Garmin eTrex Review

I recently bought a Garmin eTrex and I am very satisfied with my purchase. I am surprised how rugged it feels and it appears to have a little more knock-ability than some other handheld GPS units I have used. I would have preferred a GPS with cross track error capability however the latest software revision (v2.10 at time of writing) does show your position relative to the track line between two current waypoints on the map screen and this can be used to correct cross track error.

I imagined the lack of buttons would have proved to be frustrating however this is not the case as the menus are logical and concise. Alphanumeric entry is via drop down menus, which let you quickly select numbers and letters for waypoint entry. Up to 500 waypoint entries are available and names are limited to combinations of up to six letters/numbers and there are many icons to choose from. You can quickly mark your present position as a waypoint by holding down one of the buttons for a second. It has all the usual nav formats and measurements can be displayed in Nautical (knots included), Statute (yards not included) and Metric.

I have used it bushwalking through fairly dense scrub and tree canopy and it did tend to track satellites well. There were a few short occasions where it lost signal in particularly dense tree cover however it recovered within about ten seconds in lighter cover. I would not recommend relying on the GPS compass feature in dense cover because it did have trouble maintaining heading information updates in low satellite coverage areas. I was using a magnetic compass in particularly dense areas where I experienced poor coverage.

In light and open cover I routinely get 8 metre accuracy and often as good as 5 metre accuracy. If I turn it on outside near my last fix it usually gets a good lock in about 10 seconds. It maintains accuracy on the passenger seat of the car and is even better up on the dash. It gives a good presentation of speed, heading, time and distance to go on one big clear screen and the backlighting is very good.

It has a nice rubbery casing and this makes it ideal to wedge it in an upright position between the dash mat and the windscreen while I am driving along. I decided the genuine Garmin data upload cable was too expensive and made my own lead from a cannibalised mobile phone charger. Here are some instructions. You may be interested in a non-genuine eTrex connector for your homemade cable. Uploading the latest free Garmin software revision (mine was shipped with v1.05) was a snap and I was very impressed with how easy it was to update. The new software has some nifty features which are worth getting.

I have used some shareware utilities such as GARTrip, GPSutility, and Waypoint+ to upload waypoints from scanned paper maps and street directories, and you can edit, upload and download waypoint info and track info. It is obviously faster to modify waypoint info from your computer keyboard and then upload the new waypoints in seconds. It has a non-volatile memory so flat batteries don't present any risk of losing your stored data.

Any disappointments? Only a couple of minor ones. It is very hard to tell if the backlight is on in sunlight, and because it toggles on and off by momentarily pressing the power button, you can accidentally bump it on and be wasting batteries. You can't scroll the map around; you can only zoom in and out. This makes it difficult to review your recorded trail in any detail, and you need to zoom out and lose definition to see much of your trail. It gets cluttered with waypoint info when you zoom out trying to see your whole trail although you can turn the waypoint display off.

In summary, I believe represents excellent value as an entry level GPS. It is user friendly, simple to use, efficient on batteries and accurate. Make yourself a data lead or buy one from Garmin. The computer-based utilities are an excellent addition, and the latest software releases from Garmin make significant improvements in the eTrex's functionallity.