The comfort of GPS can be held in the palm of your hand. Garmin e-Trex Legend provides an affordable GPS for the novice user. The most important thing to know on any trip is where you are now! Only then can you figure out how to get where you are going.
Comfort My first taste of the Global Positioning System was while traveling across the featureless sands of Northern Saudi Arabia in early 1991. With no landmarks or road signs just knowing the longitude and latitude was as comforting as a mother s hug. Knowing where I was became the first step in knowing where I was going. Moving maps were unheard of, so one still kept his eyes on the horizon, assured that he was on the right track. Having never forgotten that feeling, I still enjoy the warm glow of a modern consumer GPS screen while traversing Interstate highway time zones, back country hiking trails, or surface streets in the wrong parts of an unfamiliar city.
By 2004 my family had finally had their fill of conflicting stories about GPS technology and my own prowess at map reading, so that Christmas my first package contained a Garmin e-Trex Legend.
Inside The Box The e-Trex Legend is designed as a hand held, rather than a windshield mounted GPS receiver. There is not only an owner manual designed and written for the novice user, but also an RS 232 cable for connection to your personal computer. Powered by 2 AA batteries, the 1 x 2 inch LCD screen can provide position information for up to 18 hours. Weighing 1/3 of a pound, it is 4 1/2 inches long, one inch thick, and 2 inches wide.
Inside The e-Trex Legend The preloaded maps cover most all of civilized world. In detail, that means: marine cartography, city navigation maps, North America maps, Europe maps, Australia maps, South Africa maps, South America maps, Middle East maps, and Asia maps. Overall, there is 3 MB of storage space in the Garmin semiconductors. Additional maps and route data can be down loaded into the unit.
Experience Garmin s ratings for the e-Trex Legend are a bit optimistic. Using the internal antenna, the expected position acquisition times of 15 seconds warm and 45 seconds cold can turn in to up to 5 minutes in a new location! This is not a unit for those in any great hurry. The continuous 1 second updates should be able to keep up with the most energetic folks, so initial location acquisition should be the biggest hurdle. Manual data entry, including routes and waypoints, is managed with a mini thumb-operated joystick. Some manual dexterity skills come in handy during programming operations.
Having the capacity for 20 routes and 1000 waypoints, novice GPS users should be easily covered as they conform to life direction dictated by satellite. New GPS users should understand that waypoint can either be a city, where the waypoint will actually be in the geographic center of town, or major intersections. Chances are that your real routes will be intersections rather than the statue in the town square! Extra time taken while laying out routes will pay great dividends down the road.
Since I do not go in for the heavy turn-by-turn GPS capabilities most buyers look for, I have not felt the need to down load routes from my personal computer. My biggest concerns are where am I and how fast am I going. So I will only guess that this feature must work.
Trip calculators like maximum speed, current speed, and trip timers can be very useful for those using the e-Trex Legend while traveling by car or motorcycle. I will bet that most drivers do not realize that the speedometer on their dashboards can be up to 9 mph off from their true speed. Time of sunrise/sunset and track log can be invaluable for the hiker. Having the ability to back track your way home or when to expect the coming lack of sunlight should greatly assist in on-the-fly trip planning.
18 hour battery life promises have ended up being another optimistic claim from Garmin. My experience has been closer to 12 to 14 hours. But typically, my route times have run a little shorter than that between significant stops. So be prepared to carry extra batteries along for the ride.
That Antenna Antenna sensitivity also leaves something to be desired as you get used to using the unit. I found it very difficult to acquire enough signals while inside most buildings. In my car it worked best while sitting on the dashboard. During
motorcycle travel it lives either in the map window on my
tank bag or in a clear vinyl
window pocket attached to the arm of my
riding suit. During those uses I could either pick it up from the dashboard, or view through the vinyl windows of the arm pocket or tank bag.
Who Is It Recommend For I was very excited to get my first GPS (OK, sometimes it does not take a lot for me). Then I realized that because the technology is so versatile, it can be tailored for specific market segments. I would highly recommend the e-Trex Legend for hikers and backpackers. I would only recommend it for automobile use in limited circumstances, like for use by a passenger acting as a navigator. Early on I was disappointed with motorcycle application, then realized that having the functions for maximum speed, current speed, and trip timers at hand can be valuable to the rider.
The e-Trex Legend will not provide the same level of audio announcements prior to the next turn, but will give you the knowledge to decide if you really want to turn at the next intersection. Knowing where you are is still the first step toward knowing where you are going. There are a vast number of other, equally priced units that will turn by turn get you to the shopping mall with pleasant spoken directions. If that is what you want or need, maybe this is not the one for you. Others have touch screens and better map programs for what lies at the next Interstate highway exit, should it be too difficult to read the road signs.
Prices As the technology progresses, prices are nearing the $100 point. The Garmin e-Trex Legend is becoming more and more affordable with each passing day and newer product hits the market. If you do not need an audio prompted, pleasant voiced, turn-by-turn hand hold to your destination, you could save a few hard earned dollars with an e-Trex Legend.
