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Garmin Sucks


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Having seen the recent models, I think Garmin may've taken the "Cheaper, and more product sales" route.. their older models, like the Venture, the Legend, and the classic yellow Pre-H models, were nearly indestructible. (until the outer rubber came un-glued, then all bets were off. :yikes: ) I still think their newer models look a little too much like Magellan's recent models.. (the GC and up.) Likewise, Magellan's quality is lacking too.. It's all about selling more product, than selling a Quality product. Meanwhile, despite a loose rubber, my Vista-HCx is still bombing away on the trails.

 

Stephen (gelfling6)

 

Exactly. My old 60CSx and StreetPilot 2720 are built like brick "you know whats" and still work just fine today after many years of hard use. In fact, my 60CSx is still my primary handheld.

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SA was turned off if May 2001 so most of those 35 years was sans GPS, unless, of course, you had a military unit with the required keys.

 

GPS receivers were around before SA was turned off, they just weren't as accurate as they are now. I bought my first GPS around 1995, an Eagle AccuNav Sport, and there were GPS receivers out before then.

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I have a Garmin 450t and tend to agree with you about Garmin. I don't think the user interface is that bad, but the accuracy is not very good. I use mine for marking fishing spots and geocaching. Last week, I was on a week long fishing trip and had spots marked on the Garmin and my iPad with the Navionics App. We marked our hot fishing spots in the lake with a marker and also on the Garmin and iPad. The iPad was far more accurate everytime - just about dead on. The Garmin was within 30 feet of the marked spot. I would much rather use the Garmin, as it is smaller and can take a beating more than an iPad. But, I don't have any faith in it and will probably end up selling it on ebay.

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This thread sucks.

 

The ONLY reason it is allowed is because Groundspeak have waged war with Garmin and will promote any negative conversation or comments about Garmin.

 

It is very disrespectful, and quite unprofessional of Groundspeak.

 

Of course, if I were to start a "Groundspeak Sucks" thread, it would be deleted and my posting privileges would be rescinded, and/or my account locked.

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This is called freedom of speech and be honest, there Are many many unsolved issues with many Garmin models and help desk/Email, the fact that Garmin swaps your unit if you complain doesn't make it a better company.

 

We have to separate the hardware from the software issues and it's the software that sucks for years now, almost every new model again, with the Montana they did a really good job at the beginning, then they fell back in the old habit, introducing errors that weren't there before in the new software, resulting in 'updates' that are no less then corrections of earlier errors.

 

The bashing is understandable, since there must be tens of thousands, probably much more, Garmins just laying around in drawers or used as a paperweight, not to mention, if you don't follow the threads about you model or are not to good with computers (read lack of time) it's for many people undo-able.

 

As much as I support the Beta software, the new launched model should be in good working condition, not after a half year Beta updates and unit swapping (I swapped defective Oregons 2X, Montana's 3X) Colorado was taken of the market by Garmin.

 

If it really bothers you, why don't you try a new thread 'Groundspeak Sucks" ;/)

What's in a word anyway???

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This is called freedom of speech

"Freedom of speech" does not apply in any way here. This is Groundspeak's forum, on their servers, in their datacenter. They can (and do) moderate & manage these forums as much or as little as they want, and you are not free to write/say/do anything you please without repercussions.
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This thread sucks.

 

The ONLY reason it is allowed is because Groundspeak have waged war with Garmin and will promote any negative conversation or comments about Garmin.

 

It is very disrespectful, and quite unprofessional of Groundspeak.

 

Of course, if I were to start a "Groundspeak Sucks" thread, it would be deleted and my posting privileges would be rescinded, and/or my account locked.

 

Boo freakin' hoo... You work for Garmin or something? :rolleyes:

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This thread sucks.

 

The ONLY reason it is allowed is because Groundspeak have waged war with Garmin and will promote any negative conversation or comments about Garmin.

 

It is very disrespectful, and quite unprofessional of Groundspeak.

 

Of course, if I were to start a "Groundspeak Sucks" thread, it would be deleted and my posting privileges would be rescinded, and/or my account locked.

Thanks for the paid commercial. I did notice that the Groundspeak sucks thread has not been closed down on your favorite site.

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Oregon 550 purchased in January 2012 to replace an 8yr old Garmin Legend.

 

1000's of caches (complete with large colored print and 20 logs - thanks to GSAK), about 30 geo-tagged photos, maps of Canada, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Barbados, all of England, North half of Italy, East half of Spain, most of Germany, Austria, Bratislava, Hungary and most of the Czech Replublic. We recently toured several of those countries I kept track of where we were in strange cities, just in case... We even managed to locate a restaurant in Old Town Prague AT NIGHT, not a easy feat in daylight.

