Garmin eTrex 20, Worldwide

This is update to prior review. I liked the eTrek 20 a lot but a question from Amazon got me looking at the Oregon 650t as well. Got question on review saying was comparing to Oregon. My kids ended up getting me that for Christmas. It IS more expensive (a lot!) but the t model includes the 1:100K map preloaded so I can have that for travel while keeping my 1:24K map inside for use locally. Also has a camera with flash that I can use to geocashe and general use. Nice when sailing and do not want to take regular camera. The Oregon 650t has a touch screen and its screen is quite a bit larger (3 inch diagonal vs 2.2) and only slightly larger overall(.3 width and .5 length with same depth). But it is more expensive so if price a factor (and when isn't it!) then the e Trek 20 is a great choice. At the moment Oregon 650t is 4 times as expensive as the e Trek 20 on Amazon so you have to really want those added features (or get as a gift!) to choose the Oregon 650t over the e Trek 20. On other hand it does include the 1:100K topo which goes for $80-100 but even so it ends up more than double the cost. But for those of us with Kindle Fire and I Pad (have both) and used to touch screen having that is very nice. Writing this before Christmas so have not tried the Oregon yet as it is sitting under the tree. Will repost after using a while and give comparisons. As mentioned below I found the toggle on the e Trek 20 bit awkward and I kept hitting the menu button when wanting to zoom in or out (same side) but once you get used to it works great. Manuals are not great but if you are adept at all with equipment like this you will eventually figure it all out. I suspect manual issues will be same with Oregon. For less than a third the cost of the Oregon (half if you want the 1:100K topo of US) it is a great device. Old review: Use this while hiking and sailing. Took a bit of getting used to with toggle vs touch screen. Kept wanting to touch the screen. Also menu can be bit confusing until you figure it out. Lots of features did not plan on using such as the area calculation (useful in measuring grass area of yard for fertilizer) etc. Bought with both 1/100K topo of entire US which is nice while traveling. 1:24K nice for my particular area. Did find installing the maps in the micro SD bit of a challenge. Overall extremely pleased and would buy again.

I have so many Garmin products it's ridiculous. A few of them have died over the years due internal batteries going dead. I bought this product instead of getting a dash-mount type model. I figured, why not get a device that can be taken out of the car as well? I like the construction, the feel, the usefulness, the quick locking of satellites and so on. The pixel resolution could be better. It's a bit grainy, but not that big of a deal... My only concern is that the main big button might get mooshed over too much and break or get stuck or something. That big button thing seems fairly fragile. The menus are easy to understand. It's easy to change the batteries. It works like a gps you would expect. You can zoom in and out. I feel the zoom in and out should be reversed though, I always get it backwards.... All in all, it's a sturdy little GPS, great for hikers and backpackers and stuff like that. I would buy this again...but I worry about that little button....Will it hold up?

