Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS

by Garmin

Product Details

Product Manual [919kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 2 x 1.2 x 4.4 inches ; 5.3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00003WGP5
• Item model number: 010-00190-06
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (217 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

A few years ago, when personal GPSs first became available, every geek from here to Poughkeepsie was enthralled about the possibility of always knowing exactly where on the planet he or she was. While the Garmin eTrex isn't the most feature-rich GPS out there, it will definitely come in handy if you don't want your next camping trip to end up like a scene from The Blair Witch Project.

The eTrex allows you to pack more detail into your adventure with added color, expandable memory, and automatic routing capabilities.

The eTrex is sort of a dumbed-down, rugged version of the company's more advanced eMap. Designed specifically for hiking, biking, and camping, the eTrex is one of the easiest-to-use GPS units available. It offers the ability to track up to 12 satellites so you never lose contact with one. The eTrex won't work inside--however, we don't anticipate that you'll get lost inside a building very often.

Among the eTrex's notable features is its ability to calculate your current and average speed. We used the eTrex to determine the distance from work to home, and to calculate how fast we were walking. This helped us gauge the average time it should take to get to work. This feature should really come in handy on extended hiking, camping, or cycling trips where planning your average speed and tracking the distance traveled is critical.

Sticking with its theme of simplicity, the eTrex has only five buttons, making it easy to use with just one hand (It's specifically designed for the left hand.) Weighing only 5.3 ounces with the batteries installed, the eTrex is also ultralight, making it an easy addition to a daypack. The eTrex is also waterproof, so a little water shouldn't damage the unit.

Turn-by-turn directions make long trips a snap.

Check your speed, ETA, and distance.

Great for calculating distance and directions for camping trips.

Get predictions for when it's best to hunt and fish.

The eTrex can hold up to 500 user-created waypoints. And using Garmin's TracBack feature, it's easy to plot a course with up to 10 waypoints and follow it in both directions. --Julian Strate

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Light
• Waterproof

Cons:

• Batteries only last about 20 hours

Product Description

The eTrex is sort of a dumbed-down, rugged version of the company's more advanced eMap. Designed specifically for hiking, biking, and camping, the eTrex is one of the easiest-to-use GPS units available. It offers the ability to track up to 12 satellites so you never lose contact with one. The eTrex won't work inside however, we don't anticipate that you'll get lost inside a building very often.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

308 of 311 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You will love your little E-Trex., July 3, 2000

By 

Ben Johnson (Queensland, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5" and 5.25" disks)

I recently bought an E-Trex primarily because of the low cost of the unit. 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 because I am also a recreational pilot, however the latest software revision (1.07) 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 cover (to be expected with a relatively small internal antenna) 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 am not disappointed with its performance in dense bush, and as anyone familiar with units with small antennas will know, it is just something you live with. I was using a magnetic compass in particularly dense areas where I experienced poor coverage and it is good navigation practice to use a magnetic compass and map in conjunction with your GPS anyway. In light and open cover I routinely get 8 metre accuracy and sometimes as good as 5 metre accuracy. If I turn it on outside near my last fix it usually gets a 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. 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 worth getting. I have used some shareware utilities such as "GARtrip" and "GPSutility" 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, it is a compact gem of a GPS with a big screen and for the price I believe it represents excellent value. Make yourself a data lead or buy one from Garmin because the shareware computer-based utilities are cool. Two thumbs up.

366 of 376 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Limited usefulness, June 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5" and 5.25" disks)

Very handy size: about as small as my Nokia cell phone, and a little shorter. Great for shirt pocket use. I'll toss it in my daypack when deer hunting.

Display is correspondingly small too: 1 1/4 by 2 1/4 inches.

But if all you want to know is your current location, your current heading, and the route back to your tent, it'll do the job.

Antenna is weak: even a light tree canopy or shirt pocket material gives it fits. No provision for external antenna.

The barometer/altimeter function is nice.

The complaint about the buttons being on the sides instead of the front/top is inane. It's designed for one-handed operation. There are only 5 buttons after all, and all of them are very conveniently reached.

Ditto the complaint about battery life. 2 AA batteries give 20 hours or so, 15 if you use the backlight a lot. So carry a couple of spares, put it in battery save mode, turn it off when not using for extended periods, etc. It's a FIVE OUNCE GPS... get a life.

If you're navigating your way to the Dry Tortugas or trying to find that new customer in a strange town, you'll want something more sophisticated.

But if you're a hunter, a hiker/climber, a bicycler, or just want a small, fun, inexpensive unit you can carry in your pants or shirt pocket, this is a very nice unit.

91 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wildland Firefighter likes eTrex, May 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Garmin eTrex Waterproof Hiking GPS (3.5" and 5.25" disks)

For the price and its size, it's a 5 star product. Compared to many larger/pricer units it can be only a 3 star. This is a very competetive marketplace and with the removal of the military Selective Availablity coding on May 1st, you've got to take the big leap and buy one. The eTrex shows accuracy of 11-20 feet commonly. In reasonably dense conifer forests around 60 feet. Put yourself in the bottom of a canyon in that forest and you'll have to spend say 5 minutes positioning your GPS to get 100 foot accuracy. That will not work for surveyors, but you'll get back to where you started just fine. Again, the main reason for this success is the military making the accuracy available to all of us. By the way THANKS. This unit is a very reasonable entry GPS Some Problems with the eTrex: 1) Doesn't have a simple map in it and you can't download quality Topo maps onto it. 2) Smaller size means smaller antennae and its reception in timbered canyons is weak. 3) No external antennae hook-up for when in your car. 4) Does not have a built in compass capabilty for when using a bearing, like the very similar Garmin "Summit" model that will be released shortly.(The summit will cost about twice as much). You really need to use a quality compass with it. But, as you should know, GPS will not repace map and compass, just enhance it greatly. However, for your money, this a geat little unit.