Ive owned an eTrex for about four years now. The current Amazon price is just 20% lower than what I paid then. Its quite remarkable for a piece of technology to hold its price so well, and is a reflection of just how well this unit is designed and specified.Essentially what you are getting with the eTrex is the lowest price entry to the world of GPS. But this doesnt mean that the unit is short on functionality.
If youre not a GPS-geek, the specifications about 12 channel GPS etc might not tell you very much. Our experience is that if you put the GPS on the dashboard or seat of a car, it finds enough satellites to navigate to around four metres accuracy. On the Virgin train from Birmingham to London it took it a while to pick up the satellites, but once it did, it happily navigated, gave speed, direction and location. Walking through moderately thick woodland the unit had little difficulty in finding its way.
This unit doesnt come with maps, and you cant download maps onto it, although you can (according to the specs, Ive never tried it) download a route from your computer.
What you can do, though, is connect it up to your laptop Mac or PC and use it with navigation software such as Route 66. Simply enough, the eTrex puts a pointer on your screen to show where you are, and moves the map as you move.
For me, this is where the eTrex really comes into its own. The cost of the serial cable is about thirty pounds. Add in the cost of the relevant software, and the total spent is about one hundred and sixty pounds including the eTrex. Cheap at the price - we have saved many times this cost in fuel savings over the years. More to the point, this is still less than the cost of a single GPS unit which allows you to download maps, and the overall resolution and functionality of laptop plus eTrex is far better than any map enabled unit on its own.
Of course, the higher priced units from Garmin can be used in this way as well, and offer their own additional functionality.
Nonetheless, the eTrex gives you all of the advantages of full GPS at the lowest entry point.
Finally, a word on batteries. We are still on our first set, although the battery level indicator is beginning to suggest that its time we replaced them.
Bottom-price entry to the world of GPS
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