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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 61 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 50 found the following review helpful:
 Great GPS Aug 23, 2006
By R. Linder
"Spitfire"
Finally, the perfect handheld GPS. The addition of microSD cards to the eTrex line has made the ultra portable unit the perfect companion to carry with you on all your adventures - land, sea, or trail. Although the unit comes with a 64mb card, I purchased two 1gb cards. When you own a Garmin Mapsource product, you are allowed to use it on up to two units. I already own Recreational Lakes and Fishing Hotspots, as well as CitySelect which came with my Garmin GPS V Deluxe which I still use all the time locally in my Jeep and on one boat because of the mounting ability and NMEA output. The GPS V, however, is limited to 19mb and is now utilized in the regions I most frequent. Unlocking CitySelect for the eTrex Legend Cx was simple at the Garmin website. I would recommend first updating the software in the unit to the latest version, which is now just a few keystrokes with Garmin's Webupdater software downloaded from their site to handle the large capacity cards. On one card, I have Recreational Lakes East and CitySelect for the entire Northeast and MidAtlantic regions. On the other card I have the remainder of the US and Canada. The cards are smaller than the fingernail of your little finger. The eTrex Legend allows you to enable all or whichever Mapsource products you want. When not using it on the road, I disable the CitySelect to take full advantage of the Recreational Lakes software. If you do not own a mapsource product already, then purchase CityNavigator which I believe Garmin has updated the most for the points of interest and new roadways.
For my needs, the Legend series is ideal. If you climb mountains, ski in the wilderness, or are involved in search and rescue then the Vista series would be better because of the more accurate altimeter and compass.
I really like how easy the screen can be read in bright sunlight. The battery life has exceded my expectations, but always carry some spares and you should purchase a 12V adapter for use when a socket is available, especially if you want to turn up the screen brightness.
If all you want is a car navigator, then this is not the ideal unit. It is pretty much a handheld, although after some fiddling around I found the best way to mount it in a vehicle is with velcro. There is an available windshield bracket. The 60Cx and 76Cx may have better acquisition in canyons or under canopy in rainforests, but the smaller size of the eTrex series will allow you to carry it with you virtually everywhere.
The more I use it, the more I love it. Hope this was helpful.
26 of 26 found the following review helpful:
Great all around GPS May 24, 2006
By Kevin Lemoi
Like with anything I do, I did a lot of research before I bought this GPS. At times I confused myself ... so many options and models. But in the end I realized that I was looking for a GPS that could do it ALL. I wanted a color unit that I could use for hiking, geocaching and car navigation. Having recently moved from the country to the "city" I was constantly getting lost, so city navigation was something I really needed. I hesitated a bit on this unit because of the "screen size". Trust me when I say... don't worry... this unit is SO accurate with the City Navigator software it offsets the "slightly smaller" screen size from other GPS units. I purchased a vent mount for the GPS and I can see the streets and my location just fine. For a time I looked at the 76cx but realized that unit was physically too big for my preferences. Again, I wanted something smaller to carry with me geocaching. In the end I went with the Legend CX for several reasons, the color screen, small size (great for hiking) expandable memory card for maps and compatibility with City Navigator v7 (Which I highly recommend)
I received my GPS 4 days ago and I love it! On my way back from a recent geocaching event I got lost in Southern, NH. I turned on the GPS and it located my position within 1 minute. Thankfully I had made a "Home" waypoint. I instructed the unit to route me home, it worked perfectly. I went though back streets I had never seen before ... I thought I was lost, but no! This unit got me right home. The unit beeps once when a required turn is approaching and beeps 2x when you are less than 50 feet from the required turn. I purchased a 1gb MicroSD card and I can get almost all of the US (HIGH DETAIL) loaded. EXCELLENT. The reason I gave this unit 4 stars rather than 5 is because it does not have the new sensitivity chip. While geocaching I did loose the sat. connection under dense trees, but I think that would have been the case with any GPS. I paid $245 for the GPS, $35 for the 1gb card, $9.95 for the vent-mount and $100 for the City Navigator. So all together I have under $400 invested. Eventually (maybe) I will buy a street pilot for my car to get the bigger screen, but right now I can't see the need. The vent-mount works perfectly to place the GPS where I can see it. Great unit, can't wait to get the TOPO maps for geocaching. You can do a lot of looking but in the end this unit had the best size, color, expandability and mapping features for the money.
