joeadnan

I recently bought a reradiating antenna for my GPS12. When I go hiking, I stick the unit into a side pocket. The antenna is attached to the strap of my backpack at the shoulder with loops of rubber from a bicycle's old inner tube.

I think the design of the handlebar mount for the GPS-12 series is poor. I've broken 3 while mountain biking (at the clamp hinge). Unbelievably, the handlebar mount for eTrex series is even worse. The whole weight of the unit is placed on a little pin attached to the battery cover. Many riders have reported that the battery cover came loose over time, possibly due to the pins gouging out the body from the vibration. Apart from that, I've been happy with my Garmin, though I wish they'd build a non-mapping, 2AA battery unit that takes an external antenna and has a 10,000 tracklog capacity.

I've played around with the yellow e-trex, and I found the inability to pan in the map page was a significant drawback. I would go for the Legend, as it includes the data cable AND has a mind-boggling 10,000 tracklog capacity. In addition to downloading waypoints, the cable is useful for backing up your data, and for saving previous trackslogs. You can upload the tracklogs back into the GPSr later, so you can follow a path where you've previously been. Poor man's mapping, but if used in conjuction with scanned paper topo maps is a cheap and cheerful solution for hikers amd mountain bikers.

Thanks for that. Looks like just the solution I need.

I've got a GPS 12, and have problems with reception under heavy tree cover, typically in dense, primary forest. Otherwise, the unit is great (though more than 1024 tracklog points would be nice ;-). The unit is used during mountain biking and hiking. My question is, has anyone had any experience with reradiating antennae? Do they significantly boost reception? Can they be expected to track through the 100-foot-plus canopy of a dipterocarp forest? Secondly, is there a model that can be powered by batteries? (I've seen photos of the Tri-M antennae, but they plug into a cigarette lighter socket.) Ta in advance, Joe