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| Garmin eTrex Handheld GPS | 
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| Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $84.99
Buy New: $65.00
You Save: $19.99 (24%)
New (8) Used (3) Refurbished (1) from $56.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  212 reviews
Sales Rank: 1718
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Fragile: No
Tracks: 10
Batteries: 2
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 64x128
Size: eTrex
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 2 x 1.2 x 4.4
MPN: 010-00190-06
Model: 010-00190-06
UPC: 753759017026
EAN: 0753759017026
ASIN: B00003WGP5
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW!! NEVER USED!! COMES COMPLETE WITH USERS GUIDE
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great Deal June 16, 2008
For the money this is a great GPS. Easy to use and keeps us from getting lost as we cut trails on our wooded acreage. Works well in heavy trees.
A fantastic legacy GPS April 18, 2008
The eTrex is a FANTASTIC little unit that has served me well for years.
It has great battery life, quality construction, and solid durability.
My last trip was a three weeks backpacking trip in the mountainous New Mexico. I made a list of waypoints using notepad and the internet and input them to my device, while on the train. Of course, I still had a compass and paper topo maps, but this GPS made it a lot easier to find my way back to camp, during my day-hikes!
Four caveats:
FIRST: Keep in mind GPS units are only for SUPPLEMENTAL information. You must still be able to navigate with a compass and paper map if you're going backpacking!
Keep in mind, this unit is IPX7, meaning it is water RESISTANT, not waterproof. Despite what you may read in eBay auctions, Garmin does NOT make one waterPROOF unit. IPX7 means that the unit will sit just below the surface of non-flowing water for 30 minutes. Anything more than that is not guaranteed to be covered by warranty.
Also, DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT. Buy the newer, but nearly identical, eTrex H. The high sensitivity reciever is a HUGE improvement over the old 12 channel gps recievers. High sensitivity recievers acquire satellites much faster and have much better reception. With an "H" unit, you can leave your GPS under a thin lid on the top of your backpack or use the unit under heavy tree cover.
Finally, if you can squeeze just a little more out of your checkbook, I would recommend a COLOR unit. Color units have a longer battery life (TFT screens use less energy than the black and white LCD) and most colored units share the same interface as other colored units... a much simpler interface than their odd-ball black and white counterparts.
 Doesn't work February 17, 2008
I bought this unit to take with me deer hunting. It did not track the satellites initially so I returned it. I had the same difficulty with the second unit. The seller couldn't explain why both malfunctioned so I just got my money back. My advice is to take 2 AA batteries with you, open the package, install them and test the unit before you leave the parking lot. I guess there are no satellites over Gray, Georgia.
Basic Gps, Does the Job. January 18, 2008
We use this GPS when snowmobiling. Makes it easy to get back to your starting point.
 Signal "spikes" limit the unit's "Bread Crumb" feature... November 15, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have owned my eTrex for several months now. There is a lot to like about it. I personally like using the buttons as opposed to a joystick. Once you figure out where to place your fingers and learn the menu system, you can fly through and find your desired input faster than with a joystick. There is a ton of configurability. I love the look and feel of it in my hand compared to some of the Magellan's. But I am here to warn people about a couple big gripes I have with the eTrex.
One gripe I have is the eTrex's inability to pinpoint a waypoint or coordinate. "But my LCD display says 'Navigation Accurate to 9 feet.'" Don't believe it, friends. Even if I wait until the display tells me the WAAS fix is accurate to 8 feet or so and then record my position as a waypoint, if I try to navigate back to this point later, I am lucky if it gets me within 20 feet. For hiking this is no problem, but for geocaching it could be disastrous! Once you get to within 20 feet of your known waypoint or coordinate, the compass arrow literally has you walking in circles, never directing you to the exact location, or even within 8 feet!
The other gripe I have with the eTrex is that it introduces noise "spikes" when using the "bread crumb" feature. When I enable the track recorder and go on a long hike, it will draw my "bread crumb" trail as I walk. But sporadically the track will show a "spike" ranging anywhere from 100 feet to over a quarter mile long. For example, if I am walking north in a straight line, suddenly the unit will think it is instantaneously a quarter mile to the West, and draw a track line to that point, and back, instantly, drawing a line to that point and back in the shape of an instant spike. Besides being annoyed by the picture of the spike, the computer also factors the spike into the trip odometer and maximum speed. It adds the round-trip distance of the spike to your trip odometer. This makes the unit worthless for hiking from trail to trail of known distances. So a 1/4 mile spike adds 1/2 mile to your trip distance. In a nine-mile hike, I estimate that the spikes added a little over a mile to my total trip distance. It also completely ruins your maximum speed reading. After my unit instantaneously "spiked" on my hike, it said my maximum trip speed was 102 MPH!
I emailed Garmin and they suggested to do a master reset. Didn't help the spikes, but it did erase all my saved data. I even bought another identical eTrex unit. My first was a 2000-2005 version with V 3.30 software. The new unit displayed 2000-2006 V 3.53. Both software versions "spike." The problem must be well documented, because in Garmin's website if you search for "spikes" it directs you to a thread which says that this can happen if the unit does not have a clear view of the sky. Problem is, both the units I tried will spike even with a full, clear view of the sky in all directions. A third eTrex unit I tried had an LCD display which was so grainy/sparkly with very little contrast as to be unusable.
So, if you plan to use this units Track Back feature and/or "bread crumb" recording, or intend to rely on it for accurate distance or maximum speed recordings, or intend to use it for geocaching, you will want to skip the eTrex.
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