Garmin Foretrex 301 or 401. You can't beat this design's profile of signal acquisition, size/weight, and proven track record of dependability. If you absolutely must have AA batts instead of AAA, go with one of the lower end eTrex models, as long as it has the high sensitivity chip.

Disclaimer: this advice assumes you depend on a paper map and traditional compass as the base for your nav work, using the GPS as an (extremely useful) adjunct. If you intend to rely chiefly on the GPS it will cost you a lot of additional money, weight, and bulk... plus lots of batteries.



For the $36 price difference, the compass function is nice for getting a quick azimuth when navigating from waypoint to waypoint if you're using a route in a tricky area. Don't worry about the fact that the compass eats more battery power. Best practice is to turn the GPS on periodically, not run it continually (but there are exceptions where I have not done this). Plus you can also just turn the compass off if you like.



Vista, or Vista HCx? Enormous difference; the HCx has the high sensitivity receiver. The 60 series had a high sensitivity chip (although an earlier design) long before the eTrex series was available with one.