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Good or bad stuff about garmin legend


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I have one. Like it a lot. Easy to use, durable. I was worried about the 8 meg not being enough, but I was able to load maps of all of northern NJ, NY from the NJ border to Albany and most of southern VT with room to spare. Last week I went to Sacramento and fit maps for the Sacramento area from San Francisco to Tahoe.

 

Some people have complained about their thumb covering the screen when they use the unit with their right hand, but the Legend is designed to be used in your left hand. I guess the assumption is that your right hand will be holding a walking stick or busy with something else

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I have a Legend, and have no real complaints against it. I don't personally care about the maps, so in retrospect, I'd have gotten the 1mb model (forget the name).

 

Perhaps my attitude about maps will change, and I'll be glad that I have 8mb, but right now I don't feel like spending $100 for the map software, until I get a job.

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Here's a summary of the good and bad I have experienced with my legend, and have read about from others in the forum.

 

Good:

Small form factor

Usually very good batt. life

Well thought out, easy to learn user interface

Highly configurable display

Excellent customer support

 

Bad

Numerous reports of rubber around the side of the unit coming loose

Numerous reports of the click-stick boot coming off

Not as convienent for use in the right hand (though as a strong right hander, I have no trouble using it in my left)

Limited to 8MB of maps (more than enough if you're using R&R, but not enough for Metroguide)

Serial interface make for a long map upload (20 minutes for 8MB)

Patch antenna doesn't perform well in heavy tree cover

WAAS implementation doesn't appear to work well

Screen too small to be easily used while driving

 

This is what I could come up with off the top of my head. I bought mine over a year ago, and I've been very happy with it, and Garmin's tech support and warranty service has been very good.

 

If I were to buy one today, I might also consider the MeriGold, the 76S, and the Garmin GPS V.

 

-- Mitch

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I love my Etrex Legend, but I borrowed a Mag 315 when I first started caching, and I wish that Garmin would include the comment feature for the waypoints. it is much easier to sift through 500 waypoints when you have some way of putting in the cache name itself, rather than just the cryptic GC#.

 

I like the keypad (inputing numbers and letters) much better than the Mag, it seems much faster.

 

The Garmin is also a much nicer fit in my hand and easier to use with the side buttons rather than all the buttons being on the front. Also, with the rubber outside boot, we don't have to have a car mount. It fits wedged between the dash and the windshield and the rubber keeps it in one place. Plus it gets a better signal being out so far on the dash. We configured the nav screen to have BIG NUMBERS for HOW FAR AWAY and under that the arrow, then below that, I can change it from the destination name, or the elevation we are at, or the direction the destination is from us, etc. Overall, it is a great little GPS. icon_razz.gif

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I love my Etrex Legend, but I borrowed a Mag 315 when I first started caching, and I wish that Garmin would include the comment feature for the waypoints. it is much easier to sift through 500 waypoints when you have some way of putting in the cache name itself, rather than just the cryptic GC#.

 

I like the keypad (inputing numbers and letters) much better than the Mag, it seems much faster.

 

The Garmin is also a much nicer fit in my hand and easier to use with the side buttons rather than all the buttons being on the front. Also, with the rubber outside boot, we don't have to have a car mount. It fits wedged between the dash and the windshield and the rubber keeps it in one place. Plus it gets a better signal being out so far on the dash. We configured the nav screen to have BIG NUMBERS for HOW FAR AWAY and under that the arrow, then below that, I can change it from the destination name, or the elevation we are at, or the direction the destination is from us, etc. Overall, it is a great little GPS. icon_razz.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by Pneumatic:

_Good:_

 

+ Small form factor

+ Usually very good batt. life

+ Well thought out, easy to learn user interface

+ Highly configurable display

+ Excellent customer support


+ Not to mention good price / value

+ And don't forgot the cool sparkly blue plastic housing icon_smile.gif

 

Bad's snipped.

 

Most of the bad's have had no effect on my usage. I've had no problem with the rubber seal or the click stick (knock on wood). I'm right handed but prefer to use the gps with my left. I don't have one of the mapsource programs yet so I haven't had any memory limitiations or slow transfers. WAAS seems to have minimal improvement no matter what unit according to other discussions here. Sometimes the patch antenna does have trouble finding the satellites under cover or in a car but so far it's not been a big problem. And yes, the screen is too small to be easily seen while in a car (keep your eyes on the road!).

 

So far it's been a perfect unit for me. I'm very happy with it and recommend it.

 

I'm not lost!

I just don't know where I am.

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quote:
Originally posted by Pneumatic:

_Good:_

 

+ Small form factor

+ Usually very good batt. life

+ Well thought out, easy to learn user interface

+ Highly configurable display

+ Excellent customer support


+ Not to mention good price / value

+ And don't forgot the cool sparkly blue plastic housing icon_smile.gif

 

Bad's snipped.

 

Most of the bad's have had no effect on my usage. I've had no problem with the rubber seal or the click stick (knock on wood). I'm right handed but prefer to use the gps with my left. I don't have one of the mapsource programs yet so I haven't had any memory limitiations or slow transfers. WAAS seems to have minimal improvement no matter what unit according to other discussions here. Sometimes the patch antenna does have trouble finding the satellites under cover or in a car but so far it's not been a big problem. And yes, the screen is too small to be easily seen while in a car (keep your eyes on the road!).

 

So far it's been a perfect unit for me. I'm very happy with it and recommend it.

 

I'm not lost!

I just don't know where I am.

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