Customer Reviews

Garmin Geko 101 Waterproof Hiking GPS (Yellow)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recieved my Geko 101 about two weeks ago, and so far I am very pleased. You can't expect extrordiany things from [an inexpensive] unit, but if you don't want to spend alot, you're not missing much. For the light camper, it's perfect. You can pay ... more to get the Geko 201 with WAAS, which makes it accurate to 10 feet. Or you can skip the WAAS and get this, which is acurate to 50 feet. However, in my experiances, usually this unit is accurate between 25 and 12 feet. An extra 15 ft. so what!

Geko 101:

Pros-
1. Small! It's about the size of a cell phone

2. Lightweight. Because it's so small, it should be obvious that it's very light.

3. Accurate. Even though it doesn't have WASS capabilities it is just as accurate at times.

4. Waterproof. You never know when you might need it.

5. Features. It has just about everything you need or want (minus a detailed map) including when you'll arrive at your destination, speed, elevation, and all different units of measure.

6. Ease of use. The five button configuration makes it easy to use. Let's face it, if you find it difficult,[you shouldn't].

Cons-

1. It's not the greatest GPS ever made, but what do you expect for [the money]?

2. Batteries. This unit takes 2 AAA's. Although life is not a problem (12hrs.) unless you own something else that takes AAA batteries, sometimes they can be a pain.

3. PC compatibility. There's no way to link the Geko 101 to your PC. Oh well, even if you could, it would be $...more for the software.

I have this exact unit and have been using for GeoCaching for about 6 months. The guts of the unit are pretty much the same as the more expensive ones - you'll know where you are just fine. Much of the user interface is the same as the more expensive models.

The main pro for this unit (other than price) is size - it's smaller than the next products up the line and easier to just stick in your pocket.

The main con is battery life. The amount of time you get out of 2 AAAs is not so hot. You'll eat up a pair of batteries every time you go out. I counter this by only turning the unit on to get my bearings. With a device that uses AA batteries I would be able to leave it on and use the tracklog/backtrack features. I think about it...

Some other factors to consider;

Display - once you go up above the basic etrex yellow unit the garmin units have higher-res displays, which are nice.

Connectivity - you can do ok without it, but this model is the only one that does not allow waypoint download (not sure about the 201.) Experienced geocachers favor the higher-end models with more memory. They load large numbers of cache waypoints into memory and are ready to go no matter where they are in their home area. If you're a more casual hiker/cacher, then the cheaper models do just as good a job - even this one.

Mapping - the gekkos and the etrex yellow will show you where your waypoints are in relation to each other, but don't show any other features. The more expensive models can do natural features and even uploaded topo maps.

You can GeoCache with almost any GPS. The Etrex yellow is the standard, but this has served me well. Happy Caching!

First off, after reading reviews here about low battery life, I have used this unit now for three days of geocaching, doing 3 or 4 geocaches per day, PLUS all the time to learn the unit, program in coordinates from home, etc. I am STILL on the first set of batteries, and still have 2 out of 4 on the battery meter.

But then again, I use alkaline batteries, not the rechargable gimicks that only have 1.2 volts per cell rather than 1.5 of a REAL battery, and never last long in any device.

ALSO... there is a BATTERY SAVE feature in the menu that you can select, that I guess the others never bothered to find or read the manual about. This turns the receiver part on and off that is not noticeable to you at all, and I recommend leaving it on, unless you are trying to get accurate to one foot, which might be harder to do with the battery save feature on.

I leave the battery save feature on until about 50 feet from the cache, then turn it off so I can zero in to the exact foot of the cache.

That's right. I am able to go in and narrow to the exact foot of the cache.

What you have to do, is when you get around 15 feet, start walking REAL SLOW! Because if you keep walking fast, you will pass it as the counter keeps going if you are walking fast.

If you pass it, just keep walking about 15 feet, turn around and try comming back REAL SLOW, following the arrow step by step, and you should have no problem getting right to the exact coordinates. I sure don't have any problem doing so.

Walk slow so you can see the distance go down one foot at a time, until you are at ZERO. Many caches I have found were exactly at the location the Geko 101 led me to. There were a few caches that were 10 feet off, but that was the fault of the people who hid the cache that didn't get the exact coordinates right with their GPS units. This unit led me to the left side of a real small bridge about a foot away from the edge, and when I went under the bridge, the cache was in that EXACT spot under where I was standing on the bridge when I got to zero on the Geko.

