garmin etrex legend (blue)

[+shamanstorm]

Is this a good one for geocaching? What else would be needed to use this to it's fullest potention (ex. software)

 

Thanks!

[+TrailGators]

Is this a good one for geocaching? What else would be needed to use this to it's fullest potention (ex. software)

 

Thanks!

This is the one I started with and I use for backup now. I would recommend getting some Garmin map software for it. You can't autoroute with it but you can manually route if you plotted a route on your PC and then upload that route to the Legend.

[+Miragee]

That GPSr will work fine, but it is somewhat-old technology, and it connects to a computer with the Serial Port, instead of with USB.

 

If you are on a budget, check out eBay for the discontinued Garmin Legend C, or Vista C. You might find one of those selling for less than $140. I have a Vista C and it works great, plus with the City Navigator maps installed, it auto-routes me. It also connects to the computer with a USB cable.

Edited June 3, 2007 by Miragee

[polygoon]

We have the etrex to and he is very good

[+TrailGators]

That GPSr will work fine, but it is somewhat-old technology, and it connects to a computer with the Serial Port, instead of with USB.

 

If you are on a budget, check out eBay for the discontinued Garmin Legend C, or Vista C. You might find one of those selling for less than $140. I have a Vista C and it works great, plus with the City Navigator maps installed, it auto-routes me. It also connects to the computer with a USB cable.

Actually, even those are old now. Garmin just came out with a whole new Etrex series that uses the awesome SIRFstar II chip!

[+fratermus]

Is this a good one for geocaching? What else would be needed to use this to it's fullest potention (ex. software)

 

It would be fine as a first gps for geocaching.

 

I have a few GPSr and the Legend sees active duty mounted on my cachecycle.

 

Having said that, I'd try to snag one for used ~$80 including shipping, instead of trying to buy it new at full cost. As other posters said, it's a few years back in technology (not SD expandable, b/w, serial).

 

I suspect when the new SIRF eTrexen come out this summer a ton of used Legends will flood the market at cheap prices.

[+RubiconCJ]

That GPSr will work fine, but it is somewhat-old technology, and it connects to a computer with the Serial Port, instead of with USB.

 

If you are on a budget, check out eBay for the discontinued Garmin Legend C, or Vista C. You might find one of those selling for less than $140. I have a Vista C and it works great, plus with the City Navigator maps installed, it auto-routes me. It also connects to the computer with a USB cable.

 

This might be a rather easy question to some but, how do I get my legend to connect to my computer via serial comm port? I have the Legend etrex - came with a cable for connecting to com1 port , could you tell me how to activate that port. According to the device manager it is enabled. I was in the process of installing mapsource topo when this problem came up.

[+fratermus]

This might be a rather easy question to some but, how do I get my legend to connect to my computer via serial comm port? I have the Legend etrex - came with a cable for connecting to com1 port , could you tell me how to activate that port. According to the device manager it is enabled. I was in the process of installing mapsource topo when this problem came up.

 

What problem came up? The Legend was talking to the PC happily until the Topo install?

[+Hynr]

If you have a recent version of Mapsource, then when you connect the cables and turn on the Legend, then when you send or receive, Mapsource will try to find it on whichever port it can see. I believe that no special tricks are needed. If you are loading waypoints or maps, then the GPSr needs to be in "Garmin" mode rather than NEMA or some other protocol. It is important to be sure that at the time you are doing this, that no other devices or software on the PC have the serial port committed.

[segler999]

I use a Legend (old blue) with serial cable to serial port with zero problems. I use Mapsource, Gartrip, Google Earth, GSAK, a few others. All communicate with the Legend just fine.

 

Yes, make sure your serial port(s) on the computer are showing in Device Manager, and that they have the standard addresses and IRQs. Also, like just mentioned, make sure they are not already committed to some other device or process.

 

Mapsource can find your Legend and port automatically, or you can direct it to a port.

 

Gosh, the only downside to the serial port is relatively slow speed. My 60Cx downloads tracks through USB in a flash, whereas the Legend downloads my windsurfing tracks through COM1 over several seconds. No biggie.

[+RubiconCJ]

I use a Legend (old blue) with serial cable to serial port with zero problems. I use Mapsource, Gartrip, Google Earth, GSAK, a few others. All communicate with the Legend just fine.

 

Yes, make sure your serial port(s) on the computer are showing in Device Manager, and that they have the standard addresses and IRQs. Also, like just mentioned, make sure they are not already committed to some other device or process.

 

Mapsource can find your Legend and port automatically, or you can direct it to a port.

 

Gosh, the only downside to the serial port is relatively slow speed. My 60Cx downloads tracks through USB in a flash, whereas the Legend downloads my windsurfing tracks through COM1 over several seconds. No biggie.

 

Thank you, that was the problem. My serial port was dedicated to active sync so I had to disable the com1 port then enable it. Turn off-on PC and I am in business. Every thing works fine.

[+Hynr]

Now that you have identified the problem, you can probably find a way to do this without turning the PC on and off (big time consumer). I don't have acivesync, but do have Hotsync for the Palm; it allows me to unckeck the serial port as a used port; that releases it. The when its need again it can be recommited. If activesync does not have this feature, then you can probaly just terminate it and restart it later.

[+gemchild]

Is this a good one for geocaching? What else would be needed to use this to it's fullest potention (ex. software)

 

Thanks!

This is the one I started with and I use for backup now. I would recommend getting some Garmin map software for it. You can't autoroute with it but you can manually route if you plotted a route on your PC and then upload that route to the Legend.

 

What did you upgrade to?

[+GeoGeoKiwi]

I'm using the Legend, and its been great to get started with. My only real issue is that now I'm starting to get serious and want to load lots of cache coordinates, I'd like to be able to do this automatically (rather than manually) using the Garmin POI Loader. Unfortunately, despite their website telling me its compatible, it doesn't do it (confirmed to me by Garmin). Perhaps there's a solution using some other software?

Edited June 9, 2007 by GeoGeoKiwi