Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator

The Enter key on this unit was nonfunctional right out of the box. The only thing I was able to test on this receiver was its accuracy with known locations, such as "home". Outdoor clear line of sight accuracy ranged from 12 to 16 meters, which is well outside of the accuracy listed in the product specifications. Indoor accuracy ranged from 15 to 90 meters, which is pretty typical in my experience. Returned this item to Amazon.

As a kayak/angler, this very very affordable Garmin eTrex hand held GPS is terrific. A good waterproof map and the eTrex provide me with all I need to navigate through the 10,000 Islands and inshore waters of Southwest Florida without getting hopelessly lost. It allows me to enter and store my "way-points" and "routes" on my outgoing trips and follow them home on my return. All the other great features offered on similar GPS units would have come at additional expense without really being needed. I consider the long long battery life an added bonus. The numerous positive Amazon reviews helped me make this very "right" buying decision. Unfortunately,to my knowledge, a suction-cup type mounting plate/holder for horizontal surfaces is not available for this unit, so the term "hand-held" really means "hand held". This is a little cumbersome when you are paddling, especially when you wish to view your direction of travel by using the compass feature. All in all, a great unit. Thanks, Ron in Naples, FL.

I owned (and lost) an earlier Garmin E-trex so knew what to expect. First trip with this one the "enter" button became very very difficult to push, to the point where I needed to use a blunt implement to push it (no amount of finger pressure would work - finger pads too soft). This is also the button used for waypointing, so simply had to follow "tracks" back because waypointing became too difficult. No built in maps. No ability to move around the screen - can only zoom in or out. Without buying an additional cable to connect to a computer, I don't think one can enter routes (eg, put in serial UTM coordinates) in advance. Does tell you distance traveled, average speed, give you current location (choice of formats including UTM). Not a compass - have to be moving for it to give direction. Others complained about batteries. I used older NiMH rechargeables and got in 4 hr hikes with no sweat. Duracell NiMH's I think should give excellent function on longer excursions - *always* take plenty of spare batteries if you are depending on the Trex. Did what I needed - tracks diverged when I was getting "lost" on return trips, which is what I needed. Is *not* set to the most accurate WAAS positioning by default - I'd suggest changing to most sensitive/accurate settings if small deviations in your route could get you way off course quickly.

I wanted a basic GPS, so I could find my position quickly and accurately when hiking. I wasn't interested in lots of bells and whistles. I wasn't looking for a car navigation system, and didn't need downloadable maps, or a built in compass.

This units works great, and seems to be very durable, though I haven't been rough with it. It generally takes much less than a minute to get the location within 20 feet. For the price, I don't think you can beat it.

This little unit does everything you want a GPS to do without all the bloat. It is simple to use, and a joy to own.

Like many folks these days, I've run into difficult financial times, and was dreading have to replace my eight-year-old Garmin eTrex Vista. Based on knowledgeable-sounding customer reviews I decided to take a chance on a "downgrade" to this model, and so far believe I made the right choice. I was a little apprehensive when I first saw the primitive-looking graphics, but that's just cosmetic, and it's really got everything I need. I mainly do backcountry day hikes in conjunction with mapping software such as TOPO! and Terrain Navigator. The lack of an internal magnetic compass was my biggest worry but, just like they said, as soon as you take a few paces (and sometimes even if you don't) it knows which direction you're going, and the navigation page (with the compass graphic) behaves just like the one on the Vista. (I held them side-by-side through the whole test run.) If you really need accuracy--say for projecting waypoints--bring along a compass. (Technically, you should always have a compass, anyway, as backup.) It lacks a barometric altimeter, but if you're using maps, you should probably know the altitude already--and it does have a GPS altimeter, for what that's worth (topic for another post). The map page is blank except for what you put in it--i.e., no base map with major roads on it, which is no big deal. The serial port cable that came with the Vista works with this model, as does my aged mapping software (TOPO! and Terrain Navigator, both eight years old).

This was an inexpensive addition to our hiking gear. Not the easiest instruction booklet to follow, though!

The etrex is a good garmin gps. I use it for geocaching. It is lightweight and I found to be very accurate. The only draw back was that it needed a special cord to plug into the computer so that the computer could directly download coordinates into the etrex. Also, another drawback is that some of the coordinates are 7 digits and the etrex only allows for 6 digits. But, this has not caused me any problems.