The coordinates are only as good as the people and thier GPS units that hide the caches. If they have an old GPS that isn't as accurate, or don't measure the exact location accurately, and YOU use the best, most expensive and accurate GPS unit available, you are NOT going to get right to the cache, because the hider made a mistake in plotting the cache coordinates!

I have been waiting for YEARS for GPS units to come down in price, and wanted one with street maps, but they just will not come down in price. And on Ebay, you only find used ones that actually end up selling for MORE than I can buy one on Amazon!

Auctions are nothing more than contests where participants compete to see who can pay the MOST for something.

Finally got this as a gift, tested it out with Geocaching, and it is more than perfect for the job. And you don't really need streets and maps in parks and woods, as they don't show trails anyway, only streets.

You make your OWN trail maps automatically with this unit as you walk around.

I even use it while driving to find the Geocache sites, and even without roadmaps, you can figure it out just by folloing the big arrow, and watching the miles go down. It even has the ability to tell you exactly how many minutes you have left, or what your arrival time will be. Even when you are walking on trails.

It is nice and small and perfect for Geocaching as not too many people will notice it. It is the exact size of a tiny cell phone, so you can quickly hold it to your head as if you are talking, and people will just think it is a phone. Only the top half is yellow, the other side is dark.

NICE rubberized parts on the unit. I can just set the thing down on the dash of the car, and it does not slide around. Sure, I can't see the display with it flat on the dash, but it stays put, until after I make the complex turn or whatever, and then can pick it up again.

There are optional mounts you can get for the car, but I like the one for bike handlebars.

So many times I find neat secret areas on bike trails and have a hard time finding them again. Now I can just plot the locations, title them with an alphanumeric name, and next time, this unit will lead me right to my favorite spots on or off the bike trails, even letting me know how much farther I have to go in miles or minutes.

When you get down to .1 mile, it jumps to around 500 feet and counts down the rest of the way in feet.

Since I am still using the first set of batteries, and it looks like I still have a lot of use left out of them, I didn't get to test and see if indeed all the waypoints and info I saved into it will stay when replacing the batteries as the manual says it will do.

The manual says, so long as you change the batteries right away, you will not lose any information you have stored in it.

If after this set of batteries dies out, and I replace them and this is NOT the case, I will add to this review an update saying so.

I have since seen this unit in another store, and noticed that the green Geko logo was not on the unit as it is on mine. Why would some units not have the Geko on it and others do?

Glad mine has the Geko on it.

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UPDATE:

Half way through geocaching yesterday, the battery went down to the last bar of 4 bars on the meter. The manual states that it will TELL you when you have only 10 minutes of power left, but I didn't want to have to change batteries in the middle of a long cache, so even though the batteries would have lasted who knows how much longer, I decided to change the batteries sooner than I may have had to.

I took out the old batteries in the car, and put in the new set. Turned on the unit, and was pleasantly surprised to find that indeed, all my waypoints and other information was still in the unit, nothing was lost!

This was my biggest fear, as I had spent a long time entering in a lot of cache locations into it.
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Another update:

I accidentally forgot to turn the battery save function back on after finding a cache, and the batteries were being sucked very quickly! As soon as I noticed the battery meter going down fast, I double checked, and sure enough, I didn't have battery save on.

The default on this unit is NORMAL, not BATTERY SAVE, and if you don't use battery save, this thing will probably eat a set of batteries in only an hour.

You should leave the unit in BATTERY SAVE mode at all times, unless you are within 50 feet of a cache and need to narrow down closer.

In battery save mode, I have no problem spending an entire two days, morning to dusk, finding geocaches, without having to change batteries.

I may make a C or D cell battery pack for this unit so I can go even longer, there is no reason they had to make this with tiny AAA instead of AA batteries, except for the uneducated consumers that demand tiny and small devices all the time.

I would have been happy if the unit was twice the size, if it meant longer battery life. But in a democracy, you always have three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch. In other words, mob rule.

