which E-Trex model to buy?

[westbay]

I'm going to buy one, but would like to hear from members who have them and which model they would recommend. Thanks in advance.
:confused:

[BEAGLEMAN]

Okay I'll bite whats a E-trex???

[Huntress]

Westbay,

I don't own an eTrex, but I do know a few things about them. Which model to buy all depends on what features you want on your e-Trex unit.

The yellow eTrex is a tracker. It allows you mark your waypoints and keep track of your route. It can store 1 route and 500 waypoints and allows you to tracback 10 saved tracks.

The eTrex Venture is good for hiking, camping and fishing. It has a built in city point database, and will accept Mapsourse points of interests from the CD-ROMS. It can store up to 20 routes and 500 waypoints. It also allows you to tracback 10 saved tracks. It has 1MB of internal memory.

The eTrex Legend is a great unit. It is one of the smallest units you will find with built in road and highway detail. It can store 20 routes, 500 waypoints and has tracback for 10 saved tracks. It also accepts downloaded map data from the MapSource CD-ROMS, including topographic detail, business and residental streets, and points of interest such as restaraunts, lodging etc. It has a 8MB of internal memory.

The eTrex Summit has an electronic compass that will display direction when you are not moving. It also has barometric altimeter to provide you with accurate elevation and records the elevation profiles so you can track your total ascent over distance and time. It does store 20 routes and 500 waypoints and includes the tracback for the 10 saved tracks. It does not include a basemap and is not capable of downloading from the MapSource CD-ROMS. It is a good unit for hikers, climbers and hunters.

The eTrex Vista is the ultimate navigational tool. It has a detailed basemap, is MapSource CD-ROM compatible, and has 8MB of internal memory. It stores 20 routes, 500 waypoints and has the tracback for 10 saved tracks. It has the electronic compass that displays your direction, speed and heading. It also includes the barometric altimeter to record the details of your trek.

I personally like the size and the location of the operating buttons on the eTrex units. If I were to purchase one it would be either the Legend or the Summit. The cost difference between the two would probably lead me toward the Legend.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Huntress

[westbay]

Thanks "Huntress" & "SFK" for the e-trex info. I'll contact Splitshot and Northern_Outdoorsman for some "user" reaction to this versatile tool.

[boehr]

I have the yellow Garmin e-trex and I agree it's pretty basic but I love it and it works very good for me. It stays locked on in the vehicle, in the house if by a window and I have never had a problem with it in the woods, even in the pines. It boils down to how much you want to spend and what you really want to use it for. The yellow, if memory serves was about $100.

[islaysteelies]

I also have a yellow E-Trex...Used it last night as a matter of fact to mark rubs and deer sign on the property...the only thing I don't like about them is that sometimes you have an accuracy of 125ft and sometimes 10ft...You could be off quite a bit, but for the most part it's great...Would have been lost a few times without it

[Buckmaster Flash]

I have the etrex legend and I like it a lot. It comes with a base map that has most major roads, lakes, etc. It has 8mb of memory for adding more detailed maps. I use it both for driving in unfamiliar areas and for hunting. It has come in handy in both situations. I purchased mine from the net for $210, when just about all chains had it for $250.

Here is a link to the garmin site that has a chart of the features of each of the units in the etrex line. If the link doesn't work, go to the garmin site and it allows you to choose all or some of the garmin offerings for comparison. I used it when I bought the legend. One thing, if you go with the vista, the battery life is listed at 12hrs, with all the others listed at 18 hours or more. The legend is listed at 18hrs, but it sure doesn't seem like 18 hrs to me, although I have never officially tried to clock battery life. Anyhow, I always carry spare batteries. Here is the link to the garmin comparison chart and a link to pricescan.com that gives you the list of the cheapest prices for the etrex units. The cheapest price for the etrex legend is $206, the highest price listed is $265.

http://www2.garmin.com/products/comparison.jsp

http://www.pricescan.com/SearchResults.ASP?Category=electronics&SearchString=gps

[el Cazador]

I have the E-trex Venture and have been pretty happy with it...still trying to figure out everything.

I like it most for pre-season deer scouting...I mark where/when I spook deer, location of rubs/scrapes/sign, location of other blinds/stands (public land). It's also invaluable when trying to find your ground blind in the dark!!