 

The unit came with a slick 110/240v charger and decent NiMh batteries.

 

I am quite satisfied with my Garmin gps.

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Oregon 550 purchased in January 2012 to replace an 8yr old Garmin Legend.

 

1000's of caches (complete with large colored print and 20 logs - thanks to GSAK), about 30 geo-tagged photos, maps of Canada, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Barbados, all of England, North half of Italy, East half of Spain, most of Germany, Austria, Bratislava, Hungary and most of the Czech Replublic. We recently toured several of those countries I kept track of where we were in strange cities, just in case... We even managed to locate a restaurant in Old Town Prague AT NIGHT, not a easy feat in daylight.

 

The unit came with a slick 110/240v charger and decent NiMh batteries.

 

I am quite satisfied with my Garmin gps.

 

+2.....I have a bag full as well and they all work great.

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How Garmin have such a faithful customer base in Geocachers when they treat them so poorly is unfathomable. They haven't had a decent product since the CSx almost 7 years ago.

 

Evidently you weren’t around when the 60CSx was released? It was a train wreak for almost the 1st year until Garmin got the software straightened out. Some people think it’s the Holy Grail now. I still have one here collecting dust. I blow off the dust and turn it on a couple times a year just to make sure it still works but I think it’s pitiful for geocaching compared to my Montana.

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I gave my old and less functional 60CSX to a friend after buying the Montana. I may never need another GPS again. The only thing I would buy a new one for would be if it had wifi so I could link it to my phone to download PQ's or even live download by API.

 

GARMiN ROCKS

 

As with firearms, two is one and one is none. ALWAYS have a backup unit. And you got rid of an excellent one...

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You bought one of the best gps'es ever build, but also with that model it took them about 2 years to get it in order

Think about what you wrote there. It took two years after releasing the product before they got it right? How can you not consider that anything but a colossally failed product release? How can something so broken that it took 2 years to get right be "one of the best ever"?

 

Think about all the customers who don't keep up with things and don't even realize that there are firmware updates. Or those who don't do it for fear of bricking the unit.

 

Well said.

Before buying a new unit I always check these forums.....usually takes almost 2 years before I'm ready to buy....not a matter of money, I just want it to work properly when I get it.

 

ditto on that!

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I bought an eTrex 20 directly from Garmin (and paid too much) and this thing was an incredible disappointment.I have a Nuvi 3790 LMT that I absolutely love so bought an eTrex 20 thinking it would be a smaller, waterproof version of the Nuvi for use on the trail. WRONG!!!

The eTrex is nothing at all like the Nuvi. The Nuvi 3790 LMT is very intuitive and comes with an excellent set of maps for North America. Unfortunately the Nuvi is for vehicle and for refrigeration use and is not even water resistant.The eTrex 20 has some very nice features but is also has some almost useless features, it is not at all intuitive (so read the manual), and the `out of the box' maps are almost useless, so expect to shell out another $125.00 for a set of maps that will only include a few states.

Edited by jacklance
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I bought an eTrex 20 directly from Garmin (and paid too much) and this thing was an incredible disappointment.I have a Nuvi 3790 LMT that I absolutely love so bought an eTrex 20 thinking it would be a smaller, waterproof version of the Nuvi for use on the trail. WRONG!!!

The eTrex is nothing at all like the Nuvi. The Nuvi 3790 LMT is very intuitive and comes with an excellent set of maps for North America. Unfortunately the Nuvi is for vehicle and for refrigeration use and is not even water resistant.The eTrex 20 has some very nice features but is also has some almost useless features, it is not at all intuitive (so read the manual), and the `out of the box' maps are almost useless, so expect to shell out another $125.00 for a set of maps that will only include a few states.

 

Why did you think an eTrex 20 would be a smaller version of an Automotive nuvi GPSr?

 

You are absolutely correct, they eTrex20 and nuvi 3790 are nothing alike (Thank goodness for that)!!

 

You should do some more research here - you might find out some very nice free maps are available for the eTrex - and the features you considered essential by most users who purchase these units :)

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So I went ahead and bought a garmin etrex30 about a year and a half ago to use while I was overseas. I'm used to using Android and Iphone smartphones but didnt' care to get charged the big bucks for data roaming while overseas. My first impression of the unit was that it sucked but I stuck it out thinking that it wasn't fair to make an impression so early and thought perhaps it was just me being an idiot with a new piece of technology. After a year and a half of using the device I have only come to believe more strongly that the device sucks. Garmin's maps, user interface, software, website, hardware, etc are all really poorly designed. They are not user-friendly at all and are not intuitive. Every time I want to do something new with the unit I have to go online and search through forums on various sites. That is pathetic. I have big time buyer's remorse. I think I'm going to throw my unit into the next lake I see and start buying pre-paid sim cards when I'm overseas instead. I wish someone had told me this before I spent the money to buy a Garmin product.