The eTrex 20 is great for geocaching and (with the City Navigator maps from Garmin) navigating around cities. With WAAS/EGNOS enabled the receiver is routinely able to get position accuracy of +/- 3 meters and frequently is able to get within +/- 2 meters. This is outstanding accuracy for a handheld unit. The eTrex 20 improves on the original "yellow" eTrex from years back: the thumbstick makes navigating the on-screen interface simple and easy. The rubber armoring on the original eTrex could easily separate from the plastic body but the harder gray plastic on the 20 seems much more durable and integrated into the body. The addition of the microSD slot (with support up to 16GB cards) means that one can add tons of additional maps without worrying about the internal storage of the unit. The microSD card slot is located in the watertight battery compartment under the batteries. While GPS satellite geometry is normally quite good, the addition of GLONASS support essentially doubles the amount of satellites that the unit can track, so you're more likely to keep a lock in otherwise-marginal situations like urban canyons. With the City Navigator maps, one can enter a specific address or select from the various points of interest and the unit can compute a route both on- and off-road as needed. This is enormously helpful when traveling to distant geocaches (as one can use the on-road navigation for the drive to a point near the geocache, then the off-road mode for actually finding the cache). It's equally helpful when navigating around unfamiliar cities on foot, on bike, or by car. I live in Europe and frequently travel to other countries and cities, so having a pocket-sized GPS receiver that has street-level mapping and routing capabilities is excellent. However, the 20 does have some drawbacks: while the color screen is perfectly viewable in direct sunlight (that is, it doesn't get washed out) the glass is very reflective and prone to glare. An anti-glare screen protector film is likely a good investment. The side buttons don't offer much tactile feedback. There's no key-lock, so be prepared for various odd behavior if you keep the unit in a pocket where the buttons could be inadvertently pressed (my pocket turned on the backlight and drained the batteries over the course of a few hours). Oddly, the unit comes with a MiniUSB port rather than the more common and more durable MicroUSB (although the smaller MicroUSB plug may seem more fragile, it's more rugged and the parts that wear out have been moved to the cheap, replaceable cable rather than the socket). One can enable GPS-only, GPS+WAAS/EGNOS, GPS+GLONASS, and GPS+GLONASS+WAAS/EGNOS. It's not possible to disable GPS entirely and use only GLONASS (either with or without WAAS/EGNOS) -- I'm not sure why anyone would want to, but it seemed useful to point out. While both WAAS (North America) and EGNOS (Europe) augmentation systems provide corrections for GPS signals, only EGNOS provides corrections for both GPS and GLONASS (WAAS does not provide GLONASS corrections). That is, Europeans can get corrections for both GPS and GLONASS from EGNOS while North Americans will only get corrections for GPS signals from WAAS. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the eTrex 20: it delivers great (+/- 2 or 3 meters when outdoors and on foot) accuracy, quickly locks onto satellites, and seems rugged and durable. The drawbacks are mostly academic and pose very little problems with day-to-day usage; I'm knocking off one star because of the lack of key lock (which is the most serious issue I've had with the unit). I would highly recommend this model for people who are are interested in the mapping features not available to the eTrex 10 and who don't need the barometer and compass in the eTrex 30. Update (2012-09-30): I incorrectly stated that EGNOS corrections to GLONASS were not used by the eTrex 20 and have updated the relevant paragraph above. EGNOS in Europe provides corrections to both GPS and GLONASS and the eTrex 20 receives and uses these corrections where possible. WAAS in North America does not augment GLONASS signals, so North American users will be able to use augmented GPS and unaugmented GLONASS signals.

Update 3/8/2014 Just returned from a hiking trip in Patagonia, my Etrex 20 performed extremely well. I viewed my trails on Google Earth and Map using the GPX files I recorded while walking in the cities, sailing in the lakes, hiking on the mountains and even trekking on the Perito Moreno Glacier. The maps I used are downloaded from the web links shown below. Update 8/19/2013 I have extensively used my Etrex 20 during my recent trip to the Pacific Northwest visiting many national parks with excellent performance. Both GPS and GLONASS were turned on. With full view of sky, the accuracy is 7-9 ft. During the hikes in the Olympic NP rain forest with tree tops over head, its accuracy is 20 to 30 ft. Etrex 20 is an excellent GPS unit with many features but requires a steep learning curve for a first time GPS user. These are my lessons learned: 1. Make sure to download Garmin's BaseCamp and update Etrex's software via BaseCamp before doing anything else. BaseCamp is a PC program complimentary to the Etrex. BaseCamp is an excellent computer application for viewing maps, storing and organizing data, planning outdoor activities, and creating and sharing your adventures. With BaseCamp, you can: * Import and view maps in 2-D or 3-D, including your TOPO U.S. maps and City Navigator® maps. * Create, edit and organize routes, waypoints and more on your computer. * Create and share Garmin Adventures. * View playback of routes, tracks and adventures. The manual and the intro videos for BaseCamp: static.garmincdn.com/basecamp/en/Default.htm youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz_3EG42rRDx6sN-eyPK7Gx05xYranmvv 2. Free Garmin-compatible maps can be downloaded from garmin.openstreetmap.nl, gpsfiledepot.com, openmtbmap.org/download/odbl/#maps, and wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download 3. There is a 3000-tile limit for the maps installed on the unit. Since installing maps to the "Garmin" folder on the SD card using MapInstall takes a long, long time, here is my trick to just install once all the maps you want and you can get access to all your maps quickly using a PC. Create a folder named "Extra Maps" inside the "Garmin" folder on the SD card, and move all extra maps you will need later into the "Extra Maps" folder. This will largely avoid exceeding the 3000 tile issues because Etrex only loads the maps in the "Garmin" folder but not the maps in the "Extra Maps" folder. You can then move maps between the two folders based on your needs. 4. These programs will come in handy: GPX Editor, GPSBabel and JaVaWa Device Manager in addition to BaseCamp.

