Garmin GPS Receiver

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

I recently bought an E-Trex primarily because of the low cost of the unit. I am very satisfied with my purchase. I am surprised how rugged it feels and it appears to have a little more knock-ability than some other handheld GPS units I have used. I would have preferred a GPS with cross track error capability because I am also a recreational pilot, however the latest software revision (1.07) does show your position relative to the track line between two current waypoints on the map screen and this can be used to correct cross track error.

I imagined the lack of buttons would have proved to be frustrating however this is not the case as the menus are logical and concise. Alphanumeric entry is via drop down menus, which let you quickly select numbers and letters for waypoint entry. Up to 500 waypoint entries are available and names are limited to combinations of up to six letters/numbers and there are many icons to choose from. You can quickly mark your present position as a waypoint by holding down one of the buttons for a second. It has all the usual nav formats and measurements can be displayed in Nautical (knots included), Statute (yards not included) and Metric.

I have used it bushwalking through fairly dense scrub and tree canopy and it did tend to track satellites well. There were a few short occasions where it lost signal in particularly dense cover (to be expected with a relatively small internal antenna) however it recovered within about ten seconds in lighter cover. I would not recommend relying on the GPS compass feature in dense cover because it did have trouble maintaining heading information updates in low satellite coverage areas. I am not disappointed with its performance in dense bush, and as anyone familiar with units with small antennas will know, it is just something you live with. I was using a magnetic compass in particularly dense areas where I experienced poor coverage and it is good navigation practice to use a magnetic compass and map in conjunction with your GPS anyway. In light and open cover I routinely get 8 metre accuracy and sometimes as good as 5 metre accuracy. If I turn it on outside near my last fix it usually gets a lock in about 10 seconds.

It maintains accuracy on the passenger seat of the car and is even better up on the dash. It gives a good presentation of speed, heading, time and distance to go on one big clear screen and the backlighting is very good. It has a nice rubbery casing and this makes it ideal to wedge it in an upright position between the dash mat and the windscreen while I am driving along.

I decided the genuine Garmin data upload cable was too expensive and made my own lead from a cannibalised mobile phone charger. Uploading the latest free Garmin software revision (mine was shipped with v1.05) was a snap and I was very impressed with how easy it was to update. The new software has some nifty features worth getting. I have used some shareware utilities such as “GARtrip” and “GPSutility” to upload waypoints from scanned paper maps and street directories, and you can edit, upload and download waypoint info and track info. It is obviously faster to modify waypoint info from your computer keyboard and then upload the new waypoints in seconds. It has a non-volatile memory so flat batteries don’t present any risk of losing your stored data.

Any disappointments? Only a couple of minor ones. It is very hard to tell if the backlight is on in sunlight, and because it toggles on and off by momentarily pressing the power button, you can accidentally bump it on and be wasting batteries. You can’t scroll the map around; you can only zoom in and out. This makes it difficult to review your recorded trail in any detail, and you need to zoom out and lose definition to see much of your trail. It gets cluttered with waypoint info when you zoom out trying to see your whole trail although you can turn the waypoint display off.

In summary, it is a compact gem of a GPS with a big screen and for the price I believe it represents excellent value. Make yourself a data lead or buy one from Garmin because the shareware computer-based utilities are cool. Two thumbs up.

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

Very handy size: about as small as my Nokia cell phone, and a little shorter. Great for shirt pocket use. I’ll toss it in my daypack when deer hunting.

Display is correspondingly small too: 1 1/4 by 2 1/4 inches.

But if all you want to know is your current location, your current heading, and the route back to your tent, it’ll do the job.

Antenna is weak: even a light tree canopy or shirt pocket material gives it fits. No provision for external antenna.

The barometer/altimeter function is nice.

The complaint about the buttons being on the sides instead of the front/top is inane. It’s designed for one-handed operation. There are only 5 buttons after all, and all of them are very conveniently reached.

Ditto the complaint about battery life. 2 AA batteries give 20 hours or so, 15 if you use the backlight a lot. So carry a couple of spares, put it in battery save mode, turn it off when not using for extended periods, etc. It’s a FIVE OUNCE GPS… get a life.

