Garmin Etrex Legend GPS Receiver

Had some other questions about it, so I buzzed technical support at Garmin who helped me after about a 2 minute wait on hold and didn't let me off the phone until I was happy. (now that's unheard of these days)

It's a way cool toy to have!


The Best Way To Go For GPS   June 29, 2001
 87 out of 93 found this review helpful

The Etrex Line is by far the best handheld GPS for the money and size. There is a model that fits every user's needs and budget. Unless you need a magnetic compass and barometric altimeter, the Etrex Legend is probobly the best option.

In addition to excellent waypoint and track management functions, the Legend features full mapping functions. The Unit includes a fairly detailed basemap of North America, but for more detailed mapping, data can be downloaded from a MapSource CD-ROM. These discs are availible in many flavors, from Waterway Details, to Topographical, to MetroGuide, which features address and business locating functions (Like Handheld Mapquest.com!)Downloading is easy, and thanks to the unit's high resolution LCD display, maps are suprisingly readable. The waterways disc features a complete database of aids to navigation, cataloging every bouy, daymark, and light in US waters.

As far as GPS functions, the unit preforms beutifully, maintaining a good position fix under moderate tree cover, and inside of a car. Heavy foliage can create a problem, but the unit performs better than most handheld GPS do in this situation. WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) increases accuracy to within 9 feet in good reception areas! Although this is at the expense of battery life. To save power, leave WAAS turned off and you will still get accuracy within 20 feet.

Because the unit uses 2 AA batteries instead of four, life is reduced; expect to change batteries at least every 14 hours, with the unit on continuously. Still, this is less often than my old garmin GPS 45, and that used four batts.

The user interface is very friendly, intuitive, and powerful. This is a great achivment, usually powerful interfaces are not user-freindly and vice versa. It bears quite a similarity to Operating Systems such as Windows and Macintosh, so if you know how to use the computer you are reading this with, you should be right at home. Besides the buttons for Page, Power/Light, Find, Zoom In/Out, there is a "Click Stick" as a pointing device. It works like a joystick or the trackpoint on a laptop to control the cursor on the screen. Pusing it in is like a mouse-click. One strage note on this: it is placed on the left side of the unit. This means that operating in with your'e right thumb blocks the screen. Many people think this is a mistake, making one handed operation with the right hand near impossible, but it makes goos sense to me: operate the GPS in your left hand, while steering the boat with your left. It is not that hard to learn to use the GPS with your left hand (if youre righty), so you can have your right hand free for other things.

In All, The Etrex Legend GPS is your best Buy in a handheld mapping GPS. If your'e looking for more features, check out the more expensive Etrex Vista and Garmin Gpsmap 76, or the very expensive handheld cartographic units, but if you just want a very good, inexpensive, handheld mapping GPS, The Legend is the best around.


No longer folding Roadmaps at 65 mph !   May 10, 2001
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I am very impressed with this product . The pre-loaded map is suprisingly accurate. The user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate . I now leave my maps/atlas at home , I now get more detailed information in my line of sight while driving . No longer do I have to stop and focus on a map with tiny print ! But beware if you use at night with the backlight always on , battery life is dramatically reduced !


Great little GPS   April 15, 2001
 21 out of 25 found this review helpful

I bought this little wonder today, and after a few hours of playing with it am quite amazed. I comparison shopped the device with the yellow eTrex base model and the eMap. I think the Legend is better overall because it has the same detailed base map as the eMap, but is much smaller and can be operated with one hand. It is quite rugged, and even immersable in water up to 1 meter for 30 minutes! It also has 8MB built-in memory, which is enough to download one's detailed city map from the optional MetroGuide software. I think if you are looking for a GPS that has all the features you could possibly need, and that is well-adapted for both the car AND the woods, this one is for you.


Great Fun   April 11, 2001
 15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Let me first say this is my first GPS and I am new to using a GPS. Accepting that this is the smallest mapping GPS out there the display is great. You can zoom in and out quickly, the detail is impressive and it has a battery life indicator. The battery lasts about 15 hours. You toggle between menus with a joystick and you learn to pick it up quite quickly. The base map blew me away. I live in a pretty small town and it lists every place to eat and shop.. even dentists at every highway exit. With the 8 mb memory I was able to download the topo maps for six counties and I have only used half the memory to do that. It has trouble picking up satellite inside but is no problem in my car. Although it comes with a PC cable, there is no software with the unit. My one gripe.. and the reason I gave it four stars instead of 5 is that the PC cable that comes with it is the older RS-232 Serial port. Many of the older computers have this but my newer one does not. It is all USB. In order to use the cable I had to buy a USB-Serial converter which cost me $50.00