Customer Reviews

Garmin Foretrex 101 Hands-Free GPS Navigation

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have never used a GPS system before - the Foretrex 101 was the first system I purchased and I love it.

I approached this purchase with much trepidation. My experience with techno-gadgets has not been good. Usually I find that I have to learn how some nerd/designer thinks in order to use the gadget. Life is too short to spend it remembering whether to punch the mode key or the enter key.

Yet, I wanted to purchase a GPS system so that I do not get lost while hiking or kayaking in wilderness. I looked at a few GPS models and found the usual techno-insanity: You build a database of maps and routes on your PC, download that information to a small map display in the GPS system, take a hike, then upload your journey back into your PC where you can build and manage a database of journeys. Ugh! All I want is to find my campsite - not learn another database management system.

So, I had almost given up on this purchase when I saw the Foretrex 101. No fancy color maps. Just a simple device which you wear on your wrist like a large watch. It displays a small map of your locale, your present location and the most important information required to travel to your intended destination.

I purchased it, turned it on and took a walk through my neighborhood. It was brilliant: I watched a little walking person on my screen leave a trail which moved as I moved, and rotated as I turned. In order to get back home, I turned around and followed the trail displayed on the Fortrex screen. No fancy commands to learn - just a few intuitive buttons and I was finding my way around my own neighborhood just fine!

But, I wondered, would it work when I went up to the Sierras? That weekend I tested it on trails that I knew - and it was amazing. The ranger station had the longitude and latitude coordinates of the campsite I had reserved - so I punched those into my Foretrex and proceeded to hike to the site. As I hiked, the navigation screen displayed an arrow which rotated as I turned so it was always pointing toward the campsite. It also displayed my present elevation and distance remaining to the site. (Those are two of several possible numbers I could have displayed on the navigation screen.) On the map screen, I saw a perfectly clear outline of the trail behind me as I walked towards camp - along with waypoints of my favorite lakes which I entered into the Foretrex as I arrived at each lake. When I arrived at my destination, it guided me to within 20 feet of my reserved campsite.

The next day, when I hiked out, the Foretrex was just phenomenal. I saw the entire trail from the prior day displayed on my map screen - I followed it all the way back to the trail head. I could see the trail drift off the left of the little walking figure as I wandered off the trail to the right - and it was completely simple to walk back to the trail while watching the little guy on the map screen do the same!

The Foretrex guided me all the way back to the trailhead - in fact, it guided me back to exact parking spot where my car was parked.

Now I'm thinking about doing all kinds of things that I had never considered before: I could hike off trails, I could hike when trails are partially covered with snow, I could kayak in the fog and I am even thinking about giving a Foretrex to my wife - who has a terrible sense of direction - so she can go off on her own in the woods without me worrying about loosing her.

I am finding some the the additional features really useful: It is nice to know my average speed and estimated time to arrive at my destination. I like to know my elevation to get a sense of the effort remaining on a tough climb - or my average paddle speed in the kayak to see the effect of wind and current on my progress. I have even discovered the Foretrex works fine in my car - and it is useful to punch in waypoints to show tricky intersections which I always forget, or the location of convenient Starbucks along the way. I even used it to test the accuracy of my speedometer (and discovered that my speedometer reads about 4% too fast, which probably explains why I never get any speeding tickets).

I do have three complaints about it. First, I was confused at one point when the map screen showed a weird spike pointing off from the side of the trail. It appeared as if I had made a side excursion in a straight line for about one half a mile, and then returned along the exact same line back to the trail. It was obviously an error - the excursion was perfectly straight, and I know I did not make it - so I just assumed that the Foretrex got one position measurement wrong and I ignored it. But since this occurred on the second day I owned the device, at first I didn't know what to make of it.