If you’re navigating your way to the Dry Tortugas or trying to find that new customer in a strange town, you’ll want something more sophisticated.

But if you’re a hunter, a hiker/climber, a bicycler, or just want a small, fun, inexpensive unit you can carry in your pants or shirt pocket, this is a very nice unit.

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

For the price and its size, it’s a 5 star product. Compared to many larger/pricer units it can be only a 3 star. This is a very competetive marketplace and with the removal of the military Selective Availablity coding on May 1st, you’ve got to take the big leap and buy one. The eTrex shows accuracy of 11-20 feet commonly. In reasonably dense conifer forests around 60 feet. Put yourself in the bottom of a canyon in that forest and you’ll have to spend say 5 minutes positioning your GPS to get 100 foot accuracy. That will not work for surveyors, but you’ll get back to where you started just fine. Again, the main reason for this success is the military making the accuracy available to all of us. By the way THANKS. This unit is a very reasonable entry GPS Some Problems with the eTrex: 1) Doesn’t have a simple map in it and you can’t download quality Topo maps onto it. 2) Smaller size means smaller antennae and its reception in timbered canyons is weak. 3) No external antennae hook-up for when in your car. 4) Does not have a built in compass capabilty for when using a bearing, like the very similar Garmin "Summit" model that will be released shortly.(The summit will cost about twice as much). You really need to use a quality compass with it. But, as you should know, GPS will not repace map and compass, just enhance it greatly. However, for your money, this a geat little unit.

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

I purchased a yellow Garmin eTrex GPS about a year ago. My main reason for buying it was because I learned about the sport called ‘geocaching’, and, knowing little about these devices at that point, I purchased one on the advice of a couple of friends. I used it heavily for for about 5 months before coming to some conclusions about this device’s capabilities.

I will first list the yellow eTrex’s good points:

- It’s cheap– one of the cheapest GPS receivers you can find.
- It’s easy to find– you can buy one at Target, or at most any sporting goods store.
- It’s durable. You can drop it several times or dunk it in water, and it’ll still work (dry it out first before you attempt to use it again).
- It has an interface to hook up to your computer to download new firmware and to download geocaching waypoints, if you have the need for this.
- It’s easy to use and very intuitive for first timers.

Now, its drawbacks. Realize that I am rating this device from the viewpoint of a geocacher, and we’re probably the most demanding users of GPS receivers out there:

- It is not an accurate device if you’re attempting to get a definitive lock on a waypoint within 50′ of your goal. Once in the general search area, the signal will likely bounce around and give you wildly varying readings. For example, if you’ve entered a waypoint and get within 50′ of your search area, expect to find readings bouncing around from 5-50 feet with each step you take. I used this unit in varying terrain, under varying tree/bush cover, under varying weather/cloud conditions, and in varying temperatures, with the same results. I was able to obtain two other samples of this receiver, and those tests came up with the same results, so I surmise that my eTrex wasn’t just an errant sample of these receivers. Upgrading the receivers’ firmware did nothing to help the accuracy.

Granted, my experiences with this receiver probably won’t matter that much to most of those who will purchase this unit for tasks such as finding your way around while camping, hunting and hiking. For those uses, this unit will work just fine. However, if you’re a geocacher and want a GPS unit that will pinpoint your goal effectively, without bouncing your readings from 5-50 ft. as soon as you walk two steps any direction, you will want a GPS unit that has WAAS capabilities (wide area augmentation system). I now have a GPS receiver that has WAAS, and it provides a much more stable lock when in the area of my intended goal.

In short, I found this unit to be frustrating to use for geocaching. There are other GPS units that will provide more stable signal-lock than the Garmin eTrex for close to the same price.

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

The etrex is a very good GPS system for the buck. It doesn’t however include many features: compass, speedometer, a waypoint storage system, and a basic map showing only your waypoints. The unit is ideal though for camping, and any outdoor activities that you just need a point-to-point navigation for. The unit itself is very solid, VERY small, water-proof (to 30 feet), and will last about 20 hours on just 2 AA batteries. Amazing technology these days!

