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329 of 331 humans found the following review helpful.
Best engineering in a starter unit
By David Michmerhuizen
This is my necessary Geocaching GPS. The high sensitivity chip has the same strong processing power, and thence signal sensitivity and position resolution, as any of the more highpriced units. It gives me magnificent accuracy in areas where my older GPS units just give up, even dense forest cover. The software that drives the unit is the same as the older Yellow model (see below) and has stood the test of time.
If you're only fascinated in point to point navigation (geocaching, trail tracks or just finding your way back to the car or the ski chalet), then this unit will do a outstanding occupation for a no-regrets price. If you're looking for road network navigation, then this isn't for you.
Be conscious that this is the 'H', for 'High Sensitivity' unit, introduced in 2007. It's aspect is closely identical to older Yellow Etrex units, the divergence being "High Sensitivity" in red letters just above the screen. Although the older units do work and may still be found, their worth is significantly lessened by the availability of this unit. That's something to keep in mind when looking at used or "new old stock" units at other venues.
One thing that other reviews mention is true - straight out of the box it takes a long time (hours) to acquire it's almanac (a digital description of where satellites are in the sky which is transmitted periodically) and then it's satellite signals. Mine took at least 3 hours and had me thinking it was defective until it at last locked in. Don't despair, this is a one-time thing - once accomplished, start-up time is when it comes to 5 seconds.
137 of 138 people found the following review helpful.
Garmin E-Trex 100 H
By John A. Pritchard
As an avid Geocacher and teacher, I had to find out what all the buzz was with regards to the H models. (I own a dozen regular ones that I use for instructional purposes) Everything is the same with features except that it is supposed to be capable to get signals in heavy tree cover or in places with steep walls (like buildings) or in valleys, etc. When I used it for the introductory time, it took for a limitless time to catch the firstborn satellite even even though I reset the time zone right away. It comes with a central Asia time zone so be sure to change that. It lost power and shut off while attempting to boot. It was getting very frustrating. Took regarding 15 minutes. However, once it was competent to find the local sats, it worked fine. Haven't tried in dense woods or valleys yest, but kept a good signal in woods regular park woods and gave me accuracies to less that 20 feet. The price is the same as a frequent E-trex 100 but you get better reception. The down side is that you lose 5 hours of battery life (17 vs 22). I don't see this as a problem at all. And there is no cool globe logo on the front. I will buy more eventually.
Edited 8/6/09 -- Okay. This has become my usual GPSr but I no longer commend it for the new cacher. I have gotten accuracies within 5 feet in the worst conditions. Although I still like it, the biggest drawback is that the downloads require a serial port. Most computers don't have these any longer which means you need a conversion cable ..another $35 .. if you may find one. For basic GCing, I now suggest the Garmin Venture. Same basic operation but uses a general USB connection.
63 of 65 persons found the following review helpful.
An Excellent Basic GPS
By William R. Drake
I wanted a basic, easy to use, GPS that would concede me to hike in the wilderness and without apparent effort find my way to and from respective places without fear of getting lost; and to always find my way back to my campsite or car. I also wanted to be capable to save emplacements I visited as well as locatings on the topo map I had not visited yet but wanted to be directed to by the GPS. In addition, I wanted to take a reading "in the field" and be competent to find that emplacement on a topo map. This unit does all of this perfectly. Unlike the experience of another reviewer of the eTrex H on this site, when I introductory turned this GPS on it initialized to satellites and my position in only a few minutes. The description of this unit will have to mention directly that you may use it to save emplacements you are not present at. It implies this by referring to Geocaching, but numerous people, like me, don't know what that is. And the description of how to do this in the owner's manual could be a little better. I am not very experienced in using a GPS with a topo map and I overlooked the need to program the GPS to the "datum" used for the map I was working with, which resulted in my readings being assorted hundred meters off. My greatest complaint regarding the owner's manual is that, while it tells you how to program the GPS for respective map datums, it does not tell the "beginner" that if you live in the lower 48 US states, for a map that says "NAD 27" for the datum you select "NAD 27 CONUS" (for "Continental US"). I had to buy a couple of books on GPSs to find this out. Otherwise the owner's manual, while it is a little concise, is gorgeous exhaustive and easy to use. If your needs are simple, like mine, and you do not need to have topo maps loaded into the GPs, this is an splendid choice at a great price. (Even with a GPS it is always advised to go into unknown areas of the wilderness with a map and compass as well. If you work with a map, you will in all likelihood use the UTM system so you will need to learn how to work with that and get a plastic scale for reading meters in "grids". A good book on the GPS may be helpful in these regards - the owner's manual does not go into these details.)
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