Secondly, I discovered that it is awkward to save small parts of the day's journey (the "track log") in the Foretrex's list of saved tracks. It is easy to save the entire journey made since the last time I cleared the track log - and with some effort I can select a portion of the journey to save. However, I found it impossible to select just the kayaking portion of my day's journey and save it separately from the car trip to and from the lake.

Finally, I discovered that one pair of AAA batteries lasts only about 12 hours. (I intentionally depleted the batteries without changing them to see whether the Foretrex would loose any information or become disoriented in any way. When I inserted a new pair, the Foretrex picked up right where it left off, without missing a beat!)

These are very minor glitches. Overall, this device has a very simple intuitive user interface and it has opened up whole new possibilities for getting around. It may even save my life some day.

I have had a Garmin GPS12 for several years and liked it and saw no need to upgrade for my purposes (hiking and geocaching). But when I saw the Foretrex on Amazon I was intrigued and put it on my Christmas list after looking about both this and the Forerunner.

I am really impressed. It does just about everything my 12 does but in a smaller package. The ergonomic sense of wearing it on my wrist is just awesome. Being able to wear it while running and see my speed, to see my info while hinking without having to dig for my GPS from a pocket or pouch. If it was just a scaled-down 12 it would be worth it.

But, no...there's more. The trip computer page is great. Pick the info you want from dozens of fields and choose where you want them displayed. Simple and easy to configure. It's great. It's like being able to have a purpose-made GPS screen for whatever activity you're doing.

Their is WAAS support as well. In layman's terms it makes the GPS more accurate, which, of course, is a good thing.

Probably my only con on this unit would be the lack of external power connection. This really only comes into play in the car. (Where it mounts handily on my rear-view mirror using the wrist strap.)

Battery life is good for only using 2 AAA's. A Set of rechargables is a logical investment with this unit. Speaking of batteries, the reason I choose the 101 over the 201 is the ability to use batteries. There aren't many power outlets in the woods for recharging and I do enjoy backpacking and longer trips on occasion.

I've been using the Garmin e-trex gps for a few years so it was very easy to use the Foretrex 101 out of the box. It's very accurate and intuitive, satellite reception is good, even when you have it at your wrist and you're driving the car. Of course heavy forest on cloudy days or city canyons do block the signal, but are there portable gps that don't have this problem?
Although Garmin makes a running specific unit, the Foretrex is perfect for runners as not only keeps track of speed, average speed, max speed, time, distance, total distance, vertical speed etcetera, but it also plots the track, so it's always easy to return to the starting point even in unknown places or in the countryside. Plus it has all the navigation ability of the classic portable gps, like compass, route, bearing, time to destination and so on.
So it's great for hiking, boating (with small boats) but it is also an extraordinary cycle computer (no wheel measure to insert or magnets and pick-ups to fix) and a motorbike navigation aid.
I can't wait to check my speed down the ski slopes, wearing it over the jacket, with the wrist band extension.
Talking about wrist band, I have a 7"/18cm wrist and I use the wrist band at maximum elongation, so a guy with an 8" wrist would be *******. The extension is good to wear the gps over thick sleeves but too long for big wrist people (over 7").
Also, the interface cable is optional (standard on the 201) and you do need it in case you want to download software upgrades.
The back light works very well.
Oh, one great thing is that you can actually program the screen to display the information you want, so basically you can quickly adapt the GPS to the actual use.
It works very well with NiMH batteries and can be kept in battery save mode all the time without significant accuracy loss, so to extend battery life. I do recommend rechargeables as nowadays you can get two AAA 750mA NiMH for 6 bucks.
To summarise, the unit is great and I detracted 1 point for the short strap and for the interface cable which in China cost 30 cents to produce and I think should be included in the package.

I like to walk/jog along different routes through my neighborhood. I do have a pedometer, but I do not have complete faith in its accuracy. I have also become fascinated by "Geocaching," a hobby where people hide a cache somewhere, upload its Latitude and Longitude to the Internet, and then other people can go on a treasure hunt of sorts.