32 of 35 found the following review helpful:
Finally (nearly) unlimited storage in the eTrex line Mar 08, 2006
By tjz
I bought this along w/ a 256 MB microSD card. Using MapSource US Topo, you can fit nearly half of the western US maps into the unit.
The screen is bright and easy to read while on foot, but it is fairly small for in car use.
Also, if you have the "Topo Streets & 3-D Views" supplement to the popular National Geographic Topo! line, you can transfer waypoints and routes between the GPS and the Topo! program. Just call it a "Legend C" and adjust the number of routes and waypoints / route. I'm sure Topo! will have a patch someday which has the Legend Cx in it by name.
It is very sturdy and being able to power it through the USB connection is very nice for at home and in the car use.
17 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Does everything I want it to do. Nov 11, 2006
By 71Stang
My first GPS was Garmin's iQue (Palm PDA + GPS) and it was a disappointment mainly because of its VERY limited battery life. This little gizmo is just great.
It is responsive - meaning that it powers up quickly and locks to sattelites in a decent time. It is quite sensitive - when hiking I can have it in my light jacket's pocket with open flap and it stays locked. Its processor is fast enough - so when you pan around the map, the screen refreshes pretty quickly. (Note - This is with "normal" setting for detail. If you enable all the detail then it starts to slow down. Also, it slowed down for me when I loaded up the memory to more than 300MB). The display is very good too.
Most important: 1. the buttons and the menus are reasonably intuitive. I could imagine them a little more easier to use, but they are quite good as they are.
2. the battery life is great! Two AA batteries have been enough for me to go on a week-long business trip, use it here and there to find directions, etc., and come back home with plenty of juice left over. I have not run it continuously on a back country hike to know if the advertised 30 hour battery life is really correct. But let's put it this way - I never worry about turning the unit off quickly to conserve batteries - I'm just careful to not leave it on unnecessarily. Just keep a pair of spare batteries with you and you'd be fine.
So, if you want a portable mapping GPS that will be there when you need it, buy this one and be done with it.
PS: I got conflicting information on the following so I'm clarifying it here - if you already own the MapSource map software, you can install it on a maximum of two devices.
15 of 15 found the following review helpful:
Good unit, with some reservations May 31, 2006
By J. Marley
"gadget guy"
I have no previous GPS experience, but have done some reading prior to purchasing the unit. I was originally going to purchase the Legend (non-color) unit, but the in-store demo of the two units won me over to color, even at the higher price.
I bought the unit with the top map (Wilderness package?) and in addition, added in the city streets package from Amazon after determining that, as reviewed by others, the built-in maps were really not adequate for travelling in new areas (and if you already know the area, why use the map?).
I've used the unit for some long-distance drives, both in cities I knew well ( Colorado / Oklahoma ) and in cities I was visiting ( Washington DC, Seattle ). The unit -- when it could get signal -- was generally more than accurate enough for me to get from point A to point B, and the city software POI were good enough to find a local Starbucks or gas station when I needed one.
A couple of words of warning: most notably, it doesn't seem to track very well in downtown urban areas ( Seattle ), and I ended up just turning it off after getting into the downtown arena with the many skyscrapers. Similarly, the DC tourist experience was a mixed bag, with heavy tree or building cover causing the unit to lose signal from time to time.
However, outside of dense urban areas, I wouldn't hesitate to follow its generally good (not great, but definitely useable) directions and destinations. It did take me a while to understand the basics, but at this point the unit is fairly easy to operate... and a lot of fun.
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