Garmin Etrex Legend GPS Receiver
by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $197.87 You Save: $2.12 (1%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $50.00 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin Etrex Legend GPS Receiver
Customer Review: Great GPS at an Excellent Price
Summary: 5 Stars
Overall the Garmin eTrex Legend is a very good GPS receiver. Reception although not perfect is much better then what some of the reviews led me to believe. I lost tracking once on a 60 mile interstate trip for about 15 secs. Considering that is was cloudy, there is a reasonable amount of trees around the interstate and the GPS was on the passenger front seat I was pretty happy with the result. I managed to get a satellite lock indoors as well but only when in proximity to a window and even then it was sporadic. Average accuracy for me was about 20-30ft. When WAAS satellites are in sight I got as good as 7ft and you could actually see the car changing lanes on the tracking log.The 8MB memory is for the most sufficient for a detailed street map of a single metropolitan area. Although no where nearly as detailed the built-in base map is also useful.
Battery life is good although not as good as advertised. WAAS does drain the batteries a little more so that may be the reason for my results.
Interface and features are as good as can be expected from a device that size and in this price range. The click stick can be a bit uncomfortable for right handed people but nothing you can't get used to.
Although I have not owned the device long it seems to be well built. I have not managed to put any scratches on the screen yet and I have taken few precautions.
Overall this is a great GPS with reasonably good reception and accuracy. Features are excellent for the price range. The eTrex Legend is moderately useful on the road ( no auto routing on the GPS ) and very useful for hiking, marine and aviation applications.
Customer Review: This beats Magellan, way better value for your money!
Summary: 5 Stars
I currently use a Magellan Meridian Platinum (the 'top of the Meridian line') at work. I looked at Magellan and Garmin units for my personal use. I ended up taking a 'chance' and bought the Garmin due to a friend's recommendation as well as the rebate etc.The 'chance' was well worth it. I love this unit. It performs as well as the Magellan (I used both units side-by-side in the field to test/compare them) but is more user friendly, easier to carry (less bulky), the screen resolution is better (although the screen is a bit smaller), and the click stick is a great feature. Additionally, Garmin's data transfers seem to have less problems (Magellan is quite tempermental when it comes to tranfering data to certain programs).
To dispel some misinformation: Yes Garmin is made in Taiwan, but the Magellan Meridian series is made in China (NOT Japan). (Note: I perfer stuff that isn't made in China - the non-China stuff has generally been of far better quality and durability). The click stick is quite sound and durable (it isn't like a pencil eraser).
Downside: You can add memory cards to the Magellan (which also increases the initial cost of the Magellan as you must buy the card seperately). However, the 8MB is easily sufficient for the vast majority of users (see some of the other posts regarding this) especially if you are not planning on adding other maps or massive amounts of waypoints etc.
Overall, in my opinion, the Garmin is a far better value. Garmin has definately produced a quality product that will bring my family a lot of enjoyment. I would highly recommend this unit over the Magellans.
Customer Review: Great product for the price!
Summary: 5 Stars
The fact is that there isn't a better GPS unit out there for this price. We bought it for geocaching and I highly recommend it to anyone who is just starting out with geocaching. As we have become obsessed with geocaching we have begun to see it's limits and actually just bought a higher end Magellan to use as our primary GPS unit.
Still, if you're not sure that you're going to love geocaching (or be using a GPS unit a lot for whatever you are buying it for) I would highly recommend starting with this GPS unit. It will get you up and running. You can download to it, it has some memory and gets good reception. It also is fairly user friendly, even my 11 year-old can use it.
Some things to consider...
*It does use a serial connector instead of a USB port (I don't even have a serial port on my laptop).
*It loses reception in heavy foilage areas more easily than the Magellan.
*It takes a long time to track the satellites to get started (sometimes up to five minutes).
*The compass only works if you are moving at a fairly good pace, so it is not very useful.
*A minor annoyance is that if you are running it on the cigarette lighter adaptor (which you must buy seperately BTW) in your car and you turn the car off or unplug it, it will turn itself off in 30 seconds. I'm sure this is to save on batteries, but it is annoying as heck when I forget to hit the button so that it doesn't turn off and I have to wait for it to track the satellites and get going again.
Customer Review: Garmin Etrex Legend is a Hands Down Winner
Summary: 5 Stars
Being a boater/explorer I've seen,tried,owned,reviewed,researched & studied about every handheld gps unit there is. I bought the Garmin Etrex Mariner when it first came out.At that time I also found the Garmin MapSource Points of Interest (POI) CD on sale (~2001) for ~ $[...]. I paid $[...] for the Mariner and used it for several years just fine. The Mariner only has 1mb memory, so one is limited in how much detail can be installed, and there is no mapping. The etrex Legend has 8mb onboard memory (no ssd card) and can do selective mapping, but I have found that to be quite adequate. With the POI CD (now costs > $[...] and maps are at least as much) I have downloaded on the Legend complete data (Points of Interests, Businesses, Marine databas with lights, ramps, lakes, rivers,& landmarks and still have ~ 40% memory left for recording tracks, routes and waypoints. The secret here is to use the POI CD on your computer and select only the map areas you will use. You don't want the whole world,just where you are going. To fully utilize the Legend you have to study and practice with it for at least 8hrs, then use it frequently to stay tuned up on it--there are many layers of resources in this little unit. Its not a turn by turn deal, but a true navigational poi database guide. Pocket sized, long battery life (controllable power consumption), attractive, really easy to use once learned. I find the grey scale (adjustable contast/brightness) easy to read in any light == why pay another $200 for color?Customer Review: Bad Recption? Learn How To Use It!
Summary: 5 Stars
The eTrex Legend is one great unit. It's easy to use and despite what too many people here say, it gets great reception, even under heavy tree cover. The key is to hold it the way the manufacturer recommends, which is flat, face up, pointing at the sky. If you hang the GPS around your neck (as one reviewer did), or let it dangle at your side, you will lose reception. Another key is to turn it on well before you enter the woods so it knows where the sattelites are. The latter is true for all GPS units.
I use my Legend frequently for geocaching and hiking in the dense, northeast forests and rarely lose reception and those few times I do, I regain it immediately.
As far as other features. It's compact and easy to use. The one handed operation is nice, though it's designed to be held in the left hand which can be annoying. I guess the point was to keep your right hand available for other tasks.
The base map is pretty useless, which is the case for all GPS's that I've tried, Garmin, or Magellan. But download the Mapsource Topo or Mapsource Metroguide and you get detailed maps which are incredibly useful for finding your way around. The 8 megs of memory is good if you don't travel a lot. It should hold enough maps to cover 50 miles in every direction, but if you travel a lot, you might want the extra memory of the Vista.
I highly recommend this unit for someone who wants an inexpensive, mapping GPS.