Thread: Garmin Etrex GPS ??

I've got a Garmin 60 series which is great. works fine on rechargables. I've got a mate that has an extex and swears by it.

Originally Posted by amshaw

Hi All,
Im looking at buying a Garmin Etrex, I just want a basic unit to learn about using a GPS and to be Honest may not get used all that often....but I like the idea of having one just in case, also if nothing else I can keep an eye on our speed (dont trust the Disco Speedo that much)

Can the above work ok with rechargable batterys?

Any remarks on a Etrex, good or bad Please?

I've had one since they came out and yes it will do exactly what you want. It is an excellant easy to use basic unit and what you are after. It will work of rechargeable batteries and you can then buy the car charger for it if required.

Also for GPS understanding check out the book by Robert Pepper http://www.gpsvehiclenavigation.com/GPS/. This is an excellent guide to GPS.

I'd spring a bit extra for the eMap with the inbuilt base maps even though it's a bit old by today's standards.

I have an eMap but my eyes aren't the best so it isn't easy to read whilst driving.

Robert Pepper's (RMP on this forum) book is well worth buying before you buy anything. You can buy it almost anywhere but why not buy it directly from Robert: http://www.gpsvehiclenavigation.com/GPS/

He might even autograph it for you. Bugger, I forgot to get him to autograph mine!

Ron

I have an etrex legend and I can't fault it, I run energiser recharge bats with no dramas, I also have a car charger and a windscreen mount , great toy and you can do things like this with downloading to your PC

the ETREX series of GPS..

The only GPS's stocked (the others they order in) at frontline on the army bases and they go like hotcakes

so simple even the grunterpeeds can use em.

I have the Etrex Legend and it has been pretty good over the last 3 years. However the joystick on mine sometimes needs a good bashing before it will work these days. The receiver is also not as sensitive as my compact flash card GPS. I have a reradiating antenna for in car use.
I got the Legend so I could use the Mapsource maps although I never did. So in hindsight I should have got the Etrex Vista which is the same but with less internal memory and cheaper.
I think it is the Vista and up that have the good screen while the standard yellow and camo ones have the low res screen.
I use the NimH batteries in mine with no ill effects. You can change the settings to reflect what type of batteries you are using which I assume corrects the battery meter.
Whatever you get make sure it has a port for computer connection for downloading/uploading waypoints etc and for using with moving maps. All Etrex models have this feature.

Thanks everybody for input.

Im wondering about the slowish time it takes to hook up to a sat....would i need to connet an external aerial to help it out....or thats just that model and thats the way it is?

Take the GPS out into an open area with clear sky and see how long it takes to get its satellites. Then you can compare that to wherever you are trying to use it and if it is much slower than maybe an antenna would help.