Keep in mind, the map on the unit does NOT include any detailed information (i.e cities, roads etc.), just your waypoints that you enter. It you want a GPS with a detailed mapping system (cities, roads, coastlines etc…) get either the Emap or the GPS III+. The III+ is the high-end "outdoors" GPS while the emap is made primarily for driving due to its great capability of data storage.

Overall Evaluation on Etrex: Excellent for the money, fun to use, simple, however not very practical.

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

The sheer number of reviews here of the eTrex gives a very good idea of its huge popularity, and this is well deserved.

The great debate in these reviews seems to be sensitivity of the unit to usable satellite signals in forest conditions. Well, while it won’t compete with an amplified remote antenna mounted atop your backpack frame (which you can’t connect to the eTrex, by the way), I can say that I’ve found its performance under moderate to heavy tree cover to be never less than what one is entitled to expect. I haven’t been in rainforest yet with the eTrex, but it has never run out of signal while sitting on the passenger seat of my car, and it will usually keep going even when located in the door pocket.

The most constructive comment I can throw in about sensitivity is that, from what I have both experienced and read, the eTrex has very good capabilities ‘as-designed’. If you’re an informed ‘electronics fan’ then you’ll recognise that the occasional dud will turn up in even the best product line. Buy the eTrex with confidence. If you should strike a deaf one — a very rare specimen, I think — get it exchanged before you gripe about it to the world!

The eTrex makes particularly good sense if you’re in a region not covered by Garmin’s MapSource digital maps, such as down here in Australia. Bearing in mind that NONE of Garmin’s GPS receivers (and I’m talking about the ‘mapping’ units such as the eMap, GPS 12MAP and GPSIII+) allows you to upload you own scanned maps, or anybody else’s for that matter, you’re far better off starting with a no-nonsense, highly accurate GPS receiver that is also extremely rugged and pocketable — the eTrex to a tee. Then put the rest of your money into some good, third party, mapping software. And if you want mobile mapping buy a PDA or a secondhand notebook PC. Now you will have the best of both worlds.

Like most modern hand-held units, the eTrex generates its own map of your movements as a visual tracklog or ‘breadcrumb trail’. But while you can manually or automatically zoom this screen, you can’t scroll the display — limiting the usefulness of the larger scale views. This has come about essentially because, unlike the larger units, the eTrex lacks a rocker key and doesn’t have enough buttons to readily control scrolling. But this is a minor niggle that becomes insignificant when you use it in conjunction with a PC. For retracing your steps (‘Trackback’ mode), or for following any of the 10 pre-recorded tracks you can store in the unit, you will see all the detail you will ever need, and that is in fact the main function of the map screen.

A second minor annoyance is that the eTrex is not designed to operate efficiently with NiCd or NiMH cells. GPS receivers in general have quite a healthy appetite for batteries, and the eTrex shuts down well before cells of this type (1.2v nominal cell voltage) are exhausted. You can use them, but you’d better be carrying a good supply! The larger Garmin units (which use four AA cells instead of two) can be switched to use and correctly monitor these cells. Not so with the eTrex.

My only significant gripe (and the reason for just a four-star rating) is the staggeringly high cost of accessory cables — about one third the price of the eTrex itself in the case of a combined data/external power cable! These can bring the effective cost of the unit much closer than you think to some of Garmin’s more up-market units which tend to be supplied bundled with a data cable.

Look on the Web for third party plugs and cables — having a PC link increases the utility of the eTrex (or any GPS for that matter) enormously. Other than that, it’s a gem!

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

I have used E-Trex for several outdoor activities: running, hiking, biking, x-Country skiing, kayaking and inline skating. I can put the E-Trex in my pocket – do whatever activity is on the menu – and end up accurate odometer readings. Think of it? A true indication of how far you have run, skied or paddled (if this does not appeal to you, read no further). The E-Trex is also great for finding my way home on long bike rides or runs in unfamiliar places.

