Good Points Made
Great points made by AZClydesdale, Clip'd In, santacruzer, Squash, and others.
The color eTrex VistaC is a good option. I've got the color screen on my Quest and it indeed is beautiful, very helpful, and amazingly works perfectly in direct sunlight, unlike my color cell phone and Palm. There's slightly less pixels and a square screen. It also only stores 500 waypoints instead of 1000. I'd always be reloading them depending on ride. The faster USB interface is nice but makes compatability with NG TOPO more difficult without the serial interface. The serial port takes 40 minutes to swap the entire map set filling the memory, but I only download new maps maybe 3-4x per year, and I do other things while waiting. Battery life is near double, but I use AA rechargables and carry backup anyway. I get about 8 hours with my Vista (non-color) and that works on most all rides without battery change.
The Garmin GPSmap 60CS has better reception with Helix antennae and bigger unit. About the same pixels as the VistaC, but in a 50% larger screen. More memory (56MB vrsus 24MB) is good for storing of maps. (I just squeak in the SF Bay Area and Tahoe's road and topo mpas in 24 MB. 56MB would get me 1/3 of California.) It has both USB and serial ports, better battery life with AAs. Has Geocaching software screens. A good upgrade over the eTrex for the extra $ and 50% larger size. I'll probably upgrade to this unit or it's replacement in a couple years.
The Geko, Foretrex, and other Garmin lines are also good. Each serve their purpose. Differences are not just form factor and artificial removal of features.Garmin does a good job of optimizing each unit and features to serve their purpose. Even the buttons, the software, and the way the screens are displayed are completely changed on each unit to be just perfect for what you want. So look for the right unit for what you want. They sell different units because everyone wants something different.
Sorry I don't know much about the Magellan line. As mechmann says, they've got removable expandable memory, which is nice. But I think this may come at the expense of waterproofing, which most all Garmin units have down to 30' depths. Some even float.