I bought this for backpacking in the Rockies and doing fieldwork in Texas. This review is only based on initial familiarization and I have yet to use it much. I'm a little underwhelmed so far, but hopefully will like it more later. PROS: Nice size and good light weight for backpacking. Seems well made and durable. The controls and user interface are fairly easy to figure out. CONS: The enclosed "Quickstart Guide" is fairly useless. When you go online and actually find the appropriate real User's Manual, it's not much better. The manual for this eTrex20 model is also the manual for the eTrex10 and eTrex30, so some of the features are not applicable and it doesn't tell you this. The documentation also has errors. For example, both guides explained that you need to calibrate the compass. The menus they instruct you to follow do not exist on my model ("compass>menu>calibrate compass>start" vs. "compass>menu> and four other choices, none of which are "calibrate"). So you should expect to fumble around some unless you want to call tech support. Also, Garmin makes a big deal out of this model including their pre-loaded 1:100,000 scale topographic map. Unfortunately, its pretty useless. I don't see how you could use it for any reason. If you want a useful map, you will need to buy their 1:24,000 scale maps at around $100 each. These are not transferable between other devices, so figure the total cost of the GPS and the extra maps you are going to have to buy when you are doing comparisons with other products. As a minor note, the package does not include a lanyard. Amazon's advertisement says it does, which is an error.

Not going to lie when I first got this thing I thought I had made a mistake and you might think so as well. The instructions that come with it are not very helpful and there are not any maps preloaded on the device. However if you are a hiker and/or backpacker I urge you to give it a fair shot. Although granted there is a slight learning curve, once you figure it out it is AWESOME. Just tested this thing out EXHAUSTIVELY on a 2 week road trip up the eastern U.S. Trip consisted of hiking in Shenandoah national park, explored Philadelphia, two day backpacking trip in the white mountains in New Hampshire, and day hiking in Acadia national park in Maine. This device was literally the most useful piece of gear on the trip. Utilizing garmin basecamp software and the topo maps for the northeast that can be downloaded from their website, I had mapped most of our hikes already, including our backpacking trip. This device can tell you EVERYTHING- how far you have hiked, how much farther to a landmark, elevation, sunrise/sunset, what the trail looks like up ahead, illustrated elevation charts, and so forth. You can drop a waypoint flag to an important area that the device saves to allow you to return to that exact spot later: which I used both in the backcountry for where my food was hung and also in the city to various cool looking bars we discovered and wanted to return to that evening. I gotta say my opinion on this product went from initially- 'I'm going to return this' to 'HOLY SMOKES IM GOING TO RECOMMEND THIS TO ALL OF MY HIKING BUDDIES." Device is BOMBPROOF. Dropped numerous times not even a scratch. Takes two AA batteries. Battery life was great used it all day in Shenandoah, Philadelphia and new Hampshire before it went dead. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

I upgraded from the Garmin Venture Hc, immediately I noticed much improvement to the screen quality clarity as well as the maps, the roads were bigger and everything on the map was much more improved. The menu navigation is also improved and tiles can be moved around to your preference. There are different profiles to match what you wish to do with the device, Outdoor, Auto, Marine, Etc. Every Screen has the ability to change the data fields to your preference, The old Garmin's had this as well but it feels improved. This model is a step up from my old one because it did not support a MicroSD card but this one does, it makes a WORLD of difference now I can load SO much more TOPO maps on my device. It device also includes a birds eye view mode (Equivalent to Google earth view) for a yearly cost of thirty dollars (as of 5/30/2012) but you load it on the same way you load a TOPO map on the device (yes you can have both at the same time) this is really a key feature for my hunts. The only complaint I have for this device is the way the "Tracks" are done for example the tracks are always on and under "Track Manager" there is no way to turn the tracking off however you can do everything else to your tracks from this menu but in order to turn off the "Tracking" you have to go into "Setup" then "Tracks" and it will allow you to turn it off from there, on the last Garmin models all of this was under the same menu which was nice however a few extra clicks every once in a while isn't no big deal this is a great device. There is not much chance to the satellite receiver it is just as good but it does connect to more however it is still around 9ft off at any given time but not a big deal. The paper work this device comes with is just a "Quick Guide" as compared to the last Models had both a quick guide and manual but if you any bit familiar with the Hc models the navigation, menus and operations is much of the same. Over all great device I have not experienced any of the problems others are having and if you spend time to get familiar with your device I believe that will eliminate much of it but this is also coming from a tech friendly user. I would definitely recommend this to any one who is looking for a good outdoor GPS for the money.