This is my 4th GPS. It is not complicated to use which helps when I am trying to reset it. I use it most when riding my ATV and want to mark the trail head where I left my truck. My husband and I belong to an ATV riding club and sometimes our trail boss gets lost so now we don't. I have purchased GPS units with all the bells and whistles but I can never find the page I need when I'm in a hurry. This GPS is great for Geocaching and very accurate. I shopped around before buying this GPS and Amazon had the best prices.

The Garmin etrex H (high sensitivity) GPS tracking receiver has enough basic features for what I needed at an economical price. My unit cold synced with four or more satellites in less than several minutes inside my house and even in my basement. It definitely has great sensitivity and quick syncing capabilities, when using the WAAS option enabled, which can give up to 10 feet (3 meter) resolution.

I use it for genealogy and other purposes for locating or tracking gravesites, ancestor residences and historical sites, but can be used for any geotagging and geocaching functions. It stores up to 500 waypoints, which I also use for traveling to specific places by foot or car, in case I need to return at a later date.

It's water resistant, which I needed on misty or rainy days plus an adjustable bright LCD display. The backlit feature is nice at night or in shady areas. Even though the LCD isn't color, no big deal for me! The mapping versions use color LCD displays.

It has multiple screens to give enough GPS information on the number of satellites received besides all the typical GPS data. It's easy to navigate through the screens with the five buttons on the side. However the manual isn't really clear as it doesn't show how to get to all screens, but I discovered using the up and down buttons for each page that more screens are available then what the manual indicates. Plus several pages have programmable data displays.

It uses several output formats for computer interface to maps. If you want the maps displayed, then purchase the etrex units with mapping software. It has NEMA183 output data for interface to computers with mapping software. However, the output interface is a basic four pin serial data bus, not an USB bus, which you need to purchase a proprietary serial bus cable from Garmin or other source.

Using AA batteries is important in case you need replacement or rechargeable batteries, available most anywhere. Of course it makes sense to carry an extra pair of extra AA batteries if you expect to use this unit more than the advertised 17 hours.

Overall, I would recommend this product for a basic GPS tracking receiver.

Received the item yesterday, and put some old batteries into it. Batteries showed O.K., so I placed the unit in a West facing window, and left it there for a couple of hours. Nothing happened, no satellites were acquired. Having previously seen comments about original acquisition taking a couple to several hours, I began to wonder.

This afternoon, I put fresh batteries into the eTrex H, found an open parking lot, no trees within 100 or so feet and turned it on. Satellites were acquired within 5 minutes it seemed, probably well within 5 minutes. Given this, and assuming that other features work as described, the eTrex H should certainly serve well enough as a basic hand held unit.

After almost getting lost on a night hike I wanted a GPS. I tried to use my Iphone 3GS but it wouldn't pick up the satellites under the trees in the Pacific Northwest forests. Plus, I had it in my pocket and fell on it, luckily I didn't break it.

So, I wanted a waterproof, rugged, easy to use, reliable GPS that worked well under heavy tree cover. I couldn't be happier, this was cheap, and meets all of my requirements. I decided the black and white screen was fine, with backlight, and decided I didn't need all those other bells and whistles the expensive ones have. The lack of bells and whistles makes this easy to use. It has everything you need with tracks, routes, waypoints and track back.

As other's have said if you want to load topo maps this is not the unit for you. But, if you simply want to be able to follow your route back home when hiking this is great! Other's also mentioned it does not come with a cable if you want to hook it up to the computer, but I see no reason to, it works perfect with the version of firmware it ships with and there are no topo maps to load. So, I never plan to hook it to a computer.

The accuracy is amazing even under heavy trees with no view of the sky. With a clear view of the sky I get up to 13 feet of accuracy. In heavy tree cover I average around 50 feet, which is amazing without a view of the sky.

Some people complained in reviews the system took forever to find the satellites. That must be from old firmware versions. I have version 3.30 on my unit and it took maybe two minutes to find the satellites initially if that. After the initial start up out of the box it usually takes around 30 seconds or so. The accuracy is amazing even inside my house.

