Garmin eTrex Review
I recently bought a Garmin eTrex
My main requirements were quite simple:
- I don’t think I need all the maps and gizmos, etc. While they would be nice, I just want basic waypointing, trackback, etc. My main use is hiking/fishing/photography, not finding store X in city Y. I don’t think it is a good idea to rely solely on the map in your GPS. First off, the screens are too small, so you don’t get a feel for the lay of the land. Second, what do you do when it fails?
- Around $100
- PC Connection (or Mac, check out: GPS Connect)
- Rugged and/or water resistant
My main two choices came down to the eTrex and the Garmin Forerunner 101
I first tested out the eTrex on a trip to Charleston, SC, with a stop in Raleigh, NC. We weren’t really doing much hiking, but I left it on for most of the driving, thus giving me a chance to explore most of it’s features. First off, the one handed operation is brilliant. The button placements are well-placed and easy to understand. The screens are intuitive and easy to work with, even for someone new to GPS. The waypointing functionality is especially easy. Just hold in the lower left button for a couple of seconds and it takes you to the mark waypoint screen.
Additionally, making routes and doing trackbacks were simple as well. Just select your waypoints and add them to your list and away you go. Battery life is also quite good, probably in the 16-20 hour range, assumming you don’t use the backlight much and have it in battery save mode.
On the negatives, it did lose signal from time to time, but probably less than 1% of the total time I had it on, and would almost certainly pick it up again within 30 seconds. Changing and naming waypoints is a bit cumbersome, but about as well done as can be given the 5 buttons. If you know your waypoints ahead of time, it makes more sense to upload them via the computer, where it is easier to type.
All in all, I would recommend the eTrex to anyone who wants a no frills GPS for hiking/hunting/fishing.
January 8th, 2006 at 8:59 am
Was out yesterday with my GPS up at Sunday Lake in the Adirondacks. Thought I would add a note as to how easy to use the system is even with thick winter gloves on. I was able to operate all buttons/screens without taking off my gloves.
October 8th, 2006 at 12:19 am
I use the gpsbabel software in combination with google earth with my garmin etrex gps under mac os. It works really well, and the on-computer maps look a lot better than in many other pieces of software!
October 8th, 2006 at 10:26 am
Cool, I’ll check it out. Right now, I am using Topo!
and find it to be pretty good, but not great.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:12 am
[...] I have been using TOPO! now for about 1 month and am more or less pleased with it, although it has some quirks that need to be fixed for me to really like it. I use it with my Garmin eTrex (See review), Serial Cable, and a Serial to USB dongle. So far, my main use has been for planning out bike rides and uploading the routes to my GPS. I have both the USA maps and NC/SC specific 7.5′ maps. [...]
June 21st, 2008 at 9:33 am
There’s nothing like a day on the lake fishing and we love to travel around to new lakes. Going to check out the Garmin eTrex as it sounds like just what we need. Thanks for the review.