Garmin snuck this one past me on Friday — I was brain dead from Drupal training all week, but that’s another story — adding to its zillion handhelds with the Dakota series. The company is marketing these two geocaching-friendly models as entry level devices, bringing touchscreen technology (inherited from the Oregon series) to a sub-$300 (almost) GPS handheld. Both the Dakota 10 and 20 also sport a worldwide basemap, high-sensitivity receiver, and are waterproof to IPX7 standards.

Garmin says the Dakota devices can even maintain a satellite lock in heavy tree cover or deep canyons, as they are also equipped the company’s HotFix technology, which automatically calculates and stores satellite position data, which it uses to calculate its position more quickly. Both units also have 850 MB of internal memory providing room for up to 1,000 waypoints, 50 routes, 2,000 geocaches and an active tracklog of up to 10,000 points and 200 saved tracks.

Garmin also says the Dakota’s 2.6-display is readable in all conditions, and its touchscreen is glove friendly.  The devices run on two AA batteries and the company claims 20 hours of battery life (which yours truly finds hard to believe, but will be absolutely thrilled if it proves to be in the ball park). Both Mac and PC friendly, you can update the Dakota’s via a USB connection.

If you’ve got an extra $150 bucks to spend beyond the suggested price of $299.99 for the Dakota 10, the Dakota 20 sports a 3-axis electronic compass, barometric altimeter (an excellent feature, as these sensors are more accurate than GPS alone when it comes to elevation), a microSD card slot for increased storage, and wireless unit-to-unit connectivity for sharing data with compatible Dakota, Oregon, Colorado and Foretrex devices. Furthermore, that tilt-compensated electronic compass shows your heading even when you’re standing still, without needing to hold it level, Garmin says.

Dakota comes preloaded with a worldwide basemap and is compatible with its Garmin City Navigator NT software and maps for turn-by-turn directions on city streets, Blue Chart g2 maps for marine charting, and TOPO U.S. 24K and 100K map software – just in case you can’t find the way to the trailhead from the highway and need directions. You can go to Garmin’s site for more details on the Dakota series; needless to say I’ll pester them for a review unit.

I’m actually really curious to try a touchscreen handheld now that’s it’s summer. Where I live a typical July or August day is flirting with 90 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s 32 degrees for the rest of the world that isn’t bassackwards like us here in the States) or hotter and 50 percent humidity or even stickier (don’t feel bad for me; the thunderstorms we get are worth it, and spring and autumn are glorious). Needless to say, out on the trail I sweat like a laboring yak, and it seems to me a touchscreen device is going to gunk up pretty quick with sweat and dirt.

I’d also be curious to try one in the winter too, for that matter; if it is truly glove freindly, that’s an awesome upgrade to touchscreen technology. That is — or maybe was — one thing maps and (real) compasses had over a GPS handeld; you can fold a map or see which way North is without taking your gloves off.

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