I HAVE A BIG WARNING ABOUT BATTERIES THOUGH: I had read some people complaining that the unit would shut off after a few hours with freshly recharged AA batteries. This system does not work properly with standard rechargeable batteries. The battery meter shows freshly charged batteries as being only 3/4 full, then the unit shuts after 3-4 hours of use. Luckily the system will save your tracks up until it dies, if you ever need to swap out batteries, just do so and you'll be up and running again, if you catch the fact that it died. Anyways, I used rechargeable batteries and had this problem. When I got home I thought it was a bad batch of rechargeable batteries, so I tried several other ones. I even tried my most powerful, Duracell 2650 mAh batteries with no better luck. So, I put some Costco Kirkland AA regular Alkalines that had been sitting in my house for a year, and tested it. I got 20+ hours of use. I'm going to try the Eneloop rechargeable batteries since their technology is more similiar to Alkalines as far as the device sees it. But, if that doesn't work I'll just stick with Alkalines.

If you want a unit to follow your track so you can find your car, that is easy to use, accurate in a thick forest, water proof, rugged, and with a decent battery life (If using the right batteries), without needing a color screen, topo maps, or computer syncing, get this unit!!

Simply, basic, cheap and extremely functional to students, ordinary people, teachers... Buy it! I always wished to get one of it, and now I got and i'm very happy...

This is a very good and basic unit. It does the job for me when I go hunting to find my way back. I mark my starting point and any waypoints and use that to find my way back. It is also very accurate and I always get good reception in the woods. There are a couple of things I don't like about it. First is that the documentation in the manual is very hard to understand. It took me a while to actually figure out how to use this device. Also, the device goes of very regularly when I'm in the woods. I have to keep turning it on all the time, and then I lose my tracks after it comes back on. There is nothing in the manual, or in the software itself that can be used to adjust it. Maybe I need to download a new version or something but this is a very annoying thing.

I got this unit for Christmas 2008. Logged 100 or so geocaches on it in the first three months. I nearly wore blisters in my hand punching in coordinates. In April or May 2009 I found a steal on a new upgrade that can load coords direct from [...] and went for it. I gave this to my two year old for a unit to carry when he goes with me to caches. After a bunch of caches where my accuracy was off on my new one I started firing up the EtrexH and wouldn't you know it is spot on all the time. Needless to say, my two year old no longer has a GPS and this one is always in my bag ready to work in a pinch. It is light weight and has even gone for a swim in a river while going for a cache. I is also very easy to use on the trail.

I need to go in a forest, wander around, and come out. I need to come out where I went in. The etrex-h puts me back at my truck, no matter where I wandered or how far. You can never be lost in the woods if you are carrying this. (with good batteries.) Great quality, great price.

A fine tool for hunters and hikers or just carrying in car. It also tells speed of car.

This is a POS!!! Thank God that I knew to just keep climbing the mountain in an upward direction to find the dirt road!!! It was the end of the day and it was getting dark out!!! This POS!!! gps had us going in the wrong direction!!! My adult son was arguing with me insisting the gps was correct, it was NOT!!! Like I said Thank "God" I'm an old-timer with a good backwoods sense of direction and got us both out of a potentially dangerous situation!!!
DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT IT WILL GET YOU LOST!!!

I use this GPS for hunting... I expected something to guide me on the woods and mark spots and this little cheap GPS works incredible well for what I needed.
However, it is true that patient will you need when working with it. Very confusing sometimes navegating through the menus.
Other than that... great
It really does its work.
Happy with it.

This GPS is cheap a decent. very accurate. HOWEVER is doesn't come with links cable, that another $25.00 and god forbid you have a new computer without 9 pin serial port watch out the USB converter costs 55.00, so might as well buy upgraded version.

I had spent weeks researching what type of GPS I was going to get. I was new to Geocaching but wanted something that would help teach me the simplicities and ease me into it. I have been pleasantly surprised! I had read so many reviews on this GPS that I pretty much new the little tricks since the manual is totally worthless. There is a multitude of info on the web since this Garmin has been around for so long. Here are some helpful items (free or cheap) to help any Mac users out there...

