Upgrading GPS

Our old Garmin eTrex is beginning to annoy us. It takes a lifetime (or at least an hour) to get satellite coverage at the beginning of each walk,

"Are you indoors right now?" No
"Have you moved hundreds of miles?" No

Pause

"Are you indoors right now?"

It's broken screen is no longer weatherproof and I feel we are not making the most of its capabilities.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a replacement? I've been studying the Garmin Dakota 10. Its 'the long term replacement for eTrex', one expert predicts. It is also touchscreen and a Sat Nav for the car (a little unnecessary??)

Or should I freecycle the old GPS and go back to basics - letterboxing with just a compass?

As something of an 'old timer' I am well used to sighting compass and feel it is the right way to 'box' - more skill involved and what`s more - more pleasure on finding!!!(Downside - ............. frustrating when a box is not found - but that is the case in any situation)

To me the GPS is a `cheats' way of boxing, and takes away a lot of the pleasure of searching and finding. It has I believe opened the door to the LBT.

Saying that - I now prefer to use the GPS as it cuts down the wasted time and walking distance for me which is crucial since my injury and what I have to put up with these days. It also means I can cover more ground quickly and therefore have a more successful boxing trip. (Although I still maintain quality of stamps takes precedence on numbers)

TWA

Is someone hoping for a new one at Christmas then

Ha! Fingers crossed! If Santa got my list...

I can also see the Dakota 10 replacing the Etrex range.
If you did for some reason want to use it as a Sat Nav for your car you would however also need to buy City Navigator.
If you do not need all the features that the Dakota has EG Touch screen 850MB of internal memory etc, you could save some money and buy any of the etrex range with an H in the suffix. The H stands for high sensitivity Receiver which most of the Garmins have nowadays. Basically giving better accuracy

Colin

Hello Colin,

Having been raised as a map and compass man, I decided to join the modern world last year and bought myself the Garmin etrex (basic of basic models).

To me the pleasure is still in the map and compass. The GPS provides some 'interesting' data - but to be honest I could do without it. It is great for mapping distance, pin pointing position etc, but I walked for 40yrs without one !

I'm not against them and think they are really useful (and fun) devices, but there is nothing quite like trying to fold a map in the breeze - or chasing it from the top of a tor I did however buy rechargebale batts as the GPS seemed to go through my supply v.quickly. Are newer models rechargeable? (like mobiles) if so, this would seem to be a step forward.

Hi
I tend to use a map / Compass but I like to upload my track log onto the PC when I get home to see how the route I actually took compared to the one I planned. I reckon you can put on a good 3rd extra in distance trying to find boxes.
I don’t think any of the Garmin’s have built in rechargeable batteries! (They do supply the Oregon 550 with 2 X AA NiMH batteries and Battery charger but that is probably more to do with trying to justify the £400+ price tag)
The Dakota 10 like most Garmin GPS units uses 2 x AA’s, the battery life of the Dakota 10 is between 15-20 Hours which is pretty good and similar to many of the Etrex range. However this would be measured with the screen backlight turned off, If you were to have the backlight on all the time this would go down to more like 10 hours or less.


Colin

I have the Garmin Foretrex 201 wrist GPS which does have its own battery. I have a lead to plug into it to charge it up, just like a phone. Then another lead to download or upload the tracks and waypoints. Battery fully charged lasts me all day with some left over - think its logged at 15-20hours. Very useful bit of kit.

Sowerby Streaker wrote:I have the Garmin Foretrex 201 wrist GPS which does have its own battery. I have a lead to plug into it to charge it up, just like a phone. Then another lead to download or upload the tracks and waypoints. Battery fully charged lasts me all day with some left over - think its logged at 15-20hours. Very useful bit of kit.

I stand corrected , I completely forgot about the wrist GPS units, also of course the car one's have a rechargeable battery. I also have a Garmin Nuvi sat nav however the battery on that will only last about 3 hours or so as it really designed to run of the lighter socket in the car, and although it has got a pedestrian mode is not really rugged enough to go walking with.

Colin

I you can afford it, the Garmin Oregon seems to be the Rolls Royce amongst GPS receivers. Recently bought a simple Garmin 60Csx (as I prefer buttons to touchscreen and my phone really didn't cut it any longer for geocaching purposes) and it gets a fix in seconds - often even indoors.

One of the things I wanted (and failed to find) was the ability to charge it like a phone instead of replacing the batteries. One reason given was that these devices have to be rugged and the charging electrics in the device needed would be a point of failure.

Tamerton Chocolates wrote:I you can afford it, the Garmin Oregon seems to be the Rolls Royce amongst GPS receivers.

If I had the spare £350+ I would buy the Oregon 550T, well if the wife would let me anyway

I'd be frightened to death to take it on the moors incase I lost it or dropped it on a rock

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Santa didn't provide this Christmas... I'm now trawling the January sales for bargains.

Garmin's Dakota 10 is still top of our wishlist. Pentagon GPS are selling it via their Ebay store for £132 with free p&p. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/pentagongps/_i ... 513&_pgn=7

So WITC have you sorted out your new GPS yet Have recently been following you around some walks and boxes, so assume you must have. So what did you get