There's Summit About It!

Advantages: Compact, Rugged, 50 routes, Electronic Compass
Disadvantages: Battery life

...I won't delve deeply into the details of how GPS works. That would take ages and you might already know. But in case you don't - suffice to say that there's a bunch of satellites orbiting the earth. Each one sends out a time signal along with it's unique identifier. GPS devices know about each of the satellites and where they are in relation to each other so, by working out the time difference between each of the signals sent by each satellite, the GPS receiver can work out where on earth it is (literally!). With that out of the way I will try and explain why, after two years of owning a "bog-standard" GPS receiver, I decided to upgrade my trusty old (bright yellow) Garmin eTrex to a shiny new (silver) eTrex Summit. Garmin are well known for their GPS offerings. In recent years they've turned it into a massive business. The eTrex...

LegendaryMrDude 14.02.2006 · Read review
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Review of Garmin eTrex Summit

Hiking fun! Till you're lost! Never with eTrex

Advantages: Lightweight, robust and easy to use
Disadvantages: No interface to the computer.

...many reviews on Ciao). After advice from assistants and internet research, I decided on the Garmin eTrex Summit. Of course the eTrex Summit can be used for more than just geocaching. It is intended for long distance walkers of hilly or mountainous terrain. It incorporates an electronic compass to aid navigation and an in-built barometric altimeter. It can store up to 20 routes and up to 500 waypoints. The eTrex Summit weighs just 5.3 ounces - definitely light in weight. It is shaped rather like a mobile phone and comes with a wrist strap making it very easy to carry. It is waterproof. Garmin claim that the unit can be safely submersed to 1 meter for 30 minutes. Now, I haven't actually put that to the test but my eTrex Summit has withstood heavy rain and snow and has emerged unscathed (unlike me). The eTrex Summit requires 2 AA...

MAFARRIMOND 12.03.2006 · Read review
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Review of Garmin eTrex Summit

There's Summit about it

Advantages: Larger Memory, Digital Compass, Altimeter
Disadvantages: Battery life.

...I won't go into the details of how GPS works as there are a number of reviews round these parts that do a good job of explaining it. What i will do is explain why, after two years, I decided to upgrade my trusty old (bright yellow) garmin eTrex to a shiny new (silver) eTrex Summit. Garmin are well known for their GPSofferings, with the eTrex range being aimed squarely at people who enjoy the outdoors. The old yellow eTrex (review in the appropriate category) was, and indeed still is, at the bottom of the range. This is not to say it's a bad product, but after a few years of use, I started to realise it's limitations. Not wanting to cover too much old ground (and without trying to force too many more reads of an old review), the eTrex is a basic GPS device that is capable of storing up to 500 waypoints and a single route (which...

LegendaryMrDude 10.09.2004 · Read review
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Review of Garmin eTrex Summit

The Garmin etrex

Advantages: Small, Reasonably priced, Easy to use
Disadvantages: Route memory a little small, loses signal in pockets

...The etrex is a base model GPS reciever designed for walkers, cyclists and other outdoor adventurers. I have had mine for 3 years it still works and they're still making the same one so it must be good! The screen is large, monocrome and is backlit although this reduces the life of the two AA batteries quite significantly. This screen is easy to read and you can also adjust the contrast. The casing is yellow with rubber sides and back. This seems very rugged and hard to break. There is a plug on the back to connect to a PC or PDA. This allows you to upload routes, tracks or waypoints from mapping software onto the GPS. The route memory allows 50 different points along the route. I have found this to be a little small for longer, more complicated routes and have had to to simplify my routes accordingly. Also this plug is easily...

patricksimpson 29.08.2006 · Read review
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Review of Garmin eTrex

Garmin Etrex Vista after 2 years hard use...

Advantages: Lightweight, solid, reliable and accurate
Disadvantages: Used mine extensively for 2 years and honestly cannot fault.