GPS units have been around for a good amount of time now, but I consider them to be too bulky to use for everyday jogging. These wrist GPS units (the Foretrex 101/201, and the Forerunner 101/201) offer nice alternatives, but which one did I need?

In my mind, the first criteria for any GPS system is its accuracy. If the device provides inaccurate data, then any information derived from it is devalued. The Foretrex units are WAAS-enabled, which means they use a separate set of ground-based stations to correct the satellite information. This correction results in higher accuracy, and eliminated the Forerunners from consideration. WAAS is currently available only in North America.

The next concern that I had was for battery life: I wanted to be sure that the thing worked when I turned it on! Since I had narrowed my search to the Foretrex 101/201, I discovered that the main difference between these two units was that the 201 uses an integrated battery, while the 101 uses standard "AAA" batteries. I didn't want to have to keep track of a power adapter if I took my GPS on the road with me in order to recharge the unit, but it would be easy to carry an extra pair of AAA's. As a result, the Foretrex 101 was the last unit standing.

In actual use, it has been wonderful. I have been able to track time and distance on my walks, regardless of the route that I take. The only concern I have is that if I am going under trees, the Foretrex can lose its signal more easily than I would expect. The loss of signal also affects my ability to quickly locate some "geocaches." I have read that this problem exists in some of the larger Garmin units as well. I don't expect a smaller device to have better performance, which is why I didn't reduce my rating to four stars.

The only other item that is worth mentioning is that the Foretrex 101 does NOT come with a PC interface cable. It has the capability, but the cable is sold separately. I strongly recommend acquiring this cable so that you can update the firmware in the device, as well as download your track information from it. With the optional cable, I am getting all of the functionality that I expected from such a compact device.

If you are looking for an informational aid for your workouts, then the Foretrex 101 is a great option. I believe that this one device has the features that you will need over its siblings. If you are looking for more robust features from a GPS, including use for Geocaching or for mapping, then you should look elsewhere.

I just got this gadget and have used it around the neighboorhood but not yet in the backcountry. So far it seems to work well. It actually fits on my wrist without being annoying and bulky. If you feel self conscious it fits under the cuff most jackets.

The first day I got it I went to a local park, marked a waypoint, walked about half a mile away, then navigated back to within 10 feet. So accuracy and ease of use are fine. I have also used it in the car and it is very accurate at tracking speed, distance, etc.

Reception was problematic one day when it was very foggy out. Maybe this is a problem for all GPS units. But beware - this technology is not foolproof!

My only gripe is that the instruction manual, while sufficient for basic operation, does not describe all the features in complete detail. I am still trying to figure out the difference between bearing, heading, and course. But I still gave it 5 stars because it is a great little gadget at a price that seems reasonable.

By the way, I am very happy with Amazon's delivery. The package came to my house less than 24 hours after I placed the order - even though I selected the slowest option (like 3-5 days?) to get free shipping.

I just got the foretrex 101 for christmas. I have a garmin gps 12 which has worked great for me for years. I chose this model because I wanted something I portable to easily wear on my wrist and handlebars. I also chose the 101 because I didn't want to have to remember to charge the unit. I think it lasts 15 hours on 2 nimh AAAs. Anyway, so far as a data cable, you can easily make one with a 2.5mm phono plug (like the end of cellphone handsfree kit) and a female db9 connector. The tip and middle sections of the plug go to pins 2 and 3 (if it doesn't work just swap 'em) and the back section goes to pin 5. I use EasyGPS among other programs to communicate with it. The advantage of RS/232 over USB is that you can communicate with other GPSs and certain other non-host devices. I hooked it up to my pocket PC for satellite navigation. Negatives: it may be my particular unit, but I get inadequate reception unless I have the screen pointing up. Same thing if I'm near trees. My gps12 works much better in these situations, and based on other reviews here, I feel mine may be defective. Hope someone else posts more detail about satellite reception.

