Yellow Etrex

[+ac-p]

I'm thinking about buying a GPS unit as a Christmas present for someone who seems interested in Geocaching, and my first thought was to get a nice bog standard yellow Etrex (they're fairly cheap in comparison to others). I've never used one but I've seen a lot of people swear by them so I'm not worried about the quality - I'm thinking of it from the point of view that I need something which is ideally easy to use and also has a very easy to see and read screen (they're a bit of a technophobe)!

 

Anyone with an Etrex tell me if this fits the bill?

 

Cheers!

[+mongoose39uk]

Very easy to use.

[+ac-p]

Thanks, what about the screen? Is it clear and sharp and not too small that they might get frustrated trying to see it properly?

[+mongoose39uk]

Nice easy screen to see, you can adjust the contrast etc. Decent size.

[+ac-p]

Sounds like it's probably the one to go for then, unless you can recommend anything else?

[+Longfram Kev]

I've used a basic "Yellow" for 18 months and it been great for me, even my 12 year old daughter finds using it simple.

[+Birdman-of-liskatraz]

Yep - I use one and my two sons use one as well. No problems... oh and my eyesights not perfect and I cope well with the screen.

[+The Mars Bars]

I have one and used it for 18 months B.C. (before caching)

 

Works great, screen is small but perfectly formed.

 

It is a great basic little unit and build quality is superb.

 

It seems to be just as accurate as my 60cs.

 

I would never part with it, it is useful as a back-up and as a second unit

when we are out as a family....saves all the arguments.

 

I paid £59,99 from expansys at the time but they seem to have gone up in price since...weird.

 

Cheers

Dave

[alistair_uk]

I purchased a US import for £70 from eBay all in and it has been great. Garmin support also has a great reputation. Unless you have some money to spend and want the whistles and bells I strongly recommend the good old yellow eTrex.

[barryhunter]

I too use the basic 'yellow' and think it does it's job very well.

 

the ONLY small niggle I have the Map display can become very crouded if you have lots of waypoints, would be nice to be able to just display the marker without the text label. But as I say not a big issue, just zoom in a bit more

[+Simply Paul]

I've used a basic "Yellow" for 18 months and it been great for me, even my 12 year old daughter finds using it simple.

Whenever I read a sentence like this regarding technology, I always mentally rearrange it, thus:

My 12 year old daughter has used a basic "Yellow" for 18 months and its been great for her, even I find using it simple.

 

SP

 

P.S. I've an ancient yellow which was a few years old when I bought it in mid 2003 and it's fine for caching. Easy to use, virtually indestructible and, dare I say it, cheap!

[NickPick]

I've also had a yellow etrex for 4 years. It goes virtually everywhere with me, takes all the knocks and bumps you'd expect it to, and it's very simple to use. I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

 

PS: Apparantly there is one disadvantage to the yellow - It's easy to mistake a banana for one, but the banana doesn't get as good a satellite fix.

[+Mr Nibbler]

As an alternative to the yellow you can buy a UK sourced etrex camo for £76.90p including postage - it's exactly the same unit as the yellow but I don't recommend dropping it in the woods! My son uses one and loves it (aged 15) and I've bought my eldest lad (22) one for Christmas.

 

BTW - I have nothing to do with the company.

 

etrex Camo

[+HazelS]

Hi Anthony

 

My parents use a yellow, and they are probably the biggest technophobes you could meet!!

 

They find it simple to use and are not at all baffled by any of the functions.

 

H

[+Jolly green giants]

We have a basic yellow etrex, a venture and a legend

 

The Yellow one always seems to get a good signal when the others fail! - especially in woods,

 

all are easy to use though - even for Robert who's 7

[Deego]

I wish I had kept my yellow . Nice bit of kit, I would recomend it to anyone.

[+ac-p]

Thanks to everyone for the advice - you'll be pleased to know I've gone and ordered one!

 

Cheers!

[+Simply Paul]

After Christmas, do let us know how they got on with it.

 

SP

[JackiePenn]

Can the yellow connect to a PC via cable ?

