Garmin Etrex - is it good enough?
 

At £115 GBP this is a very low-cost GPS option. The larger screen of the GPS 126 adds another £80 GBP to the price.

So is an Etrex good enough - or is the 126 worth the extra money?

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Fuzzy Duck
(I'm quackers about bikes)

i use a garmin etrex summit, with a built in compass but no maps at all. serves me well for local bike rides, but then i have never been RTW. you'd want the built in compass to get direction when you're stopped.

It's a good unit that works well, however If you can tell us a bit about how you plan to use it we would be able to better help you.

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A.B.

OasisPhoto.com – Images from the Magical Sahara.
ShortWheelbase.com – Jeep preparations.

The Striking Viking used a eTrex Vista on his Latin America trip. He said it worked great but the base maps are out of date. He also said that getting accurate maps in South/Central America was impossible gps or otherwise.

HughC

To answer A.B.'s question:

I plan to use it for the Sahara - following some of Chris Scott's routes. I thought it might also be handy for Green Laning in the UK?

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Fuzzy Duck
(I'm quackers about bikes)

I don’t know about the GPS base maps for Chris’s routes, but if they’re anything like the ones available for Egypt and Libya then don’t bother with GPS mapping altogether. These maps are worthless. You can save money and go for a GPS with the least mapping options and spend that money elsewhere on the bike. The etrex will suit you fine then. Although, I personably prefer the horizontal GPS like the II+ and the III+.

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A.B.

OasisPhoto.com – Images from the Magical Sahara.
ShortWheelbase.com – Jeep preparations.

The Etrex is a very handy and tough unit. Below follows the text of a "GPS Adventure" I submitted to Garmin, although I don't think they ever bothered to use it! I don't think you can lay the blame for poor base-maps with the Etrex.

Here's my story:

Had my ETrex Legend for six months, and am extremely pleased with it. Took it on a motorcycle tour through Italy to Sicily recently, partly with the intention of logging photograph locations as Waypoints. Unfortunately, after loading it with the location of the Colliseum after reading about the chaos of navigating through Rome, it blew out from under my motorcycle windscreen at 100mph on the Autostrada just north of Rome (don't know why, it had been OK for 1500 miles). I wasn't sure whether it was even worth stopping to look for it, but I did and was amazed to find it in one piece on the hard shoulder. I switched it on, and it initially appeared fine, but unfortunately the antenna had become loose/disconnected so it couldn't "find" any satellites. I spoke to Garmin UK, and they said that if it only needed something "pushing in" they wouldn't even charge for a repair, and if they were unable to repair it they would supply a replacement at cost (some 1/3 of retail price)! A day or two later I booked in early to a hotel as it was raining, and decided to split the unit and try and get it functional. Without any tools, I managed to split the unit and reaffix the self-adhesive antenna, and the unit was working again. Unfortunately by this time the display had developed a crack which wasn't initially apparent, so it wasn't perfect. Anyway, it was usable, and on my return to the UK I sent the unit to Garmin, who have sent me a replacement at cost.

I can offer nothing but praise both for the durability of the unit (how many mobile phones would have survived bouncing down a motorway at 100mph?), and also the generous spirit of Garmin in offering to repair or replace at cost. I would have absolutely no hesitation in buying another Garmin GPS or recommending them - First Class!

[This message has been edited by IanC (edited 01 September 2002).]

Glad to hear the Etrex is tough - and it's a groovie banana yellow colour too - kule!
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/cool.gif

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Fuzzy Duck
(I'm quackers about bikes)

jumping on this thread and asking one more question....

i have the etrex as well (the yello one) and when i go off road it suddenly stops like it has no power, after i switch it on again, it starts and everything is ok for the next mintues and than again shutting itself down.
seems like a power failure or maybe an auto switch off that i'm not familiar with. anyone has an idea how to stop it? anyone has this problem as well?

Are you using a power cable or batteries?
If you have batteries try switching to a power cable. If you can't do that, tape the batteries together, this will reduce their bouncing around slightly.
If you have a garmin handlebar mount throw it away. Get your self a Touratech mount, or a copy that has vibration dampers in it.
If you still have trouble try mounting the GPS somewhere else on the bike.
Lastly have the unit checked out and reinforced by touratech.
-Ed

thanks man,
I'm working with a power cable so batteries are not the problem. I will try to get myselt a touratech mount or similar to see if it helps.

thanks again.

I mouted the standaard eTrex on my bike.
With the 12v Power/PC adaptor from garmin..
I cut of the opend the 12-3 volt regulator and modifide it to fit my bike battery.