Have tried other handheld gps units, but they were combersome because it required the user to hold it in their hands pointed at the sky. Yeah there are belt clips for the etrex units, but I realized it loses the signal easily. Took a legend to Disneyland and had to hold it in my hand to get good reception. Other wise the screen would always say weak signal.
Though the foretrex 101 does not have fancy maps or color, it makes up in size and portability. I mean you can strap it to your wrist or upper arm and forget it is there!! Wonderful for running or walking, then download it (I use G7toWin--google it) and project your route to Google Earth (or usaphotomaps--if you don't have windows XP) or othe mapping software. If you put it on your upper arm, the reception is greatly increased.
It has all the features of the legend except the detailed map. AAA batteries, 10,000 trackpoints, WAAS (better accuracy),downloadability of data, it beeps if there is a message (low batteries, lost reception), NOT handheld-- all the features I enjoy.

Overall, great gps with most of the features of the etrex legend except maps, not hand held, and uses AAA battries.

If you are looking for a basic gps unit with many features (more features than that of the Etrex yellow) , consider the Foretrex 101!!

I wanted a small lightweight GPS with some basic navigation features at an affordable price. I've had the Foretrex 101 for almost a year and am very impressed. I use it hiking, mountain biking, xc skiing, and in my canoe. It's small size and the fact that I can just strap it to my wrist, my pack, the handlebars on my mtn bike (with a small piece of pipe insulation), or the thwart of my canoe, means I actually take it with and us it.

I had purchased another GPS about a decade ago and it was almost useless (heavy, couldn't keep a signal, drained the batteries). The foretrex 101 is a world of difference from the older devices. It grabs a signal pretty quick, holds it well under most conditions, and takes 2 AAA batteries that I find last for 8 to 10 hours (I use rechargeable).

The biggest downside is it doesn't come with a cable to connect to your computer or any software, but I purchased a separate cable online for about 10 or 15 bucks and downloaded the free version of EasyGPS that I use to download my track and waypoint data.

For those wanting maps, this device isn't designed for them. But it does do a great job of keeping track of where you are in relation to where you were (very useful on a some of the trail systems I use) as well as tracking distance traveled. You can't really compare it to a full featured GPS with maps, but then again, you're not going to find a full featured GPS with maps in this small lightweight design in this price range.

I needed a lightweight easy-to-use inexpensive GPS device to use during outdoors hiking and backpacking trips, mostly as a distance meter but also as a route tracker. There's a very little competition in this sector, and I selected Foretrex 101 because it uses AAA's instead of rechargeable batteries in 201 (well, not sure about Garmin engineers but I typically don't take an AC power outlet to a backpacking trip with me).
Overall, it met my expectations... sorta. COM port communications with a PC, sturdy but ugly looking design, heavier than I thought, very uncomfortable wrist strap - these are the minuses but I could live with them. However, my biggest disappointment was with the GPS chip sensitivity. In 8 out of 10 trips it loses satellite connections every few minutes, pretty much all the time under the trees, even when the forest around is not that dense. When it does, its measurements become extremely inaccurate - once it reported 13 miles on a trip odometer when it actually was just above 8...
I wouldn't buy it again, but at the same time I haven't seen a better alternative anyway. I only wish Garmin could come up with a new wrist mount hiking (not running / personal training) GPS device based on a new chip, using USB connector, and having better map graphics. Dreams, sweet dreams.

This is a fantastic unit. I own 3 GPS units. A Magellan 2000XL, a Garmin GPS V, and this unit. I use this unit far more often than the other units. It's light, accurate, and very easy to use. I really don't miss having maps at all with this unit. I use it for hiking, and dirt biking. I can't think of anything negative to say about this unit. I find it simply perfect for backpacking where weight is an issue, as long as you bring a map which I don't mind at all. Plus carrying extra batteries isn't an issue since it uses AAA's which are lighter as well. I highly recommend this GPS.