[+plymplodders]

I use a yellow Etrex a lot & it works very well. I download all the co-ords from GSAK straight to the Etrex from PC, easily done.

 

Pete

[+ac-p]

After Christmas, do let us know how they got on with it.

 

SP

Will do, but I dare say it'll be me having a play with it first so I can teach 'em how to use it!

[NickPick]

Can the yellow connect to a PC via cable ?

It certainly can, but the cable is not supplied with the etrex, and has to be ordered separately. I bought mine at the same time as the etrex, and paid about £25 four years ago.

[+Snosrap]

I've also had a yellow etrex for 4 years.  It goes virtually everywhere with me, ...

We've had virtual caches, virtual geocoins, virtual TBs and now virtual GPSRs - whatever next?

[+The HERB5]

Can the yellow connect to a PC via cable ?

It certainly can, but the cable is not supplied with the etrex, and has to be ordered separately. I bought mine at the same time as the etrex, and paid about £25 four years ago.

The higher models have the cable included ?!?

 

It may be cheaper to buy a blue etrex

[alistair_uk]

Can the yellow connect to a PC via cable ?

I got my cable for the eTrex online for about £8. If you are interested then I can look out the details.

[+Longfram Kev]

I got my cable form these nice people.

 

http://gpsbitz.co.uk/gpsbitz_store/

[The Foragers]

I've had a yellow etrex for a year. They are excellent value and very easy to use. I've used mine in the UK, Mallorca, Hungary, Germany. They are also the ones which UK soldiers around the world tend to buy for their own kit - and they tend to need to know exactly where they are in the middle of deserts etc!

[+The Mars Bars]

Got my cable from gpsbitz also for around £8.00.

The Yellow Etrex however uses a serial cable to connect to the PC.

So I then had to buy a serial to USB adapter which cost over £20.00

as my PC doesn't have a serial port. :

[+John & Hazel]

So I then had to buy a serial to USB adapter which cost over £20.00

as my PC doesn't have a serial port.  :

£9.95 at Ptronix

Mine arrived next day

[+Simply Paul]

And the moral of this story is, it pays to shop around. And have a serial port

 

SP

[+The Mars Bars]

And the moral of this story is, it pays to shop around. And have a serial port

 

SP

...was this company selling this adapter for that price 18 months ago...

If so I never found them.

 

I always shop around, saying that sometimes it doesn't pay:-

 

I just bought a 1Gb card for £35.99 it's already gone AWOL.

 

Cheers

Dave

[+tteggod trackers]

they may soon out grew of basic etrex yellow. best bet i think is legend. but bit more money.

[+rutson]

18 months ago ebuyer.com has usb to serial adapters for around a tenner.

[+The Mars Bars]

18 months ago ebuyer.com has usb to serial adapters for around a tenner.

 

It does appear I paid over the odds, for the adapter

 

I'll try not to loose to much sleep over it..

 

My simple observation in reply to a question about connection to a PC was to

point out that if you don't have a serial port on your PC you will have to buy

for 2 cables as the Yellow does not have a USB cable available..

 

1) Data cable at about £8-£10

 

2) Serial USB adapter £10+ (not £20+ as previously stated)

 

Cheers

Dave

[+woZere]

yellow etrex as always worked well for us and we wonder what in car navigation system is its equivallent, as we want one mainly as an aid to caching. Edited December 10, 2005 by WETHERSPOONERS

[+rutson]

The Tom Tom One has had great reviews and I saw it in either Staples or PC World today for £219, fantastic value.

[+daleswalker]

is it possible to load TT one with waypoints from GC.Com...am looking for sat nav for the new year, quite fancied the Garmin i3 but the screen is really small.

[+rutson]

it certainly is, daleswalker, download the POI file from http://stats.geocacheuk.com/

[+daleswalker]

Wow!!! is it really as easy as it looks...Postcode search...remove found...download to Tom Tom.

 

Thats me sold on the TT1, Thanks for your help Rutson. (I also saw the advert for PC World a steal at £219)