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Review the Garmin eTrex H
 
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The Garmin eTrex H

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Here's some recent Garmin eTrex H reviews:  

Scouter Wing
November 5, 2009

 		 I got 6 Garmin GPS, the buttons for this model is the hardest to push. I bought these for Scout Troop basic training, so far tough enough for the winter hike and camp.

 

RadioAustralia9580
October 10, 2009

 		 I've used GPS since 1993. Still got working 45, 45XL, map76, map176, eTrex (2002)and now a eTrex H. Also used Trimble & Magellan. Used eTrex H in PNG, Solomons, se Asia, across Australia, in snow & upto 48 degC. Used it hunting, rafting, skiing, bushwalking, SES S&R. Works very well in difficult locations like deep gorges, noticeably better than the Etrex. eTrex H can't be bettered at the price. Adequate battery life (really glad it doesn't use AAA cells which are an expensive and inefficient pox on electronics and not as readily available o/s) It does display deg/min/ss.s (previous user needs to read menus) My H hasn't shown the display faults others have described. It's running ver 3.10 software. I can put 5 gps side by side and get five different locations within 100m. It depends on the propagation disturbances from the available satellites and the processing power of the particular GPS receivers. Which in turn comes down to price usually. Both eTrex's seem to display slightly optimistically position error estimates. Assume any GPS reading from any simple receiver is at least 30m out and you won't be disappointed... unless you're using one that shows DOP directly, has a good satellite spread. ...and costs $500. I reckon the H has all the features you need (and few you don't: "hunting&fishing" page should be scrapped & menu space used for enhanced distance & Sun calcs like old 45/XL) My eTrex also has loosened rubber edging. Looks like adhesive deteriorated, went tacky & let go. The H is holding up so far. The font for location in UTM can be hard to read with aging eyes. A mega font for any one data field (cf 76/176) would be good. Garmin take note. It has a constipated set of waypoint icons: this is typical of Garmin & a pet bugbear of mine. But remember this is a basic gps. Some of the icons on Garmins are US-centric & irrelevant to walkers & hunters elsewhere. You can get 3rd-party icon sets. One thing I do miss is the recording of date/time for a waypoint. I find this is more useful than height (which for any simple L1 channel gps is only indicative). 45/XL recorded date/time but not height - eTrex does the opposite & it's a stepback in my view. An associated date/time is handy for sorting out waypoints in post-walk analysis and when reviewing waypoints years later. The supplied "owner's manual" for the H is basic to point of futility. Download a copy of the eTrex manual for ver 3.00 (c. August 2004) which will tell you what VMG, Next ETE are and describe the other options for the Trip Computer page. jeez I hate cheapo manuals especially when they're a backward step from previous good ones - Garmin take note. With an Etrex H, a silva type 7 compass (or suunto equiv), a map, a notebook & pencil, observant eyes and brain and you're on your way. (And a spare pair of AA!) Good walking/sailing.

 

Rhondle
March 7, 2009

 		 Having used this GPS for well over a year now I can safely say that despite a few issues, this is a great GPS for the price. The good: Unlike it's predecessor, the etrex-H has amazing sensitivity. I have used it in dense forest without any problems. I've even used it indoors and it still locked on to multiple satellites. The screen is pretty decent i've used it both day and night. It's a grayscale screen, so naturally it shows up pretty good in daylight. I had no problems seeing the screen in bright sunlight. I use this unit heavily for geocaching. Although Garmin's website doesn't list this unit as "Geocaching Friendly", it gets the job done just fine. You'll need a serial cable to hook up this GPS to your computer though - it's not included, and there's no USB port. Garmin will gladly sell you an overpriced cable but if you search the net you can do better. I personally use a home-brew serial cable, it provides a serial connector to hook up to my computer, and power to run the GPS in the car. The GPS is fairly sparse on features, but what do you expect from an entry-level GPS. If you need to get from point A to B and back again, this GPS will do the job just fine. Battery life isn't all that great, but it's still acceptable. With 2650 mAh NiMH batteries, I can get about 10 hours of continuous use - plenty for my needs. The etrex-H is a solid unit. I've probably dropped 50 times i've used it in the pouring rain i've used in temperatures from -20C to +41C. And it's still working like the day I got it. The bad: I have had some issues with this GPS. When I first got it, I noticed that there were vertical dark bars visible on the screen - not enough to obscure the text, but they were a bit annoying. In time they eventually went away, and I haven't seen any reoccurance of them in the past six months or so. The second issue is that the unit used to spontaneously power itself down without warning. All would be well, battery status was fine.. then *poof* the unit would be off. This, however, seems to have been resolved with the latest firmware update as I haven't seen this happen in quite a long time. The third, and perhaps most serious issue I have encountered was while geocaching in Australia: on two separate occasions I noticed that this GPS was displaying the wrong coordinates. This was confirmed as I had GPS 60 alongside this one and the coordinates were out by ~100m. Power-cycling the device didn't resolve the issue, but taking out the batteries and waiting a few minutes did. When the unit powered back up the accuracy was fine. While this issue was being experienced, the "accuracy" indicator on the satellite tracking screen never dropping below 10m. WAAS was disabled, and the terrain was flat with an excellent view of the sky (The GPS 60 isn't as sensitive as this device and it was picking up lots of satellite just fine). The fourth and final issue is probably due more to heavy use and extreme temperatures: The black rubber grip encircling the unit has completely detatched. I'm not really sure what kind of glue to use to repair it obviously it has to be flexible. Conclusion: This is the one to get if you need a GPS but not lot of fancy features. It does what it's supposed to do, and it does a great job. Just make sure you update to the latest firmware.

 

Lewis Marut
December 10, 2008

 		 Warning Do not buy this product. I didn't have this GPS for more than one month. The second day of use while up moose hunting I left the unit on the counter over nite. It was about 20 degrees F. I went to use the unit and noticed that the plastic faceplate had cracked. Not abused as accused by Raytech and Garmin. They both voided the warranty and to find this out I had to call them 1 1/2 months later to find out the status of my claim. They would not even contact me as to the status of the GPS. I will not purchase anything from a company which in my opinion does not stand behind their product. Warning Do not buy this product.

 

Joe
December 4, 2008

 		 Have had no problem with this GPS. Works great and locks on very easily in open conditions. Have not used it under canopy.

 


 


 
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