The etrex is mounted with the touratech mount.


http://www.crossing-africa.com/ca/mo...e/IMG_0186.jpg
The Image on my Site

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CU under the Cu

Frank
http://www.crossing-africa.com .:. The Ultimate Travel on a Yamaha XT600Z

[This message has been edited by Fuchur (edited 02 October 2002).]

[This message has been edited by Fuchur (edited 02 October 2002).]

I have the etrex vista, and my experience with this unit has been frustrating to say the least. (I am touring north and south america . currently in chile)

I have the touratech mount.

I also have the external power supply.

The unit I bought had a fault with the little toggle button that controls everything - it would not work in some directions sometimes and was very hard to push. But I managed to swap it for a new one (thanks to REI - highly recommended store)

The touratech mount just broke (it lasted about 30,000 km)- vibration caused a tear in the thin metal spring that holds the bottom piece - the bottom piece simply dropped off. Strangely enough the unit can still be held in place by the top piece, and vibrates a lot less now...

The power supply, be it battery or external is fickle to say the least.
There was an intermitent vibration problem with the external supply above 4000 rpm where the power would cut out, and now it doesn´t work below about 3500 rpm either ... :-(

Fiddling with cables sometimes helped the above 4k problem but now the power supply is useless.

The batteries last just 2-3 hours - and that is with genuine duracells not the cheapo batteries you usually get here in south america. and the compass switched off.

The little toggle button that controls the whole device stopped working properly after about 1 month, and only randomly will work in all four directions and will click. i.e. I cannot save my tracks because I literally cannot press the button to go left. worse still I cannot press the button to enter the track mode anyway.

even on the slowest recording mode the vistas memory for recording your tracks does not last a full day. more like half a day. so you have to remember to save your tracks 2 times a day. if you can move that toggle button that is...

That said, the functionality of the unit otherwise is awesome - especially the plotting of your route over time, and height. When you upload your tracks you get data of your travels in 3 dimensions, and although mapsource is pretty crappy I am sure that in the future you will be able to get a great 3d picture of your route.

Garmin themselves seem ok - they will "fix it so it is like new" for $125, + $25 if you are out of the USA. But they don´t have local support here is SA...
Lance

I too am after a cheap GPS with no maps for a trip to Morocco, and merely longitude/latitude and altitude. If the Garmin eTrex does all this, where is the cheapest place to buy it ?? Anyone know any good deals ?

Jasper

GPS Warehouse (www.gpsw.co.uk) seem to be doing good deals.

I, myself baught a eTrex Legend. I haven't tested it on the bike though, and for what I need it, it's good enough.
First, all GPS units will give you an altitude reading, albeit with a big enough error, usually 150-200% of the horizontal error. So, if you get an accuracy of 10 meters, then you should expect 15-20 meters of error in altitude, but it may be more.
There are some GPS units that have an additional barometric sensor (eTrex Vista, Summit) and can give a better accuracy for altitude.
As for navigation, a GPS should only be seen as an aid, not the ultimate tool. For most parts, a map, a compass and the ability to use them, is probably enough. GPS was developed for marine navigation, where features do not exist.
However, a GPS is good in keeping track of your path and is good at leading you close to a specific target. Then use your compass or map reading skills to pinpoint the final destination.
I find that even an accuracy of 10 meters is not enough to navigate correctly through complicated terrain. A compass and map is better.

I have the eTrex Vista. In two months travelling from the US to Guatemala (currently) it has performed flawlessly. The only slight problem has been that the locations of towns and roads stored in the GPS map can be somewhat inaccurate, at least for Mexico & Guatemala - in the US it was perfectly accurate.

I have the RAM mount and has performed flawlessly, too. The GPS is fed via the Garmin cigarette-lighter adapter plugged into an accessory outlet. This adapter (transformer) has just shorted and is therefore useless. It is not sealed, so if you get one, I suggest running some silicon down the seams. The GPS runs just fine off batteries, though, and I give it the thumbs up.

Altitude readings seem less accurate than the longitude/lattitude positioning; going over the same mountain pass at different times, it gave readings different by 20m.

James.

my troublesome etrex vista is completely dead now.....
:-(

my etrex became troublesome after 2 weeks in Algeria: wouldn't switch on/couldn't find satellites/switched itself off ... in the end, it died completely when I was 100km+ from any roads/towns so I took it apart and found that a small internal battery had broken off and was rattling around. its irrepairable as the contact connections are less than 0.5mm apart. prior to failure, yellow dust was appearing on the inside of the screen and obscuring the letters. I'd have to say the etrex is for back-up only and you'd best know how to get out of the desert without one! I can see how to improve it, but it will invalidate the warranty (if that's important!) Garmins 2+ seems more robust, but heavier, thirstier and prone to switching itself off.