I bought this GPS unit to locate the exact location of my telescope. I have also done some limited geocaching (4 caches) and have been able to find all four caches. It seems to be far more accurate than the literature and readout would indicate. I like the small size (easily fits into your pocket) and the intuitive user interface. It does not have all the bells and whistles of a more expensive model. However, I purchased mine for $69.99 on Amazon and received a $20 rebate. With free shipping, no tax and rebate, I purchased my Geko 101 for 49.99. It's hard to beat a price like that. I think this is an excellent introductory GPS unit. If you're not sure how much use you will get out of your GPS unit, the Geko 101 might just be for you.

I initially purchased a Whistler GPS200 unit. The GPS200 had a ton of features, integrated maps, etc but suffered from one inexcusable flaw. It did not find the required minimum satellites (it needed 3) 9 out of every 10 times - even in the best of conditions. When it did find a signal, it took 15 mins to lock and frequently dropped the signal. It was an extreme disappointment and I was hoping that the Geko would fare better. The day the Geko arrived, I powered it up and left it (on a cloudy afternoon) in my back yard for it to try and lock on a signal. The manual said this should take 15 minutes. It took barely 2 minutes. Ever since then, it locks in less than a minute and has yet to drop a signal. I use alkaline batteries and so far (after a few hours of use), it still has almost a full power band. I did set the "battery-save" option the first time I used it. Its redeeming features: It is very small (like the size of a slim Nokia 6100 cell phone), light, reliable, attractive, easy to use, comes from the best GPS company around, and has a host of sales, support and accessories available. It's negative: does not have the advanced features that the much more expensive units have (WAAS and mapware) .. but the price is so much lower so can you really complain. I cannot comment on its longevity (I have only had mine a short while), but so far, I am very pleased with it.

Have owned this for almost 2years. Used primarily for hiking, but we also take it on bike trips sometimes.

Controls are a bit quirky - but if you read the manual and spend a little time using it it's not bad.

What I like -
> Accuracy. With a clear satellite signal this gives you great information. Trip distance, avg speed, and Altitude - which I really like.
> Very small - fits in any pocket ( though be careful - it may block some signal.

Areas for improvement:
> Battery life - using 2 AAA only gives it about 4 hours max. I do not know why they not use AA batteries - which would have easily tripled battery life. I use NiMH rechargeables, and carry a spare set along long hikes. You can change batteries and not lose trip data.
> Sensitivity - You must have a fairly clear view of the sky. In deep forest, or canyons you can lose signal. I do not think this unit is a sensitive as larger units. I know the wrist strap versions (model 205 / 305) added an extended antenna specifically to help address this problem.

Note of interest - I have tried using this in an airplane. Held up next to the window it got signal and gave me continual data on plane speed and altitude - neat! Also works in a car for same purpose.

I have been using this for geocaching. My father has a more expensive GPS, but mine leads me to the cache just as well as his. Very good purchase for my intents and the price.

I use this navigator often and love its convinience, and features. I enjoy using it, and think it would rank a 90 on the 1-100 scale.
Of course, it's not the MOST perfectly accurate one around, but that's OK, especially for its price.
I highly reccomend this unit to any adventurer, due to its size and how easy it is to use after only a few hours.

I just purchased and received this recently as a Christmas gift for myself. I have just gotten into Geocaching and this unit fits the bill perfectly. You cant beat the size and ease of use for this unit. Its very compact but packs all the features you need into this small package. If you are geocaching you dont need WAAS. A WAAS receiver will get you within 15-30 feet of a cache and this one will do the same. I was able to learn the basic functions of this receiver with little or no difficulty. I wanted a unit that I could use for awhile and then upgrade. When I got mine...it was 69 bucks minus 20 for mail in rebate which means I got a good quality basic GPSr for under 50 bucks. Sure you can find some cheaper on ebay, but they are not brand new, nor as easy to use as the Garmin Geko 101. The only things that would make this GPSr perfect would be the ability to download/upload data via computer and the ability to connect an external power source. I knew it didnt do that when I purchased it so thats why I ranked it at 5 stars. I will upgrade later on to a receiver that has those functions. If you need a basic GPSr to use geocaching, or doing other outdoor activities...this is your baby!

User friendly, you don't need a more expensive product unless you need lots of extras. This unit does far more than I expected.