 

LOL, nothing has changed! :rolleyes:

 

I am reminded of an old saying "A poor craftsman blames his tools."

 

That would be right for the 20th century but with usability specialists abound any issue with a product these days goes directly to poor design every time.

 

I am reminded of an old saying "You can't polish a turd."

 

:rolleyes:

Edited by PigSti
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I have had great luck so far with Garmin... Going back to 2004.. The Garmin Etrex legend that I had turned my Military PLGGR system into a paperweight..... I am currently running a 450t and have been reasonably happy with it...Now I am just in a holding pattern waiting for the Garmin Montana 600t to drop in price... By then all of the bugs should be worked out of it...

 

I have a Magellan and a Lowrance Safari also..... If you think the Garmins are a PIA try using the Lowrance....I bought the Lowrance mainly for a back up for my boat electronics...It's nice transferring data back and forth with an SD card but everything from the Lowrance screen to the software sucks...

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I have a Garmin colorado 300. Unfortunately it has a faulty USB port which means I cannot get data off the device and it makes it more difficult to load geocaches as I have to do it via the SDcard.

 

Where I live in Australia Garmin is charging $150 AUD to fix the USB port, which is a well known design problem caused by garmin's faulty design. That vs I can buy a new etrex 20 for about $190 AUD on sale. So garmin is charging me nearly as much as a new GPS unit to fix a design defect caused by their faulty design in an otherwise fully usable GPS unit. And, in other forums, users suggest that they have had there Colorado's USB ports "Fixed" by garmin a number of times, so the quality of Garmin's fix is questionable as well.

 

So after this experience with the Colorado I am more than a little concerned about purchasing any more Garmin products.

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Right now I'm on my 13th GPS......the last 12 have been Garmins, dating all the way back to S A.

 

NONE have EVER had to go back for repair and they've all been used both professionally and recreationaly DAILY.

 

NONE (of the 13) have EVER been dropped....NEVER

 

ALL have screen protectors on them and NONE have ANY scratches on their screens.....NONE

 

Together they all have been used to map literally several thousand miles of trails with excellent accuracy and repeatability (sp)

 

Does this tend to make you think that maybe the wrong thing is being "fixed".

 

Maybe bad 'ole Garmin needs to start a Psychiatry branch for "Defective Users"

 

Oh, never mind....here's a better idea.....just go ahead and buy a Delorme or Magellan........that'll Fix'ya.....Bigtime!

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I use Garmin since 'the beginning', made 100th of 1000th of miles with the Garmin all over the world.

 

The last models are not the best in sense of programming, the hardware is very nice most of the time, BUT

the fact other models are worse doesn't make the problems with the last Garmin outdoor models better.

 

The big neck breaker for Garmin will be the smartphone, because almost ALL the FREE apps (Android, Apple I don't know) are better then the

Software Garmin has on it's latest models.

 

So unless they finally put their act together and do what they are supposed to do (and respect the clients), they will lose the battle.

Edited by splashy
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For most of our geocaching career we used Magellan Meridian Platinums....I think the greatest unit ever but not paperless.

Re Garmin units we have a 60CSx, Oregon 450, three 62S units, an Etrex and a couple others. On the 450 and 62S I bought a little too soon but in a month or so a firmware upgrade took care of my problem.

I think Garmin makes a VERY good unit and is currently king of the hill.

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Look through all the forums and you'll find that most of the displeasure is not really about problems related to "GPS".

Most of the whining and B'ing is about the "paperless" and other "Game Controller" issues, so NOT GPS related.

In THAT half of the puzzle there are waaay too many nuts and too many squirrels....... and not all of'em live in trees.

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Maybe bad 'ole Garmin needs to start a Psychiatry branch for "Defective Users"

 

It's Garmin's programmers who are certifiable, not the user! Designed obsolescence should be in the product, not in the company!

 

The market place will ultimately determine their "Defective Users" future purchases!

 

:P

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Maybe bad 'ole Garmin needs to start a Psychiatry branch for "Defective Users"

 

It's Garmin's programmers who are certifiable, not the user! Designed obsolescence should be in the product, not in the company!

 

The market place will ultimately determine their "Defective Users" future purchases!