Limitation: The display of your “track” (where you have been) is limited. It is hard to scale the track picture so you can see your path and still read waypoint names. Scrolling of the tracks display would be nice too.

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

I’ve wanted to get a GPS for a long time now and recently received this one as gift. I’ve used it for about two weeks and am very impressed. It is very small and light and easily fits in a pocket. I bought the bike mount accessory and have mounted this on my bike. It’s small enough that it doesn’t add a lot of weight or get in the way. Although it lacks mapping capabilities and some more advance features, it does everything that you really need a GPS to do.

I live in the desert so I have not been able to test this under tree cover but – surprisingly — it works great sitting on the passenger seat of my truck. Other units I’ve seen wouldn’t function inside of a vehicle without an external antenna.

It seems to be very accurate and I have been able to get a reported accuracy of 16 feet. I was amazed at how accurately it was able to record my speed and distance traveled.

The manual could be written more clearly but the unit is very intuitive. I’ve never used a GPS before but was quickly able to figure out how to use all of the features. The buttons placemat was supposed to be designed for one hand operation. However, because the unit is so small, and I have large hands, it was a little awkward for me. I ended up using two hands to work the unit.

The display is readable in bright sunlight and the backlight feature makes it possible to use the unit in dimly lit situations.

I do have a gripe about battery life. It is supposed to run for 22 hours in "battery save mode." In regular mode, I went though my first set of batteries after about 10-12 hours of use. If you’re taking this into the field – bring lots of spare batteries.

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

Before you lose the patience to read through the rest of the stuff, I would strongly suggest that you get yourself a PC interface cable and download free GPS software from www.easygps.com or pay for one at www.expertgps.com (with additional features)

With so many GPS in the market, it is confusing which one to buy, unless you are clear about what your needs are.

I jotted down a few points as to why would I really need a GPS:
(1) Never to lose my bearings on hikes
(2) Keep track of where I went and share this data to others
(3) Keep track of altitude
(4) Get to know of sunset and sunrise times so that I known when to get back to Camp and when to start the next day
(5) Speed at which I walk and estimate the amount of time I would take to reach my destination

etrex satisfies all of this.

What is that I do not like about the etrex
(1) Altimeters are not accurate (in any GPS), so get a barometric altimeter in addition to a GPS
(2) Something miserably wrong with Sunset and sunrise timings. My GPS shows sunrise time as 18:51 and Sunset ast 06:30 (???) and it is inaccurate even if you transpost it. Etrex loses a * for this
(3) Useless in heavy tree cover (in any GPS)
(4) Battery life could have been better

Despite all that, I am very happy with my etrex, it cost me exactly $100, meets almost all the features that I am looking for.

Many of my friends ask me this question – Are you sure that this GPS works in India ?

Ofcourse, it does, it is a GLOBAL positioning system ! I have used it in US, Canada, Singapore and Korea and works everywhere, even in the forests in western ghats in India.

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5″ and 5.25″ disks)

I was really happy for about the first couple days having the etrex. Its very realiably built and simple. After about four days having it however, I realized that it really is a waste of money. Taking it hiking is just not really fun… The etrex is a little over simple. Your better off paying a little extra for a MUCH better GPS. If your like me (one who likes gizmos), you will get bored of the etrex in a very short amount of time. The most disapointing thing about the etrex is the fact that it just doesn’t work in the woods. I walked 3 miles in the forest and the track log only showed me for .4 miles, and half the time, the GPS doesnt even show you moving! The unit is almost worthless without a compass.

My advise would be to get either the Garmin 12 XL (not listed at amazon.com) or the GPS III+. The XL has a city point map which shows all cities in the Americas (etrex has no database at all other than the points you enter). For a couple hundred more, you can get the III+ which will never leave you bored in any situation! It has a full on detailed map with roads, freeways, cities, shorelines and more! Both the 12XL and the III+ also have a more powerful antenna for the forest hikers.

Overall, I was REALLY unhappy with the etrex, but those of you who want a really simple GPS that you can just get coordinates off of will probably like it. You are better off just paying a little more for a better GPS however.