Handheld GPS Reviews

Garmin eTrex Legend Cx Waterproof Hiking GPS Product Reviews

Garmin eTrex Legend Cx Waterproof Hiking GPS Product Reviews

Great GPS, August 22, 2006

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.

Great all around GPS, May 23, 2006

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.

Finally (nearly) unlimited storage in the eTrex line, March 8, 2006

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.

Does everything I want it to do., November 10, 2006

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.

Good unit, with some reservations, May 31, 2006

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.

Saved my life, January 1, 2007

I bought this item before setting off on a two week, solo hike in late autumn through England’s Pennine Way – 268 miles over some pretty rugged and desolate country – the high moors of Derbyshire and Yorkshire.

Within one hour of starting out on Day 1 I was in trouble, the victim of notoriously changing weather conditions. Just as I reached the plateau of the 2000 foot Kinder Low, 40 knot winds, driving sheets of rain, and heavy mist cut my visibility to less than thirty feet. Map and compass were useless. Fortunately, I had brought the Garmin along, with the base map for the UK, and had preloaded coordinates for various waypoints into it before starting out. I am convinced that without the Garmin I would have been lost for hours, and given the weather and isolation, in serious trouble.

The Garmin performed well whenever I used it on the trail, in some pretty wet and severe conditions. Batteries lasted over 24 hours if the unit was turned on continuously, and for days if used intermittently.

Drawbacks – will not work if you are standing under trees, and often will not work in cities. Forget about using it in an auto – impossible unless it is a convertible. City navigation is set up for drivers (even though you cannot use it in a car) which means if you are walking through a city you cannot utilize shortcuts and pedestrian passageways when using the follow roads mode. If you try to use the bearing mode, frequent loss of signal due to tall buildings are an aggravating complication. And the small screen size prevents you from getting a wide area view without minimizing detais and readability – a no win situation, since you can’t tell which way to deviate from the bearing in some situations, leading to backtracking and more aggravation.

Also, in addition to the price, you have to buy a base map, about $300, for each geographical area.

I took this unit around the world with me. Worked well in the North Atlantic, often pinpointing location within feet of where our 17,000 ton freighter’s computer navigation system said we were. UK coverage excellent, even in remote areas. Useless in Shanghai and Nanjing, China – never picked up a single satellite. Spotty coverage in Australia’s Outback. Seems to work well in the USA but I don’t have the basemap to go along with it.

Waypoints can be added manually on the unit, or via a USB hookup to your PC. You might have to pay for the waypoint info, though.

Phone support was excellent. I called on the toll number and wait was minimal. The person who helped me was extremely competent, polite, quick, and very knowledgeable – a real plus when I needed to get this unit up and running – it was ready to go within hours of coming out of the box.

Best Value Handheld GPS, May 24, 2007

I think this is the best value for a handheld GPS, it is true that Vista CX has an additional barometric altimeter and electronic compass (that allows you determinate North when you are not moving), also is true that Nuvi’s have greater screen, but Vista CX consumes more batt and costs $50 more, and Nuvi’s are bigger (although if you want a GPS for using in your car, I recommend any Nuvi or StreetPilot).
Almost all was said in previus reviews: Legend CX had very good screen definition, fit in my had, has memory card slot, battery last a lot, make routes really quick and accurate, had several ways for viewing routing information and you can connect it to PC’s.
About maps: Legend CX (and Vista CX) comes with a basic built-in world map, “basic” means map shows all cities in the world, coastlines and greater highways, no more than that.
Probably (almost sure) you’ll want to have a detailed map of your home location or of the location you go to travel on next vacations. Well, first of all you have to buy a memory card with more capacity (I recommend at least one of 524Mb), consider that detailed data of one State (USA) uses about 50Mb (+/- 10Mb). Then, you have to buy software: Metroguide or City Navigator both managed by Garmin’s software Mapsource, what is the difference?, well Metroguide costs about half than City Navigator; you can download data from Metroguide to several Garmin GPS, City Navigator comes lock, so you can use it only in ONE GPS; but with City Navigator, GPS can make a route to the destiny, that means GPS calculates fastest route, including directions of where to turn and how. Nevertheless, on Internet are patches like “Metrowizzz”, those kind of software permit that Legend makes routes similar to City Navigator. Finally, I have to say that are detaled maps for almost any country, you could visit Garmin’s website to see where to buy maps for other locations different than USA, Canada or Europe.

no complains so far, January 9, 2007

Brought this about a year ago and have been very satisfied with it.
Pros:
* Solid construction.
* Good battery life.
* Very readable screen (I was pleasantly surprised).
* The controls are slightly tedious, but works for a handheld. Even single hand operation is fine.
* I found the cursor controls more suited for left-handed ppl. I am a lefty so I am happy . Or maybe I am just used to it now.
* Expandable memory.
* Tracks are quite accurate. This is included in the base software.

Cons
* The satellite reception is spotty under tree cover. But seems better that garmin iQue.
* City software costs extra. I got it a license from my friend for CitySelect NA. (Each software has 2 licenses, for 2 devices).
* The software has some short-comings.
** Like you can find a place near a remote location. E.g. if I am in San Francisco, I cant find a pizza place in San Jose. It will only give me pizza place in I think 50m radius of San fran.

My 1st GPS, December 28, 2006

After reading countles reviews, I found the Legend Cx was the best entry level low cost solution. I am able to use every function on the device flawlessly after about 20 hours of reading the manual and testing it out. Do not expect to pick it up and simply navigate where you want to go.
eTrex= 1st basic model
eTrex C= color
eTrex Cx= Color + eXpandable memory
You will need to buy additional items that require expandable memory. The basemap is pointless and the Garmin mapsource is not accurate. I purchased City Navigator V8,$110, trust me, for any onroad use, it is not optional. Expandable memory to store the entire united states, $20, much needed for additional maps. External power cord for your car,$20, saves batteries, as you need the backlight on in the car. Garmin windshield mount, $25, works better than expected and is much better than holding it in your hand.
Great GPS, with excellent reception. I am younger and do not find the small screen a problem whatsoever. Look at the GPS in the store to see the actual size, and make sure you can read the screen. I am very happy with the Legend Cx, but be prepared to spend $200 more on accessories wich allow you to actually use the device.

great little versatile unit!, August 17, 2006

I found this to be the perfect balance between portability and car usage. It’s bright enough and colorful in the car, yet small enough to carry around with you on a hiking trail. It takes a while to get a signal when it’s starting cold, however, after that, say, if you turn it off to run into a gas station and then come right back out, it pops right up. Looses signal when amongst tall skyscrapers and under heavy duty forested trees, but I still gave it a 5 star review because that is to be expected.

Warning: buy rechargeable batteries or the AC adapter, because on MAX brightness you will suck the batteries down very fast! I have it plugged into the car when I’m using it in the car. Neat device!!!

Also, you won’t be able to do much of anything unless you buy a map package for it.