Update: i see a lot of people complaining about using this while driving (one even saying it didn't call out directions). Read the product description before you buy this! Others question why you would use this instead of a smartphone. Again, this is designed for use outdoors in the hills - if you do not require a rugged, waterproof unit that runs on AA batteries and is not reliant on a daily recharge, and that you can operate in cold temps wearing gloves (try that on a touchscreen) then don't buy this. If you do need those features hen this will serve you well. I've now used this on multiple overnight hikes in below freezing conditions. I have used it effectively while wearing gloves and have found it simple to generate waypoints on google earth and transfer them through the basecamp software (OSX version) onto the device, where the show clearly on the colour screen. I recommend it to anyone who wants a rugged reliable unit for use in outdoor conditions. Not for driving - a smartphone would be better. But for hiking or outdoor work, which this is designed for, it performs very well. original: This is a great GPS unit for hiking. I don't do geo-caching and if I am driving somewhere I just use the maps app on my smartphone. So this review is about using this device for actual hiking out in the hills. I bought it to replace my old and trusty Garmin GPS12 which finally gave up the ghost (LCD screen died) after ten years of reliable use). This one is a real step up, of course. In use: . i downloaded Basecamp and it is simple to plot routes in Google Earth and export them into Basecamp and upload to the device. Its pretty intuitive and you don't need a manual. . operating the device is easy - it took half an hour of playing around with it to work out where things were. It's easy to specify the order you want the options to be displayed, and which data various screens will display. Again, it's intuitive and I didn't refer to a manual. . using the little joystick is pretty easy, it has a positive feel. The other buttons are fine, if small, and can be operated wearing gloves. . navigating to waypoints you've uploaded is easy enough and the compass screen guides you effectively. I have a few very minor criticisms which mostly boil down to "it isn't the same as my old one". These are just matters of taste, like which screen displays which data. I won't mark it down for that because I can already see it's logically laid out. Note: you need to actually know how to navigate with a GPS to get the most out of a GPS. If you don't know how, then take the time to learn. This device will give you good service, or so it appears from my short use of it, but like any device, you need to know how to use it properly. It's light, the battery replacement is simple, it seems as rugged as my old GPS12, and overall I am pretty satisfied so far.

