Garmin eTrax legend GPS receiver Is it good for geocaching?

[Mishka4406]

I am fairly new to geocaching. I have a garmin ique but it's my husbands & he uses it for work. I wanted to get something a little more rugged. Something I could kayak with & not worry about. I also don't want to spend a whole lot of money because I don't know how often I will be geocaching. So I found a Garmin 010-002560-05 eTrex® Legend GPS Receiver for $119. I wanted to get peoples opinion if this is a good device @ a decent price. Can I use this in the woods or do I need to get some topo maps first? Thanks in advance.-M

[+Miragee]

That might not be your best choice if you need the GPSr to work in the woods. There is a new Garmin H, and better units like the Legend HCx and Vista HCx.

 

The 'H' stands for High Sensitivity receiver. I would check those out and see if they fit in your budget because they will be better for your uses.

 

I find the maps very helpful and have both the Topo and City Navigator maps on my Vista C.

[Wumpus23]

I am fairly new to geocaching. I have a garmin ique but it's my husbands & he uses it for work. I wanted to get something a little more rugged. Something I could kayak with & not worry about. I also don't want to spend a whole lot of money because I don't know how often I will be geocaching. So I found a Garmin 010-002560-05 eTrex® Legend GPS Receiver for $119. I wanted to get peoples opinion if this is a good device @ a decent price. Can I use this in the woods or do I need to get some topo maps first? Thanks in advance.-M

 

I use the non color version of this, and it seems to work fine. It's only slightly less accurate in the woods than the Yellow Etrex, but it does have map capabilities! Also, the quick stick is nice. Anyhoo, I like mine, personally. Mind you, I got mine on ebay for $20 cheaper. You might want to give that a try. And don't forget to get a computer connection cable! It's a breeze to enter waypoints with that! Good luck!

[Mishka4406]

What's a quick stick? Is that some type of memory card for the gps unit?-M

[+geognerd]

What's a quick stick? Is that some type of memory card for the gps unit?-M

They're probably talking about the thumbstick/joystick on the front of the receiver. The blue Legend has fixed memory (8MB I think) and cannot take additional media like microSD cards.

[+art begotti]

actually, i think wumpus is referring to the click stick. it basically works like a combination between the arrow keys of the keyboard and the click of a mouse. you can use it to navigate through the functions of the gps pretty quickly by moving the stick in different directions, then you can push the stick directly into the gps and make a selection. (in 10 words or less: the click stick is like a joystick. it's swell!)

 

i hold a similar dilemma in my hands (quite literally). i have in my possession an etrex legend that another geocaching buddy found at a garage sale for fifty bucks, with map software and cable. he said he'd pass it off to me for the same price if i wanted it, or he would find some other way to sell it. (ebay, local geo group, whatever.) i was this close to buying it, except i read the above statements about not working well in the woods, and they rather depress me. much of the local caching is in the woods, so i would be up a creek pretty quickly if i used this thing solely. upside: a new (used) gps would be better than my older gps with 1/3 of the screen missing, as well as other assorted problems. downside: less accuracy in forests, and i'm still having problems trying to send waypoints to the gps (a feature i definitely wanted... i'm still searching for more help online for that). so... i'll keep an eye on this topic as well!

[+Fuzzywhip]

I've been using a eTrex Legend for a couple months and found it fine working in the forests of British Columbia. Especially challenging as these are pine forests, which really eats up the GPS signal.

 

On the other hand, I really miss using my eXplorist 100, which sees to work better than the Legend under forest cover.

 

Oh well, the Legend is still my working GPS.

[+Scaber]

actually, i think wumpus is referring to the click stick. it basically works like a combination between the arrow keys of the keyboard and the click of a mouse. you can use it to navigate through the functions of the gps pretty quickly by moving the stick in different directions, then you can push the stick directly into the gps and make a selection. (in 10 words or less: the click stick is like a joystick. it's swell!)

 

i hold a similar dilemma in my hands (quite literally). i have in my possession an etrex legend that another geocaching buddy found at a garage sale for fifty bucks, with map software and cable. he said he'd pass it off to me for the same price if i wanted it, or he would find some other way to sell it. (ebay, local geo group, whatever.) i was this close to buying it, except i read the above statements about not working well in the woods, and they rather depress me. much of the local caching is in the woods, so i would be up a creek pretty quickly if i used this thing solely. upside: a new (used) gps would be better than my older gps with 1/3 of the screen missing, as well as other assorted problems. downside: less accuracy in forests, and i'm still having problems trying to send waypoints to the gps (a feature i definitely wanted... i'm still searching for more help online for that). so... i'll keep an eye on this topic as well!

 

Hey Art Begotti, Weren't you on a plate?