-Purchase USB & PC data Cable for Garmin Etrex H GPS from KAWA on ebay. It was $[...] for shipping. Had it here in a flash and have been really happy with it. So if anyone tells you that you can't use a USB, they're full of it....
- Next go to [...] and download their manager. Neat little application.

The only thing to note is that you will need to download this: [...]
driver in order for it to work with MacCaching as they provided a different driver that didn't work. The one on apple's website does work though.

Again, I have been really happy with this little device. I like that it doesn't show you all the maps because then it makes it that much more fun and teaches you the fundamentals of navigation!

Context:

This is my first GPS. I am no luddite, I have built my own PC more than once, and am generally excited by technology -- when it works (don't get me started on the awful disappointment that is every mobile phone and mobile phone network on the planet). I am an avid mostly car camper/day hiker, though I have aspirations of weekend-long hikes (crowds do tend to chafe). In the Marine Corps, I was trained to actually use a map and compass (as in, "find the tree with an orange spot on it in the dense forests of North Carolina"). Though I'm a little rusty, I do exercise that skill once in a while, and philosophically, I prefer it. I'm a bargain-hunter. I hope to use this on hiking trails or in wilderness as a tool to keep me from becoming hopelessly lost, and I don't geocache.

The Pros:

1) Ease of Use. I've never had a GPS before, but it only took the short walk from the parking lot at Disneyland to the front gate to figure out how to mark waypoints, use GOTO and Trackback without the benefit of the manual or any quickstart guide. Button purpose was easy to intuit. Poking around randomly is an effective learning tool (the same can't be said for my mobile phone).

2) Accuracy. On said initial use, the device told me that I had returned to the front gate of Disneyland (waypoint #2), and when I had returned to my car (waypoint #1). In "Normal" mode, the "Skyview" screen normally displays an accuracy of between 14' - 20' indoors or in a car. I have yet to try to hide myself from the Sattelites in dense jungle (maybe a later review).

3) Ease of Use. Worth saying twice.

4) Durability. It appears that it will take a short drop or two, though I prefer not to test this personally, and there's no official statement of it's comparison to known standards (i.e., IEC 2060529). Garmin's website does state that the eTrex H is waterproof to IPX7 (within the aforementioned IEC 2060529), which means it is protected against temporary immersion in up to 1 meter of water.

The Cons:

1) There are no maps, though this could be said to be a "pro". I anticipate having a physical (most likely paper) map (as I usually do for use with a compass), so this isn't a big deal to me. If you expect a map you would be in for an awful surprise. Having no maps, however, isn't a torturous idea; you can successfully use waypoints, routes, and trackbacks to prevent you from getting lost, and your indicated lat/long (or grid coord.s) to let someone else know where you were if you needed to.

2) The screen is a little difficult to read without the backlight indoors or under cloudy conditions. There is a contrast adjustment, but there is apparently no adjustment for brightness. The resolution is fine (text and numbers are clear enough), but could be better given the small screen (some lines are too pixelated to be clear).

Overall, I'm very happy with it and I look forward to trying to get lost. I, unlike some others who've reviewed here, did not see the hours-long delay in acquiring an initial sattelite array; I was up and running in about ten minutes. I will not be transferring data to or from my PC, nor will I be geocaching, so the lack of a data cable or maps is in no way disappointing. I need it to work simply (which it does) and accurately (which it also does) in potentially adverse conditions (which I believe it will do).

very good product for the money.I was able to use it in just a few minutes after reading the instuctions which are not all that good.I use it for huntingand was recently in the up of michigan.It never lost its signal under some heavy canopy.

This is our first GPS. Got to try out Geocaching. Since we didn't know if we'd like it or not, we didn't want to spend the money on a more expensive unit. All in all - we love it. It is accurate in our are up to (about) 15 feet, would be nice to have a more accurate unit, but we knew about this when we bought it. I would recommend for anyone who wants to try out a GPS unit.

Have used the Unit in my kayaks and found it to be convenient, accurate, and useful..Recommend to anyone needing to keep track of their position and/or details of their trip.

