Jump to content

Poor construction quality of Etrex 30?


LucaPCP

Recommended Posts

I have a Garmin 62st which I like quite a bit, but looking for a lighter alternative for biking, I got an Etrex 30.

I was very disappointed with construction quality. The rear clip rail is plastic, unlike the one of the 62st which is metal.

What's more, the fit with the belt clip is incredibly tight, so much so that I have to pull with very considerable force to separate the two (and yes, I do lift the tongue end of the clip before pulling).

 

It was a mail order, and I will be sending it back, and I will try to buy the next one in person from REI so I can try the fit with the clip, but I was wondering: is my experience typical?

Is the Etrex 30 construction quality so inferior to the one of the 62 series?

 

Luca

Link to comment

I actually liked the older Etrexes better: I have an Etrex Vista HCX, and the back closes flawlessly, and the bike mount also works properly. On the Etrex 30, there is basically no way to take the carabiner clip off except pulling like mad!

I am hoping I got a lemon... I was looking forward to having a GPS that had the flexibility and waypoint memory of my 62, together with the light weight of the Etrex series...

(I do a lot of hiking and biking, and I was really looking forward to a GPS that could do it all, so that I could have ONE device on which to store all my waypoints and tracks...).

Link to comment

The rear clip rail is plastic, unlike the one of the 62st which is metal.

 

I was looking forward to having a GPS that had the flexibility and waypoint memory of my 62, together with the light weight of the Etrex series...

 

Of course one of the things which makes the Etrex lighter, is the fact that some of the metal parts have been replaced by plastic, It's a trade off, so until the bring out the titanium version you either have heavy/metal or light/plastic.

 

I have an Etrex30, and I know what you mean about the clip being tough to remove (though I only ever use mine on the handlbar clip on my bike) but I see that as a positive thing - if it's difficult to remove it's less likely to come off by accident.

Link to comment

I have a Garmin 62st which I like quite a bit, but looking for a lighter alternative for biking, I got an Etrex 30.

I was very disappointed with construction quality. The rear clip rail is plastic, unlike the one of the 62st which is metal.

What's more, the fit with the belt clip is incredibly tight, so much so that I have to pull with very considerable force to separate the two (and yes, I do lift the tongue end of the clip before pulling).

 

It was a mail order, and I will be sending it back, and I will try to buy the next one in person from REI so I can try the fit with the clip, but I was wondering: is my experience typical?

Is the Etrex 30 construction quality so inferior to the one of the 62 series?

 

Luca

That's too bad you didn't like it's construction without giving it an opportunity to show you what it can do. I have a 62s that I have used to find many caches and it's a great unit, for sure. The eTrex30, however, has pretty much been my go-to caching partner for the last several months. I like it's smaller size, it's super-fast lock on satellites and I never had much of a problem with any of it's cosmetics. The clip rail is plastic? So it is, whatya know, lol.

Link to comment

I have a Garmin 62st which I like quite a bit, but looking for a lighter alternative for biking, I got an Etrex 30.

I was very disappointed with construction quality. The rear clip rail is plastic, unlike the one of the 62st which is metal.

What's more, the fit with the belt clip is incredibly tight, so much so that I have to pull with very considerable force to separate the two (and yes, I do lift the tongue end of the clip before pulling).

 

It was a mail order, and I will be sending it back, and I will try to buy the next one in person from REI so I can try the fit with the clip, but I was wondering: is my experience typical?

Is the Etrex 30 construction quality so inferior to the one of the 62 series?

 

Luca

 

I have owned a Garmin eTrex Legend, Magellan eXplorist 600, Magellan eXplorist XL, Garmin Colorado 400t and *numerous* smart phone/PDA devices over the years. I bought my eTrex 30 a couple years ago when they were the hot new thing. My first impression when I picked it up was that I appreciated the rather solid build quality. It just felt "right" in my hand.

 

I use my eTrex 30 with the dashboard mount, the bike mount and the backpack tether mount. Maybe I've worked something looser over two years but I've never had an issue with installing the device on or off the various clips. It may actually be a fault with the clip as opposed to the GPS. Me, I'd probably just toss some zipper wax on it to help glide things if it bothered me.

