It is a genuinely good unit and it is one of the two devices our recommendation customers buy most. If you like the idea of tapping and pinching a map like you would on a phone, but with real battery life and a screen you can read in bright sun, start here. There is also a 64GB version from £369.99 if you plan to carry a lot of mapping.
Watch our walk and talk with the TwoNav Terra.
Garmin eTrex 32x - from £218.99
The one to stretch to from the eTrex SE. The eTrex 32x adds a colour screen, an electronic compass and a barometric altimeter, and it will take OS mapping. It is small, light and simple, and it is a big step up in capability for not much more money.
Watch our walk and talk with the eTrex 32x.
Torn between these three?
We will pick one for you, for free
This is the hardest decision on the page, and it comes down to details - which maps you want, whether you get on with a touchscreen, and how you like to plan. Answer a few quick questions and we will tell you which one we would put in your hand, and why.
Get my free GPS recommendation →Takes about a minute. A real person will reply.
The best handheld outdoor GPS unit - Garmin GPSMAP H1
Garmin GPSMAP H1 - from £549.99
If you asked us to pick one handheld GPS unit and hand it over without knowing anything else about you, it would be this one.
The H1 replaced the long-serving GPSMAP 67 and it is a real step forward. You get a 3.5 inch colour touchscreen that you can also drive entirely by button when you are in gloves or rain, which is the best of both worlds and the thing we most wanted from Garmin. Multi-band GNSS gives excellent accuracy in the places accuracy is hardest to come by. There is 64GB of internal memory, so you can carry OS mapping and satellite imagery without ever thinking about it. Battery life is around 150 hours.
Garmin also added two things that sound like gimmicks until the day they are not: a proper LED torch and a loud siren, both built into the unit. If you are ever separated from your group in poor visibility, you will be glad of both.
It is the unit we sell most of, and it is the one our own guides carry.
Watch our walk and talk with the GPSMAP H1, or read our full Garmin GPSMAP H1 review.
Best GPS unit for calling for help - Garmin GPSMAP 67i
Garmin GPSMAP 67i - from £499.99
If you walk alone, or you go to places where there is no phone signal, this is the category that matters most - and the 67i remains our pick.
It adds inReach satellite messaging to a superb navigation unit. You can send and receive text messages from anywhere with a view of the sky, share your position with family so they know where you are, and if the worst happens, trigger an SOS that reaches a 24-hour international rescue coordination centre. Battery life is remarkable - around 165 hours in tracking mode.
It needs a satellite subscription on top of the unit, and our inReach cost calculator will tell you exactly what that comes to.
If you want the newest technology alongside the satellite messaging, the GPSMAP H1i Plus (from £849.99) is the H1 with inReach built in, plus a camera and microphone so you can send photos and voice messages by satellite. It is a superb bit of kit, aimed squarely at expedition leaders and professionals. For most walkers, the 67i does everything you need for a good deal less.
We have written a full comparison of the H1 and the 67 series if you want to go deeper.
Best large screen GPS unit
Some people simply want more map in front of them - and if your eyes are not what they were, that is a perfectly good reason to choose a unit.
TwoNav Aventura 2 Plus - from £429.99
The Aventura 2 Plus is TwoNav's flagship: a big, bright touchscreen, excellent battery life, and the full four-way choice of OS mapping options. If screen size is your priority, this is the best of them.
Watch our walk and talk with the Aventura 2 Plus.
Garmin Montana 710 - from £569.99
The Montana 710 is a tank of a unit with a large touchscreen that genuinely works in the wet and with gloves on, which is rarer than it should be. It is popular with people who use it on a bike or a motorbike as well as on foot. The Montana 710i adds inReach satellite messaging.
Watch our walk and talk with the Montana 710.
TwoNav Terra - from £299.99
Worth repeating here: the Terra gives you a large screen for a lot less money than anything else on this list. If budget matters and screen size matters, this is your unit.
Our honest summary
| If you want... | We would choose | From |
|---|---|---|
| To spend as little as possible | Garmin eTrex SE | £129.99 |
| A proven, simple button unit | Garmin GPSMap 65s | £344.94 |
| A big screen without a big price | TwoNav Terra | £299.99 |
| 1:25,000 OS mapping only | Any TwoNav unit | £299.99 |
| The best all-round unit | Garmin GPSMAP H1 | £549.99 |
| To be able to call for help | Garmin GPSMAP 67i | £499.99 |
| The very best of everything | Garmin GPSMAP H1i Plus | £849.99 |
Prices shown are for the base unit and were correct when this article was last updated. Adding OS mapping increases the price - the current figure for every option is on each product page.
Why buy from us
Every GPS unit we sell comes with our Gold Support Package included, worth £145. That means we set the unit up for you, we are on the end of the phone when you get stuck, and you get access to our online training. Buying a GPS unit is the easy part - learning to trust it on a wet hillside in poor visibility is what actually matters, and that is the part we help with.
We have also been doing this a long time. If you would rather talk it through with a person than read another article, you can book a free online consultation and we will go through it with you.
Still not sure?
Get a free personalised GPS recommendation
You have read the whole page and you are still weighing it up - which is exactly the point at which we can help. Tell us where you walk, what you already own and what you would like to spend, and we will come back to you personally with the one unit we would pick for you, and a walk and talk video of it out on the hill.
Get my free GPS recommendation →Takes about a minute. A real person will reply, usually the same day.
Further reading
1. Never had a GPS before? Start here
2. Walk and talk - every unit, filmed out on the hill
3. The questions we get asked most about each unit
4. Trading in an old GPS? Get an instant valuation
Ian Lees
I have to agree with David Rawson. Talky Toaster maps don’t pixelate when you zoom in too far and the detail is excellent with tracks on the hills that OS maps don’t show. However, I find that an OS paper map is easier to understand and interpret the land. So, Talky on the GPS unit. But OS Map for understanding the ground.
Johnny Battiste
I bought a gpsmapH1 from GPS training and it’s a seriously good unit!!
I agree with others here though the OS maps on SD card are seriously expensive and add a few hundred pounds to the cost of an already (but brilliant) expensive unit
Jason
Don’t blame Ordinance Survey for the cost of the Garmin maps. I can buy full a UK OS 1:25,000 map for other solutions for about £100. Lay your blame on Garmin who are taking the mick with their Topo UK OS map pricing. Furthermore, if I want to upgrade to a later version with other providers, I can usually do it for about half the new cost. Garmin make you pay full price all over again. Shame on you Garmin.
Nice hardware though!
David Rawson
Ordnance survey mapping is very expensive.
I bought the 1 to 50 ordnance survey mapping but switched to Talky Toaster which is cheaper more detailed less expensive and in my opinion better.
Andrew sayers
Really informative articles .. Enjoyed watching the walk with the Montana 700 . Have used my Satmap 12 for long while . Primarily over Dartmoor and Black mountain area . Now time for upgrade . . Thank you for sharing so the info .