ho fatto parecchie ricerche e alla fine (complice anche un'occasione nella sezione warehouse deals di amazon) ho deciso di portarmi a casa questo gioiellino. che dire: ottimo prodotto nonostante sia ormai un modello vecchio (se non sbaglio 2011 o giù di lì). avendo letto parecchie recensioni del prodotto mi permetto di puntualizzare alcune cose sperando di fare un pò di chiarezza. 1 - non è un navigatore per auto. si può usare come tale, ma non è il suo scopo, quindi risulta scomodo. non da indicazioni vocali e il monitor è piccolo. si può utilizzare per escursioni a piedi o in MTB, o anche bici da corsa. se per caso volete usarlo per escursioni estreme in cui ci sono pezzi in macchina (tipo rally o che so io) vi conviene avere qualcuno che lo tiene e vi fa da navigatore. 2 - non è difficile da usare, ma certo non è nemmeno intuitivo come un cellulare o un lettore mp3. il punto è che ci sono molte funzioni e configurazioni, quindi per sfruttarlo al 100% è indispensabile leggersi il manuale. manuale che però non viene fornito con il prodotto... però è facilmente reperibile su internet gratis e in modo del tutto legale. viceversa, per un utilizzo base (andare da un punto A a un punto B o per seguire qualche traccia già fatta stile google maps) basta poco, a seconda della vostra dimestichezza con la teconologia. 3 - il navigatore funziona molto meglio di un cellulare con gps attaccato, è più preciso e più veloce nel seguirvi. senza contare la batteria, che nel cellulare dura molto meno. può fornirvi una serie di dati all'apparenza superflui ma che risultano molto utili quando siete per sentieri che non conoscete. un esempio: può fornirvi l'altitudine di qualsiasi punto della mappa. il che vuol dire che potete calcolare il dislivello tra dove siete ora e dove state pensando di andare. utile se magari state esplorando un sentiero per la prima volta o se volete ampliare il giro di qualche km. assieme a questo potete sapere quanto manca al tramonto (in modo preciso), quanto manca al punto di arrivo (in tempo e km) eccetera eccetera. 4 - le mappe. ho letto di enormi difficoltà nel reperire mappe decenti, nel costo eccessivo di quelle della garmin.... su openstreetmaps trovate mappe gratuite e legali di tutta italia, compresa anche quella per trekking e mountain bike. ci sono anche ottimi tutorial per installarle sul dispositivo. ottime mappe perchè oltre alle strade contengono i principali sentieri escursionistici del CAI e le strade sterrate che magari su navigatori normali non ci sono (e a volte nemmeno su google maps). oltretutto potete inserire dei percorsi già fatti che vengono inseriti nella mappa, così da permettervi di seguirli senza sbagliarvi. 5 - le batterie. il problema della batteria in teoria non esiste, perchè usando pile stilo basta portarsene dietro alcune di ricambio e sostituirle nel caso si scaricassero. il navigatore garantisce un autonomia di circa 25 ore, ma dipende molto dalle pile e dalla luminosità (regolabile) dello schermo. io posso dire che con le pile "amazonbasics" ricaricabili appena comprate ho fatto parecchie ore (forse una decina) e le batterie segnano ancora 2 o 3 tacche su 4. io lo uso per la MTB e devo dire che dopo un paio di uscite non saprei come fare senza, non avrei mai trovato certi posti o certi percorsi, se non dopo svariati tentativi, col rischio di perdermi o di finire in strade scomode. in conclusione, amenochè non abbiate esigenze particolari legate ad un particolare modello consiglio questo prodotto anche per il suo prezzo contenuto.

Super and accurate also Thanks ## Seller Modern Survey Instrument Great Service

Un GPS polivalente, los mapas que traen incorporados son poco útiles, por suerte podemos instalarle mapas gratuitos de Topohispania, tanto o más detallados que los que podamos comprar a Garmin. Cuenta con una memoria interna de 1,7Gb y slot para microSD. La visibilidad de la pantalla a pleno sol es muy buena, así como en sombra con retroiluminación activada. Por contra, si no la activamos y estamos en sombra, veremos muy poco. Aparentemente se desenvuelve bien con los mapas de Topohispania y la pantalla es lo suficientemente grande para poder verla en plena ruta de MTB. Por contra, es un GPS aparatoso, de tamaño y peso similares a los antiguos móviles Alcatel One Touch Easy. Funciona con dos pilas AA que en estos menesteres, casi que lo prefiero a las baterías de litio recargables. Es una compra acertada a un precio realmente ajustado. Si buscas un GPS con un precio económico, resistente y polivalente, éste es tu aparato.

Diese Navi ist ideal für Menschen, die gerne ihre Touren am PC planen. Ich nutze zur Planung "komoot". Hier habe ich die Möglichkeit meine Touren nach meinen Wünschen zu gestalten. Anschließend speichere ich die entsprechende gpx - Datei auf meinem PC. Danach übertrage ich diese Datei auf eine SD-Karte, die ich ins etrex eingelegt habe. Als Karte habe eine von Kleineisel (kostenlos im Netz, basierend auf open street map) auf dem Garmin hinterlegt. Die gpx - Datei von komoot wird problemlos auf der Kleineisel - Karte angezeigt. Ein weiterer wichtiger Vorteil dieses Gerätes ist die Benutzung von handelsübliche AA-Batterien (Ich benutze aufladbare, diese halten ca. 5 h. Anschließend erfolgt ein Wechsel der Batterien, und weiter geht es). Ich benutze mein Gerät mittlerweile 1,5 Jahre und habe schon Touren von insgesamt über 10.000 km zurückgelegt. Bislang hat mich das Gerät noch nicht im Stich gelassen.

No tenia idea de que tanta diferencia podia hacer un posicionador geografico satelital, pero la verdad muy a gusto, su opcion de buscar locales excelente. lo recomiendo para situaciones donde no haya caminos y sin señal, ya que google maps funciona mucho mejor.