 

I have used it in -50C winter conditions and +45C summer conditions. Rain, snow, baking heat. I've let it sit on my canoe thwart for 9 day canoe trips, with the sun beating down on it the entire time. I've used the carabiner clip from my Colorado with my eTrex and lazily connected it to a belt loop and let it bounce on my hip for 48km day hikes and 80km overnight hikes.

 

My eTrex is still just as solid as the day I bought it. Based on my first eTrex I would expect the rubber seal around the USB port to have come off by now. With all I have put my little eTrex 30 through it should be broken by now. Aside from keeping the DEET off my GPS (learned about the foggy screen trick a couple GPS units ago) and not deliberately throwing it at rocks I'm not particularly kind to my GPS. I bought it for backcountry use, and I have used it on those 18 hour totally screwed up the plan who cares about anything particularly treating the electronics with kid gloves when I just want to collapse into camp sort of days.

 

At the same time, I have friends with 62 series units where the button labels or the buttons themselves come off, or the antenna gets damaged over time. Good luck damaging the eTrex antenna without deliberate force. Well, ok one of the 62s was damaged when a group of red squirrels thought the antenna looked tasty at a Temagami camp site. Based on our group of cachers, which is split between the eTrex 30 and the 62/64 series the eTrex is a similar build quality, the choice of plastic had more to do with keeping the weight down so backcountry types like me would want to carry it.

 

I'm very happy with my eTrex 30, years after I bought it. There is no GPS on the market right now I would want to trade it for.

 

Link to comment

Maybe my unit was defective. To remove it from the carabiner clip, I had to pull extremely hard, to the point that I was wondering whether I would break the whole unit. The back would simply jam completely into the clip. I will go to REI to try one with a clip before I buy it. I like it in principle: the form factor of the Vista HCX with the software of the 62 series, but I need something I can clip and unclip easily, as I have to do it each time I change the batteries.

Link to comment

What's more, the fit with the belt clip is incredibly tight, so much so that I have to pull with very considerable force to separate the two (and yes, I do lift the tongue end of the clip before pulling).

I have an eTrex 20 and find the clip is extremely tight when used with the Garmin bike mount.

It's great that it won't fly off when riding down a trail, but it's a downright pain to remove from the mount to grab a cache off the trail.

 

Because of that I normally use my 62s on the bike.

Link to comment

What's more, the fit with the belt clip is incredibly tight, so much so that I have to pull with very considerable force to separate the two (and yes, I do lift the tongue end of the clip before pulling).

I have an eTrex 20 and find the clip is extremely tight when used with the Garmin bike mount.

It's great that it won't fly off when riding down a trail, but it's a downright pain to remove from the mount to grab a cache off the trail.

 

Because of that I normally use my 62s on the bike.

 

These reports of extremely tight mounts are interesting. I really don't have that problem on my Colorado 400 or my eTrex 30, and I have about a half dozen mounts for bike, canoe, car, backpack tether, carabiner clip......

I would be looking for something to lubricate that a bit maybe zipper wax or graphite. Of course in my situation it could simply be I've worn the connection down switching it around all the time.

Link to comment

 

I would be looking for something to lubricate that a bit maybe zipper wax or graphite.

 

Now you mention it when I first got the bike mount I rubbed a regular wax candle on the rails of both the clip and the Etrex and it smoothed things enough. The wax will have mostly gone long ago but I expect that by then the clip/GPS had loosened up a little.

Link to comment

I'm with Northernpenguin on this - I've had my etrex for a while now (bought it about 4-5 months after first release) and I find the construction quality to be just fine - better than my old 60CSx. I don't pamper it or baby it at all. I just put a screen protector on it and it was good to go. The software on it still has a few bugs, but it's way better now than it was when they first came out.

Link to comment

I am the original poster, who complained of the far too tight fit with the carabiner clip or bike mounting clip.

In the end, I took my set of precision files, and I carefully filed the plastic of the rear clip rail, until I obtained a snug but smooth fit with the various clips.

Now I like the unit much better.

 

The main improvement wrt the Etrex HCX, for me, is surely the 3D compass, which gives me a reliable reading even if I tilt the unit.

The total ascent, and total descent, fields are new also compared with the Garmin 60s, and I really appreciate them.

So all in all, I am happy now, even if it costed me half an hour of careful file work.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...