 

:P

 

Based on Garmin's market share, it already has...........

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I have never had a bad Garmin GPS .. from the hand held to the Nuvi.

I have upgraded along the way .. original yellow etrex to blue legend to Oregon 450t which i love

OK.. I admit to breaking more than one screen... one was replaced for a fee ..i believe just under $100. at the time

you sent in the damaged unit and you got a tested refurbished unit.. no problems there ..

I even cracked one 450t within hours (i unknowingly dropped it and backed over it) and the store i purchased it from

swapped it for me due to Garmin's excellent return policies with retail stores.

 

The ONLY complaint I feel that I can make .. which may or may not be justified to anyone but myself, is that as a loyal Garmin

customer, with registered devices, they will not give map update discounts. that can be expensive for one oregon 450t and one Nuvi255w

I would like to think that there is better reason than just "no. we want all your money." ..and something more reasonable ..like a copyright

issue on the map data or some such... at least that would be a valid, acceptable reason... even if I still dont like it - but that would be OK with me - if that is truthful ..

 

SO, after all that...

 

Still a loyal customer who often recommends Garmin, from experience, but refuses to bad mouth other manufacturers. Especially when i have no experience with any others. I tell other cachers not to take only my advice but to ask others as well. there are some in my are that do use non-garmin, and have great experience.

 

With that... good luck to all ... and

Happy New Year...

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So I went ahead and bought a garmin etrex30 about a year and a half ago to use while I was overseas. I'm used to using Android and Iphone smartphones but didnt' care to get charged the big bucks for data roaming while overseas. My first impression of the unit was that it sucked but I stuck it out thinking that it wasn't fair to make an impression so early and thought perhaps it was just me being an idiot with a new piece of technology. After a year and a half of using the device I have only come to believe more strongly that the device sucks. Garmin's maps, user interface, software, website, hardware, etc are all really poorly designed. They are not user-friendly at all and are not intuitive. Every time I want to do something new with the unit I have to go online and search through forums on various sites. That is pathetic. I have big time buyer's remorse. I think I'm going to throw my unit into the next lake I see and start buying pre-paid sim cards when I'm overseas instead. I wish someone had told me this before I spent the money to buy a Garmin product.

 

All eTrex GPSs are waterproof, so good luck trying to "kill" it.

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I find all this interesting reading.

I have a eXplorist GC which is absolutely useless for caching, it stopped communicating with my computer (mac air) and Magellan were absolutely useless when we (I have a tec savvy friend) got in touch with them about solving this issue, the GPS really stopped communicating with my computer when we ran the program Magellan sent, my computer did not even recognise the GPS unit was plugged in ?

I am looking at maybe getting an etrex 20 or GPSMAP 62s BUT I am not technically minded what I want is a unit thats easy to operate for caching.

If these units (Garmin) need constant updating or having to trawl the net looking for updates and information on how to make them work I am just not interested.

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I find all this interesting reading.

I have a eXplorist GC which is absolutely useless for caching, it stopped communicating with my computer (mac air) and Magellan were absolutely useless when we (I have a tec savvy friend) got in touch with them about solving this issue, the GPS really stopped communicating with my computer when we ran the program Magellan sent, my computer did not even recognise the GPS unit was plugged in ?

I am looking at maybe getting an etrex 20 or GPSMAP 62s BUT I am not technically minded what I want is a unit thats easy to operate for caching.

If these units (Garmin) need constant updating or having to trawl the net looking for updates and information on how to make them work I am just not interested.

Both receivers you're interested in are excellent units. For me, the eTrex 20 was the easiest to use. I literally purchased it, put batteries in it and went caching. As simple as that. All modern GPS receivers are so packed with technology and user-adjustable settings that one has to learn about the features and how to use them. But that doesn't mean enrolling in night school or pulling your hair out, it means taking the time to understand it's capabilities.

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If these units (Garmin) need constant updating or having to trawl the net looking for updates and information on how to make them work I am just not interested.

 

They don't. Garmin have a bit of a bad reputation for releasing new models with firmware that has loads of bugs, and then releasing many firmware updates in the first months after release. Both the models you name are mature now, and most of the firmware bugs have been ironed out so they will probably be fine out of the box. In any case in order to keep the firmware up to date you just need to install the Garmin Web Updater tool from the Garmin website (do this once), then plug your GPS into the PC and it will tell you if there are updates available and do the update for you if you want. I've had an Etrex 30 for well over a year, I updated to the latest firmware when I bought it and haven't applied any of the updates since, and I can't see any need to update again as everything I use on the 30 just works.

