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I am looking to buy a handheld GPS to record grave lot location in a cemetery. What brands and features are recommended?

To begin, the best accuracy you can expect from recreational grade GPS receivers is +/- 3 metres (10 ft) under ideal conditions. Under tree cover or in any other situation with a restricted view of the sky accuracy will be much worse. That said there are a few basic features you should consider.

How much information will you want to record? A touch screen unit would be better for entering long comments.

Do you want to see street maps on the handheld?

Also what is your budget?

We will just be recording the lot number so there wouldn't be too much information to post. Street maps are not important as this is a rural cemetery. All lots have 4 metal corner markers and currently we are using a metal detector to find them. But tall grass, and snow often interferes when we have to locate the lot for a burial. The metal detector that we are currently using requires replacement and we feel that gps technology would be a step up and keep us current for a while. 99.9 percent of the cemetery has an unrestricted view of the sky. We would also like the capability of transferring points to a topographical map of the cemetery. We would like to keep costs as reasonable as possible but would be willing to invest in equipment that would be appropriate.

Computer connectivity is mostly a standard feature these days. Mapping units often come packaged with topo maps or free maps are available for some brands.


Given the accuracy you can expect from recreational grade units I don't know that they could replace your metal detector for finding the corner markers. Unfortunately GIS grade (sub metre accuracy) or survey grade (sub centimetre accuracy) are much more expensive.

What brand and model are we talking about for survey grade units?

Trimble is one of the major brands. http://www.trimble.com/producttypes.shtml