Help needed with the best hand held GPS to have

Hi there,
I would appreciate any help you blokes (or girls) can give on purchasing a good hand-held GPS. I have just spent 3 days on google earth downloading 130 waypoints from my Garmin E-Trex and trying to figure out 2 1/2 years of tracks, spots etc. I only wrote about 20 down in a little book in that time. What a nightmare! The etrex has been great but is definitely not user friendly for putting in text when you are on the spot and don't want to spend lots of time there having to go back a menu for every letter etc.
So, after this frustration, was thinking if there was such a thing as a good light handheld with a keypad like a smart phone, that also gives you a good range of remote tracks etc, I would definitely be into it. I heard the Hema navigator is good, but a little too big to pop into your bum bag when detecting. Also have a detecting friend who has a Garmin 620T which he likes. Any thoughts or feedback would be really helpful...Suz

Guys,
I have always had Garmin, and recently got a 62s.
My bought mapsource stuff didnt seem to work, so downloaded basecamp, a bit of stuffing around, shonky maps, etc...
The thing is perfect!
I can download, edit, upload with ease.
Take a look at basecamp, and Garmin.

Ta for that, will have a lookey...

Suz,
As you probably remember i also use a Garmin 62s, I recommend it also.
Though if you want something that has a touch screen to make it easier to type out things etc then i would have a look at the Garmin Oregon 550T 600T, 650, 650T.
They are a little bigger but it's worth a look in person to see if it's better suited to your needs.

You might also want to check out the Garmin Montana, thought these are very large and would be difficult to carry around with you unless you had a carry bag for it, the good thing about the Montana units is that it also doubles as a car navigational system.

Other brands like Magellan have a friendly user interface system and also make touch screen units like the Explorist 510, 610 and 710. These would be worth a look also, what ever unit you decide to go with you will want to make sure that it has good quality topo maps on it, most high end units should have them pre-loaded, but make sure you ask the question.

Hema Navigator do not make a hand held unit as of yet, but their in car Nav systems look pretty good, though i would imagine trying to walk around with a 6" gps unit would make things awkward to say the least.

Garmin and Magellan are probably the most known brands out there for hand held exploration gps systems, and are no doubt very comparable.
Hope this helps

Cheers Johno

Hey Johno, as usual uber-helpful!
Will go exploring on Monday and see if I can find a shop here that carries a good stock of both. Pity about the Hema, they should look at making a good hand-held. I'm leaning toward the Oregon from knowledge I've gathered. Have a great weekend!.......Suz