I have been using my trusty Garmin eTrex H for geocaching for the past two and a half years, and it has served me very well. I have no qualms with Garmin at all. I cannot compare with the other leading GPS manufacturers, e.g. Magellan, Lowrance, or DeLorme as I am pretty brand loyal. I got the eTrex H entirely because it was by far the cheapest GPSr on the market and I wasn't sure if I was going to get into geocaching or not so I didn't want to fork out a lot. When I discovered it was very reliable and met my requirements, I bought a Garmin SatNav for my car too (Nuvi 205w) and that is practically faultless.
A couple of years down the line and I'm starting to grow tired of writing out or printing off cache details prior to every caching trip, especially for spontaneous moments or huge circuits. I was finding myself up half the night just writing down (and double checking!) coordinates for every cache in a loop. The device itself is also starting to wear out through over use - the buttons are wearing away! Technically I can geocache with my iPhone but I am not keen on using my iPhone for caching purposes. We don't (yet!) see eye to eye, and I find its reliability and accuracy very lacking compared to a GPS unit. Not half bad for viewing cache details though!
So I've been looking at getting a better model for geocaching as it would seem that this is a hobby I'm going to keep doing after all! I eyed up the Magellan eXplorist GC for a bit but my loyalty to Garmin steered me towards the new eTrex series (10, 20 and 30). The 10 is not much of an improvement on the H, and the 30 is pretty expensive so I went for the middle ground of the 20 and I have no regrets.
The Garmin eTrex 20 wonderfully comes with the necessary USB cable needed to load cache details straight onto the device. This could be done with the eTrex H but the cable had to be purchased separately. In the 20's case, it was the lanyard that needed purchasing separately, but I just use my old H's lanyard! It's a good size, shape and weight and has enough memory for some pretty epic caching trips. How wonderful to view cache details on the screen. It's a bit more of a handful to use, but I'm sure I will get quicker at using this device in time. Best decision of all though was to upload maps to it. UK maps don't even have to cost anything if you go to the right resource. It took an hour or so to download the entire British Isles street/terrain maps but it was totally worth it! Very useful to have an idea where you're located and where you're going. Even if you have no destination, you can navigate if you have maps to hand. I've been depending on paper maps which don't always encompass my far-flung locations!
I shall put the eTrex H away in a drawer, still loved, but now superseded by a colour-screen, map-displaying, cache-detailing model. I will look forward to using the eTrex 20 for my future caching trips and recommend it to novice and experienced cachers alike. It's no smart phone or top of the range GPS device, but it's a good compromise for someone who wants something a bit special but doesn't want to pay more than £200 for a GPSr.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteReally great blog here.
I've been looking at the Garmin eTrex 20 to get into geocaching, and came across your post. I was wondering how many geocache coordinates + descriptions the device can store. I know the smartphone app gives you access to the entire library of geocaches wherever you go, but since I don't have a smartphone, I'm looking for a GPS that can hold a decent amount of cache information.
Any feedback is much appreciated! Thanks :)
Hi, thanks for your comments! I tend to run multiple PQs of 500 caches each on a fairly regular basis and only on a couple of occasions have I been told that I've reached full memory capacity. It is certainly possible to have several thousand caches and associated waymarks (e.g. parking coords, trailheads, etc) on the eTrex 20 at any one time. I tend to rename my PQs so that when I do find it filling up, it's not difficult to delete the odd one or two that's no longer relevant (for example, one from a holiday!) I've been caching with one for almost two years now and have no real qualms with it. Be patient when letting it it load up for the first time after adding a new PQ to it though - turning it off during this lengthy process (two or three minutes) can result in losing all your caches!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Smartphones are excellent for browsing caches when out and about, or making notes - but a GPSr is still the best way to go for actually locating them.
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ReplyDeletehttps://www.engadget.com/2016/09/23/what-does-gps-actually-do-other-than-tracking/