Customer Reviews

Garmin eTrex Handlebar Mount Bracket

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(50)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

I've been using an E-Trex for hiking, kayaking and biking pretty much since it came out, and I'm still pretty much enamored of it. This adapter certainly makes it easy to use the E-Trex on your bike, but I do have a few reservations about it.

The adapter plate consists of a replacement for the battery compartment cover on the E-Trex and an adapter that clamps on to the handlebars with a screw. Remove the stock cover, slap on the replacement and it's ready to clip on the bike. If you intend on only using the E-Trex on your bike, this works pretty well. If you plan on using your E-Trex for more than one sport, you may be changing covers back and forth regularly, since the replacement cover doesn't fit easily in a shirt or PFD pocket,

While the regular battery compartment cover seals via a rubber coating over the entire cover, the cover that comes with this adapter uses a skinny O-ring that's supposed to sit in a groove on the cover. The problem is that it pops out every time you remove the cover, whether to change batteries or just to switch covers. It's easy to drop the O-ring and it's a bit of a fussy job to get it back in the groove. Once sealed in, it seems waterproof enough.

Since my main use for my E-Trex is kayaking, I finally decided to stick with the original cover and gave the adapter away to a friend. If you plan on using your E-Trex exclusively on a bike, though, this is definitely the way to go.

The mount consists of two pieces. One piece fastens onto your handlebars. It attaches very firmly and will prevent the unit from moving even over the roughest terrain. The other piece replaces the standard battery compartment cover on the GPS. When you want to mount the GPS to your bike you just snap the two components together.

I was impressed by the quality of the pieces and suspect that it will be very durable. I only have two negative comments regarding this design. First, the handlebar mounting piece is tightened on via a screw. I have a road and a mountain bike and will want to switch the unit between the two. I would have preferred some sort of quick release mechanism that does not require the use of tools. Secondly, I wish that the battery cover did not have to be replaced with the new one. The one that comes with the bike mount is not rubberized and it has a clip on it that could catch on things. That means that you'll want to put the original cover back on the GPS if you want to use it as a hand-held. Having to use two different covers means that there is just one more piece that you'll need to remember to bring on your trips - and one more thing to possibly lose somewhere.

Despite these gripes, I am very impressed with the mount and can recommend it.

I planned buying it for mounting my e-Trex Venture on my motorcycle. None of the reviews here could help me in getting rid of my worry: will it fit in my handlebar? I assumed it will, so I purchased it. The result? PERFECT FIT. Using the thick rubber strap I could securely attach the handlebar mount and the GPS clicked-in in a snap. Naturally there's a lot less vibration on a street/road motorbike handlebar than that on a mountain bike, so that would not be a problem for me. I was wrong, since I noticed several times GPS suddenly turned off while riding. So be careful 'cause battery lid can actually provoke false electric contacts from time to time, turning the GPS off. I got through this by placing a thin piece of foam over the batteries which made the lid to close tighter and solved the problem.

I've had this for 8 months or so and I like it. But the bike mount has a major flaw. The battery cover has a very loose fit with the main unit. It got so bad that it managed to turn off the GPS on a ride over a fairly smooth road.
Here's the fix. Two pieces of electrical tape. I wrapped one piece around the bottom of the battery case and one around the top (this required scissors to trim the tape). I don't know how this affects the waterproofing, but the battery case grips the GPS like a limpit and everything works 100% better now.

I use this product for mountain biking, and although I find it very useful, it still needs to be improved. These are some of the cons I found:
- Whith exesive vibration, the etrex can suddenly turn off. I think this happends because the bycicle mount cover doesn't hold the batteries as thight as the original cover.
- The thin o-ring inside the cover falls very easely and it can be very hard to find if dropped.
- The rubberbands provided for mounting it in the handle bar are either too thin or too thick, so you might have to put one of your own.
- It is difficult to get the etrex off the bike mount, sometimes you need to apply a lot of strenght.
- The bike mount cover doesn't adjusts as well as the original and has some movement. I haven't tried it under heavy rain, but I think this might compromise its waterproofnes.
- When mountted on the handle bar, the etrex becomes very exposed to be damaged if you fall or hit a tree.

I bought this for use with my new Etrex Vista HCx. The battery cover that comes with the mount does not fit onto the Vista HCx, due to the micro SD card slot, which gets in the way. You need to use the small plastic piece that comes with the gps unit (screws on the back) in order to snap it onto the handlebar mount. I tried to use the replacement battery cover that comes with mount at first, and almost sent this back until I realized my mistake.