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Garmin have a bit of a bad reputation for releasing new models with firmware that has loads of bugs, and then releasing many firmware updates in the first months after release. Both the models you name are mature now, and most of the firmware bugs have been ironed out...

 

"...you said it!"

 

:lol:

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If these units (Garmin) need constant updating or having to trawl the net looking for updates and information on how to make them work I am just not interested.

 

They don't. Garmin have a bit of a bad reputation for releasing new models with firmware that has loads of bugs, and then releasing many firmware updates in the first months after release. Both the models you name are mature now, and most of the firmware bugs have been ironed out so they will probably be fine out of the box. In any case in order to keep the firmware up to date you just need to install the Garmin Web Updater tool from the Garmin website (do this once), then plug your GPS into the PC and it will tell you if there are updates available and do the update for you if you want. I've had an Etrex 30 for well over a year, I updated to the latest firmware when I bought it and haven't applied any of the updates since, and I can't see any need to update again as everything I use on the 30 just works.

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They don't. Garmin have a bit of a bad reputation for releasing new models with firmware that has loads of bugs, and then releasing many firmware updates in the first months after release. Both the models you name are mature now, and most of the firmware bugs have been ironed out so they will probably be fine out of the box.

 

And, that's the key thing. Garmin actually DOES fix most of the stuff. Yeah, it sucks that they use consumers as beta testers, but at least that feedback gets acted upon. Other companies? You may as well be on your own and that goes far beyond GPS units.

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I dunno, the lack of a comprehensive user manual says a lot about the confusion that reigns in their software development process...

 

...I mean GARMIN could be amazing if they only got it together from the onset of a product line and not let "us" deal with their bug issues.

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I dunno, the lack of a comprehensive user manual says a lot about the confusion that reigns in their software development process...

 

I just play around with it a bunch and seem to figure out everything on my own just fine. Get familiar with all the "buttonology" at home. No manual is going to do that for you and then get out on the trail and USE it. That's what it's for. Check the results afterwards.

Edited by sviking
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I dunno, the lack of a comprehensive user manual says a lot about the confusion that reigns in their software development process...

 

...I mean GARMIN could be amazing if they only got it together from the onset of a product line and not let "us" deal with their bug issues.

 

In today's lightning paced electronics market we can point to some of the largest companies in the world repeatedly releasing hardware with firmware bugs. Apple, Google, Amazon, are all guilty of releasing hardware with buggy software. Nobody reads their smartphone manual either. Garmin is no different and has fewer resources than the mega-giant companies. Am I making excuses for Garmin? Maybe. But sometimes people forget that bugs are simply a fact of life these days.

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I dunno, the lack of a comprehensive user manual says a lot about the confusion that reigns in their software development process...

 

...I mean GARMIN could be amazing if they only got it together from the onset of a product line and not let "us" deal with their bug issues.

 

In today's lightning paced electronics market we can point to some of the largest companies in the world repeatedly releasing hardware with firmware bugs. Apple, Google, Amazon, are all guilty of releasing hardware with buggy software. Nobody reads their smartphone manual either. Garmin is no different and has fewer resources than the mega-giant companies. Am I making excuses for Garmin? Maybe. But sometimes people forget that bugs are simply a fact of life these days.

 

Like the initial rollout of Apple Maps?

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Wow, amazing that this topic is still active after nearly 2 years.

 

Maybe my standards are just low, but I've been very pleased with the Vista HCx (widely considered the eTrex 30's direct predecessor). Sure, it doesn't have lightning-fast draw times etc. by today's standards, but it gets the job done, and is leaps and bounds above the Geko 201 I used to use, and the Blackberry I use now.

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I've been very pleased with the Vista HCx (widely considered the eTrex 30's direct predecessor).

 

I agree. When I lost my much loved workhorse (the Vista Hcx) :mad: I first of all walked the paths (several times) where I though it had become detached from the lanyard round my neck, but eventually I bought the Etrex 30 as I reckoned that was pretty much the current equivalent and it fitted nicely into the GPS sized hole in my life :rolleyes: and I've been pleased with it.

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In today's lightning paced electronics market we can point to some of the largest companies in the world repeatedly releasing hardware with firmware bugs. Apple, Google, Amazon, are all guilty of releasing hardware with buggy software. Nobody reads their smartphone manual either. Garmin is no different and has fewer resources than the mega-giant companies. Am I making excuses for Garmin? Maybe. But sometimes people forget that bugs are simply a fact of life these days.

 

What? Garmin is a huge company, especially if you take into account their world-wide status in aviation units. In fact, they're #1 in aviation.

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