...I bought my Etrex Vista a couple of years ago now, and has prevailed as being one of my favorite toys for all that time. Build quality is second to none-surviving gruelling mountain bike rides in harsh weather conditions whilst mounted on the handlebars and still has barely a scratch on it. The soft grippy plastic lightweight construction also makes it a pleasure to use in the wet. Radio reception seems good (works fine on the dashboard of a car in built-up central london, and under wet trees in woodland), and software design/user interface was very easy to get the hang of. I loaded mine with detailed local maps quite easily, and the 24Mb memory seems enough to hold about half of the UK in high detail mapping. Battery life is good (running for at least 48hrs on NiMh batteries), and the serial data connection worked reliably. The software...

robharg 02.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Garmin Etrex Vista

Garmin eTrex Legend HCx

Advantages: Tough, compact, waterproof, accurate, cheaper than bike specific gps
Disadvantages: Expensive maps, Poor bike handlebar mount, slow data transfer

......

ben1777 20.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Garmin eTrex Legend HCx

This GPS is for life, not just for Christmas

Advantages: Small, Basemap, Price
Disadvantages: No Electronic Compass-Altimeter-

...determined on how much memory your GPS contains. This can be either 8mb,16mb or 24mb. The Garmin eTrex Legend ------------------------------ This is the GPS i own. Working in an outdoors store (Blacks), owning a GPS is handy in giving advice to customers about which GPS will be suitable for their use. First off, being a mountain climber and long distance walker, I wanted a GPS that would suit my needs for programming long distance walks. As explained earlier, GPS use "Waypoints" in creating and following routes. Each GPS can hold a certain amount of Waypoints, and the legend can hold 1,000 waypoints due to its 8mb ram, and can hold 20 routes. There are a limit to the number of waypoints per route, and the Legends is 125. This can be avoided by just splitting up routes. The Legend has WAAS enabled, so when they finally allow us to use this...

steveking5000 28.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of Garmin Etrex Legend

Where have you been?

Advantages: Small, Brightly Coloured, Splash-proof
Disadvantages: Limited functionality, memory

...Sattelite navigation? in the palm of your hand? surely not! Only two years ago your scepticism would have been justified, but technology has advanced rapidly during that time and it is now possible to get a range of gps devices at a much more reasonable price. This particluar review is (obviously) on the Garmin eTrex hand-held gps receiver, the cheapest in the eTrex family and a device aimed at the active outdoors type of a person. But first things first... what is GPS? it stands for global positioning system and at it's simplest can be thought of as an array of satellites circling the earth, each sending out a time signal. GPS receivers pick up these signals and, from the difference between the times in the signal from different satellites, works out where on earth you are (literally). GPS is surpsiingly accurate, down to...

LegendaryMrDude 10.09.2004 · Read review
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Review of Garmin eTrex

Little yellow marvel

Advantages: Robust, Easy to use
Disadvantages: Buttons in awkward positions, Has the potential to leave you stranded with a flat battery

...20 years ago if you'd told somebody that you could give them their position on the face of the Earth, accurate to within 5 metres from a bunch of satellites 11,000 miles above their heads they would have looked at you a bit odd. Even 10 years ago when the technology was available for civilian applications a GPS receiver was beyond the reach of most people. Within the last few years however, GPS has really come of age for the non-military user. One of the companies at the forefront of the GPS revolution is Garmin, the makers of the eTrex which retails for around £130 and is available in most outdoor accessory shops and even Dixons have now jumped on the bandwagon. The eTrex is small (about the same size as an average mobile phone) and yellow and black in colour. The black bits are actually rubber and act to protect the GPS from...

Pritch 09.05.2002 · Read review
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Review of Garmin Etrex

Get Safely from A to B with Garmin nuvi 1340

Advantages: Not as annoying as I thought
Disadvantages: Pricey

...Why I Bought It I finally gave in a traded my AA route finder notes (which always got me from A to B) for a Garmin nuvi 1340. I have to admit that these things annoy me so much, shouting directions at you every 5 seconds, but I thought I ought to at least try to get with the 21st century, plus everyone I know as one, so they can?t be that bad can they? I managed to pick mine up for £139 from Pixmania, which was a bargain, as I?d seen one in my local Halford store whilst shopping for oil again! (but that?s another story) for £179! Just proving its worth shopping around. Being a girlie the first thing that attracted me to this was its slender build (I know I know!). Its only 15mm thick and therefore isn?t too bulky to pop into the handbag when I?ve arrived at my destination and its quite light too ? double bonus. The 1340 model...

jinxyjo 24.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Garmin nuvi 1340