Introduction

For Hiking two primary considerations are light weight and long battery life in a self contained GPS receiver. A rechargeable unit which cannot use Alkaline batteries is less suitable as it may be dead before you find your way back to charge it and then have to wait for the charge.

Recommendations

Hardware

Listed by Weight

Here several suitable units are listed by weight:

Listed by Battery Life

Units listed by battery life (using one set of alkaline batteries):

For Hiking

Notes

It should be noted that Garmin now has full Mac support with Map Loading, waypoint and track transfer.  The latest Garmin units with memory cards have the capability to work like card readers with a Mac, so you can put it into connect mode and read and write directly from the card.  There is a standard filename and location (gmapsupp.img in the garmin folder on the memory card) that can take the correct format maps and use them without going through any uploader.  You can get free maps from OpenStreetMap using the Garmin Map download links.

Software

MacGPS Pro

MacGPS Pro is interface software that allows 2-way Transfer of Waypoints, Routes and Track Logs between your GPS and your Mac. Use it with MacTopos and MacElevation for creating elevation profiles. Perfect for a wide variety of activities including hiking, camping, and backpacking adventures.

Garmin Standard Software

This is standard Garmin software to download and upload information from your device.  It is not the most user-friendly, but it works once you understand its foibles.