Hi,

I am looking for a solid, high performing, yet affordable handheld gps for hiking, geocaching, etc. I'd like one with very good accuracy, yet not off the wall expensive. Any suggestions or ideas? I've done a little research, but I'd like to know the qualities of Garmin, Magellan, DeLorme, or Lowrance. Are there better brands? What's your experience? Please help.

I've owned a few different models in the Garmin eTrex range, and found them all good value-for-money, and excellent for the purposes you propose.
But I have no experience with other brands, so can't give an unbiased comparison. And one of my eTrex units died after a few years (out of warranty), so there may be reliability issues.

Magellan and Garnin are Great, Have had both, but Love My Delorme PN-20, Expensive, but worth it, They now have a PN-40, that is even better.
You can have Street, Topo, Nautical or Aviation loaded and select which to view.
You can even load a photo with 2 known points, It will orientate and make to scale by the 2 reference points. For $30, you can have a subscription to thei downloads, including 7.5 Minute, and NOAA Charts.
Look around:
DeLorme GPS, Maps & Data: NEW! PN-40 GPS - Blazing-fast handheld GPS, with dual-core processor & high-sensitivity Cartesio chipset. Also offering XMap 6 GIS with database synchronization, powerful LT-40 GPS, Street Atlas USA 2009 8 the State Atlas & (http://www.delorme.com)
Take Care
It is slightly complicated, and extremely capable.
Love it.