I bought this unit a little over a month ago and it's great! I bought it to start geocaching and use it to mark the coordinates of the location I leave my car when hiking. Easy to use right out of the box, took only 20 minutes to locate satellites, I've heard of some taking hours but it wasn't true for me. I just placed it in my kitchen window. The battery life is great for geocaching, I haven't had to replace them in the month I've been caching.

I would recommend this product for geocaching, it's "cheap" enough to allow children to take the lead on a hunt and rugged enough to roll around the back the car or at the bottom of a bag/purse/tote bag.

I bought this primarily for hikes into backcountry so I could follow my "breadcrumb trail" and find my way back. For this it is perfect. I also will use this in conjunction with map and compass, the H will give me my exact location and I can orient myself to where I want to go. Having a GPS with the maps in it is great, but I would never totally depend on a mapping GPS alone; it is still electronics and dependent on batteries and it can go down on you when you need it. You go out into unknown wilderness areas often, you better learn how to use map and compass; it isn't difficult.

Figure out your real needs; either spend the $$$ and get a complete GPS or get the basic H; the models in between are mostly garmin product differentation strategy...

Well, after finally getting the hang of this not-very-intuitive unit to do some geocaching with my son, I have become increasingly frustrated with its unreliable accuracy. Sometimes we are 20+ feet from a cache, according to the GPS, when we manage to find the cache on our own. The worst thing that I've noticed, though, is that we can be standing completely motionless and the directional arrow will wave in all directions and the distance to destination will change by as much as 10 or 12 feet. Is this common? Why does this happen?
Others' reviews have been much more positive and I'm wondering whether I'm expecting too much from such an inexpensive GPS. I am returning but not exchanging. Bummer...

Perhaps 10 years ago I bought the prior eTrex GPS and used it for several years. Eventually it suffered an unfortunate event and had to be retired.

I bought a new eTrex H model to replace the old one and the "H" model is great. Quicker signal acquisition, same simple to use, easy to understand interface, and now it has a lighted display.

Great product!

This is a great starter unit. Great for camping, fishing, or hunting. I use mine for Geocaching. Under ideal conditions I've received reliability of 7 feet, usually I am between 10-15 feet accuracy.

There are many nifty features such as waypoints, built in clock that will show you sunrise and sunset, elevation, compass, bearing and heading.

The options are highly customizable so you can set the menu features and displays to suit what you need the best.

This will not guide you down streets and does not show maps. But if you just want to be pointed in a general direction and find where you were or where you want to go, this unit is ideal; easy to use an inexpensive.

I've used many GPS's, But this one is 100% faster in acquiring the signal. And battery life is pretty good and the waterproof thing is amazing while i mostly use it for fishing.

Highly recommended ..

Warning to all who do not know what to look for in the 'fine print.'

This unit does not accept Garmin maps. It will download waypoints, tracks, routes from the Garmin map programs, but will not accept the map.

The result is that all one sees is a waypoint on a gray screen, without reference to a street name, or other map feature like a lake. It's almost like traveling in the dark, not seeing or knowing what surronds you.

Without the ability to display maps, this unit is a TOY if one wants to use it to accurately navigate to NEW locations. Test your ability to self-determine what one true coordinate is beforehand. If you can do it, this is for you. If you can't figure out coordinates from a map, then you'll understand the problem and have your answer about this unit.

I use DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteers, which use the same grids as Garmin (WGS 84) and can come to within about a block or two of true coordinates. Hiking, or in the woods, this can mean disaster. Are you 2 blocks to the left, or 2 blocks to the right of where you want to be? Are you 2 blocks too far, or are you 2 blocks too short. Point is that you may be 4 blocks left or right, or 4 blocks too far or too short of where you planned on going!

Without reference images, the waypoints are basically for 'survival', and not navigating to a new destination as no new destination can be seen on the screen.

It is good for survival if lost in the woods or ocean and one needs help. You can call for rescue with the current coordinates. One can track back and one can also plug in coordinates to Go To, but the problem of it is, is: That one needs to use it in conjunction with a paper map, or other external map and plug in the coordinates BEFORE reaching it, to intentionally navigate to a new location.

This is good for geocaching when you can plug in the coordinates prior to going out. This is good for young children as an introductory training tool, BUT you will feel the need to upgrade immediately.