A lot of people, in reviewing this product, complained that in order to use the bike mount they had to replace the original back cover with a lesser one--included with this purchase. This is no longer a problem.

My eTrex Legend C, which I bought from Amazon Warehouse at a great price, came with a back made to take any adaptor they might think up--not unlike a camera comes with--and the adaptor itself with a note saying not to discard it because it works for various mounts. This and a cable might have been a bonus with my purchase, so I can't say for sure it will be included automatically--that's a question for Garmin to answer, as well as whether or not they sell the new universal mount capable back separately. The clip is easy to screw on with most any US coin.

I finally ordered this bike mount on Amazon because I couldn't find it anywhere in any store--in New York City of all places. There are plenty of stores that sell it online, but none any cheaper than Amazon and its affilliates. Of course I wanted this right away so I could use it on my bike immediately, and in the end it simply wasn't worth the search outside of buying it here. It was far cheaper on Amazon, as most places want about $30 (which is insane, as if the map software wasn't expensive enough). I was also worried that the clip wouldn't work with the older type mount being ordered, but it wasn't worth waiting any longer to check first.

Sure enough, the clip they gave me worked with the mount even better than the replacement back provided with this purchase--which has a cheezy clip on a cheezy backing by comparison. There was nowhere that sold just the mount without the replacement back, but I don't know that they would lower the price if that were the case anyway.

PROS: This mount works great. It doesn't rattle or move on the bar when installed properly, the materials and design are right for the function, and it works better with the new clip featured on my eTrex Legend C than with the back included with the mount. Also, the bracket is even lighter than I expected given what it's made for, and yet doesn't seem any less reliable.

CONS: Why oh why can't they manage to get the concept that we need a bracket that can mount the GPS on the stem instead of the bar?! Not only would this save bar space for all the other stuff we attach to a bike--cyclocomputer, lights, etc . . . --but it would protect the very expensive GPS unit better in a crash and be easier to see and use while riding. Since they already made the new GPS cycling computer mountable on the stem, I don't see the gap in logic that prevents them from making it possible to do the same with an eTrex series unit.

Bottom Line: great improvement from the original spec-ed design, for new purchasers anyway, but still could be made better for both cyclists and anyone else who would like to mount their unit on a vertical bar instead of a horizontal one. For instance, they could make a clip option that's horizontal instead of making a change to the bracket--which is fine as is.

I have one on my touring bike and racing bike and used them on virtually every ride for a total of 9,000 miles last year (cross country and Atlantic coast rides). There are a few problems, but they can be worked around. The whole reason for the problems is the hard plastic design, as opposed to the hard rubber of the original battery cover. The batteries can slide around more easily because of the slippery plastic and the lower pressure this cover has. The solution is to put thin rubber or felt pads inside the cover to add a little bit of pressure and friction on the batteries. I use the green felt discs you use to put under lamps, on cabinet doors, etc. that you can get at any hardware store. Also, slightly bending the battery contacts to apply some more pressure on the ends helps. Once I got it dialed in for the batteries I use (believe it or not, AA batteries do differ slightly in diameter) it works pretty reliably on pretty bumpy roads. On a 4000 mile cross-country trip mine reset once or twice. I'm sure that mountain bikes will have more problems.
The downside of putting a wedge/pad between the batteries and the cover is that the cover won't seal around the gasket (easy to lose, be careful) as well. On one particularly rainy all-day ride I noticed a slight amount of moisture inside of the battery compartment, but not enough to cause trouble.
One other problem with the hard plastic design is that after a while it wears down and the mount gets a little loose so that it rattles around on bumpy roads. A little grease fixes that problem short term, but I am now buying another one to start fresh.
Bottom line is that it isn't perfect, but is the best solution I've found and can be made better by a little tweaking.

For Cx owners, if a different cover were supplied, it would be a good product. The Cx models are designed to hold the microSD card under the cover. The replacement back supplied with this product does not fit the unit. Garmin could have easily molded a back for this mount that would accomodate BOTH the newer and older versions of the Etrex line with a rubber gasket seal. When you purchase a Cx series GPS, there is a supplied add-on mounting clip for the cover that protrudes and catches items when carrying the GPS off the mount.

The previous comment mentions the replacement battery door. my etrex came with a little clip that screwed on to the back of the existing etrex door so there was no need to replace. I can then slide in and out of the bike mount and car mount very easily. the tab goes on and off with a coin so no "tool" is needed. it doesn't seem to get in the way during normal use - it does fit in to the neoprene case but a bit more snug.