I'd have to agree with Richard,
your GPS should be a secondary system only.
Esp. when riding in uninhabitable areas.

Get yourself a good compass (one that works well world wide), research maps and learn to navigate by first principles.
Once you've done this you won't have to worry abouy your GPS failing on you/giving you false readings because its set up wrong etc. as you'll be confident in your own abilities.

Saying this though, I do have a GPS as well.
It will be great for tracking my route and the track back feature will be timesaving when I end up the losing the track and have to turn around.

Geoff

I have a eTrex Legend and the Word Map software. I'm not happy with the quality, I sent the gps 2 times to Garmin to be repaired, and it is bad again.
I founded that is very important to update the gps software time by time because Garmin launch a new system fixing bug every month.

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Ya verás como quieren en Chile al amigo cuando es forastero (traditional song)

Jose Pedro Espinosa
Curico, Chile

I was gonna get an etrex (for circuit of the Med via Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) and everyone said I shouldn't bother, as they're "help together with elastic bands and sellotape", to quote a major dealer.

It doesn't sound good that you were able to repair the "self adhesive" antenna yourself in the hotel. Great that it still worked though - general quality of Garmin?

I will be using a III+ or a 12. No base maps, and far more rugged I think. You can pick up a military-spec vibration-proofed GPS12 on Tottenham Court Road in London for under 130GBP.

..And they're the same vertical, mobile-phone style format.

Hi Pob/london,
can you tell us ,the name,tel no. of this shop in london that's doing the deal on the GP12? thanks
bryan

That's pretty tough - I went into about 20 shops! I'll go in again in a few days (possibly to buy my unit) and tell you after that.

PS > It wasn't an advertised "SPECIAL OFFER" or time limited - I think they're just cheap, so no huge rush http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hello all.
I bought and etrex recently, from Staples in Wednesfield w.mids, it was reduced to £98. A week or so later they were back to full price (£128) but I noticed whilst in another branch in Birmingham they had them reduced too, can only guess that they are going around reducing them in certain stores at certain times so it might be an idea to keep an eye open there if you are looking for one.
A nice mapping one would be nice, but this does. I can get my position from it, and i can program my destination into it, not had chance to use it too much as yet but first impressions are that it is ok. few minor drops have not damaged it yet.

There is a couple of pieces of software which i have been using. One is called waypoint+. The other is called easyGPS, I followed links to them from the gps section on ebay from some of the sellers.
hope this helps.

w?

I've got to speak up for the Etex (see my early post in this thread, where it half-survived a 100mph drop on the Italian Autostrada).

The problem of it turning off at times seems to be the battery contacts losing some of their tension, and the batteries rattling about - you need to bend the contacts a bit as they've become too "flat".

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ichapp.users.btopenworld.com

well, Garmin have declined to replace my month-old Etrex because I invalidated the warranty by opening it up to try to repair it while in the middle of the sahara. they offered to replace it for £50: the same money that they make on selling them.

I don't much care for their legalistic stance of "you shouldn't have opened it because you're not qualified to repair it". its horse! the unit is not designed to be repairable, but it can be improved: I'll be going down to Maplins to get some silicon to "glue" that silly internal battery. if the next one fails, I won't admit I modified it.

I may be wrong, but I think that 2cm square "chip" (if that's what you mean!) is the antenna - at least it just kept searching without success for satellites when mine fell off.

I've since buggered up the rubber gasket round mine (and told them as much), and they supplied and fitted a new one FOC.

I thought the eTrex was getting a rough deal in this thread, but now mine has rapidly deteriorated: the joystick doesn´t click, more and more lines on the LCD don´t work, the power supply died, it turns itself off at random... So, no, it isn´t good enough.

James.

another followup to my eTrex saga - To recap the first one malfunctioned from the start but it was replaced by a store (REI) for free, and the second one slowly failed in multiple ways until it was completely dead. All this while bikng around North/South America

To their credit Garmin have fixed the unit free of charge - including fedexing back to me in South America. This was unprompted - they offered this when I contacted them again after the unit died.

They replaced "front and rear case, keypad, lens, display, and clickstick cover." Several parts had fallen off the board and they replaced either the board or those parts (their grammer wasn't clear, but I guess the whole board was replaced). Essentially I receieved a new unit back. and they even transferred over my maps, waypoints and routes. excellent service.

Lance Wiggs