Which Garmin to buy?

[+m.austin]

I just purchased 6 Garmin eTrex H for my school. I thought these had the same abilities to plug in to the computer that my Garmin eTrex Venture HC has. I knew the overall capabilities wouldn't be as great (about $100 less), but now I'm wondering if I should take them back & get the Garmin eTrex Legend. It appears you can plug those in to the computer & download your waypoints - is this correct? There isn't much price difference, so I'd like to get some systems that my students will be able to use for a few years.

[+sportside]

Which Legend were you looking at? The Legend has a serial input, the Legend HCx has a USB...

 

For a basic unit with a USB input, you can't beat a Venture HC. $115 from Amazon, including shipping - the best price you will find by a lot. IMO, if you are giving them to students, that is the unit I would get. But I am slightly biased, it is the unit I use...

[+coggins]

The eTreax H plugs into the computer the same way the eTrex Lengend does; with a serial cable (and a RS-232~serial adapter if you don't have an RS-232 port on your computer). A better value is the Venture Hc as it is USB all the way (and comes with the cable) and easier to use for downloading your waypoints. In the long run, it may be cheaper than the eTrex H, as you don't have to buy any extra cables/adapters.

[+briansnat]

I'd stick with the eTrex H. It has far better reception than the Legend and there is no difference between the two

in how they connect to the computer. The only benefit the Legend has over the eTrex H is the ability to load detailed maps, but it only has 8 megs of map memory so that capability is of limited usefulness.

[+m.austin]

Thanks everyone for your input. We have decided to stick with these units. Most coordinates will be marked as waypoints on location, so there won't be many coordinates to log in, which would be a major pain!