As far as other criticisms about taking a while to boot: Garmin says it will boot in 39 seconds from a 'cold boot', and shorter if it's a warm boot. This is not a serious problem.

Also, as other criticisms noted, Garmin is NOT USER FRIENDLY at all. They make everything difficult to get assistance. Their map programs are not that good with functionality. The search terms are a nightmare to overcome. Garmin apparently decides names for locations that LOCAL GOVERNMENTS DO NOT USE. In other words if the USPS and city, county, and state call a road by one name, Garmin will distort it somehow and a large percentage of names you search for will not show up under the true name.

I suggest that this product be passed-up for a better one. Save your money and purchase one that will display a map. And, by the way, check out what it costs for cables to hook to your PC, and what the Garmin Map program costs.

Hope this helps.

The big plus of this gadget is the sensitivity and speed. I've been using an old Magellan Pioneer and it's a snail by comparison.

The etrex h is so fast that when you are walking to or from a waypoint - you get a real-time update on bearing, distance as well as your walking speed. I paid a visit once to the bridge on a Holland America cruise ship and the etrex h works just like theirs - real time read-out.

The manual is just a teaser, though. You will learn how to use it primarily by using it. The Garmin website has a couple of dozen "faq's" on their website at garmin.com.

i bought it for my friend 3 months ago. he said he really like it and want one more for another friend. it s a basic model and not complicated.

The eTrex H is the least expensive of the lot. However, it will output NMEA via its serial port to devices such as a DSC enabled VHF. The rest of the product line uses a USB port. While some programs can use this output via USB, it is not (I believe)usable on stand-alone products like VHF receivers. I tried getting a fix while down below on a fibreglass boat and had no problems. Signal was a bit weaker than on deck, but the unit got me a 11 foot fix in about a minute. My primary use for this unit will be to feed coordinates to my Icom VHF and, if necessary, as a backup unit.

I bought the original etrex several years ago, then we had bought another gps system for about $300 to take with us on vacation. What a mistake!!! After about 3 hours trying to figure out how to use the new one, we gave up and just counted on the etrex. The other one had way to many options, buttons, etc. This one is so easy my 7 year old son uses it with no problems. I don't know about going into the wilderness and depending on this for survival. I do know that for geocaching, and simple hiking, this is by far the best one to get. (By the way the h gets me within 5 feet most of the time, vs 15-20 with the original). I'm kicking myself for buying the other one, when i could have had 4 of these. I wish that i could trade it for just one of these!

Purchased the Garmin eTrex H to start some simple geocaching with my kids. We have really enjoyed it so far! It's simple enough to use that my kids (9 and 11) use it, and are learning to put in the waypoints, etc.

This model does not come with a cord for downloading the information from the web, but it is available. I have not purchased or used that, but I think that would be a lot easier than entering everything by hand, as that is a bit time consuming, especially if you are entering several points at a time.

So far we have just geocached around the town, and have found some easy caches. We've been able to get right to each cache within 2 feet or less on the coordinates most times, so accuracy, in great weather, is good. Cloud cover does seem to interfere, at least a bit, but we haven't tried it in storm conditions. Have geocached in the woods, and found it to be very accurate there, too.

The unit finds satellites very quickly out of doors, and in the basement of my house it will eventually pick them up, too. It is a little disconcerting to have the "compass" guide start switching around on you when you are close to the target, but we quickly learned to rely on the distance meter, and just searching and using logic. Having a compass with you also helps, and is a good idea anyway, especially if you are trekking in unfamiliar woods.

Battery life seems good so far. We only turn the unit on once we really need it and turn it off after changing our waypoint icon to a "found" icon, so really don't leave it on very long.

There are plenty of icons to use for marking your trail, targets, waypoints, etc. All in all, pretty good, once you get used to the functions of the different buttons. Gave it five stars, because for the price it is a good buy.

I bought the eTrex GPS unit to take on a bear hunt in Canada. This unit is extremely easy to use and works great in the mountains. I bought another manufacturer's GPS unit several years ago and found it to be too frustrating to use. I highly recommend the eTrex to anyone who wants a GPS unit that works well and is easy to use.

I would like to know if this unit will be dependable to get from Point A to Point B and back to Point A on a lake. When it is turned off and back on, will it still remember where Point A was and get me back?

