Our Review of the Original Garmin eTrex GPS
This Garmin handheld GPS has a 2.5-inch monochrome screen with resolution of only 64 x 128. This combination causes it to exhibit some jagged edges when viewing small fonts or a curved line like you'd find in a compass rose. We found the screen easy to see under all lighting conditions, though no pushbutton backlighting is provided.
Five pushbuttons control the eTrex GPS, all are side-mounted with three on the left and two on the right. Pushbutton labels are located under each button, however a black on black color scheme can make them difficult to read in low light conditions. Our preference is for clearly marked buttons on the face of the unit. In our opinion, side-mount pushbuttons can be more difficult to use and see. The unit fits nicely into one hand and can be operated single handed without having your fingers block your view of the screen. This Garmin handheld GPS measures only 4.4 inches high, 2.2 wide, and 1.2 thick and weighs only 5.3 ounces with a pair of AA batteries installed. Both the battery compartment and data port connection are on the rear of the case.It carries a one-year warranty. The Garmin eTrex GPS software package is simple to operate and uses only four main pages. Page one is a satellite status page with a simple bar level meter at the bottom to show signal strength. Page two is a map page similar to other basic Garmin handheld GPS units we’ve tested but with very little detail. Page three is a navigation page consisting of a compass rose in the center of the page and a single user selectable data box at the bottom of the screen. The compass rose has rudimentary markings at the cardinal headings only. The last main page is the menu page with sub-menus for Mark, Waypoint, Route, Tracks, and Setup. It can store up to 500 waypoints and 1 route. The inexpensive Garmin eTrex Handheld GPS Smart GPS Reviews HOME
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