I use this unit for introducing students to GPS. With none of the distractions associated with many other units, it performs flawlessly in both terrestrial and marine environments. I own a variety of units, but this is the unit I take with me on sea kayaking expeditions worldwide.

Obviously, this is a basic unit. If you are interested in additional features such as mapping, route tracking to an on-board map, calling your mother, etc..., look elsewhere. However, be warned, most users use those features for about 20 minutes (on average) before forgetting they exist.

Four stars only because of the interface cable is not included and must be purchased separately.

I used this on the six mile hike to The Wave where there is no identifable trail. On the way back I got disoriented and when I checked my GPS I discovered I was way off the GPS recorded in route. Quickly I was able to get back on track and out safely. A good little hiking GPS and one should not be without it if doing any off trail hiking.

I have had this new high sensitivity Garmin GPS for seven months and have used it perhaps a half dozen times. Today I was laying "bread crumb" tracks on a hike for about three hours. The Sanyo Eneloop NiMH cells were freshly charged. I set the GPS down, antenna up, while I ate a snack. Upon retrieval, I found the unit had turned itself off. Once I turned it back on, the track it had laid for the last three hours had been spontaneaously erased. No amount of zooming in or out would display the track, even though the track log still said that 12% memory had been used. This spontaneous software glitch could potentially be life threatening if you depended on this unit to get you back to safety. I absolutely do not recommend this unit to you if there is even a remote possibility that it might be called upon to entrust your life to. A cool toy, yes. Survival tool, no way.

Very accurate.
Easy to use.
Affordable.
Amazing little device.
I'm not talking to Professional Land Surveyors and Airliner Pilots here.
Or over-the-road long-haul trans-continental tractor-trailer drivers.
I'm talking to little people like me.
Who just want to know exactly where they are.
And where other points are.
When it tells you your elevation- (I think it calls it altitude)-
you will be amazed at how close it comes.
The farthest off mine ever was on the elevation was 50 feet.
Sometimes it is within 10 or 15 feet accurate on both the location and the elevation.
If you are like me, never having had a GPS receiver before now-
I don't think you will go wrong with this one.
I like mine anyway.

I am just getting started in the hobby of geocaching and the Garmin eTrex H Handheld is working great! It's easy to understand and use. It has been accurate and seems to work well under tree canopys as well as in downtown urban settings.

Picked up one of these to replace a Geko 301 that I had been using for recording track logs. The Geko doesn't work too well without wide open skies, so more often than not I ended up with a bunch of way points rather than a full track log. I've just taken the eTrex H on an extended trip driving and walking through the North Cascades National Park (lots of mountains and trees). Even though the unit was in my backpack throughout the trip, the track log looks almost perfect (i.e. it lines up with all the roads etc when in Google Earth). The user interface on this unit appears to be the same as for the Geko, however the buttons are less pleasant to operate (bad placement, and too much force required). Like the Geko this unit does not include a cable; fortunately I could reuse the (not so cheap) USB cable I had bought for the Geko.

This is the eleventh Garmin I've bought. They're all for my coworkers in Europe. I don't hike but they tell me it's a great deal!

I purchased this little guy after I borrowed my father-in-law's older etrex. Everything seemed to be going fine... it picked up signal quickly and said I had great accuracy. However, when I would walk/drive in a straight line, the heading would wobble plus/minus 15 degrees. This may not seem like a lot, but when you are moving by foot this means that the track you are following on the map is twisting back and forth, making it difficult to navigate. I sent one of these back for a replacement on Garmin's recommendation... the second one had the same problem.

Perhaps the issue could be fixed with a software update (I was running 2.6), but the cable is so expensive.

I use my eTrex in my job as an Army ROTC instructor, which calls for plenty of opportunity to navigate in the woods. I've used it to plot start and end points for situational training exercises, and land navigation points. It works great in dense forest cover, and can be operated reasonably well while wearing gloves.

The backlight doesn't drain the battery too bad, and doesn't kill your nightvision. The yellow color isn't very tactical, but what about our new uniforms is tactical in a woodland green environment? Rain doesn't bother it, it seems pretty rugged, and at $87.99 (from the PX), I wasn't too worried about dropping it anyway.